Have the nesting urges hit me yet? I’m not sure, but judging by the number of quick bread loaves piling up in my kitchen, the chances are pretty good that I am! After wrapping them all tightly with plastic wrap, and stowing them away in the freezer, I plan on gifting the loaves to friends and family who offer us help during my first month or so with the little kiddo. Now, I ask you, would you rather receive a bread loaf stuffed into a zip-lock bag? Or something delicious wrapped in a pretty, patterned package? I prefer the pretty option. And I hope my family and friends will appreciate their little gifts too!

Want to make your own mini loaf wraps? Check out the directions and printable template below.

• mini (or full sized, but you will have to make your own template) bread loaf
• variety of heavy-weight patterned paper plus coordinating card stock
• light-colored cardstock to use as a template
• scissors (regular and decorative edged)
• tiny hole punch
• twine or ribbon
• 1 1/4″ hole punch
• measuring tape
• ruler
• pencil and gel pen

1.) Print the template onto your card stock, if you are working with a mini loaf. If you are working will a full-size loaf, measure the perimeter (just sides and bottom, not top) of the short and long sides of the loaf. Note the width on the template card stock, and then measure the height of the sides of the loaf, noting this dimension as well.

2.) Cut out your printed template, or if you are making your own, mark the perimeter onto your card stock (my mini loaf measured 6×8″), and then mark out squares in the corner, measured to the size of the height of the loaf (mine measured 1.75″). Connect the lines with your ruler and a pencil, then cut along the lines to make the template.

3.) Using a pencil, trace the template onto the back side of your patterned paper, making sure the pattern is going the direction you prefer. Then cut out the patterned paper.

4.) Trim the tops of each side with decorative edged scissors.

5.) Using the tiny hole punch, punch holes into the two corners of each edge. You will punch 8 holes total.

6.) Punch a hole into your template with the 1 1/4″ hole punch, to use as a template for writing your tag labels onto the coordinating card stock. Lay the template over your coordinating card stock, and using a black gel pen, and write your message in the middle. If your first line ends up off centered, just adjust the template. This is why you are writing the label before punching out the circle.

7.) Once your label is written, line up the back side of the hole punch with your label and punch it out, making sure you leave enough room at the top for punching a tiny hole to attach the label with twine.

8.) Bend the sides of your patterned paper wrap, insert the loaf (wrapped in plastic or wax paper first), and interlace the tiny punched holes with twine. Make sure you have enough twine left on the ends to tie a bow! Trim the twine, tie it, attach the label, and then tie it into a bow.

That’s all there is to it! I made a bunch of these little guys at once, to keep back and use in the future, because they’ll be great to give for the holidays, as party favors, or to prettify a bake sale. Easy as pie, right? Or I should say, easy as quick bread. Enjoy!