Rustic Wrapping: An Unique Wrapping Paper Idea!

This year I really wanted to wrap my presents in butcher paper and beautiful ribbon.  I liked the idea of shabby + chic look.  I was pretty set on this idea until Trader Joe's came out with their Christmas bags.  If you haven't seen their bags it is a shame, but they have little tags all over them that say "To: From:" "A Gift for You," and so on.  I loved them!  Their whole purpose was to recycle their bags into gift tags.  Well I decided to take it a step further and wrap my presents with there paper.

Here's what you do!  First cut down the side of the TJ bag along the seam.  Follow the seam around the base of the bag cutting off the bottom.  Then tear off the handles.  You may need to be creative in filling in some of the holes when the box you are wrapping is bigger than the wrapping bag.  This is when it is helpful to save the bottoms of the bags to fill in the gaps.  Grabbing a few extra bags is always a helpful thing as well!

Then proceed to wrap as usual!  Finish off with a neat twine (I love this stuff) bow.  Use the tags printed on the bag to fill in the "To" and "From" information.  No additional tags are necessary.

 Now I thought I was all original with this idea, but I should of known my good friend Ashlee, who is one of the most creative people I know, would have had the same idea.  And I am certainly glad she did because she so inspired me to take my wrapping to the next level!  Making mini bags!  Here's Ashlee's mini TJ bag!  Be sure to check her out on pinterest where you can find this project and more great pins!

Isn't that just the cutest little thing!  With her inspiration, here is what I came up with!  

To achieve more of a rustic look, I added paper flowers made out of scraps and a filler made of skinny folded scraps to achieve that zig zag look.

I love that this mini bag has the "A Gift for You" down the side, I find it to be a lovely touch.  

In the second photo I have the really mini bag alongside a taller version.  I needed a taller bag to fit a bunch of smaller items in.  I simply stacked them and filled the height of the bag.  I also think this taller bag would be great way to "wrap" a bottle of wine.

Once you are done wrapping, you will have a lovely display to fill the bottom of your tree.  It is so rustic and fabulous!  Not to mention that you just repurposed all of those bags and wrapped all of your presents for free!

Happy wrapping!