After making several gift bags with a floral theme, one of my daughters said, “Make a guy one, Mom, and make it blue!”  I replied, “Are we talking about a gift bag, or are we talking about the movie with the blue people?”  LOLs…Well, I remember that Laurie Furnell had some gorgeous masculine graphics released in the May PCHugclub, and I also have some coordinating cardstock, so I said, “Sure, why not?”  So, here’s what I came up with:

… and here are the step-by step instructions with pics:

1. First grab a paper lunch bag and measure how wide it is. (Don’t have a lunch bag on hand?  Make it yourself with these instructions.)

2. Use this measurement to adjust the size of the Gift Bag Body template so that the base – the short side – is the same as the width of the lunch bag (scroll down to my May 26, 2010 entry to download the template if you haven’t done that yet). While adjusting the size of the template, make sure to keep proportions of the template by holding the shift key down (if using the digital template). If you traced the image with SCAL2 or MTC, make sure that the “keep proportions” box is checked before changing the size of the cutting file.  Don’t forget to adjust the size of the Gift Bag Handle template also.

3. Cut two pieces of the Gift Bag Body, two pieces of the Gift Bag Handle and two 1-inch wide strips from cardstock of your choice.

4. Glue the handle and the 1-inch strip to the gift bag body – I use rubber cement so that the paper will not wrinkle. Trim excess paper  when necessary.

5. Cut the top of the lunch bag so that it is about a half- inch below the handle opening.

6. Glue each bag piece to the lunch bag. Embellish as you wish (refer to the picture on top for the final “look”).

Tags: decorate a lunch bag, guy gift bag

I haven’t been able to post last week due to the kids’ crazy end-of-the-schoolyear schedules and one kid getting sick. So this week, I’m posting several projects to make up for the non-post, LOL.

First up is this classy pink and black gift bag. I really like this color combination, and although it doesn’t show very well, the white strip is embossed with swirlies. The paper flower is made from 15 1-inch punched circles, arranged in 3 circular layers with 5 circles per layer. I wanted to lighten the color of the petals for added interest, so I bleached some parts of the flower. Yes, that’s right, bleach, LOL!  I dipped a paint brush in liquid bleach, then stroked on the areas I wanted to highlight.

This second colorful bag uses a paper carnation. The how-to link for this paper flower was shared by Shelly/catladyof5 on the PCCrafter message board. She used these instructions from Lynn Larson of Learn to Stamp and Scrap. Thank you, Lynn for the fabulous idea and instructions!

Here are two more:  instructions for the yellow paper rose can be found here - big thank you to Maria of Imagine, Create, Inspire! Thank you also to Nancy/Nanc on the PcCrafter message board for sharing the link! For the pink rose, I followed the instructions by Helen Croft of Scrap a Little – another big thank you!

Hmmm, I can see you’re getting impatient, LOL,  how did I make these bags? These were done using my trusty ol’ Cricut with SCAL2, but you can also use the trusty ol’ scissors. For those with a Cricut/SCAL2 (or MTC), trace the images below to produce the cutting files.

For those using scissors or who like to do some digital decorating, here are the templates:

You can see from the side view shots of the gift bags that I just used a purchased white lunch bag with the top cut off. It is really the easiest way to do, although you can also glue/tape a long strip of paper in between the two bag pieces.

Whew! This is one long post! I will be posting the entire instructions tomorrow (with pics and everything), but I’m betting that a lot of you can pretty much figure out what I did already, LOL!

Tags: gift bag, gift bag template, paper flower

The Card Swap hosted by Mary/MEW  on the PCCrafter message board just finished another month of card making with rain  as the theme. I was almost late getting my cards to my swap partner, DeeDee, but I hope that by this time, she already got the cards I made. 

While thinking of what cards to make, I realized that while living here in Southern California,  I’m almost always asking for it to rain.  The lack of rain has left most of California in drought conditions for several years already. When it does rain (and it has rained a bit more than usual this spring), my family and I just love it! We open the door and watch the puddles become bigger, or we watch the rivulets of water trace paths on the windows. 

I confess that I did not always feel such affinity to the rain – growing up in the northern mountainous region of the Philippines, there were times when it would rain for three months straight (monsoon season). Everything was wet, gloomy and muddy, but the plants loved it – the whole landscape was green. I guess that most of us have mixed feelings regarding rain – and that is the  inspiration for these two cards I made:

Inside the card, it says “You’re a friend of mine!”, note that the little girl is smiling!

This is the second card:

The sentiment inside the card says, “Feeling under the weather? I hope you’ll feel better!”, and of course, the little girl does not look happy.

I added glossy accents to the raindrops and puddles for dimension on both cards. The cardstock I used for matting and card base are by Best Occassions, the embossed white card stock is from my stash and the cheerful yellow ribbon is by Martha Stewart. How about the digital images of the little girl? Well, you can get both graphics (already colored) by posting a comment below. If you prefer to color it yourself, please request the line art/digital stamp in your comment.  I will e-mail it to you as soon as possible.

Tags: girl with umbrella freebie graphic, rain card

Doesn’t that cupcake just look so…yummylicious? And yes, I promised that this cupcake tote template will be available at Gem’s Cottage by May 4,  it’s now May 5 and it’s still not in the store! 

I am so sorry that it’s late… Yes, I was busy (kids!!!), but  usually, I can finish everything I need to get done. However, I didn’t figure that migraine would wreak havoc on my schedule… the teacher appreciation ”care packs”  and Mother’s Day gifts for family and friends that I was planning to  make all went down the drain.

 I needed a Plan B – and I think this jumbo chocolate cupcake in the tote is it! Nope, I didn’t bake this myself (I cheated and got this from the store again, LOL! ), but I did add the frosting and the strawberries. Of course, I had to make sure that it tasted good… and it did! 

BTW, to those who are patiently waiting for the template or the cutting file to be uploaded in the store, it will be available by tomorrow, May 6 (really! cross my heart!).

Tags: birthday cupcake, Mother's Day, Teacher's Appreciation Day