Green & Red Poinsettia Gift Bag

Howdy.  I have been having such a great time making these little fabric scrap Christmas 'trees' that I just had to make another. {smile}.  And today, I am on my second post of these gift bags.  I used the same fabric as the previous post, but this time I created a 'green' bag.

I am entering this bag into these three challenges:  Die Cuttin Divas, Inky Impressions Challenge, and Crafting By Desings.   

The wonderfully talented ladies over @ Die Cutting Divas have a great holiday preparations challenge:  Tag, Bag, or Box.  Sounds perfect! and let's just admit it, something we need to get crafting, anyways.  {smile}

I am playing along with the creative design team over @ Inky Impressions Challenge.   Their current challenge is to use: Traditional Christmas Colors: Red, Green, and Kraft.  I believe this is right up my alley, so to speak.  The design team has done a wonderful job at providing us with some inspiration.  

I am also playing along with the ever inspiring design team over @ Crafting By Designs.   Their current challenge is themed: getting ready for Christmas.  I think all of us can create something beautiful to play along with their challenge, too. {smile}

Finally, I am using the inspirational photo from the card Concept.  I am not 'playing' along with their challenge, due to the fact, that their challenge site is for cards, and not projects.  But their inspirational photo is very beautiful, home-y, and a bit vintage-country. {smile}

and here is my Green version of my holiday gift bag:

a close-up of the 'tree'

Recipe:  I used green card stock to create the bag shape.  It measures 4 3/4" x 12".  A nice size for that special holiday gift.  {smile}

To create the 'tree' I tied on strips of fabric from a fat quarter set by Stampin' Up!.  It is retired.  But I love the red blossoms, the green accents and the brown patterns.  Very pretty, vintage-y, and a bit country.

I also added some crochet trims, tree tinsel, green velvet ribbon with red satin backing, and a brown gingham ribbon.

The fabric, trims, and ribbons are tied to a kraft striped paper straw.  I topped my 'tree' with a single red paper rose.

I tied on a trio of vintage buttons with kraft twine.

The background and sentiment are hand-stamped using crumb cake classic ink.  I just love how soft and 'innocent' this color looks on vanilla card stock.

I love to add some machine stitching to my hand-crafted cards and projects.  I think it 'finish'es a project, and adds that special homemade touch.  {smile}  I also added some machine stitching to the sentiment rectangle.  

I hope you create something beautiful and holiday inspired, so you can play along with these challenges, too!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.   And yeah, I have a few more gift bags to share with you.  But, I'll leave those for another post.

Scraps of Trim 'Tree'; Gift Bag

Howdy.  Whew.  I'm been busy.  Busy like everyone else!  This was a big week to cook; which I love!  I really do enjoy baking and cooking.  Creating beautiful, delicious food is one of my passions.  I think food should not only look great, but taste great!  Thanksgiving, is my husbands favorite holiday, because of the food.  Funny, huh?  

One of my other passions is crafting.  Mostly paper crafting.  I love to create beautiful things out of paper.  I made a 'tree' out of scraps of fabric, and totally loved how super cute they came out.  And while I was visiting some of my favorite challenge sites, I read the post of 'Lace' @ Shabby Chic .  It did give me an idea on making a 'tree' out of scrap pieces of lace, crochet trim, and ribbon.  I am pretty happy with they came out.  [they, I made two {smile}].

I am entering a few challenges today with my little creation:  Love to Scrap  , Die Cutting Divas , Scrap & Craft Inspiration , and Crafting By Designs.

The talented ladies over @ Love To Scrap! , will surely inspire you with they variety of creative styles.  Their current challenge:  Anything Goes.

The talented ladies over @ Die Cutting Divas, have a current challenge: Tag, Bag or Box.  You should see the great boxes, bags, and tags these ladies made.  Very inspiring.
The design team over @ Scrap & Craft Inspiration have a current challenge: Shabby Chic or Vintage.  These creative ladies are located in Europe.  and therefore, their styles of crafting is very layered, with lots of embellishing.  Very beautiful, very inspiring,  and very creative.
And finally, the lovely ladies over @ Crafting by Designs, have a current challenge: Get Ready for Christmas.  I strongly encourage you to take a look at this creative design team's entries.  Just lovely!

here is what I made:

I used crumb cake card stock for the 'bag'.  I used a gold card stock as my matt.  I think it adds a bit of  glamour to my bag.  I used shimmer white card stock for the main panel.  I stamped my three different size snowflakes in two different kraft colored inks: crumb cake classic ink, and classic kraft ink.  I used my sewing machine to add a 'homespun' look to my bag, by sewing a simple border.  

I collected my trims: crochet trims, cotton trims, ribbons, and thin tinsels, and tied them around a cinnamon stick.  I added a trio of buttons.  I tied them on to the cinnamon stick with a gold, silver, and cream twine.  And I added a Melissa Frances rhinestone button to the top of the cinnamon stick.

My sentiment is stamped and matted the same way I did the main panel of the bag.

close-up of the buttons:

Thank you for looking.  I hope you have been inspired to create something beautiful, too!  And join these two challenges.