Bags and More Bags

I've made a lot of fancy giftbags using my cardmaking supplies: patterned paper, washi, stickers, diectus, you name it, I've probably used it on a card and also on a bag or wrapped gift at some point. At the moment I'm a bit obsessed with stencils, and here are a few examples:

Stellar Inks, blended through a big big Donna Downey (I think) flower stencil; pen outlines around the whole thing and Stickles Glitter Gels for the center.

Stellar Inks blended ombre style, through an Anna Griffin stencil; Eyelet Outlet Swirl Bling plus miscellaneous florals and a butterfly from the big box store.

Stellar Inks plus Stickles Glitter Gels through an Anna Griffin Stencil; with small flower bling throughout the design.

Stellar Inks blended outward through a Paper Smooches Succulent stencil that I turned into a stylized flower; outlined and studded with tiny pearls.

Two-toned Stellar Inks through an unknown stencil, with ancient Prima gems placed stragegically. (This isn't my favorite bag but... I love the positioning of the patterned stencil as a diamond that stretches to all the edges of the bag; so I'm going to remember that trick, at least!)

 

What I Did with the Perfect Pearls Trees

Before Christmas I made a bunch of TREE-mendous colorful diecuts, inspired by THIS POST on my favorite watercolor guru, Andrea Nelson's, Instagram.* Instead of using regular watercolors, I decided to get out my Ranger Perfect Pearls, figuring that the only thing better than watercolor trees would be SHIMMERY watercolor trees. I didn't show my finished items at that point, because they were intended as surprises for Christmas. But now, they've all been bestowed, so I can show them!

Project 1: Fancy Gift Bags

It's no secret that I love giftwrapping and I like to be extra fancy at Christmas. Sometimes folks say, "The wrapping is a gift in itself!" which is quite handy because, I'm not great at choosing actual presents; so 99% of the gifts I give contain some combination of:

1. Money or a giftcard

2. Something that I knitted or crocheted (often amigurumi food, lol!)

3. A silly novelty gift from Five Below or the Target Dollar Spot

4. A book I loved, with a bookmark I made

(Ta-daaaa!)

I used to feel a bit guilty about this, but I've stopped. I'm not good at everything, so I play to my strengths. It's efficient.

♥♥♥

Project 2: Framed Holiday Decor

These are inexpensive balsa wood frames from the big box craft store, painted white, adorned with diecut and blingy snowflakes, topped with the aforesaid trees. Not to brag, but I love how these turned out and if I ever do any kind of craft fair or holiday market, this will be one of the ideas I use.

♥♥♥

*If you like to watercolor at all... or even if you've previously been frustrated by watercolor and would like some easy/inspiring beginner project ideas, Andrea Nelson's Instagram is a fun, funny, fabulous destination, imo; my whole family loves her videos!  

Wrap It Up

I love fancy giftwrapping all year round... but I go all out for Christmas. As a papercrafter, I have LOTS of paper scraps, diecuts, texture paste, ink, bling and washi tape... all of which comes in very handy for wrapping and making unique gift bags!

Dylusions Reusable Nesting Gift Boxes

One of my favorite ways to stretch my supplies (and my budget!) is making my own "fancy" gift bags and boxes. It's a lot of fun, and let's face it, I already have ALL the ingredients, because papercrafting supplies are ideal for gift wrapping, too. Today I'm up on the Ranger Project Tutorials Page, using Archival Inks, Stickles and Liquid Pearls to adorn a set of three Dylusions Nesting Boxes. I'd love for you to check it out!

Did She Say, "Collage Box"?

Yes. Yes, I did. What IS a collage box? It's a gift box that instead of being temporarily covered in wrapping paper, gets its top and bottom permanently covered in vintage paper; in this case a large scale map of Bucks and Montgomery Counties in Eastern Pennsylvania* circa 1975.

After covering both parts of the box with the map (I like Scotch Create Gluestick for this sort of operation) I added my collage bits which consist of: torn pieces of 49 and Market Sherbet Lace 4" wide washi tape; vintage South American bus tickets; vintage Red Stamps; torn sheet music and text paper; some Chinese roses and a Sewing Pattern Lady. So what's in the box?

