Christmas Gift Bags

Christmas Day is 7 weeks from today.  Yikes! Now that Halloween is over, I am finding that many people are already decorating for the Christmas holidays. I'm not ready to decorate yet, I like to celebrate Thanksgiving first! We can't overlook the turkey and pumpkin pie! However, I have been working on getting ready for Christmas for a while now.  I'm about 2/3 done with my Christmas shopping.  My wrapping paper and ribbon supply has been replenished and I've been working on making Christmas gift tags. For small items and gift cards, I use decorated bags that coordinate with the packages under the tree.  I've finished making this year's bags and have some with gifts inside, ready to go under the tree. This year my packages will be wrapped with brown and red kraft paper and coordinating ribbons.  The gift tags I'm making have small wreaths on them so it made sense that the gift bags did, too.  I found an inspiration picture from Papertrey Ink and made my own version, using standard kraft lunch bags. 

Like most paper projects, these bags involved various, but easy, steps.  First up was to make small tags and embellish them. A simple wreath and berries were stamped on the bag, then snowflakes and a peppermint border were stamped and embossed.  A little ribbon and the cute gift bags were done! I have a small TV in my craft room so usually do projects like this with football or the Food Network on in the background. It goes fast!

This project involved learning a new technique for me, embossing.  It was much easier than I thought it would be.  Using a special ink pad, an image is stamped on the paper.  Embossing powder is sprinkled over the wet image, then an embossing heat gun is used to form the embossing.  It was so cool to see this happen, in just a few seconds I had a raised image on the paper. I can see myself using this technique a lot in the future!

As I was doing the embossing my husband came in to my craft room and inquired as to what I was doing (it sounds like a blow dryer).  I showed him and he asked when I had acquired the embossing gun.  This from a man who has a garage full of tools and brings a new one home after each Home Depot trip!  I told him "you have your tools, I have mine!"