Trash To Treasure: Christmas DIY

As the holiday season approaches, there’s nothing more exciting than adding a touch of creativity to your home decor. Today, I’m taking something as ordinary as an Amazon mailer bag and turning it into a charming, Santa-inspired piece to perfectly complement my farmhouse-style, vintage Christmas decor. With just a little paint, an IOD stamp, and a sprinkle of DIY magic, we’ll transform this simple item into a festive decoration that’s both budget-friendly and unique.

Ready to make something special for your holiday home? Let’s dive into this fun and easy project that brings new life to everyday items while keeping the Christmas spirit alive!

Oh and I forgot to mention, this idea came to me from my friend, Summer over at Hammons Nest! She shares the cutest stuff so be sure to check her site out.

Items Needed:

Amazon Envelope Brown Bag
STAALMEESTER Fitch Artist Brush*
Dixie Belle Chalk Paint – Rustic Red*
Frosty’s Sweet Shoppe IOD Stamp Collection*
Empty Stamp Ink Pad*
Red Ink*
Black Ink*
Ink Bottle* (you will mix red & black to make Holiday Red)
Scissors
Wired Jute Twine

*Product can be purchased directly through my website [www.juliesdesignsandsigns.com]

SHOP JULIES DESIGNS & SIGNS

I am so excited to show you this DIY because it is using something I know most of you already have in your house! We’re giving those Amazon paper bags a festive makeover with this upcycled holiday craft. Whether you’re looking for a creative way to wrap gifts or just want to add some DIY charm to your décor, this project is for you!

First, I grabbed a medium-sized Amazon bag from the pile I’ve accumulated after all our Black Friday shopping!

Next, I flipped the bag inside out.

After turning the bag inside out, I noticed a tear on the side.

I grabbed my hot glue gun and sealed the tear by gluing the edges together to close up the side.

You can paint the entire bag if you’d like, but personally, I prefer the natural brown bag look.

Since the top had some Amazon labeling, I applied a quick coat of Dixie Belle Rustic Red to cover that area.

This is from IOD’s Holiday Stamps Collection called Frosty’s Sweet Shoppe. It includes adorable snowmen, festive signage, and charming candy canes!

I decided to use the Frosty’s Sweet Shoppe sign and Holiday Red ink to decorate the brown paper bag.

To create the Holiday Red ink, I mixed IOD Red Ink and IOD Black Ink, blending them onto an empty ink pad. Then, I labeled the pad with a Sharpie so I can easily reuse this custom color for other projects.

If you’re interested in making your own ink colors, check out this pack of empty ink bottles available in my shop!

Once the custom ink pad was ready, I placed the stamp onto my thin mount and inked it thoroughly with the Holiday Red ink.

Next, I flipped the thin mount over and centered it onto the brown paper bag.

Using my fingers, I firmly pressed the stamp onto the brown paper bag.

Look how good that turned out!

The stamp collections come with these masks. A mask is a stamp cover that lets you layer your stamps for a more dynamic design.

I placed the mask over the ink on the bag and then grabbed a snowman stamp to layer into my design.

I inked the top of the snowman stamp, then flipped the thin mount over and placed the stamp in the upper corner, layering it over the Frosty’s Sweet Shoppe stamp. Since I wasn’t using the bottom half of the stamp, I saved ink by only inking the top part.

How cute is that?

I could have been done there, but I decided to make some stuffed candy canes to put inside the bag for an extra festive touch.

Using IOD Red Ink, I stamped candy canes onto pieces of drop cloth.

First, I layered two pieces of drop cloth. Then, I cut out the stamped pieces, leaving a few inches around each design.

Next, I hot glued the two pieces of drop cloth together.

Then, I stuffed the pieces with batting to give them a plush, stuffed appearance.

For the first one, I turned the drop cloth inside out, but it was pretty difficult to do. For the other two, I left the raw edges exposed. Fortunately, I ended up liking the look of the raw edges better, so I continued with that method!

Lastly, I used my scissors to poke a hole in the upper two corners of the bag.

Then, I used wired jute twine to tie a hanger onto the bag.

Since the jute twine has wire in it, I simply wrapped the wire around itself, which helped the hanger stand up.

And that’s it! I’m absolutely obsessed with how it turned out! Can you believe this all started as an Amazon package? I know you all LOVE a good trash-to-treasure project!

Since you probably have a few of these bags at home, I think this is something you could have lots of fun with. You could create a variety of different style bags to display among your Christmas decor!

You could even use these bags to wrap actual Christmas gifts for a unique, personalized touch!

This blog is all about a Budget Friendly Christmas Trash To Treasure!

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