Patriotic Gift Bag by Gloria Stengel

Hello everyone! It is Gloria Stengel here with a fun project for the Fourth of July holiday for CSW Distributors featuring Couture Creations and Core'dinations products! I love gift bags. They are so much easier and faster than gift wrap, however they are expensive and often not very attractive. I purchase several different sizes of plain gift bags in bulk quantities and simply decorate my own to match the occasion.

I have created a "Fourth of July" gift bag suitable for holding a small hostess gift, a bottle of wine, or some fun goodies for the kids to enjoy during an Independence Day BBQ. My bag is a plain, kraft bag, with handles and measures 8 1/2 inches tall by 5 1/4 inches wide.

1. To create the rolled flowers on the bag use Couture Creations Circle Nesting Dies to cut four large and 4 small circles; cut two from decorative paper and two from Core'dinations Tim Holtz Kraft Core Shattered Cardstock.

2. With a pencil, draw a spiral shape on the back of each circle. This does not have to be neat or uniform. The more "wonky" the spiral, the more interesting the flower!

3. Use the Couture Creations Piercing Tool to roll the circle into a flower shape. Roll the printed side (or the "good" side) inward. Glue the tail of the flower to the base and shape with your fingers.

4. Repeat for each circle.

5. Trim printed paper to slightly smaller than the bag front and adhere to the bag. Create a collage of flowers in the lower right corner of the bag as shown.

6. Using the Couture Creations Nesting Picture Frame Die, cut one frame from Core'dinations Tim Holtz Kraft Nostalgic Cardstock. Sand the raised areas.

7. Trim the frame apart. Discard the sides, and glue the frame "top" to the bottom edge of the bag and the frame "bottom" to the top edge of the bag, as shown.

8. Remove the grommets from two Core'dinations Tags Darks (a medium red and a small blue). Emboss both tags with the Couture Creations Nuevo Embossing Folder (Fresh and Fun Collection). Sand the tags to reveal the pale core. Note: If you do not remove the grommet from your tags, you will damage your embossing folder!

9. Attach the tags to the handle of the bag with ribbon.

10. Stamp sentiment onto tan Core'dinations Tim Holtz Kraft Core Shattered paper with black dye ink and cut with a Couture Creations Circle Nesting Die. Attach the sentiment to the tags with Couture Creations Foam Mounting Tape.

To see more of Gloria's work, please visit her blog.

Couture Creations Supplies:
CO723040 Circle Nesting Dies
CO723215 Picture Frame Nesting Dies
CO723272 Fresh and Fun Collection - Nuevo Embossing Folder
CO721956 Sharp Point Scissors

CO721986 Handheld Essentials - Piercing Tool, Embossing Tool
CO723060 Sanding Block
CO721965 Double-Sided Tape

CO721963 Foam Mounting Tape
CO721957 Cutting Mat

Core'dinations Paper:
Tim Holtz Kraft Core Shattered
Tim Holtz Kraft Core Nostalgic
Core Tags Darks