Saturday, May 21, 2011

Recycled Gift Package

In preparation for my weekend away, I made a list of things I needed to do and have been trying to complete those, but yesterday afternoon I took a break and shot photos of the gifts I'm taking. I've mentioned before that on our annual get-away my sisters and I alternate celebrating a sister's birthday. This year it's Billie's turn. We tend to go the same time each year, and as Daisy's birthday falls around the time, I usually get some little something for her as well.

Yesterday I shot pics of the packaging and the cards I made for each of them and duly transferred said pics to the 'puter. Or thought I did. Not checking first--I mean, who does that? Not me, certainly--I deleted the shots from the camera. I never do that, at least not immediately, but I was still readying myself for the weekend. And somehow I lost every shot I took except these two.

:^P (That's my fave emoticon. What says disgust better?)

Now on to the pics. I love Sephora bags; I just hate that they stick their name EveryWhere, making them pretty darned un-useful for gifting.


But I wanted to use this one. It fit the gift so well. So I covered all that writing up with embellishments.

The ribbon I simply painted on the underside ends with Elmer's to stop it raveling, then glued it down, again with Elmers. The flower I used the box technique to make, as demonstrated here. (She uses paper and does it beautifully! I used four layers of burlap. Maybe next time I'll try for eight layers.)


There was even more writing on the back so I covered that with a frame of ribbon. Shoulda mitered the corners; I'll do that next time. In the center I added--not to cover up anything, but just cuz--a needlefelted button. (See technique here.)

And that's all I have, though I used the box flower technique on Daisy's package as well. On hers, I cut the circles from a wallpaper border I picked up at the thrift store. Guess it goes without saying that I love repurposing!

It's 5 o'clock in the a.m. here in the Texas hill country, and I've been up since threeish. Couldn't go back to sleep, but I'm thinking I may be able to now. So ta, y'all. Talk to you when I get back.

1 comment:

Kathleen Mullaney said...

Hi I just read the comment you left on my blog, thanks so much. The metalwork is exciting, something I never thought would be possible for me to do. I've made my living with sewing skills for 45 years and now at this late age to be layering the clay and metal to my creative work is a thrill and also a huge challenge. It doesn't take much to work with clay at home, a $10 bag of clay and 3 tools and yes, a kiln, but that wasn't too difficult. A metal workbench at home is another story. The jewelry workshop at Pratt (where I'm taking classes) has a million dollars worth of tools. I'm trying to keep what I make really primitive. I'm thinking if they can make cool metal stuff in 3rd world countries, so can I. My motto is do something everyday that's really difficult.
Best........Kathi