“What is she talking about now?” you are probably thinking, I’m talking about the gift of crafting. Every year I donate a painting, gift card set or some other artsy-fartsy thing to be auctioned off to benefit a local woman’s shelter. The last few years I have made gift bags full of assorted greeting cards. I make extra throughout the year and gather them up when auction time rolls around. While someone may not need a painting everyone need greeting cards so the next time you are making a card make a few to donate, you can send them to out troops overseas or package them up for a charity auction. Here is this years:
If you don’t even have time to use the supplies you have been hording you can purge some of your “unlikely to use” stash and donate the supplies to the children’s ward of a hospital, a local school or a women’s shelter, they will all welcome the supplies and doesn’t it feel good to share?
Speaking of sharing I have some printable watercolor background paper to share. I made it by Spraying a sheet of cardstock with my homemade shimmer spray then I colored my new rubber cafe stamps with watercolor crayons that I QUICKLY dipped in water first and stamped, then sprayed the stamp then stamped again. I did this until the sheet was full. The collage was so pretty that I decided to scan it in case I wanted to use it again then I asked permission form Melissa, the owner of the Rubber Cafe, if I could share the collage and she said “yes!” Note: Making patter paper with stamps is so much fun, please try it, but if you want to scan and share it make sure you get permission first from the company as most companies forbid any mechanical reproduction.
Download the 8 1/2″ x 11″ 300 dpi pattern paper here.
Here is a list of the stamps used in this project (All by The Rubber Cafe): Together, Large Paisley Dragonfly, Small Paisley Dragonfly, Small paisley Butterfly, Floral Swirl, and a valentine stamp.
Gift bag instructions: I used my score pal and a sheet of 12″x18″ Strathmore art paper but you can just measure and fold or wrap the paper around a book to make the gift bag.
Step 1. Score the paper (short side) at 2″, 8″, 10″, and 16″. turn the paper and score 1″ from the top, and 2″ from the bottom. If you are using the score pal you will need to shift the paper up to score the full line, make sure to keep it against the fence. Snip off one of the 2″ squares on the bottom end:
Fold ans secure with hot glue. Punch holes and insert ribbon. Decorate as desired. They only take a minute to make and they are so special and inexpensive. Thanks for stopping by and until next time happy crafting!
The Frugal Crafter Blog 