Monday, February 3, 2014

Festive Stenciled Bags!

Hi! Mary Nasser here! It’s nearly Valentine’s Day, so I was inspired to make Valentine’s gift bags!
I started using Margaret Applin’s HeartSwirl stencil, but you’ll see how I quickly used 3 more stencils
to decorate gift bags for other holidays, too!

For this project, I used white paper lunch bags I had in my kitchen. 

I trimmed the top of each lunch bag with Fiskars Border Punches.
(I used the Threading Water Border Punch and Apron Lace Border Punch for my gift bags in this post.)

After punching the border along the top, I folded the top of the bag down.

Then I turned the bag over, used painters tape to keep my stencil in place, then pounced on a light layer of acrylic paint
with an ink sweeperI kept the paint light so that it would not seep under the stencil.

Here's the front of the bag to be filled with treats:

For the back, I stamped a tag and added a ribbon: 

I was having too much fun to stop there, so I made another one, using the same process.

And here's the back:

Then I remembered Bruno's birthday next month, and reached for my

Happy Birthday, Bruno!

And soon after Bruno's birthday comes Easter.
There's a stencil for that, too!

How fun would this be to fill with colorful jelly beans!
As much as I love incorporating StencilGirl stencils into my mixed media paintings,
it's really fun to do quick projects like this, too!
Hope I've inspired you!

32 comments:

  1. Love the bags. I put all of my presents in gift bags that I've decorated. The larger bags are sometimes difficult to decorate. Using the stencils would make it so much easier and would look so much better than trying to attach large sheets of paper. Thanks for this great idea.

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    1. Thanks, Mary Lou! Stenciling on larger bags sounds really fun, too!

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  2. Mary, this is just such a cute idea! Thanks for sharing with us!

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  3. A-dorable!!!!!!! They just put me in the mood!!!!

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  4. Thank you, Mary -- what a great idea! Thanks too for adding the link to the ink sweeper! I had seen Mary Beth Shaw use it in one or more of her demo videos, but I hadn't known what to call it, to do a search for it. Now I've ordered it!

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    1. Thank you, Cecilia. So happy I inspired you.
      I had several readers ask me about the ink sweeper, so included the link in this post.
      Mary Beth Shaw introduced me to the ink sweeper and writes about it in her book Stencil Girl...it is my favorite go to stenciling tool!

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  5. Gorgeous bags...LOVE the heart stencils.

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  6. Love your creativity with things right in your reach

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    1. Thank you, Sherri. It did feel great using supplies I already had! This was quick and easy and fun!

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  7. Great post I have to make some valentines for Sunfay

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    1. Great to hear you'll be making some Valentine's, too, Denise!

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  8. What a simple, yet beautiful idea. Love them!!

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  9. Cute bags Mary! Anyone would be lucky to receive a goodie in them!

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  10. Thank you for this timely post. I can't wait to get started! They are super sweet.

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    1. Thank you! So glad to inspire you, Rebecca! Happy stenciling!! :)

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  11. Punching the border of the bag is a genius idea. Finishing touches like that make a difference. Nice work! ☺

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  12. Fun and lovely bags! The recipients are pretty lucky!!

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  13. Very quick, simply and lovely. Great share. Thanks

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