Is it a flower? Well, kind of. It turns out that any scarf with a ruffly edge can be twirled into a flower-like shape before wrapping, as you can see. Here's a photo where it looks much more scarf-like:

This pattern is called Open Lace Skinny Scarf (or possibly Poppy Scarf) by Emily Johannes aka @emilyj.designs who has also an Etsy Shop called Girlpower Designs. I made this one sliiiiiiightly skinner than the original because I was using up two different variegated luxury yarns, paired with Lion Brand's TruBoo and I wasn't sure if I'd have enough, which... I only just barely made it to the end, so my plan to go back and add rows to the flat edge, making it less floppy had to be abandoned. 

It's very pretty though. And VERY long. Possibly not super warm but... you can't have everything, right?

Here's the box again, I used a piece of vintage sari silk to hold the box shut. If you're NOT into collage or fancy/permanent gift wrapping, I still highly recommend using non-traditional types of paper for gift wrapping: large maps, old posters, and those cool folded infographics that are sometimes tucked inside National Geographic, are all faves of mine. Even an old standby from my childhood: wrapping gifts in the comics pages from the newspaper has a fun, distinctive look that your recipient will love and are super-economical, as well! Torn fabric, tulle, sari silk, twine and yarn all make great substitutes for ribbon... and you'll be LITERALLY thinking "outside the box"!!! ♥

*Fun fact: On the left hand side of the box's top, you can see the area where my brother and his family live... but since the map is from 25+ years before the subdivision was built, not even the roads are there yet!

Gift Wrap Wrap-Up

I've said it before and no doubt I'll say it again, but here it is now: Papercrafting supplies are AWESOME for wrapping gifts! Washi tape, journal cards, scraps of patterned paper or wrapping paper, ribbon, florals, chipboard shapes... they are all outstanding items to make your gifts truly unique!

(There's a tutorial for these Dylusions Dyamond Board ornaments on the Ranger Project Page!)

Brown Baggin' It

Papercrafting supplies... especially washi tape... are awesome for giftwrapping! Especially for fancying up and customizing plain bags from the big box store. 

For this pair of bags I incorporated a fabulous collage concept from one of my favorite designers, Katie Pertiet, who made Christmas tree cards by diecutting her trees from a collage of her beautiful 49 and Market tickets and ephemera. I loved this idea so much that I had to try it RIGHT NOW. There's a terrific video of Katie's process on her Instagram feed, so I won't go into a lot of detail. But I will mention that since I traced a couple of Dylusions Dyamond Board Small Trees instead of diecutting, I took the time to cut out one of each tree shape from a rectangle of scrap cardstock, and I used that as a frame to help me lay out my collage of vintage postage and tickets. I also used up a bunch of tiny leftover border and label stickers.

I have a lot of washi tape, so I often use it for backgrounds, as I've done here. You could use paper scraps or ribbons in the same way, though. 

I made a second, smaller collage of yellow postage and trading stamps, from which I diecut some happy little stars to surround the trees.

If you're looking for a last-minute card or giftwrap idea, this one is HIGHLY recommended! Thank you, Katie P!

Holiday Cheer is IN THE BAG!

Or, in this case, holiday cheer is in a pair of (formerly) plain white gift bags, adorned with Eyelet Outlet Washi Tape, Glitter Tape, Bling and Brads!

On the red and green bag we have: Christmas Jolly Holly Washi, Red Stripe Foil Tape, Santa Washi, Glitter Red Tape, Ho Ho Washi, and snowflake diecuts held on with large and small red Jewel Brads. Santa and Mrs. Claus are standing by to supervise the presentation of this gift!

The blue and silver bag is embellished with: Glitter Winter Tape, multiple strips of Glitter Silver Tape, sprinkled with 2" Snowflake Bling and 1.5" Snowflake Bling and the snowflakes are attached with large and small White Pearl Brads.

Every bag, box, card or package you need to decorate this holiday season will find the best choice of embellishments at Eyelet Outlet!

Lauren Bergold

loves wrapping Christmas gifts!

