Gift Bag Adventures

I have taken a side track into the world of gift bags.  From  exposure to multiple conversations, stamps from Lorelei, my own inner girlie girl, I just had this need to make gift bags.  Or bag gifts, as I liked to call them.  I just felt a void in our colorful and fun scrapbook world where bags were concerned.  People getting pretty things and missing out on our pretty things.  So off I went.  Although similar to some of Lorelei's, I didn't stamp and enlarge as she indicated I could.  I hand draw all of the bags and put my own twist on them, along with any other piece of this and that or bauble I can get a hold of!  lol  The two on here are the first and they do not have their handles yet, as I am still indecisive on how I want them.  Stay tuned......

Layout from my summer stay-cation

My baby sister and her two daughters came down to Florida for a week in August.  Her girls had never been here before nor had they seen the ocean.  This was their first day at the beach.

I used a layout template from the Close to my Heart Magic Program book.  This was entered into a challenge that required the blue & green colors shown so I used this Bo Bunny collection.  The embellies are Glimmer Chips and I applied several things actually!  lol  What worked the best was using chalk, like Cat's Eye and stickles.  They had a tendency to obsorb other products too quickly, even their own.  I used Glimmer Mist and wasn't real excited about the results, unless you pre-coated the pieces with something to make them less obsorbent.  Maybe I should have known that to start with?  I don't know...  I first tried the Tim Holtz new stains, as I was really excited to use but again, it actually mushed the detail of the chip.  I'm going to play around with these pieces some more and re-try the stain.  I think they could work with the chips being primed.

Close to my Heart Retiring Product Announcement!

1. Retiring Product Line AnnouncedThe following product lines from the current Idea Book will not be available in the Spring/Summer 2012 Idea Book: Color-Ready products:
X1406 Color-Ready Hodge Podge Alphabet
X5749 Color-Ready Oxford Alphabet
8 1/2" x 11" cardstock:
X1411 8 1/2" x 11" Colonial White Cardstock
X1412 8 1/2" x 11" Black Cardstock
Brayer:   Z616 Rubber Brayer
Eyelets:
Z1228 Soft Set Eyelets Black & White Daisy Collection
Z1229 Soft Set Eyelets Chocolate & Colonial White Collection
Z1208 Soft Set Eyelet Tool
Z1245 Eyelet Tool Replacement Punches
We will continue to stock all of these items with the exception of the eyelets and eyelet tool through the end of January. The eyelets and eyelet tool (including replacement punches) are available only while supplies last. Once the Spring/Summer 2012 Idea Book goes live, any excess inventory of the retiring items listed above will be available online at a discount in the “While Supplies Last” category.