In Another Direction....

I am taking the lazy way out....Ignore yesterday's post.

I found some really pretty Christmas bags this morning at Walmart. They were very inexpensive, so I decided rather than doing the vignettes, I would do bags.

I brought them home and measured one. They are all the same size, so if I get one right, the rest will follow.

I am going to give you general directions for now. Your bags may be a different shape and size.

I used 1/4" foam core and cut side pieces the same size as the measurement, less 3/4", to allow for space at the top.

Then I cut a front and back piece the same height as the sides and 1/2" less in width to allow for the sides. I cut a window in the front piece, in this case, I did it 1/2" on all sides. The hole can be any size and shape that you prefer, just keep in mind that the best view into the box is if it repeats the shape of the bag but 1/2" to 3/4" in width on all sides.

The bottom is cut 1/4" smaller than the base of the bag all around, so that it fits down inside of the walls.

I slid all of the pieces inside and drew around the opening inside the bag. I then cut an X in the bag where I wanted the opening to be. I trimmed it to about 3/4" so that it could be folded over the edges and glued inside. This piece will be glued right to the bag.

I then papered the rest of the pieces with wallpaper and flooring. Then I glued them together to form the shell of the room. When it was dry, I slid the box down into the bag.

I haven't decided what will go inside. This one is a bit smaller than I thought it was going to be when finished. I think that it will work though.

I still need to decorate the outside and top.

I also bought some of the ones that are fancy paper lunch bags. They are taller. We shall see how those work too.

Anyway, I am still experimenting.

Once you learn the technique, you can do it on any kind of gift bag.

Tessie insisted on showing you the Valentine bag that I did about 25 years ago. It is still in pretty good shape, considering it has been through that many Valentine's Days.

In that one, I put a roof on top and filled it with flowers and tissue. It has coffee mugs inside with Walter's and my names on them.

Be sure to poke the photos.

The last one I will show you is a shopping bag that I got in London at an oriental shop in Covent Garden. What else would I turn it into? Of course it's an oriental shop.

None of these bags are the same size, but if you follow the above directions, you can successfully turn any bag into a mini room.

Have fun! I have to go now. I am still searching high and low for the infamous bottle brush trees.

I went out this morning looking for them in stores....The only ones that I found had white stuff on the ends of the branches that is supposed to look like snow....They were at Michael's.....Twenty dollars a bag!!!! No way!!!

Oh well. Back to searching here in the house.

See you tomorrow.