Altered Junk Mail and Craft Bags

I’ve had a bit of play with these junk mail return envelopes.

I watched a couple of YouTube videos then dove right in.

I was about to write a letter to my pen pal so I decided to present it a bit unusually.  

You seal the envelope, cut it to the size,  then trim the open corners.  Fold down one of the top flaps.  You then have a pocket.

Cover the various parts that show with decorative papers and embellish as desired.  I tucked my letter inside the pocket then put it all in a regular envelope for mailing.

   

I next made tags for birthday gifts.  They are made the same way as the letter pocket.

   

These were fun to make.  They are kind of tedious to make but it’s so surprising to see a big transformation from a junk mail envelope.



I had some fun altering boring craft gift bags.  First I slapped some Gesso on the bag fronts.

Next I chose some ephemera pieces to glue on collage style.  These are stamped and/or photo copied onto tracing paper.  I like the transparent look that tracing paper provides.  I glued all the pieces onto the bag, added some stamping and finished the bag with a die cut greeting. 

   

The second bag is made similar.  I began by gluing a piece of decorative paper over the Gesso.  Then added a bit more Gesso over the paper design to mute it somewhat.  This bag includes some washi tapes and a small talk sticker.

   

The backside of the bags looked so plain.  I made tiny tags to hang there.  

The tags are decorated on both sides so if they get flipped, they are still fun looking.

   

These are not very large bags.  About 8” tall and 5.5” wide.  I have a lot of them to use up.

   

I don’t really have many occasions when I actually give a gift (other than these two people).  So I don’t know how many bags I will get to alter.  These bags were returned so that I’d fill them again next year.  Ha!  Maybe I’ll try some Christmas bags next.  I hope to improve on my altering designs.

Calendar Journal and a Gift

There isn’t much arts and crafts going on over here these days, but I still keep my calendar journals.  July is complete.

August is in the happening stages.

This paper did all the designing work for me.

I wrapped a very tiny gift.  I didn’t measure it, but it’s in the neighborhood of the size of a credit card and an inch deep.  That’s pretty much all I’ve done creatively.

I’m putting as many miles on this new bike as I can.  112 miles to date in less than a month’s time.  It would be more if it weren’t so humid out this past month.

I’m not looking forward to the coming cold weather.  I hate it when biking weather comes to an end.  I’m planning on enjoying what’s left of it.

Have a great August!

Money Gift Wrapping

My most favorite gifts to wrap are money gifts. 

And I certainly had some fun with these!

It's all about the wrapping.

And the glitz!

Everything is ready.  It's now all about the coffee with Bailey's Irish Cream and enjoying the sights and sounds of this beautiful Christmas season.

Merry Christmas to everyone

xxx

Annie

Christmas Greetings and Gift Wrapping

It always seems that at this time of year people are friendlier and more giving.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if we were all like that all year long?  We all have our limits to being walked on, but other than that, it's not so hard to be kinder than we think we can be.

Wishing all my blogging friends and followers a very

Merry Christmas

I made a handful of special Christmas postcards for a handful of special people in my life.  I have said before I am hopeless with mass production.  (Two of anything is mass production!)  I made seven of these postcards.  I was already whining when I had six more to go.  But I'm glad I made them.

For the rest of my dear family and friends, I altered a commercially produced card.  I chose this Christmas collage card...no surprise there, eh.

And I added three glittery snowflakes.  The largest on a pop dot for a 3-D appearance.  

This too was mass production except that it was in such a simple form that I managed a whole stack without whining.....too much.

I mostly had small gifts and money to wrap.  And I love the "brown paper packages tied up with string" Pinterest photos.  So I took my lead from inspiration in those photos.

I hope the world has a joyous Christmas!

xxx

Annie