Spring pastels gift bag of cards

There was still plenty of paper and embellishments left in the first DT kit I received so I wanted to use it well and decided on a gift bag of cards as a work colleague is always asking me to bring in some cards for sale.

I decorated a plain recycled paper bag and filled it with 3 of the loveliest DL sized cards i have made, using primarily items in the DT kit and my imagination, only adding the minimum of items from my own stash.

Gift bag

Beginning with the front panel of the bag, layer a section of the printed Spring Pastels paper onto a darker purple paper, distressing the edges with either scissors or a purpose made distressor tool.

Carefully cut an assortment of elements from the ephemera cut and create sheet.  Where applicable I always ink with pen or chalk inks around the cut edges to remove the white card core and resulting halo effect. It helps to co-ordinate the design.

I assembled the cut elements with the ladies photograph into the frame and finished it with a single daisy trim element, 5cm green Leaves and small blue fabric flower clusters which I spread out a little.

Using the lace, folded in half, I ran a running stitch along the folded edge and pulled it in to form a lacy rosette which i used to back one of the Organza Satin Rose with pearl flowers

To add variety to the bag I embossed the 'post card' label with holographic embossing powder.  The card stock takes this fine powder very well and add an interesting twinkle o the title.

Using one of the smaller tags and the Butterfly in filigree charm on a small length of 5mm lavender silk ribbon, I mage a small tag which I looped around the cream organza ribbon handles of the gift bag

To finish the bag i adhered a printed strip of un-embelished paper on the reverse, and painted the sides with pearl acrylic paint.
I cut a few of the daisies from the daisy edged white ribbon and sprayed some purple and then dropped them over the bag and adhered when a pleasing result was obtained.

Card A - Imagine (in blue)

I cut a panel of the blue printed Spring Pastels paper, ensuring the background floral image remained prominent, and distressed the edges and darkened them with distress ink.  The paper takes distressing and distress ink very well.
I adhered this directly to the DL card and outlined with white gel pen

I selected a variety of images from the ephemera cut and create pages. 
I do not always use all the elements I had in mind or have prepared at the beginning of the design, sometimes when i check the design or layout the next day some items do not fit in the overall design and are removed before everything is permanently glued in place.

To co-ordinate the white large semi open Mini Rosebuds i inked the top lightly with the same distress ink, and curled the stem around my 'pokey tool' to get a coiled effect.

I assembled all the cut elements, decoupaged some of the floral layers over the photograph and backed the rosebud with a satin edged organza bow with tails, on top of a simple organza bow, and backed the arrangement with pearl trim sprays to make a statement embellishment for this beautiful card.

I clipped a few of the tiny blue fabric flowers from their arrangement and positioned them around the layered title.

Card B - Love

The ephemera and cut and create pages in this Spring Pastels has some exquisite filigree line art pieces which I have used as backing to the title in card A, and here I have cut in half to suggest decorative hinges for this card.

I applied a light coating of white gesso to the Filigree strip and Filigree long oval which i broke in half to layer on top of the line art to add dimension and texture to my faux hinges.  In the end i did not use the filigree strip in this project.  This sometimes happens as the design is never planned in advance, it just evolves as the separate elements are brought together, tried and sometimes rejected from the overall design.

I chose this image of the elegant lady because of the delicate pink background and because I would be able to replicate the rosebud in her dress waist band on the design to add dimension and interest.

On the left quarter of the page I layered the Pink and white Nylon Lace to create a wide band suggestive of a book spine.
At the top of the layers I adhered an Organza Satin Rose with pearl and two short sprays of silver bead trim.

At the bottom centre of the lace layers i assembled a fussy cut line art element and single silver daisy trim, and a loose bow of pink organza ribbon.
The layout was mounted on a pale pink DL card.
The embellishments and papers of this Spring pastels design kit compliment and co-ordinate divinely.

Card C - Beauty

I sprayed the Organza Satin Rose with pearls using distress stain.  It takes a full 24 hours to dry naturally.  I dabbed the rosebud into a puddle of excess ink.
The colour was chosen to co-ordinate with the flowers in the ladies hat.

Various elements were cut from the ephemera and cut and create pages to co-ordinate with the colour theme. I inked the white cut edges with both magenta and black sharpie pens to reduce the halo effect of cutting.  I also gently curl back the edges of a cut element between my fingernails for the same effect.  this is also helpful if the element is going to be mounted on foam pads.

I had a short length of white lace left from the previous designs, for the bottom edge of this design, and made a ruffled ribbon by folding and pleating the organza ribbon onto double sided tape, which was then obscured by the addition of a length of pearl trim.
The colour of the organza ribbon compliments the ladies dress.

To complete the green colour trio, a green ribbon was threaded through the tag to attach the Dragonfly extra small charm.
the title was fussy cut and mounted on a divine filigree line art label onto the post card.
The layout was mounted on a gloss black DL card to pick up the birds and the hair in the design.

Used from the megs garden DT package:
Spring pastels printed papers
Organza Satin Rose with pearl
Daisy trim
5cm Green Leaves
Butterfly in filigree
Flower Edge Organza White ribbon
Organza ribbon
Silk edged organza ribbon
narrow silk ribbon
Nylon Lace
Blue fabric flower clusters
Filigree strip
Filigree long oval
Small rosebud
Mini rosebud
White pearl trim
Dragonfly extra small charm