Hello Santa Gift Bag

Howdy.  and welcome.  For those of you who are following me, I thank you for your patience.  Life has gotten in the way of me crafting.  Super sad, right?  Yeah.  But, I believe that I have a handle on this.  And hopefully my posts keep coming, and I can share with you what I have created.  {smile}

I know that Christmas is only 15 weeks away.  Wow, can you believe it?  I have decided to start crafting, to get my inventory up.  I have two craft fairs on my books, and I am looking into adding one more.  So, let's get started.  {smile}

I like to use non traditional holiday colors; so anything other than red and green.   And I prefer to use retro or vintage style.  And I am pretty happy with what I came up with.  

gift bag:

The 'bag' is 4 1/2" x 8", so it will hold a fair amount of loot!  {smile} 

Recipe:  The red (pure poppy) and black (true black) card stock are both from PaperTreyInk.  The 'red' has an orange undertone, to coordinate better with the vintage red images.   The pattern papers are 'Hello Santa', that I purchased from a big box store.

I matted each of the pattern papers with solid card stock.  Just to help define the papers.  

I added a simple border stitch around the main panel and the polka dot pattern paper.  I felt that the machine stitching added a 'homespun' look & feel to my project.

I machine sewn a scrap piece of cream cotton trim to the focal panel.  I wrapped some black, cream, and metallic bakers twine around this piece.  I tied a snowflake 'charm' to the bakers twine.

I purchased this fun font 'Merry Christmas' stamp at the same big box store I pirated the pattern paper from.  I stamped the sentiment in basic black classic ink, onto white linen card stock from PaperTreyInk.  I hand cut the ovals.  I used a piece of sand paper to help keep the edges clean and neat.

I added a 'Santa Delivery' tag to the top of the bag.  I tied on a scrap piece of real red pom pom trim with the same back, cream, and metallic bakers twine.  I added a scrap piece of the polka dot paper to the clothes pin.

Thank you for looking.  I hope I have inspired you to use some of your new or old crafting supplies to create something pretty!

Note Pads

I have been working on some crafts for some upcoming holiday arts and craft fairs, held here, in Albuquerque New Mexico.  A couple of the items that I really enjoy making is altered notebooks and covering note pads.  I know that sounds kinda boring.  But, I find the whole process alot of fun!  I always make some of these items in non-holiday themes.  That way, this item is also appropriate after the holidays.

covered notepad

altered notebook

The covered note pads have 25 pages of lined paper.  The altered notebooks have 80 pages of lined paper.  I don't make my crafts in mass production.  So almost everything is an original.  The most of one thing I have made is a gift bag.  I made four.  I'll share a sneak peak photo this weekend.  So stay tuned.