Tag Bag

Sorry for my absence! Fourth grade was great fun, but also pretty energy draining. And then, of course, I had computer issues so everything had to be re-formatted. Now I just have to get it back to where it used to be. :) Ah, the joys of computers.

This little guy is a lunch bag sized project for my bag class tomorrow night. I just took a normal brown paper lunch bag & cut it at 5 1/2 ". Then I created a front & back panel for it & spiced things up a bit using Tags Til Christmas & the Soft Holly Wheel. You could add handles at the top with a Crop-a-Dile or Word Window Punch, but I rather liked it as is. The whole cover won't fit in the Square Lattice Emboss Folder, but it works great to just leave out the bit that was stamped with the wheel. A fun new discovery for future bags of this size!

Candy Cane Christmas Bag

Yeahy! Another bag idea came to me and, while it's pretty out of the box for me, I really do like it. I knew I wanted a white bag base & that I wanted to use the Candy Cane Christmas designer paper. So, I started to look through the sheets & realized that they ornaments reminded me of those from "Tree Trimmings" especially with that little bow connecting them all. Then I looked through my scraps of cardstock than coordinate with Candy Cane Christmas & came up with two sizes/shapes I thought would be fun. Oh, and I still hadn't used my new Glass Glitter so I added it on with the help of Sticky Strip. Of course I couldn't leave out my Candy Cane buttons either! They are a bit big for most of my card projects but are able to add just the right touch to a gift bag. Okay, I'm off for another day in fourth grade. Think of me tomorrow morning when I'm a substitute with a Halloween party. :) Every day is an adventure!

Dasher Mini Bag

Another little bag for you all today. Can you tell how glad I am that I invested in the Fancy Favor Die? I use it so often & I've been told it makes a great gift card holder too. I'm going to have to try that one out soon.

This little bag let me play with a couple of ideas that have been bouncing around in my head. I finally have my own Crop-a-dile so I didn't have the issues punching through all the layers that we had with the Butterfly Bag. It's so easy! I especially like that I can set the depth for punching so things come out even each time. I've also been experimenting with embossing on vellum. It's such a fun & different look. It took me a little while to realize that this little guy was in need of some bling, but I'm so glad that I added on a few of our Rhinestones just to make him shine a bit. Fun, but simple---my favorite type of project!

A CASED Bag

By request, I CASED this bag from the Holiday Mini Catalog. Of course, I had to make a couple of changes. :) Folks had lots of fun making them in class though--- and most of theirs even turned out round. A trait that is simply over rated in my opinion. It's handmade, right?

I attempted to turn this bag into a card, but it's simply too big. We'd need lots of mini circle punches to pull it off as well as much smaller buttons. So, a bag it had to be. For my upcoming bag classes, I plan to switch things up even more & use the pre-glittered designer paper from this project along with the excellent buttons to make a whole new bag! Otherwise we would make two circle wreaths. No need for that!

Cindy's Cardinals

Well, as if often happens, one of my hostesses fell in love with a swap card from my board. So, I revamped it just a little to make in class last night. A huge thanks to my upline, Cindy, for creating this simple & lovely little card. Everyone especially loved the rhinestone bling! It's just great fun to add on & so easy since they are self-adhering. I had to switch out Cindy's red ribbon for black since my ribbon supply is a little low and, while I never thought I would use black ribbon on a Christmas card, it turned out pretty well. I also didn't have any shimmery white cardstock, so I had folks spray regular Whisper White with the Shimmer Mist I made for my balloon invite the other day. Perfect! The only issue to be careful about is that it can cause smearing in already stamped/colored images.

Bag Turned Card

Today's challenge was to change the Glimmer Bag from a while back into a card. Folks really seem to like the bag, so I wanted to create an opportunity for people to make a card version even if they aren't hosting or attending one of my bag classes.

I think it turned out pretty well. Each time I create a big tree from Lovely as a Tree's pine, I find it goes a little better. This time around I did a lot more "second generation" stamping. In other words, I didn't re-ink each time before stamping. Just like on the bag, I mixed re-inker with shimmer paint to stamp the ornament. This time I used the ornament from Tags Til Christmas instead of one from Delightful Decorations. Just a reminder that right now if you order both Tags Til Christmas & the Ornament Punch you will save 20% on both! If you already have the Ornament Punch you can replace it with the Decorative Label Punch for the same deal.

I'm off to get ready for another Christmas Card Class tonight at a friend's home. If you would like to get your friends together for a card or bag class this holiday season, contact me & we'll set you up with an evening or afternoon of fun. For that matter, I even do mornings. :)

Bells & Boughs Holly

I had a request for a simple card using Bells & Boughs & the Deck the Halls Designer paper. It's a great combo & right now it's on sale too! If you buy them together you save 20% on both thanks to the Handmade Holidays promotion through Stampin' Up. Oh, and I was supposed to work in the Christmas Collage stamp too, but I found that it just didn't quite fit in this design.

I do love the holly stamp and so it was fun to create a card that totally centers on it. Between the paper, the stamped background, and the embossed accent the holly definitely has strong representation. :)

Sorry for the late post today. It's hard to get one up when I need to be at work super early. Excuses, excuses, I know! Perhaps I'll do better tomorrow. For now, it's off to cut paper!