Whimsical Wednesday: Sweet Treat Bags

Ever find yourself in a pinch and searching for a gift bag? I have an easy peasy solution for you, and one that likely you have the supplies lying around the house for.

Sweet Treat Bags

Materials:
- brown paper bag
- scissors
- patterned paper
- coloured paper
- ink
- stamps
- ribbon


Step 1:
Cut the top edge of your paper bag with fancy scissors, or create your own edging with regular scissors.

Step 2:
Stamp desired stamps with desired ink in a hap-hazard pattern on the front of the bag

Step 3:
Cut and glue patterned and/or solid paper on the bottom 1" to 3" of the bag

Step 4:
Fold over a 1 1/2" lip at the top

Step 5:
Using a standard hole punch, punch a hole through all four layers of the bag on the folded lip

Step 6:
Thread your ribbon though the hole and tie! If you have decorative punches and want to get fancy, punch a few shapes, layer them and glue them on the flap to cover where the hole is punched through the bag.

Viola! Pretty and simple...a sweet treat bag! A great craft for a kids' party, a rainy day or even for cookies to give to friends and family at Christmas time!

Happy crafting!

What's Next Wednesday: DVD Boxes

I was recently asked by a local photographer if I made boxes for DVD's and CD's, and if I didn't, if I could figure out a way to.

Well, at the time the only boxes that I had made were these




ONEderland Tea Kettles and Cups for Jenni From The Blog

and now, I've developed a product that I absolutely adore...from complete scratch!


Hand stamped bride+groom names, threaded on cotton cord and finished with glass seed beads


Patterned bottoms with a 1" lip


Coordinated inks, cord and papers...all part of the job!

I absolutely love them, and what's even better...the photographer is over the moon about the attention to detail; her business initials in 2" letters, the patterned bottoms, coordinated cord and the seed beads. She loves the bride+groom names stamped and handcut, then threaded onto the cord.

Love love love!

Priced at $8.99, bulk photography orders are welcome and these would be great as wedding favours! Bulk orders qualify for discounts, so let me know if you are interested and we'll collaborate!

Emmy Given Wednesday: Packaging

Do you know what this past weekend marked? 3 months until all of the members from The Artisan Group who are participating in the GBK Productions Emmy's Gifting Suite have to have all of their gifts to the event coordinators.

3 months

OH GOSH!

Am I ready? Well...I'm close! Yesterday, I finished of #75 of my 100 NoteStacks...well...at least the fronts. I still have to trim them to fit into their cello bags, stamp the backs with my Sweet Stella's custom stamp, bind with ribbon and tie a business card on.

They'll look like this



From there, they'll be put into eco-friendly cello bags from Nashville Wraps, and sealed with a custom Sweet Stella's sticker...and then they're ready to go!





I toyed with the packaging options quite a bit. Canvas bags that I could paint on...paper bags that I already have an abundance of (anyone need custom treat bags??)...organza bags...

So, why cello?

Well first and foremost, I wanted the recipients to see my product without having to take the effort to unwrap it. I don't want to chance that they won't even open the bag if the knot is too tight, or they simply just don't have the time. They will be able to see my product and art for what it is right in their hand, and they'll be able to see my website address from the back should they flip it over.

Trying to be strategic with my packaging and marketing, especially with the hand painted journals that will be going into the press bags and on the display table.

The cello bags that I chose are eco-friendly, which makes me really happy. They're high quality and look fantastic!

My goal for this weekend is to get those 75 Stacks packaged, while I decide on what image to stamp on the last 25.

Stay tuned for next week when I reveal the four Emmy Stack designs!

Emmy Given Wednesday: Eco-Friendly Twine

Happy Wednesday!

I'm having a bit of a late start to the day, but now that I've been able to wrap my head around a few things, including a press interview and photo shoot, here's this weeks installment of Emmy Given Wednesday.

As soon as I jumped in with hands and feet to The Artisan Group, immediately I started thinking about packaging. As I told Kyle from Metro News London, this is just as much about setting up a strong brand as it is wowing celebrities with my products. This is it...this is what my heart craves and what I was meant to do with my insanely overactive imagination.

Thankfully, TAG has a great group of supportive artists so it is easy to get great packaging recommendations.

Here is what I settled on...




Eco-friendly recycled twine and cello bags! I adore it, and feel great knowing that it's made of recycled materials!

My new business cards came in early this week as well, and fit perfectly with the packaging!



My husband made a strong push for colour on both sides, and while I will hate to admit this, he was right.

The business cards will be tied to each notestack with ribbon, then put in the cello bag and tied with twine! I couldn't be more pleased, and now that I have packaging for the 100 Notestacks figured out, I can focus on packaging for the 10 handpainted journals.

I've ordered the journals, picked my heavy body paints, and am sitting on pins and needles for the shipments!! I can't wait to get my brushes out and create some really awesome functional art!

Oh! And don't forget about the TAG Twitter Party taking place on May 11th! 1 Week from today!