Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Printable Lunch Bags! Tutorial



 I have a cute teeny tiny little stamp that I use on tags that I use when wrapping up an order.   It's a cute touch.  However, sometimes, I just want more impact.
At the beginning of summer, I purchased 100 lunch bags for 1.99.  I only needed 6 or so to make my summer banner.

Needless to say, I was left with 96 paper bags and nothing to do with them.
I wondered if I could print on the lunch bag.   Turns out, you can!!!   I will share how I did it here for my fun loving friends ;)
If you have your own little business, this is a great, cheap (.02 cents apiece!) and easy way to make your mark.  If you want to make custom birthday party bags, memorable lunch bags, etc. this is a really fun way to do it.  You can also create custom wrapping paper for smallish gifts.  So rad (trying to use other adjectives than great)!

I used Microsoft publisher to make mine.

Here are the steps.
1.  Create a new document
2.  Under page setup, select "Custom"
3.  Under measurements, put in 5.2 Wide by 10.2 Tall
4.  You'll have blank page to work with.
5.  Put a text box or image on the document-whatever you want! 
6.  Rotate the items so that they appear upside down.  I'm assuming you know how to do this.  If not, let me know!

7.  Print-The printer doesn't automatically know that to print your document 5.2 x 10.2 so the first time, you have to set up a custom paper size.
  • When you click "Print" there will be a box that says, "Properties".  Click it.
  • Click the "Features" tab
  • Click on "Paper Type"
  • Click on "Custom" and enter the dimensions (5.2x10.2).  Rename the custom print, "paper bag". Hit OK and you're all set.  Next time, you'll just have to go to paper size and select "paper bag".
  • Place the paper bag with the flap on top going into the printer first (see my uber-professional pic below) and hit PRINT!

Out will come your beautiful bag creation!  Neat, huh?  I have a few other ideas with these so stay tuned ;)

Cute alone...

A bow adds mucho cuteness.
Linking up to these fab parties:
Tip Junkie handmade projectsTodays Creative Blog

36 comments:

  1. I'm going to try this....or should I say I'm going to ask my husband to try this. It is out of my league ;) especially the "upside down" part.

    Thanks for sharing!

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  2. That is so great, I think I am going to try it for Welcome Bags for my kindergarten students!

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  3. What a great idea! My daughter uses a lunch bag on most school days, but on field trips they are supposed to use brown paper bags. This way I can put a note right on the bag! Thanks for the idea!

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  4. Love this. Would be great for gift bags for kids parties or showers. You are so creative.

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  5. I tried this and I found the bag got stuck in the printer half the time. Do you have a brand or specific type of bag that works better? (maybe thinner?) Thanks...

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  6. Hi Nellene,
    Are you putting into the printer the correct way? (flap facing printer and up).
    If your printer is touchy, you can try taping the flap the other way just to see. The bags I purchased are from target...
    Hope that helps?!?

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  7. No way! I never thought of printing on a bag! What a dang cute idea.

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  8. Cute idea....did you use a ink jet or a lazer printer or do you think it would matter?

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  9. Fantastic idea. I can't believe I didn't think of it! Thanks for sharing. I wonder what else I can print on...?

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  10. I can't figure out how to get my text rotated. I was able to rotate the picture, but just not quite sure how to do the text. Any suggestions? Thanks.

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  11. Also, my printer won't' print it. It keeps getting jammed or doesn't detect the paper bag. Any suggestions for this also?

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  12. Leighv,
    What program are you using? In publisher, when you click the text box a green dot appears on top and that's where I rotate the box.
    Smooth out the edge of the paper bag that's going in as flat as possible before inserting into printer. I know a few others have also had an issue with this.

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  13. how do u do this with microssoft word?

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  14. Could you tell me what font you used for this?? Such a cute idea!!

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  15. Hi Sarah!
    I used "pea sarah quick" downloaded from www.kevinandamanda.com.
    They have a TON of amazing free fonts.

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  16. absolutely love this! I linked to your post here: http://dollarstoremom.com/2011/11/pinterest-picks-17/

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  17. Printing the bag design can be convenient in some ways. It's easy because all you need is a computer, a printer and the design software.

    wholesale designer handbags

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  18. So put the bag in flap side up and flap facing the printer? I am using Microsoft Word. How do I rotate a text box using that program?

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  19. Hi, I just wanted to write a little tip-I just did this on 100 paper bags after finding this idea here, and was getting really frustrated with the amount of them that were getting jammed in my printer, so i took my iron and ironed the folds really flat for about 2 seconds each on a medium heat, and they all went through perfectly.
    Good luck!

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  20. I ironed mine and it still was jamming. I gave up. Bummer.

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  21. I used a small piece of tape at the top and didn't have any problems with jamming.

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  22. What version of Publisher do you have? I can't pull up the same windows.

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  23. OMG! Awesome! I found red lunch bags at Target and printed on them for a birthday party goody bag! It took some time - printing one at a time - but it worked out great!

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  24. I tried this and it has destroyed my printer.... So sad as I was excited to use if for my son's party.
    I only used on bag and it destroyed the bag and the printer- I put it in as described. Be Careful!

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    Replies
    1. I'm very sorry to hear that. :(
      I guess a lot of it depends on the printer and thickness of bags and I can only use my experience here on the blog...

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  25. Sorry if I missed this response somewhere in the comment string...but how do you rotate text in a text box using Word?

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    Replies
    1. The only thing I know you can rotate in Word is WordArt.

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  26. Oh my golly, you are so creative! Thanks for sharing--love, love the idea and it worked for me!!!! Just had some lining up to do, but it will be such a fun touch to my son's Survivor Kindergarten Party for the end of year. Many, many thanks...I will use this over and over!!!
    Rebecca

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  27. Thank you for sharing this!! I'm giving a baby shower this summer, and I'm so going to use this idea!!!

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  28. This is brilliant! I print out labels that I then adhere to my bags at festivals, it's a lot of work and something else to carry to the shows in a truck that's already full of tent, shelves, pots...Thank you so much.

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  29. Love this! Hope I can master creating sack of my own!

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  30. I absolutely love this idea! It will help me out tremendously this summer at my very first craft fair as a vendor!

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  31. I only have Word so was not able to rotate, but was able to rotate using my printer, Canon MP620. On the properties page rotate image 180 degrees. It works!!! :)

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  32. You are a genius! I love this!!! Thank you!

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