Altered paper bag ( lunch bags and the like)

Howdy!!

I was going to do this blog post yesterday, but I had forgotten the new season of Game of Thrones started last night....I was all over that! lol

So here we go.....

I joined an altered paper bag swap last week. I loked all over Youtube for some kind of tutorial, but came up empty handed.
There were a lot of videos showing what people had received, or made, but not how they made them.

Stick around if you are interested in finding out how I made mine as a reference to then go out and make some even better ones!

First, I used those vintagie looking bags.
I folded over th top to make a kind of flap to later close the bag incase it was used as a gift bag or something like that.
After I folded the top of the bag over, that left the body of the bag measuring in at 6 inches in width, and 8 inches in length.
I used my Martha Steward score board to then cut down pieces of Bo Bunny Gabriele paper to fit the body on both sides.
I used a glue stick to adhere the paper t the bag, it seemed the most logical way to do it t me, and make sure it stayed stuck in place with wear and tear just incase it ever was used as a gift bag.

To use the cardstock stickers I had, I adhered them to paper, then used foam dots to build them up off the paper. It's easier to tuck things behind them when they are up off the page a little.
Then I just went around the edges of the bag and distressed them with distress inks.
Then I glued about a billion flowers around the cardstock sticker. lol

Your widthxlength might be different, but an easy way to measure them is just to stick your bag on your scoreboard and measure them out.

I made a video of the end product here:  http://youtu.be/fkwTkdg94wA

I hope you try this out!  They do make very cute gift bags!

Thanks for reading along, and I hope you have an awesome day!!

How I spent my morning...

I decided there was no better time than the present to really nip this blog thing in the butt! lol

I have tried to start this poor little blog up twice now, and both times I've completely slacked off in doing so.
I think the best way to keep up with something, is to do something meaningful to prove to yourself that you mean business! hehe Right?

So, I spent the morning making my own light box. I know...that's pretty impressive, right? lol

I took a used Region Rate c box from the post office, and sprayed the inside dwn with spray adhesive.
Then I slapped in some white cardstock. I found some remnant pink satin fabric I had bought in bulk to make flowers with...and boom, I have a handy dandy little light box.
I places an LED lamp next to it for some extra light.

I took these pictures of some tags I made yesterday, tell me what you think of my handywork!

To be able to help stand things up that needed to be stood up, I just put one of the metal picture stands from the Dollar Tree under some more fabric and fussed around with it til it came out looking like this.

I think it is a 100% improvement over my old pictures..you can actually see what the heck I'm taking a picture of now! :)

Thanks for stopping by today, please come back and check out some new things that will be taking place here!

My Bff is having a giveaway!!! You should so join!!

I thought I would share this with all of you. My bff is having a pretty awesome giveaway!

http://youtu.be/GjpP2pVYrfE

I love this flip album!!!

I was watching some Youtube videos yesterday and came across a video for this very cute flip book:

Marla's Flip Photo mini

I thought it was so cute, I decided to make one of my own! hehe

I'm going to use mine for inspirational quotes.

Sometimes......you just have to make your own!

And, sometimes....your own turns out better! lol
I have ben running low on my most used product...Mod Podge.
I decided I wasn't going to spend $6.99 or $8.99 to get some more....so I started to research.

I couldn't find any videos on youtube making home made mod podge.....so I turned to Pinterest.
Most concoctions on Pinterest had you mixinf a 50/50 ratio of white glue and water.
If you wanted gloss, it stated to mix in some varnish....ewwwww. lol

So, I came up with my own little mix! I thought the 50/50 mix was too thin. I like Mod Podge because of the thickness factor.
Do here is what I did...

I added two bottles of Elmers white glue and 8 ozs of Tacky glue to a quart sized jar and mixed mixed mixed.
Now, if you like matte, then you are done at this point!
I'm not a matte kinda girl....so I had to come up with something to make it glossy......and I had an AAAAHA moment....Dimentional Magic!
I added in 1/3 the bottle of dimentional magic...and mixed mixed mixed again!
HELLO! I love this stuff!
With that mix it's a satin finish...with no brush marks! It's awesome!!

After my initial mix, I added in some perfect pearls for a shimmer, and some white halo glitter for a glitter....now I have three mixes for anything I could possibly imagine!

Try it, you might like it!!

It's been a crazy week!!!! And, some altered recipe cards..

How has your week been?
It has been a crazy busy week for me! Sorry I took so long to make a post!

I haven't finished the organixer boxes I started earlier in the week, but I think i'll have them done over the weekend, and I will for sure post them when I do!!

I finished up my recipe cards for the swap I hosted on my Youtube channel. I have started working on my Christmas cards....I'll show you an example once I finish up!!

Here is a video about my recipe cards though! :)

My fingers are all glimmery!!!!

It's true! lol
I'm the worlds messiest crafter.  I finished up a junk journal I was making today for a swap....and, it looks like a craft tornado hit my desk!
It looks like I got more glimmer mist on my hands that on my project! hehe

This was my first attempt at making a smashbook/junk journal/ whatever book.
Well, not my first....I did make my best friend Stacie a journal as well...but, it's more of what you would consider a true journal would look like.

I hope she likes her journal!!

This is the one I finished up today that was more....fru fru if you will. lol

It's super bulky!  I think It has taught me lessons about how to make my next book! I hope the person I made it for likes it. I did put a lot of work into it....however, I did warn her it was my first book...so I hope she isn't disappointed.

As a side note... Do you like to make Mini Albums? If you do, there are some design team opening at Creativity Heals for mini album makers.
If you are interested, let me know and I'll get you in touch with the admin of that group!
There are also some opening on the cardmaking group and jewelry making group! :)