Brown Bags at Christmas - bag one

I am not a fan of those generic looking Christmas gift bags, paper or plastic. They're usually not very cute (or the cute ones are super pricey) and while they can be reused, they just don't like them. Since I'm giving a few crocheted blankets as gifts this year I gave some serious thought as to how to give them. I decided to go with brown grocery bags, that I picked up at my grocery store. 

I carefully flattened it out, creasing it along the inside bottom fold so that it would lie flat while I worked on it. (Clips came in handy for this!)

I gave it a layer of white acrylic paint and then a layer, while it was still wet, of some red Martha Stewart glitter paint. It's a very delicate layer of glitter, which is what I love about her glitter paints. I just kind of...did whatever. Sounds lazy, doesn't it? I didn't want to put a lot of thought into it because when I do that it turns into a big production and this is meant to be a quick project. I took some markers and doodled some lines. I layered a few paper strips, half a doily. Some foam and glitter snowflakes. Deciding it was too plain, I stenciled some mini stars in Festive Berries Distress Ink all over and topped it off with some silver letters. For this one I'll probably just leave it open at the top and add a hanging gift tag. 

Simple Sewing with a French Twist?

While flipping through Simple Sewing with a French Twist at the bookstore I happened upon a montage of pictures of things meant for the home. (It's divided by room) I believe it was the bedroom section. It was the loveliest pink and white fabric wall pocket hanging snapped onto an antique coat hanger. It was adorable but there was no pattern or directions for it in the book that I could find. So I made a quick sketch and made one of my own.

This is what I came up with: using a vintage pillowcase (one of my favorite patterns) I made a simple rectangle and pocket. I used heavy interfacing and for the ribbon loops, I used my pliers and eyelets. I liked the idea of snapping it onto a hanger but the only antique hanger I have is in a frame...so eyelets it was. I guess I tossed the directions for my pliers, but found this SUPER handy video on You-Tube for setting eyelets into fabric.


With mail, which is what I think I'm going to use it for when I find a place to hang it.


About the book: I did not buy it. It seemed silly to pay nearly 30 dollars for a book of pretty pictures and somewhat unusable patterns. Directions seemed clear enough, but they also seemed incomplete. Also, a lot of the projects were more for embellishing than creating something from scratch. It's beautifully photographed, though, and was rather inspiring to look through.

I see more of these in my future!