Sunday, October 23, 2011

embellished shopping bag

when i found these photos in a file the other day, i realized i never posted this "passionately purple" gift bag i made for niece lindsay's eighth birthday! since her main present was the fancy (if oddly shaped and hard to wrap!) princess crown i made with october's anniversary pixie dust kit, BLUE MOON, i converted a full-sized kraft shopping bag for the purpose:



i knew for a fact that miss l's official favorite color was still purple, but something i didn't realize beforehand is that her OTHER favorite color is aqua blue; by the merest chance the exceptionally elderly large alphabet stickers i chose to spell her name had aqua and white accents, so i built my design around them.


it just so happened that i had a few punched butterflies leftover from another project, so i die-cut some additional ones from purple scraps and made a... flock? swarm?? (what's the collective noun for butterflies? ...anyone...??!) of those babies. all they needed were a few pearls to make them super-fab!


finally, stuck for just the right trimming at the top of the bag, i sewed some very old purple ribbon to a long length of doubled-over broderie anglaise lace i found at a yard sale; hot glued it into place, and finished it all off with another butterfly and a few florals.


i don't think there's a single item involved in this project that's less than three or four years old--including the bag! but it just goes to show how "stash shopping" is not only a great way to save money... sometimes it's a great design choice, too! ♥


(vintage: lace; recycled: shopping bag; patterned paper: dcwv, bo bunny, prima, anna griffin, laura ashley, doodlebug, paper co, sei; letters: making memories; bling word: heidi swapp; paper flowers: prima; aqua flower: webster's pages; silk flower sprig & purple ribbon: michaels; border punch & pearls: recollections; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, hot glue)

6 comments:

  1. It's a rabble or swarm. I still call it a herd and people seem to know what I mean. :)

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  2. I bet she loved it...check out all that goodness....pure perfection!

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  3. This is a fantastic bag Lauren. Your Niece will adore & cherish it x

    hugs sally x
    sallysbitz.blogspot.com

    (ps..Ihave candy up for grabs)

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  4. Wow, This is sooo Elegant and Pretty! Love your design and the Fabulous Butterflies! Just really Beautiful!

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  5. So so so pretty. And purple is such a great color!

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