Gift Bag Upscale Tweak

Gift Bag Upscale 

Who doesn't love pretty wrapping? You may as well use the same energy making it personalized.

Let's just admit it, when we purchase these bags for the correct size the theme is not quite spot on, especially if we're shopping Dollar Tree.

So in 30 minutes, this gift bag went from wrong theme ordinary, to personalized, gift filled matching tissue paper and completed. Yes 30 minutes, it's worth it.

Where To Start

Grab your gift bag, this one is a Dollar Tree Baby Gift Bag. Grab any color ideas you will be working with. You can do that by pulling a color from the bag you are working with or your recipients favorite colors. Here I am working with Silhouette Glitter Vinyl, and as we all know glitter goes with everything, lol. Gloss vinyl also works well on gift bags. Heavy Cardstock is another idea. Do not forget all the lovely stickers at Dollar Tree if you do not have a craft cutting machine. 

Measure the portion that needs covered, get creative.
This bag has letters that are 1 inch wide and 1 1/2 inches tall. It would be very tricky to cover these letters, with just letters, so adding an outline made it possible to cover that space. Don't know how to add outlines, check out this post on my Silhouette Blog.

I just happen to love adding extras with hearts or stars, but in this case the bag already had hearts, so I went with the theme.

I do not like to waste much product so that's really how I make my final decisions on the 'extra' bling. I typed out the name on my 12x12 Silhouette Studio mat. Resized as I needed it, seen how big of a piece of vinyl I needed to cut these letters. Then in my extra space I just cut out a bunch of hearts. When I setup the white to cut I decided to add my favorite Happy Birthday cut out, then added a few more hearts slightly larger than the pink ones.

On this bag the glitter vinyl was repositionable so I just sort of played with it a bit until I had a look I liked. When using regular vinyl use low tack transfer or prep your transfer so it is low tack or it can stick to your gift bag. (DO NOT put transfer on vinyl you are sticking to tissue paper.) Cutting your shapes and letters out individually with very little background will give you the ability to mock up your look before committing and sticking it down. Remember when sticking glitter vinyl to glitter vinyl add some kind of extra adhesive.

I could have just admired my 20 minute success and moved on, but why stop now? That sad looking 'yellow' handle had to go. Cut and remove.

Rummage your ribbon stash, find something that accents your now upscaled gift bag.

There are dozens of ways to replace these ribbon handles that will remain steady. The one I chose to do here was to just loop it through and tie it to itself on the inside. If it's a thick ribbon you could tie it in a knot on the inside, or if you love your glue gun you can hot glue it. To measure for handles place the old one next to your new ribbon and add the span you'll need for it to tie to itself, cut. Then cut your second one the same size.

Add leftover hearts to tissue paper. NOTE: If stamping tissue paper to match you will want to add your stamp to each corner of the tissue paper before inserting. When adding vinyl to personalize your tissue paper, simply add your tissue paper then 'sprinkle' stick vinyl as you like.

The Pink and White Glitter Vinyl is from the Silhouette America website in the vinyl section.

Repurpose everyday boxes into Gift Boxes

BOX UPSCALE

 

 

 

I love to tweak boxes. So any time I see a quality box I stash it away and wait for the perfect opportunity to reinvent it. A quality box must meet at least one of a few criteria.

 

• A lid and a bottom (separate, easier to tweak)
• Quality construction
• Unusual size or shape

Do you recognize this box? This was an easy cheesy redo, but came out beautiful.

 

 

 

1 Whitman's Sampler Box

2 Sheets 12X12 scrapbooking paper

1 poinsettia flower grouping

hot glue gun

favorite scrapbooking glue (I use an ATG gun, and Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive

 

I purposefully left the bottom of the box sides with the Whitman's logo etc. When I repurpose I frequently leave one section original, also covering this are may effect the functionality of the box. If you wanted to cover it I would recommend paint in this area.

 

From first sheet of paper I cut:

2 - 8.75X5.5 pieces this covers the top and bottom of the box

 

From the second sheet of paper I cut:

2 - 2.25X8.45 for the sides

2 - 2.25X5.2 for the narrower sides

1 - 8.25X5.25 for the lid liner on the inside

 

I cut just the flowers from the stems.

 

Glue embellishment pieces in place with hot glue gun.

 

Happy Tweaking, keep your eyes open for boxes you can tweak.

Wedding Tweaking

Repurposed to make Wedding Décor

 

Well, for those who know me this post needs a story. I am a Tweaker, I Tweak things. I look at things, I see the vision of something different. My forte is not, perfect colors, well thought out visions. When I am working with something I need the freedom and grace to Tweak it as the project dictates.

I DON'T DO WEDDINGS! If you spend any time with me, you've heard me say it.

It's a personal choice, nothing against my friends, and family, or your loved ones.

Why you ask? Weddings are a persons vision, often something a woman has dreamed about for a long time. I most likely am limited and cannot match your colors, your font may not work for the avenue which you are trying to use it, and lastly I do not work well with short deadlines.

What I do is an art; my art may not be your vision.

 

So having said all that, when I reacquainted with an old friend with a referral from a long time friend. I found myself in a challenge I couldn't resist. Recycled products 14 pieces total, wood pallets, and old 'House for sale sign', vintage window, old recovered boards, even an old cupboard door.

YES! I DID A WEDDING!



Before pieces

 

Click here to go to complete album and a few DIY tips.