Blog * Instagram * Facebook

Seashore Garden Gift Set

Eyelet Outlet Brads, Washi Tape, Flowers and Bling are ideal for making cards and so much more! This gift set features Seashore Garden Washi Tape, Glitter Gold Tape, White Paper Flowers, Swirl Bling, Pearl Brads and more.

The square card also sports Sea Shore Brads, Shell Brads, Shell Corners and a yellow Pearl Swirl.

The rectangular card has all three sizes of white Paper Flowers held on with large (12mm) gold-edged purple Pearl Brads and accented with Swirl Bling in champagne. 

Whatever theme, style, colors or mood you're considering for your next card or project, Eyelet Outlet has all the embellishments you need!

Lauren Bergold

is dreaming of the beach!

Blog * Instagram * Facebook 

NOT Just for Cards!

Eyelet Outlet Washi Tape, Paper Flowers and Brads, that is. You can also use them to make customized gift bags, like this one. Just cover plain white cardstock with neat strips of tape (this variety is Happy Birthday Foil Washi)... print out an initial in your favorite font (this one's called Chicken Pie and was free on dafont.com)... trace and cut. Embellish with a few shades and sizes of Solid Color Paper Flowers held on with Candle, Party Hat and Cupcake or Cupcake Swirl Brads. For even more color and pizazz, diecut hearts from a coordinating tape, like Pink Checked Washi and use one repeat of the Birthday Tape to create your sentiment strip. Scatter a few Round Sequins and you're good to go. And yes, all of the above looks pretty good on a matching birthday card, as well!  

There are brads, tapes, flowers, sequins, bling and more for every style, theme or occasion you can possibly imagine in the EO Store... you should probably check that out!

Five Favorites: Wendy Vecchi

Every December I love reading "Favorites" posts on blogs and social media... you know, when people do a round up of the projects they loved most during the year. I always think to myself, "Someday I'm gonna do that!" and it looks like this might be the year! In honor of the fact that yesterday was Wendy Vecchi's birthday, I think I'll start with my favorite Wendy Vecchi MAKE ART projects... in more or less chronological order. (Click the links below each photo to see the original posts with all of the specific product details.)

Lucky Clover Card

The brilliant "seeds" of this came from Patti Behan at Ranger, who suggested using the hearts from Wendy's Merci and More Stamp, Die and Stencil set to make four-leafed clovers for a tutorial that ran on St. Patrick's Day. I wouldn't have thought of it, but once she said it, I was wholeheartedly ON BOARD! 

Moody Blue Mandala Monday

Not an official Wendy project, and it only uses a fraction of her Designer Series Archival Inks, but I really love this mandala, so it's IN!

Tropical Grunge ATC's

Wendy's three newest Archival shades --Rosey Posey, Peachy Keen and Morning Glory-- came out in June and I was instantly obsessed. I love everything I made for the release, but these funky, grungy, ink-over-collage ATC's miiiiiight be my favorite. 

Doodle Bird Garden Card

Another awesome suggestion from Patti, could I make a NON-holiday card using Wendy's Christmas in July release stamp sets, Doodle Christmas and Doodle Holiday. Yes. Yes, I could! 

(My favorite part? The flowers are the ornament cluster from Doodle Christmas, stamped upside down!) 

Gal-O-Ween Treat Bags

Did you know that the shopping bag stamp from the Let's Shop Stamp, Die and Stencil set has a coordinating die that lets you make gift-card-sized  DIMENSIONAL giftbags? Brilliant or what??! 

Holiday Gift Wrap Set

Ok, yeah, technically this is number six out of five, but I looooooove wrapping gifts; I really love using my papercrafting supplies to decorate them; and I especially love how Wendy's Doodle stamps, as well as her Chippies and Washi Tape Assortments combined to make this set super-festive!

♥♥♥

Just a reminder that the Ranger Blog, Project Page and IG Account are amazing sources of inspiration and ideas for using ALL of the wonderful Ranger projects. Also, Wendy Vecchi's Instagram is entirely awesome (be sure to check out Tip Tuesday each week!) and the MAKE ART with Wendy Vecchi FaceBook group is a super-fun place to hang out!

Holiday Style is in the Bag!

