Crafty Gift Bags

 

I'm always looking for creative ways to wrap gifts.  Sometimes the wrapping is just as special as the gift inside!  I wanted to do something special for my sister's bridesmaids because they did so much to help me with her shower and bachelorette party.  Thanks to The Gifted Blog, I had the wrapping all figured out...a paper-crafted, hand-stitched gift bag!  The gift took a little more time...

When my friend Kristin got married, she bought all of us a Dogeared necklace.  I love these!  They are handcrafted in California.  The best part is that each one has its own special message.  These are perfect sentimental gifts for special occasions.   I chose the Pearl of Happiness for Jessie's bridesmaids.  

 The card read...

Make a wish and put on your necklace. pearls represent the best in us, reminding us that true beauty shines from within. delight in small and beautiful things... when your necklace wears off, your wish is ready to come true.

I love the packaging, too!  These make such great gifts.  Anyway, back to the wrapping.  I didn't have Trader Joe bags so I went with brown paper bags.  It didn't have the charm, but I love the simplicity of it.  There's nothing better than plain brown paper for crafting!  I got some great paper and a scalloped punch and start making embellishments.  I also used my stylus to poke holes along the top for the stitching.  Once the bags were decorated and poked, I filled them with some white paper filler and tucked the gifts inside.

Next I made labels for each bag.  Nothing too fancy...just matching paper and some brads for an extra somethin' somethin'.  I just wrote them out by hand to make them more personal.

The final step was to stitch them up.  I used a fairly large sewing needle, doubled up on a rust-colored embroidery thread, and just in-ed and out-ed it until I had a simple stitch. 

 

That's it!  So simple!  In the end, the girls really liked their gifts.  They had some trouble opening the hand-stitched gift-bags, but it's all about appearances, isn't it???