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Two homemade blue cloth gift pouches with painted snowflakes designs and embellished with rhinestones.

How to Paint a Snowflake Christmas Gift Pouch

Last Modified: October 14, 2020 // by Tracy Ariza, DDS // December 15, 2019 I may receive a commission if you purchase through links in this post. Learn more here.

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Save the waste of wrapping paper by using reusable gift pouches. These beautiful snowflake gift pouches are easily made from recycled t-shirt sleeves. They can also be used as party favors for a Frozen themed party. This is an easy project for both kids and adults! #thethingswellmake #miy #upcycle #christmas #snowflakes #giftwrapping #gifts #pouch #giftideas #freezerpaper #frozen #partyfavors #frozenparty #sewingbag #upcycledclothing #embellish #recycledclothes

Save the waste of wrapping paper by using beautiful reusable gift pouches. Learn how to paint a snowflake gift pouch made from recycled t-shirt sleeves. This is a fun craft for both adults and kids.

Photo from above of 3 snowflake gift pouches.
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When giving gifts, be it Christmas or any other time of year, the presentation shouldn’t be ignored. In some cases, the packaging can be a beautiful gift in itself. Such is the case with these easy snowflake gift pouches.

You can buy ready-made cotton pouches to decorate or easily make quick pouches from old t-shirts.

Recycling old t-shirt sleeves into pouches

You may have noticed by now that I like to recycle old t-shirts for many different uses. (One of the most popular is my post on 8 ways to make shopping bags from a t-shirt!)

Old t-shirts are perfect for making all sorts of quick and easy projects. Not only does the fabric not unravel when you cut it, but normally the hems are neatly sewn into a tube which can be very handy for making an easy drawstring closure without any extra effort!

You can use the main body of the t-shirt to make easy, drawstring sacks that can be used in a number of ways. We used this idea to make a cute a trick-or-treat bag. That’s a fun, easy project that even small kids can help you decorate. (Click on the link for the instructions!)

When you making t-shirt projects, you’ll find yourself ending up with leftover sleeves. While you might be tempted to throw away those cloth “scraps,” don’t do it!

T-shirt sleeves are ideal for making quick-and-easy pouches that are perfect for tons of projects. Learn how to make them…

Easy Drawstring Pouches

Make these easy drawstring pouches by upcycling old t-shirt sleeves. The hem makes the perfect already-made hem enclosure, making this project quick and simple.
Check out this recipe
Top view of 3 drawstring pouches made from the sleeves of baby clothes.

Decorating your pouches

Since I intended these pouches to be used for Christmas gifts, I decided that I would use my freezer paper snowflake stencil technique to paint pretty snowflakes on the pouches.

To begin the process, you’ll need to cut paper snowflakes from freezer paper to make stencils for painting the pouches. If you aren’t sure how to cut snowflakes, check out my tutorial here:

How to Make Paper Snowflakes

Making paper snowflakes is a fun and easy project that both kids and adults enjoy. It's always fun to see what beautiful design will magically appear when you open up your cut folded paper.
Check it out!
A group of homemade paper snowflakes on a counter with a pair of scissors
Closeup of two homemade snowflake gift pouches

Once the snowflake stencils are made, the pouches will be covered with paint. When the paint has dried, the stencil is removed, leaving a beautiful snowflake below.

While these can be made in any color, I prefer the combination of turquoise blue with silver and rhinestone accents reminiscent of the Frozen movies.

How to Paint a Snowflake Christmas Gift Pouch

You Will Need:

  • Freezer paper
  • scissors
  • iron
  • fabric paint
  • your pouches, of course, in the color you want your snowflake to be (I used white.)

1. Cut out a snowflake from freezer paper. See how to cut a paper snowflake here. To make the paper look more like a snowflake than a mandala, cut a wedge out of the center of the folded triangle of paper, leaving more of a v-shape rather than a triangle. You’ll want to do this in a decorated manner, of course, as shown below.

A piece of paper that has been folded and cut to make a paper snowflake, ready to be opened.

2. Iron the freezer paper snowflake(s), shiny side down, onto your pouch. Slip a piece of cardboard inside the pouch to keep the paint from bleeding through to the back once you start painting.

A cloth pouch with a freezer paper snowflake ironed on the front.

3. Carefully paint around and over the snowflakes with fabric paint.

I used my airbrush because it evenly disperses a thin, even layer of paint, giving a professional-looking result. If you don’t have an airbrush, though, you can carefully dab the paint onto the pouch, being especially careful as you paint around the edges of the freezer paper snowflake so that the edges don’t lift, allowing the paint to get underneath.

