AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop #4

Christmas with Winter Meadow

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the fourth Art with Heart Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2024. We started this series early August and will be hopping every week until the end of November. I hope you can check us out each week as I know there will be so many inspirational ideas and different projects on show to help your Christmas preparations.

I love sharing Christmas creativity with you and hope that you will be inspired in your preparations for Christmas. This week I have been time poor so decided to go 3D with simple gift bags and coordinating tags. If you haven’t tried creating boxes and bags you may not realise just how easy they can be. It’s a lot of fun.

I love the ability to custom create a bag or box to a size suitable for a specific gift. However, in this instance, I certainly do not have Christmas presents purchased in readiness for the coming Christmas season - I am nowhere near that organised. As such, I have created 2 gift bags, one using half a sheet of Designer Series Paper ie 6”x12” (15.25 x 30.5cm) and the second gift bag using a full sheet of 12”x12” (30.5 x 30.5 cm) Designer Series Paper. With Stampin’ Up!s current sale of DSPs from the 2024/2025 Annual Catalogue, I have selected one of the set of papers that is ‘On Sale’, the gorgeous Winter Meadow Designer Series Paper.

This DSP was introduced last year and has carried over to this year’s Annual Catalogue. I adore this paper so have stocked up during the Sale and plan to use it during a coming class. It is a great opportunity if you have been interested in any of the standard DSPs, so don’t miss out as Stampin’ Up!s DSP sale finishes on the 31st August.

This first gift bag uses a full sheet of DSP. When designing a bag for a specific item, it’s about measuring the width, height and depth of the item and add a little extra to each measurement so there is room to manoeuvre your item without tearing the bag. Don’t forget to add cm for a seam to join edges together. Think about the closure at the top of the bag and add enough height so the bag can close easily. It’s also about considering the size of the paper you are going to use and whether you need to join sheets of DSP or card-stock. Then, using the Stampin’ Trimmer, score along one edge (for front, gusset, back, gusset and seam) and turn the sheet 90deg and score bottom section, bag height and turn back. Burnishing the folds with a Bone Folder is really important to give nice edges to the gift bag. For this bag, the finished dimensions are 22.2cm height x 10.2cm width x 4.5cm depth. 

The adhesive needs to have a sound grip so it doesn’t unstick when the bag is containing its goodies. I usually use either Tear ‘n Tape or Tombow Multipurpose Liquid Glue. Pieces of Basic White card-stock were trimmed a little smaller than the turn back and slipped in to hide under the turn-back. This is to strengthen the opening and also reinforce the punched holes that the ribbon feeds through to tie the opening closed. Another piece of card-stock was added inside the bag at  the base. My aim was to strengthen the bag so that it could maintain a good condition to enable it to be re-used. The gussets were gently pushed in and the top of the bag was pinched together at the top. The ribbon that tied the bag closed was white ribbon from the Petal Pink & White Diagonal Trim Combo Pack. 

Tags were cut from both Basic White and Pool Party card-stock and an extra piece of the same DSP used to make the bag. The die that cut the tags came from the Greetings of the Season dies. There are many different shapes and sizes and cuts a hole for ribbon or twine. The dies are amazing. The sentiment came from the Peaceful Season stamp set (from the coming September - December Mini Catalogue). The tags were tied together with white bakers twine from the Bakers Twine Essential’s Pack. In turn, the tags were tied around the ribbon bow. The final touch - a few Iridescent Faceted Gems.

GIFT BAG 2:

This second gift bag was created from half a sheet of DSP, ie 6” (15.25cm) x 12” (30.5cm). It was created in the same way as the gift bag (above), including the reinforcing panels under the turn back and at the base. The finished dimensions are 9.6cm height x 10.8cm width x 3.8cm depth.

A different tag die from the same set was used to cut a Basic White card-stock tag and a DSP tag. The same ribbon and Bakers Twine were used. The sentiment stamped on the white tag comes from Greetings of the Season stamp set. A few Iridescent Pearl Basic Jewels provide a touch of shimmer.

Thank you so much for calling in. I hope these gift bags give you ideas instead of wrapping a gift in the traditional way.

There is more Christmas creativity, so do continue with the blog hop. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of a wonderful lady & friend, Sharon Davern. I am looking forward to checking out Sharon’s creation(s). I do love seeing everyone’s' projects - there is always so much inspiration.

Also, many of us participate in the Colour Creations Blog Hop which goes live every Wednesday night, where we showcase one of Stampin’ Up!s colours each week. It would be wonderful if you could also check in on us for more creative inspiration.

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself.

Andrea 💕🐾

If you find a broken link or would like to view the full list of participants go to Sharon Davern’s blog @ Rhapsody in Craft. Sharon is our amazing Art With Heart Team Heart of Christmas Coordinator.  She is a special lady. Check out her delightful creation while you are there.

If you live in Australia, don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like your own copy of the Stampin' Up 2023-2024 Annual Catalogue and or the coming September-December 2024 Mini Catalogue, then let me know and I will be delighted to send them to you.  Please don't hesitate to make contact with any other queries about these projects or Stampin' Up!. 

#heartofchristmas  #heartofchristmas2024 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #artwithheartteam  #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations   #wintermeadow  #greetingsoftheseason  #peacefulsseason