fancy *HYBRID* xmas gift bags!

i was deliberating on what color to use for the nieces' and nephew's holiday gift bags, when i saw that this week's city crafter challenge (hosted by december's pixie dust paperie GDT!) is "kraft kreations" --thanks, ros, that was easy!!!

thrilled by the quickness of letting someone else make my difficult decisions, i hopped over to sketchy thursdays and nabbed the current sketch:


color...sorted! design...mapped! let the gift bag embellishment commence!!!

(digistuffs: papers: vera lim, gretchen thomas, katie pertiet; stickers: mindy tersawa; word art, tags & snowflakes: katie pertiet, designer digitals; real stuff: plain bags & wired ribbon from michaels; alphabets: thickers; snowflake punches: ek success & martha stewart; border punch: recollections; brads: my mind's eye; stickers: mrs. grossman, jolees; inks: colorbox; adhesives: gluedots, tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

ok, how cute are those "jolly friends" christmas characters? they're by mindy terasawa at designer digitals, and i used them last year too, but i couldn't resist a comeback! plus...HYBRID...totally saves you time when you need to make FOUR of something, but you want each one to be individual! believe it or not, i used only one 8.5x11" blank label sheet for each bag, and then just a few "real" embellishments on top for texture and interest. here are the printed bits in various stages:

you can see that i've got three panels: the one with the character on it, a blue one for a primary mat as shown in the sketch, and a longer skinny one for the very back panel behind. each one is a digital patterned paper to which i've added only a little customization...snowflake brushes in various colors...a couple of word arts...those cute dangly tags. the only thing i changed between printings was the cute little character; all else is the same on each bag. here's a shot where you can see the "real" things i added:

i spelled each name in thickers (whose adhesive i enhanced with my sewing machine; i LOVE thickers...but they don't always stay ON, do they??!) the character panel was matted on copier paper and trimmed with scalloppy scissors. i added a punched strip of white paper and a bit of lace. i swapped out the cute journaling spot in the sketch for a compound snowflake made up of a large punch, a few stacked stickers, and a very fancy brad holding it all together.

i stuck all the bits on, and at the end i trimmed up the top with some swirls of ribbon and a fancy bow...et voila!

in closing may i please apologize to all my lovely blogging friends?! i realize i've been a NON-presence in your comments, but not in spirit!!! at the moment, the holidays are verrrrrrrrrrry slightly kicking my crafty butt! :) also...the upcoming january pixie dust kit is very VERY special to me indeed, and i'm finishing up some pretty cool projects to show you next month over there. then i've got a super-cool new DT gig that starts january 6th, about which i am most excited! oh yeah, and did i mention my darling stef and i are hatching a CUNNING PLAN??!?!?!? :) :) :)

please bear with me, and for now accept an extra helping of my holiday cheer, darlings! ♥♥♥