Aug 11 2008
Coloring Today — From Nature’s Perspective
Begin with a solid white image. Mask and stamp with a leafy background. Paint flower center chartreuse, then feather burgundy toward petal edges. Apply rust colored Fun Flock to the stamen ends.
Okay…I’ll admit it…I didn’t have time to do a coloring tutorial this weekend. I spent the weekend stamping for Flourishes’ new releases which will be happening this Wednesday (pretty exciting!) and making a gift bag for a friend to go with the 22 cards he just bought from me for his mom. All the while the weather was beautiful and I still had the gardening, housework, laundry and other weekend chores to do. Add to that my husband came home Sunday after a four day absence and…well…you get the picture.
I’d say I wish I was a superwoman, but I don’t think I’d like that. I’d rather be my pokey-slow Type B personality, plodding through my day, easily distracted by a butterfly, a shimmer of light, or a wildflower growing on the other side of the fence. It’s not easy being me in the fast-paced environment in which I work. I sometimes feel I’ve split myself into two personalities — the one that’s “on” (at work) and the one that’s on cruise control (at home). Perhaps I over compensate when I’m home but I guess each of us has our own way of moderating the stress in our lives. Home is a stress-free oasis for me unless I choose to make it otherwise and I’m fortunate to be able to make that choice. Some are not so lucky.
So here, at least, is a photo of the gift bag I made. It’s a design by Angela Sylvester that was shared as a Stampin’ Up! OnStage online project. The instructions were shared with me by my friend, Nancy Littrell. I searched online to see if Angela has a blog where she might have posted a tutorial but the best I could come up with was this PDF file which appears to be incomplete — there’s no Page Two with a diagram for the score lines.
EDT: Monica found a tutorial! See it here. Thank you, Monica!
It’s made from two 12″ x 12″ sheets of double sided designer paper which are taped together with Sticky Strip at one of the corners. I folded the top 2 1/4″ down to the outside to make a border. The finished bag is 8″ x 3 1/2″ and my bag is 7″ tall, but it could be taller without the top folded down. There’s a sheet of white cardboard in the bottom to firm up the base. It’s really an ingenious design and could be fixed up super cute but I don’t have time to do more with it today. Maybe next time.
I sure hope you all had a nice weekend. I’ll be back by Wednesday with brand new stamps from Flourishes. I had a great time stamping my little heart out with them this weekend. Take care!
I LOVED your photo tutorial — I can just picture your card done as you described!!! And your bag is ever so gorgeous!!!! Totally love this and I’m sure it’s one I’ll want to replicate!!! Just gorgeous!!! Enjoy your time at home and in your garden — it all passes much too quickly!!!! Wishing you an enjoyable week ahead!!!
Sweet Bag Leslie! I am looking forward to seeing your weekend creations!
Wow, that’s one beautiful flower Leslie, I can’t get over how realistic it looks . . . LOL! A wonderful bag as well! I see I’m going to have to bug Nancy for the tutorial, I’m envisioning Christmas bags. I can’t wait to see what you’ve been working on for Flourishes, I know it will be spectacular!
Lovely bag, better than anything you can buy
What a beautiful flower, and I love that bag! I did a search and found this tutorial… http://inkingaddict.blogspot.com/2008/07/gift-bag-tutorial.html.
Here is the PDF I found on the SU! website for her bag. I hope you can read it!
http://www.stampinup.com/us/documents/Angelas_Gift_Bag_Pattern_9.1.pdf
Well, it’s a gorgeous photo, Leslie! And the bag is so pretty, a gift in itself.
Beautiful photo of a lovely flower!! The bag is absolutely gorgeous!! I love the DP and how classy looking this bag is!!! TFS
I’m definitely going to have to try this with some of my mass collection of excess paper. This is gorgeous even as is.
Your flowers are so beautiful and I can imagine what a peaceful place your garden is! The gift bag is wonderful! Now that I’m retired (as of today), I can try out some of these fun things that “I would love to do but I just don’t have the time.” No excuses now!! Thanks, Leslie, for all your inspiration!
leslie, a visit to your site is always a refreshing of the soul. i just came back from a week’s camping trip and wanted to catch up on what i missed while gone. your cards are incredible and your garden shots, breathtaking.
Your photo of your flower is so beautiful, Leslie!! Your bag is fabulous, and I love the papers you’ve used!! Just wonderful!!
This is gorgeous, Lesley! So many possibilities! Thanks for the link to the tutorial too! And wow, you have such beautiful flowers around you! Here, I settle for petunias. lol.
Leslie, thanks so much. I would like very much to make one of these! Yours is so awesome!
Pinky
Thanks for sharing this gift bag — it’s fantastic! I can see so many possibilities with holiday papers!
I’m loving all the blooms you’ve shared lately — the ones in your garden and the ones on paper!!! Nature certainly does it best, don’t you think?!?
The 1st and 2nd files add up to page one and page two of Angela’s SU On Stage online design. It is such a fun and easy pattern to make up and a great way to use retired 12×12 DP’s. You can use 6×6 DP’s for a mini bag too. I discovered the most important step is to be sure after scoring and folding in all your score lines is to place your sticky strip and secure as per instructions. Then the bag goes together so easily.
Leslie, I love your wide folded over design, which shows off the two sided DP so well. You can also just do a smaller fold such as 1/2″ toward the inside or outside of the bag for a larger finished bag. So many possibilities.
Thanks again Leslie for sharing your quick, useful and very pretty bag.
What a beautiful photo of the flower. Your garden seems to always have eye candy lurking in the wind! What joy this must bring you. This is a really cool bag. I can’t wait to try this.