Recycled Wrapping Paper Gift Bag and Card

Happy New Year to you.  Thank you for taking a look at my little blog of makes.  Your interactions are always very much appreciated and I wish you well for 2022!

A few days ago, I celebrated my Birthday.  One of my friends called round with a present for me wrapped is some beautiful wrapping paper, which had a William Morris design.  I commented on it and she said that she had actually recycled it from a present she had received, saying that she was attempting to recycle as much gift wrappings as possible. 

After I had unwrapped my gift, I put the paper to one side, wonding what I could do with it.  Then inspiration struck.  My friends birthday is in a couple of weeks, so I decided to reuse the pretty wrapping paper.

Some of the paper had been well used.  I started by removing as much sticky tape as I could and then cut off the most tatty areas of the wrapping paper.  I then ironed the paper on a medium heat to try to remove the fold lines from previous use.  There are still a few, but because the pattern is quite busy, it does hide most of them.

I decided I would make a gift bag for her present.  I wasn't really sure where to start, but I did find a little tutorial on-line to help me.  This is the one that I watched.  It was simple enough to create.  I found some co-ordinating ribbon to thread through for the handles.  I then wrapped her gift in the same paper.

I had deliberately retained a large flat area of wrapping paper for the card front, I cut it square, mounted it on some nice grey/green card and then on to a cream card blank.

I'm really happy with the way the trio look and I'm certain my friend will appreciate my recycling efforts too.

Maybe 2022 will be the year of reduce, reuse and recycle for me!

Funky Fossil "Crooked Webs" Stencil - Halloween Gift Bags

I love to see the children dressed up in their Halloween outfits and welcome the children of our neighbours to call round in their finery.

For the little girls that live opposite us, I decorated some plain white bags with the Funky Fossil "Crooked Webs" stencil using "Carved Pumpkin" and "Picked Raspberry" Distress Oxide inks.  I'd picked up a sparkly/glittery pack of large purple spiders a while back (possibly from Home Bargains), adhering them to the bags using a silicon glue.

Hope & Chances Charity Kit - Gift Bag

I was making a purchase from the Hope and Chances website a couple of days ago and decided to pop one of their charity kits into my shopping basket.  The proceeds from the sale of these kits go to the Ronald McDonald House Charity.

This April 2018 Charity kit consists of instructions and everything you need to make the project (with the exception of adhesive). As soon as my order arrived today, I got cracking to make the decorated gift bag, the instructions were incredibly easy to follow and within minutes I had this little gift bag completed.

Halloween Bauble and Trick or Treat Bags (Design Team make for "Love To Craft Challenge Blog" #27)

This is my second month creating for the Design Team of the "Love To Craft Challenge Blog".  This time it is #27 (October 2018) and as always the prompt is "Anything Goes".

This time I have two projects on the halloween theme, which I hope will inspire you.  I've made a halloween bauble and trick or treat bags.

I had a clear plastic hanging bauble in my stash, just waiting to be used.  I asked Hubby to cut a slice off the back of the bauble so that I had an aperture for inserting the battery operated tea light which I balanced on a disc of black card.

Using a cob web & spider die (purchased second hand) I cut several of each.  I stuck the cobweb dies to the bauble and decorated it with shiny gems and silver stars.  For the spider. I stuck several die cuts together using a black foam pad for dimension and added white eyes.  Using a clear sewing thread I attached the spider to the thread and then tied it to the top of the bauble.  Hopefully this gives the look of the spider spinning the web.

I picked up a pack of white bags with a string handle from Home Bargains.  They come plain so ideal for dressing up.  Using a selection of halloween dies and stamps (Stampin' up Spooky Fun and Halloween Scenes Edgelits I created these bags ready for the Trick of Treat visitors at the end of the month.

Happy Halloween Gift Bag

The loss of my Polly last week meant that I really wasn't in the mood for crafting.  However, I did make this Halloween gift bag for our Grand Daughter, using Stampin' Up "Spooky Fun" stamp set and an skeleton die.

Halloween Trick or Treat Bags

Two little girls live across the road from our house.  At the weekend they were telling me that they are getting dressed up for Halloween, so I asked them if they would like to knock on my door when they're in their costumes to let me see them dressed up.  As these are special Trick or Treaters I've made them a Halloween gift bag each with some little bits and bobs in there that I thought they would like.

I had a pack of brown paper bags with raffia handles which I thought I'd dress up a bit.  (I got them in Home Bargains for about £1 some time ago). I found some 12x12 Halloween patterned paper in my stash (Bo Bunny Press) and went about dressing the bags.  I didn't have enough to do the same on both bags so each have two different designs. The "A" & "O" are the little ones initials so they can identify who they belong to.

Here's the front.

And the reverse.