Hand Stamped Gift Bag

 Hello again, it's Jenny here with my last Christmas project for 2018 and this one is not for the last minute crafter!! I love how it turned out but it's definitely a one off for a special gift...

I've used the Ugly Sweater dies as stamps by cutting them from kids craft foam, I cut two pieces of foam for each shape and stuck them together. I added a cardboard tab on the back of each foam stamp so I could use them easily...

I used cheap Gouache paint but acrylic would work just as well although I think being able to add a bit of water to the mix helped the printing process. I started by using a soft grey to print out the jumpers.... I added the paint to the foam stamp with a paintbrush to make sure I had an even application.

The paper is from a roll of kids colouring paper so it did wrinkle a bit 

The paint dries fairly quickly so I was able to move on to adding the images to the jumpers

I could have left it here but I decided to add some small details with a paintbrush

When it was all dry I added a second sheet of paper behind and then used the brilliant technique of part wrapping a box to make the shape for my gift bag..

This is how I folded the end to make the base of the gift bag. After securing the one end I pulled the box out and you are left with a nice gift bag, you can change the size and shape depending on the box you use. I decided to fold the top down twice and punch two holes to add three strands of twine to keep the bag closed...

This would be a great project for older children to do or help with and a production line is definitely a good thing.... I found it easier to stamp each shape at a time and build the pattern that way.

Well that's all from me until the New Year so I wanted to wish you all a Happy Christmas 

and I hope Santa brings you all the craft goodies on your Christmas list :)

Jenny x