Uses for Brown Paper Bags
Next time you hear the familiar phrase, “paper, or plastic,” consider choosing paper. Plastic handle bags are great to reuse if they are made from quality plastic, but more often than not, they end up riddled with holes the first time they’re used. Recycle your plastic handle bags at your local recycling center, and save your paper bags to reuse.
There are a number of great uses for brown paper bags, and the many uses for brown paper bags will save you from having to buy other disposable products that ultimately end up in landfills. Do your part in helping the environment and reuse your brown bags. The number of creative and practical uses for brown paper bags will amaze you. You’ll wonder why you didn’t think of them yourself!
Kitchen Uses
Paper towels aren’t exactly cheap, and it’s amazing how fast they go, especially when frying foods that require draining. You can make your paper towels last over twice as long if you recycle your brown paper bags.
Instead of throwing away your brown paper bags, reuse them. Cut them into squares about the size of paper towels. When you need to drain fried foods, line a plate with one or two of the squares. Top the squares with a paper towel to prevent the food from coming in direct contact with the paper bag. The paper bag squares will absorb an amazing amount of grease, and the toweling will last incredibly long.
Gift Bag Uses
Have you discovered you’re out of wrapping paper and you don’t want to make an unplanned trip to the store? Gift-wrap is just one of the many uses for brown paper bags.
To make a sheet of gift-wrap, simply cut along the seam on the side, and trim off the bottom. Once you’re left will a single sheet, you can iron it to remove any unwanted wrinkles.
Decorate the plain brown paper by stamping it with acrylic paint and rubber stamps of your choice. You can also add stickers to help celebrate the occasion. You might also consider applying spray adhesive and sprinkling it with fine glitter. However you choose to decorate the paper, this is definitely one of the most practical uses for brown paper bags.
Stationery Uses
If you love pretty stationery, turn your brown paper bags into lovely sheets of notepaper that can be used for writing letters or writing grocery lists. This is one of the handiest uses for brown paper bags.
Simply trace around something of the right size, and cut inside the lines with decorative edge scissors. Keep in mind it doesn’t have be rectangular in shape. Your stationery can be round, oval, or any other shape you desire.
Embellish the paper by making holes around the edges or just in the corners with a decorative punch. Stamp on designs with rubber stamps and acrylic craft paint or add designs with markers. Use your imagination to make beautiful stationery you’ll be proud to send or simply use for jotting down notes and reminders.
Gift Bag Liner
If you’d like to reuse a pretty gift bag but you don’t have tissue paper to line it, don’t despair. There’s no need to buy tissue paper. If you have a paper shredder, empty the shredder and shred sheets of brown paper bags. They make fantastic material that can be used in gift bags and reused again and again.
If you want to add color to shredded brown paper bags, shred a few sheets of colored construction paper, and mix it with the shredded bags. You can also mix in metallic or plastic confetti to help celebrate the occasion.
Decorative Uses
Those with a flair for design have discovered that brown bags make fantastic wall covering that resembles leather when randomly torn and applied to walls. No one would ever guess this expensive looking wall covering was made from brown paper bags.
Tear the paper into random shapes the size of a dinner plate, and apply the sections to properly prepared walls. Saturate the sheets with wallpaper paste, and overlap the edges by at least four inches. Finish corners and edges of walls with sections of bags neatly cut along the seams. Smooth the paper with a finishing tool.
After the adhesive has dried, roll on deck stain in a shade of your choice, and allow the stain to dry completely before finishing. Cover the stained surface with polyurethane to protect the paper and give it a beautiful sheen.
Alternately you can roll on paint of your choice or sponge it on to achieve a particular look. If you’re unsure of the look you’d like to achieve, experiment on sheets of discarded plywood or wallboard to perfect your technique before applying brown bags to your walls.
Wall covering is one of the most creative ways to reuse brown paper bags, and you’ll save a considerable amount of money over ready-made wall covering. Making wall covering from brown paper bags is a very economical way to give a room a rich new look.
