Upcycled Gingerbread House Gift Bag

Make this Upcycled Gingerbread House Gift Bag in just 15 minutes!

This week I am participating in Craft Lightning where a group of blogger friends are rounding up Christmas crafts you can make in 15 minutes or less.  Hosted by Angie at the Country Chic Cottage, Carolina at 30 Minute Crafts and Jessica at Mad in Crafts, we will be sharing new projects everyday this week, so check back and click through!  

If you are like me, I always have a ton of Kraft paper shopping bags collecting on a shelf in my laundry room, because I just cannot throw them away!  At Christmastime I like to upcycle those bags to use for presents, it’s good for the planet (and my wallet!)

Now, I have had this idea floating around in my head for quite a while – a Gingerbread House Gift Bag – but it turned out much cuter than I even imagined!

Here’s how I made it:

I grabbed a medium size bag (8″ by 10″) and a sheet of 8 1/2″ by 11″ kraft cardstock.  Fold the cardstock in half at the 5 1/2″ mark and crease.  Measure in 1/4″ on each side of the fold.  Draw a diagonal line from each mark on fold to each bottom corner.  Trim with scissors.  Measure to center of fold line and make a mark.  Measure gift bag handles and using craft knife, cut out a rectangle 1/4″ deep by handle width (mine was 3″).

Scallop bottom edge of kraft cardstock with scissors.  Draw diamond pattern on to roof with white dimensional fabric paint, set aside to dry.

Punch squares and rectangles from white cardstock and dry fit onto front of bag for windows, doors, etc.  Color with Tombow Dual Brush Pens 847 Crimson, 451 Sky Blue, 245 Sap Green and 025 Light Orange.  The shapes still looked flat to me, so I got out my Tombow MONOTWIN Permanent Marker and created depth with doodles and outlines.  That small detail made ALL the difference – I love the creative process!

Layer shapes with Tombow Foam Tape to create dimension.

Punch circles from white cardstock.  Color with Tombow Dual Brush Pens 847 Crimson, 245 SapGreen, 025 Light Orange, 173 Willow Green, 730 Pink Rose, 373 Sea Blue, 925 Scarlet, 636 Imperial Purple and 476 Cyan.  Attach to roof with Tombow MONO Permanent Adhesive. 

Punch two small flowers and a heart to decorate the front door.  Punch hearts and starburst to decorate between windows.  Punch scalloped ovals, cut in half for gumdrop border.  Punch circles and cut out rectangles for lollipop trees.  Tie bakers twine bows around lollipops.  Attach accents to bag with Tombow Foam Tape and Tombow MONO Permanent Adhesive.

Accent all of the candy embellishments with Tombow MONO Glue Pen and ColorBox Glitter by Clearsnap, set aside to dry.  The Glue Pen is excellent for detailed accents because the pen tip gives you complete accuracy.

The final ICING on the Gingerbread House is icing accents created with white dimensional fabric paint!  Set aside to dry.

Slide roof on over handles of bag and gift to your favorite person this holiday season!

These bags are quick and easy to put together in an afternoon and can be adjusted to any size shopping bag you might have on hand.  Craft up an entire neighborhood of Gingerbread House Gift Bags with your kids to give to their favorite teacher, babysitter or friend!

Click the link below and check in each day this week to be inspired by the rest of the fabulous bloggers that are sharing their 15 minute Christmas Crafts!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Creatively, Beth

How To Upcycle Mother's Day Gift Wrapping

Happy Sunday everyone!  Excited to be here today to share how to upcycle Mother's Day gift wrapping for the Craft Lightning Mother's Day Blog Hop!

I recently received and was blown away by the detail in the Beautiful Day stamp set from Altenew and just knew I wanted to do a Tombow Dual Brush Pen watercolor technique.  This post is sponsored, but all of the opinions are mine. 

On to my project!

I am always looking for inspiring ways to wrap a gift as I think the packaging should be as special as the gift inside.  I have several "Moms" in my life - my Mom, my Sister-in-Laws and a few close Mom friends and thought that these sewn book page "pillows" would be the perfect way to wrap a special gift card for Mother's Day!

Altenew features high quality photopolymer stamps that produce a crisp and clean image, even on the thinnest of detailed lines within the image.  I started out by stamping each image four times on smooth white card stock with black archival ink.

I always start my coloring projects with a color chart.  This way I can make sure that I like all of my color combinations before I start coloring my images.  I have included my color chart in the photo above.  Then I begin coloring with the lightest colors first.  Tombow Dual Brush Pens # 761 and 993.

Next I accented with Tombow Dual Brush Pen # 703.

I finished the main Peony flower with the darkest pink Tombow Dual Brush Pen # 815. 



The leaves and greenery were colored with Tombow Dual Brush Pens # 192 and 312.

And the berries with Tombow Dual Brush Pens # 553 and 533.

The next step is creating the watercolor effect, which is super easy since Tombow Dual Brush Pens are water based markers - you just add WATER!  Check out my Instagram video HERE to see the water color process!

Select your book pages.  Mine are vintage, so they are a bit heavier and approximately 8" by 10".  I gave the edges a fancy touch with my scallop pinking shears.  Place two book pages together and sew three edges.  Gently open and fill your "pillow" with your gift of choice.  I have included a gift card, some tissue paper and confetti.  Then sew the fourth side, closing the pillow.

Fussy cut your stamped and colored images, then arrange them on the top of the pillow with a lovely Altenew Antique Trim frame.  Attach with Tombow Xtreme Adhesive.  Wrap with stain ribbon and finish by tying on a tag created with one of the sentiments from the Beautiful Day stamp set - "Wish You the Most Beautiful Day".

I think that this makes such an elegant presentation for a simple item like a gift card.  This packing would be perfect for a Graduation present, Bridal Shower or even a Wedding Gift.  

I LOVE that the possibilities are endless!

Now, it's time to HOP around to the other designers that have contributed to the Craft Lightning Mother's Day Blog Hop!  Just click the link below - I can't wait to see what everyone has created!

Thanks for stopping by! -Beth