Holiday Treat Bag with Faux Stitching

Hi and welcome to my very first post at THC! I hope you bear with me if it’s not perfect at all.

Today I’m going to show you how to create a beautiful treat bag using Kelleigh Ratzlaff’s templates and one of the many wonderful digi kits in our shop

I will also show you an easy technique called ‘faux stitching‘ that gives your cards or other hybrid projects a nice texture and finishing touch.

Here’s the supply list for the Holiday Treat Bag:

Treat Bag: Scalloped template by Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs
Snow Much Fun digital kit by Mari Koegelenberg Creations
light blue cardstock
paper piecing tool
old mousepad
white gel pen (‘Inkssentials’ by Ranger)

optional:

neutral cardstock (instead of colored)
Distress inks ‘Broken China’ (Ranger)
cosmetic sponge
ornament stamp (Inkadinkado)
Nestabilities die cut ‘classic circles large’ (Spellbinders)
Paper Flowers
Mini Brads
Spacers
Metal charm ‘Snowflake’
Red satin ribbon
Glitter glue (Stickles ‘Platinum’ by Ranger)
pop dots

TreatBag_1

Let’s get started….

To begin, open the treat bag template pdf file and print the outlines onto cardstock. Next you will need to create two rectangles in PS or PSP or whatever photo editing software you are using and flood fill these two rectangles with patterned papers you like – I used papers from Snow Much Fun. These will be the front and back sides of your treat bag.

The printouts must fit the front and back side of the bag (in this case it’s 3 x 4 1/4 inches each).

Print and cut everything out.

If you used an already colored cardstock for your treat bag print out, you can skip the next step if you want to. But if you used a neutral cardstock, you will now need your ink to color the neutral cardstock to match the patterned papers.

As I’ve chosen a ‘wintery’ patterned paper in this case, I used a Distress inkpad byRanger in the color ‘Broken China’ . I took a cosmetic sponge, wiped over the ink pad and then went over the cardstock in circular motions – from the outside to the inside (see picture above). This will not give you an even coloring, but a wonderful dreamy, cloudy look. I also love to color the edges of the printed patterned papers for a softer look with the same ink (this is optional … it’s just that I am addicted to coloring the edges of my patterned papers this way )

Now glue your patterned papers to the front and back sides of the (still NOT assembled) bag.

Now onto the ‘faux stitching’ technique:

TreatBag_2 You need a paper piecing tool (a needle stuck into a cork or into an eraser will work also). Place your cardstock over an old mouse pad or a piece of foamed plastic.

Poke holes (you may want to use a metal ruler as a guideline) with your piecing tool around all edges of your patterned papers (see picture left) TreatBag_3

When you are done, take your white gel pen and draw the ‘thread’ between the stitchings.

You can now add some stamping like I did (I just stamped an ornament to the sides of the bag), add some embellishments (I used paper flowers, spacers, brads) or add an additional image or sentiment. You can add whatever you like onto your bag. And as I’m a glamour lover I also put some glitter glue on the flaps to add a little extra pizzazz.

My tip: embellish the bag completely, before you assemble it!

When you are ready, just glue the bag together (I like to use double-sided adhesive tape, but I’m sure any type of strong glue will work well).

Now cut out a small strip of cardstock (I made mine 1/2 inch wide) and glue it to the inside of the bag sides to create the handle. I threaded an additional ribbon with snowflake charm around the handle, but it’s totally up to you how much or less you want to embellish your bag!

And here’s the result once again:

TreatBag_complete

I hope you will give these cute little treat bags a try and show us your results! If you have any problems, questions, hints… please don’t hesitate to post a comment or just pm me in the forums. Create the bag to your liking!

I hope you had fun and hope that I taught you something new

Sylvia

Holiday Treat Bag with Faux Stitching

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