Screen Printed Holiday Gift Bags & Cards

These pretty screen printed gift bags and holiday cards are easy to make and a lot of fun too! This post is sponsored by Heidi Swapp. I was selected for this opportunity as a community member of Snap. All content and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. See my full disclosure policy here. 

Making gifts for friends and family is one of my very favorite parts of the holiday season. I think thoughtful, handmade gifts are absolutely the best kind, but I have also learned that they can be exhausting to plan out and execute.

A few years ago I decided I was going to make handmade gifts for everyone on my Christmas list. In theory, this is a great idea. In practice, not so much. I spent the entire month of December crocheting, painting, gluing, and generally being stressed out instead of spending time with the people I love.

Boo. To. That.

So now my theory is to do a few special handmade gifts and just add handmade touches to others like special wrapping or a handmade card.

Heidi Swapp has a great new line of holiday products at Jo-Ann (find it in stores or online, but hurry because my local store’s product was going fast), and it is just perfect for baking and packaging special treats for everyone on your list. I just love the style of Heidi Swapp’s products, and this line is no exception. I was particularly excited to try out the art screens, so I used them to make these screen printed treat bags and cards, which are kind of a great way to make something simple but still special for holiday gift giving.

So let’s talk about these art screens for a second, okay? They are pretty dang cool. At first I thought they were basically stencils, but they are actually a lot better than a stencil. The design is actually attached to a super fine mesh backing, so you can get really detailed and crisp prints.

Supplies:

• Heidi Swapp Art Screens – I used the Sparkle, Christmas, and Holiday designs
• Art Screen Tool Kit
• Screen Printing Ink in Metallic Gold, Metallic Silver, and Red
• Heidi Swapp Cards – I used the Polka Dot Cards and Snowflake designs
• Fabric Stockings
• Drawstring Bags
• Oh What Fun Chalkboard tags
• Paper Mistletoe Stickers

The screen printing process is really easy. Place the art screen on your surface, then use tape around the edges to keep everything nice and clean. Squirt some ink onto the top of the screen, and use the scraper to pull the ink down over the screen. Be sure to the get the ink over every part of the design. Finally, peel off the art screen to reveal your pretty new design.

I also used tape and the screen printing ink to make a striped design on one of the bags. I just taped off stripes, covered the bag with ink, and then peeled off the tape.

I kind of love it. These little bags and stockings are the perfect size for gift cards and small treats. I think a little decorated stocking is a super fun way to package up a gift card.

Aren’t they cute? I added some adorable paper mistletoe stickers and chalkboard tags to make them a little more special.

I also made a few cards. The Heidi Swapp cards are really nice and have some great details like perforated designs and scalloped edge envelopes. Screen printing on the cards works pretty much exactly the same way:

So cool, right? That reveal is totally the best part. If you peel it off and immediately swipe it again on a new surface, you can get another lighter print.

What holiday gifts or treats are you making this year? Do you want to give these art screens a try? Tell me all about it in the comments.

Happy Making!