I see all of those pretty gift bags in the paper crafting magazines and I always think to myself, WOW, pretty but it would break my heart to see it thrown away after the gift was opened. I also think that these women must have way too much time on their hands to decorate a gift-bag when you can go and buy a lovely one at the dollar store, I’d never bother to do that! Never say never folks! I bought some stamps the other day (big surprise) and it came in a plain little kraft bag with handles, too nice to toss in the recycling but it had printing on the front that I wasn’t in love with so I used some of the Cosmo Cricket paper that I got in my DT package from the Rubber Cafe last month, a doily that I cut up and sprayed with my homemade shimmer spray, my homemade dewdrops, die cuts and my new Rubber Cafe stamps to create this recycled gift bag:
All of the items I used were just laying around on my craft table leftover from other projects with the exception of the vintage clip art. If you would like to download a sheet of vintage clip art including the card used on my bag click here. The heart stamp used on this project fits in the space on the card perfectly. I sprayed the flourish (Accent Essentials Cartridge: Cricut) with gold and red shimmer spray, dried it with a heat tool then stamped the Love Words stamp on top.
The stitching is fake! I used a piercing bee (EK Success)and a ruler to make the holes (place the paper on a foam pad or scrap of corrugated cardboard before piercing) then I lined up the strait edge next to the holes and drew along the line with a fine tip marker. If you learn nothing else from my blog learn that!
Here is a preview of the vintage valentine freebie. Just download it and print it. Easy Peasy!
Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!
I really *love* your faux stitching ~ I’m defintely going to give this a try! Thanks so much for all the hard work you put into maintaining your blog. I really enjoy it and appreciate all you do. Thanks!
Jen
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Thank you so much for the freebie and the idea for the faux stitching!
Carmen
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Oh my gosh! I LOVED your tip on sewing!!!! I absolutely HATE so sew, but love that look on your page. What a fun tip!!!! Now I’ve GOT to go get me a cutter bee. I thought people used it to poke the holes and then handstitch. I don’t have time for that, but I can poke holes and use a pen! Thank you so MUCH for a lovely tip! I can’t wait to use it. Maybe I’ll have to make a quick trip to town! LOL. Thank you Thank you!!!!
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Gorgeous gift bag Lindsay!! WOW!! Great job!!
Hugs…
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Thank you so much for the great tip & beautiful freebie!
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Wow Lindsay …this bag is gorgeous! Thanks for the faux stitching tip and the freebie!!
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Whoa! Very nice! and I was initially put off by the “stitching”: when I got to the point where you wrote, “The stitching is fake! “, I just fell in love!!!
Great work, and I am encouraged….
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Thank you for your great article. I also must say that your layout is a pleasure to view. Keep up the good work.
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