Two pouches with freezer paper snowflakes ironed on the front, that have been painted blue.

4. Let the paint dry, and then carefully peel the freezer paper snowflake off of your pouch. Admire your beautiful snowflake!!

lifting up the edge of one of the freezer paper snowflakes, revealing a white snowflake underneath.

5. Iron the pouch to set the paint according to the directions for your particular fabric paint.

Three snowflake pouches with the freezer paper removed.

6. Embellish the pouch(es) more, if you like. I ironed rhinestones onto mine, but glitter fabric paint can also give beautiful results.

Snowflake pouches embellished with rhinestones

Now that you have finished making these beautiful pouches, you have the difficult task of deciding how to fill them. Maybe I can help you think of some small, homemade gifts worthy of slipping inside these beautiful pouches. If you have other ideas, I’d love to hear them!

3 snowflake pouches with a homemade stained glass reindeer ornament

Homemade gifts that can fit in small pouches

  • Make your own bars of soap (beginner soap recipe).  For Christmas, you could consider making either a gingerbread soap or soap made to look like peppermint candy
  • DIY solid perfume
  • A natural, car air freshener bottle
  • lip balm
  • Homemade lotion
  • Homemade (or store-bought) jewelry
  • Christmas ornaments like these homemade cinnamon ornaments

Other uses for small pouches

I’m constantly making small pouches out of t-shirt sleeves, and they come in handy for all sorts of things. I use them to help organize my son’s small toys and for storing small items like safety pins, q-tips, or buttons, but they can be used for all sorts of things.

  • Homemade reusable tea bags
  • Party favor bags (While these would be perfect for a Frozen themed party, I also showed you how to quickly decorate them with silkscreening which is how I made my Wall-e party favor bags
  • For storing makeup or other items in your purse
  • For storing jewelry so that chains don’t get tangled
  • As gift pouches to present small gifts to others
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Two homemade blue cloth gift pouches with painted snowflakes designs and embellished with rhinestones.

Painted snowflake pouches

Paint these beautiful gift pouches with snowflake designs super easily using freezer paper. This project is great for kids and adults. Use either store-bought cotton bags or quickly make pouches by upcycling t-shirt sleeves.
5 from 1 vote
Print Rate
Prep time: 5 minutes
Active time: 25 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Author: Tracy Ariza, DDS

Equiment

  • Pair of scissors
  • iron

Materials

  • 1 sheet freezer paper
  • fabric
  • fabric paints
  • heat-set rhinestones optional
  • dimensional paints optional

Instructions

  • Make a paper snowflake, cutting your design from freezer paper.
  • Place the paper snowflake, shiny side down, onto the fabric where you want your design to be.
  • Carefully run a hot iron over the paper snowflake until the paper snowflake has adhered to the fabric. (Make sure no edges are loose.)
  • Carefully paint around the edges and over all of the holes in the paper with fabric paint.
  • Once the paint has dried, carefully peel away the freezer paper.
  • To set the design, follow the directions for your fabric paint. In most cases, you'll need to cover the design with parchment paper and iron over it for a minute or 2.
  • You can now further embellish the gift pouches with heat-set rhinestones or dimensional paints.

Notes

To keep the paint from bleeding under the edges, use just enough paint on the brush and dab the areas that need painting. It’s best to keep the brush in a vertical position so that you don’t push the paint under the edges.
This is an easy craft and can be done by older kids, resulting in a surprisingly professional effect. With a bit of help, though, even small kids can help you make these by helping you paint the fabric or by helping you embellish the pouches afterward.
Tried making this? Tag me today!Mention @thethingswellmake or tag #thethingswellmake!

This post was originally published on November 20, 2013. It was rewritten with new photos and clearer instructions in December 2019.

Category: Christmas, sewing, Upcycling

About Tracy Ariza, DDS

Tracy Ariza, B.A., D.D.S., left dentistry and the United States to found Oh, The Things We’ll Make!, writing to you from the Spanish Riviera. She loves making things herself in order to keep control of what goes in them. While far from perfect, she strives each day to live a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle.

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Hello, I’m Tracy!

I love making my own natural products like soaps and lotions and my own pantry items like yogurt and salad dressings.
Why do I do it? Sometimes to save money, sometimes because it's healthier, but I always love having control of the ingredients!​
Oh, the things we'll make!...

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