the antidote (and then some!) for minimalism

because you *KNEW* the plain white background scenario wasn't going to happen again any time soon, right? but miss lindsay marie is officially ♥11♥ (!) years old today, and i can assure you that young lady is definitely a proponent of "more is more" (like her auntie!) when it comes to design generally, and giftbags in particular, so i went all out, as you can see, with sparkly papers, glittery green letters, plenty of lace, lots of flowers... the works!

(patterned papers: k and co, basic grey, plus scraps of echo park, pink paislee and crate; florals: prima, petaloo, recollections; green sparkly chipboard letters came from miss leslie (ta v much!) they might've been either SU or recollections?; brads: prima, american crafts; lace from my stash; plain purple giftbag from michaels; adhesives: elmer's brand gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, gluedots, sewing machine

would you believe i used the current (awesome!) retro sketch (#134):

i'm always very aware, when basking in their beautifully streamlined, clean-and-simple aesthetic, that my stuff probably makes the retro-sketchers feel as if they've been (metaphorically) punched in the face by my maximalist tendencies. hopefully they take the view that a really GREAT sketch (which this is!) can be adapted effectively to any design style?

so what's *IN* the bag? well, there's a little something for the savings account, an american girl card-making kit that i just could not resist, a cool pink faux leather letter "L" for the birthday girl's bedroom, and there miiiiiiiiight also be a crocheted element inside, as well... if so, i will show you next week! (how's that for a cliff-hanger, darlings?!) :)