 Or rather, it's ON the bag! And, for that matter, other surface you'd like to decorate; because Eyelet Outlet brads and washi tape are wonderful for adding a festive holiday vibe to so much more than just cards! Like, for example, this plain white bag from the big box store:

To make your own custom washi tape diecuts, just line strips of your favorite tape up neatly on scraps of plain white cardstock and diecut as usual. These chunky letters feature, from left to right, Red Santa Washi, Vertical Tree Tape, Poinsettia Tape and vertically oriented Heart Tape. By choosing tapes with similar colors, they mix nicely; if you'd like more variety, add other shades. On top of the letters, we have some festive brads, including: Santa and Mrs. Claus, a Snowy Tree, a Poinsettia, a Holly Brad and a Snowman. To marry the letters to the bag I created a border by adding five strips of Garland Washi, flanked at the top and bottom by Glitter Green Skinny Tape. I carried all the tapes around to the sides of the bag and trimmed them neatly inside the crease. A bow... with a Candy Cane Brad... and a bit of red tissue paper, and this plain jane white bag is now a lovely customized gift! Instead of a holiday sentiment, you could adorn a big with washi tape initials or names; or use any of your favorite holiday shaped dies like ornaments, trees or even reindeer!

 

The Eyelet Outlet Store has brads, tapes, bling, enamels and sequins for literally ANY occasion you'd care to celebrate!

Wendy Vecchi Holiday Gift Wrap

One of my favorite parts of the holidays is the chance to be a Wrap Star, lol! Partly because a beautiful presentation makes a gift even more special; but also... I just really love using my stamps, inks, tapes and embellies to decorate boxes and bags. If you head over to the Ranger Blog, you can follow along, step-by-step, as I use Wendy Vecchi MAKE ART Stamps, Chippies and Washi Tape to turn plain jane bags and boxes from the discount store into the prettiest presents under the tree!

BIG Initials!

One of the easiest ways that I (Lauren) have found to quickly customize a plain store-bought gift bag is with giant initials, covered in Eyelet Outlet Washi Tape of which... fortunately... I happen to have quite a bit! I've also got some fun Enamel Hearts and Stars, which I've scattered around the bags for even more texture and interest.

It seems counter-intuitive to start with the tape rather than the initial, but in fact, that's sort of what I did. I did size and print my initials on plain white cardstock first, but... I didn't cut them out. Instead, I took my 4x6" outline letters (the font is called Storybook) and stapled them to 5x7" pieces of cardstock covered in neat strips of washi. Then, I cut them out!

Between my three initials, I've used about three dozen different tape styles, and I'll name and link a bunch of those in a minute, but really... this idea will work with ANY combination of tapes you like! You can organize them by color, as I have here; or by theme, or in rainbow order, or create patterns with the tape or... well, this is quite a flexible method and thus perfect for making the initials as unique as their recipients! I adhered my finished initials to some solid cardstock to create a skinny outline, then added some of the same tapes to each bag to complete the design.

And now here's a fairly thorough list of the tapes I used, from top to bottom, for each letter!

Letter K: Flower Washi, Pink Foiled Rose, Skinny Calendar Tape, Unicorn Washi, Zigzag, Pink Checked, Macaron, more Skinny Calendar (the set has three different styles), wide Funky Bird Tape, Heart Tape from the Valentine set, Tiny Hearts, the third of the Skinny Calendar Tapes and Pink + White Dots.

Letter R: Star Tape, Owl Washi, Script Tape, Skinny XO Foil Tape, XO Washi which is sadly out of print, Foiled Silver Dots, Antique Car Tape, Tire Tracks, Road Tape, Wood Washi, Music Keyboard Tape and a repeat of XO, Script and Stars.

Letter S: Cloud Washi, Skinny Tape, Purple Zigzag, Rainbow Tape, Purple Checked, Skinny Calendar Tape, Purple Gingham Check and Purple/Green Stripe Tape have, alas, gone; Llama Washi, More Clouds, Foiled Flower Tape and finally Purple Dots and Japanese Tape are also out of print, but... You can see the entire (huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge!) selection of Eyelet Outlet Washi, just by clicking this link!

Lauren Bergold

has quiiiiiite a bit of

EO Tape!!!