Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Gift Bag : Give A Little Of Yourself When Gift Giving



With the cost of wrapping paper these days, I think it makes sense to be a little creative and save where you can. What about making your own gift wrapping without sacrificing the the quality and the recipient knowing your heart is truly in the whole gift?



This gift bag is actually made from  1/2 sheet of 12" by 12" scrapbook paper from  the Frosted Designs Rustic Beauty Kit. The flowers adorning the front are from the same collection.




I got this idea from perusing Pinterest and found an actual tutorial on You Tube by a wonderfully creative Stampin' Up Demonstrator from the UK. If you watch her video, it will show you exactly how I cut, scored, and glued this bag together.


At this point, I adorned the box using my computer to type out the sentiment, a piece of white ribbon, and the flowers from the Frosted Designs Rusic Beauty Kit.


Next, I glued the sentiment to a strip of the coordinating scrap paper and then attached it to the bag using 3D mounting squares.


And there you go! This bag took about 20 minutes to make from start to finish.
It's a small gift bag that would be perfect for a beautiful bar of handmade soap or a lovely piece of handmade jewelry.




I really enjoyed this project and I think your gift recipients would enjoy a gift you wrapped in your own home made bag, so give it a try, won't you?

As always, I appreciate your stopping by and welcome comments. 

Tommy Jo















Friday, March 13, 2015

Pretty in Pink

This week on the Frosted Designs Blog, our challenge was simply "pink". I was excited as it brought to mind one of my all time favorite movies, "Pretty In Pink".  I didn't necessarily want to tie this project to the movie, but the wheels kept turning. 

In true form, I procrastinated, but while doing so, I decided to sketch one of my favorite things; a whimsical girl. This sketch sat on my craft table a few days as my hand was beginning to hurt pretty bad and I just didn't have the angst to do anything with her.


 

I toyed with the idea of trying to color her in monotone, pink, of course :)

When my hand felt well enough to draw with, I began coloring and got this far before it was impossible to concentrate through the discomfort in my thumb. 


At this point, I was falling in love with her and sent a picture to my sister, my biggest fan. Tracy messaged me back with simply, "Send her just like that!"
Oh, she wanted me to finish her eyes, but she like her in this simple form. 

This intrigued me and I was sold on the idea, that I could complete this "Pink" challenge in a very unique way that would not be taxing on my hand.  I could show how simple it is to create a beautiful piece of art by simply dressing it up.

On Friday, I had to get a shot of cortisone in my thumb and the Dr told me I had to wear a splint.


 Luckily, I already had an idea for this painting AND challenge. One that I could complete with minimal usage of my thumb.

I had a white frame I had picked up at Michael's on sale a while back. It came with an ivory mat. Using a piece of scrap paper from the Frosted Designs Rustic Beauty kit, I covered the mat, adhering it with gel medium.



I distressed the inside and outside edges of the mat with an archival black ink stamp pad. 


I added a little more detail to the girl's hair and checked how she looked with this mat and frame. LOL....she was missing an eyebrow!!!!!! I needed to fix that and though pretty, I wanted to add a little embellishment to the frame.


And here she is, finished. She has both eyebrows and the frame is embellished with  a flower and butterfly, also from the Rustic Beauty Kit.


After seeing her, I thought this might make a wonderful way to dress up a meaningful black and white photos. Pretty in Pink, or Blue, Or Yellow, or Purple.... endless possibilities.