Tutorial: Paper Snack Sack.

As promised over at babalisme, I now present to you the:

"easier-to-make-than-say-5-times-fast-snickerdoodles-sized-take-home-bag"

or, in short:

the Snack Sack.

You will need:

• 1 sheet of either A4 or letter sized paper, already printed with this amazingly adorable "deer and shroom" pattern that you can get for free, right here!
• tape
• snack

Step 1: Because most printers don't print edge to edge, you want to trim off the white bits around the edges. I suggest a paper cutter for straighter lines, but scissors are fine. Once neatly trimmed, cut your paper to 10" x 7.5".

Step 2: Flip your paper over so the print is facing away from you. You are now going to pencil in some folding lines. I suggest you make these as light as possible. I made mine pretty dark, and labeled distances/folding sections for the tutorial- make sure you don't do this on yours!

The paper rectangle should be in front of you with the 10" side as the top and bottom, and the 7.5" side as, erm, the sides. Working from left to right, draw a straight line from top to bottom at 1", 2", 5.5" and 6.5" (each measured from the far left paper edge and NOT from each other).

Step 3: Draw a line across the whole length of the bottom, placed 1"above the bottom edge.

Step 4: Fold along each of the vertical pencil lines. Fold so the white part is facing in and be sure to crease each line using your finger nail or ruler.

An easy tip to get straight lines along your pencil mark without frustration is to first fold it with the print on the inside (this is inside-out/backwards), however do not crease it. Flatten it back out.

Using this fold as a guide, fold it a second time (now folding it the correct way). Crease using your fingernail or ruler.

Repeat the same fold for all the vertical lines. Your Snack Sack should now look like this:

Step 5: It's now time to make the "zig-zag fold" which is on the sides of the snack sack. You are only going to zig-zag fold the 2nd and 3rd 1"sections of paper. To make the zig-zag fold, simply hold the section between your two fingers and pinch. Be sure the creases line up!

Step 6: Time to make a quick check: Your paper should look (from left to right) as follows:
1" of paper --- 1"with zig-zag fold --- 3.5" of paper --- 1" with zig-zag fold --- 3.5"of paper
If you have it right, then it's time to fold up the 1" strip along the bottom.....

... and then crease it, making sure it follows the zig-zag fold as well.

Step 7: You are now going to make 4 diagonal folds. The folds will be right next to the zig-zag section, and only in the bottom 1"area.

Unfold the 1" section (along the bottom). Next, identify the section of the vertical pencil mark that is below the 1" horizontal line. Place this part of the vertical line directly over the horizontal line itself- this makes the diagonal. You want to be sure the lines are running away from the zig-zag fold. Only crease the triangular bit below the horizontal line.

The pictures are here to guide you! You can see in the first shot which lines should touch, and you should also see the fold that will be made by this step. The second shot shows what it looks like folded, so you can get an idea of where the crease should be.

Whew! Now that the first diagonal is done, it's time to fold the other side of the zig-zag section. Remember- the lines run away from the zig-zag so the diagonal is going the other direction.

Make sure you repeat these on the other zig-zag section as well!

Step 8: Get your tape ready! Take the first 1" section- this is the one that is not zig-zag folded- and tuck it under the 3.5" section. This makes the Snack Sack into a rectangle shaped tube.

Run a piece of tape from the top to the bottom to seal the two pieces together. I just taped the outside and let the 1" piece on the inside flop around. You could be very clever and instead of tape, run a glue stick down the floppy 1"piece before you slide it under the 3.5"piece to make it nice and tidy. I am not that tidy and used tape. So my Snack Sack looks like this:

Step 9: Now for the bottom! Turn the rectangle tube so the 1"horizontal section with all those diagonal folds is facing up towards you. Using your finger, push down on the middle of the zig-zag section towards the center of the diagonal tube. Look how easily it folds along those diagonal lines! Crisp and clean!

Repeat on the other side. You may have to help it along where that 1" floppy bit is. Your Snack Sack should now look like this:

Step 9: Fold one of the middle sections in towards the center.....

.... and tape it in place. The tape makes the bottom of the Snack Sack extra strong!

Step 10: Now fold the other section towards the center, and tape it as well. Or if you are trying to be neat and tidy use glue stick.

Step 11: Fill it with your snack. I used two naked snickerdoodles I baked from scratch. What are those? Why, they are snickerdoodles that aren't covered in cinnamon sugar sprinkles. So they are naked. You get it?

Step 12: Roll the top over twice to close it off. Give the filled Snack Sack to someone you love!