I decided that mom needed a little gift. And since Earth Day is still on my mind, I decided to create a little reusable gift bag to package it in. The whole time I was making this, I was thinking of all the waste that goes in to standard gift packaging. Why not elevate the gift and give something like this, which can either be re-used as gift packaging for someone else or as a cute pencil holder after the gift is removed? Since I was sticking with a reusable theme, I decided it would be more eco-friendly (and prettier) to line the gift bag with pretty vintage napkins than with boring old tissue paper.
To make this, I first painted the whole wooden box (which I got at Michael's for $1) white with acrylic paint. Then, I cut designer paper to size and adhered it to the box. Then I sanded and inked the edges to dirty it up a bit. The frame is homemade (by me!) using unfinished wood trim and a miter box. I cut the pieces to size, and then to get the desired finish, I painted them brown, scuffed them with sandpaper, and then went over them with blue and green Colorbox ink.
The image is again paper-pieced, and I again applied Glossy Accents over the flower portions.
I have always been intimidated by miter boxes. I always thought I'd screw up the measurements. I actually almost had my hubby help me with it, but he was making dinner. I thought "I don't need him. I can do this!" and I did!
To make the bow, I inked up some pretty blue crushed-silk-looking ribbon with copper ink, so the crinkles really stood out. I was playing around in my bead stash and found this cool vintage silver (round) bead. Well, I started messing with it and prying it apart, and it bent in to this cool flower shape! How cool is that? Then I added a brown button on top, tied it all together with some twine and finished it off with a corsage pin that I colored to match with my Copic markers. Phew! All that for a bow?! ;)
Supplies:
Stamps: MFT's Happy Mother's Day
Papers: all DP by Crate Paper (LOVE this new line!)
Inks: Memento Black, Colorbox Cyan, Green, Copper and Taupe
Accessories: unfinished wooden box, unfinished wooden trim, acrylic paint, Glossy Accents, blue "silky" ribbon (company unknown), vintage silver bead, corsage pin, Copic markers, brown button by Oriental Trading Co., twine, vintage napkins
I hope that you enjoy this and that you'll consider voting for me this week! The vote starts at 10pm EST tonight (April 2 in the MFT forum and continues for 24 hours.
Registered: January 14, 2006 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 1787
Tue, Apr 28, 2009 @ 3:43 PM
Wow this is stunning!
------------------------------ Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6 (NIV)