Happy Birthday Bag Decorations

How many times do you find yourself scrambling last minute to wrap a present?  Maybe you're like me and you keep some bags or wrapping paper around "just in case."  If you do, I have a great idea to jazz up some plain gift bags so your recipients will know you were thinking of them!

Hi, it's Maureen today - and I have a simple project idea for you that works on any handled gift bag.  All you need is a gift bag, some card stock papers...and the great embellishments from Clear Scraps!

For this project, I'm using the Mini Shaker Present Shape along with the Birthday Chipboard Word Title and one of the Two Presents Chipboard Embellishments.  I started by painting these with a white acrylic paint.  When that dried, I did a coat of sparkle glitter glue on top.

Next, I've taken a piece of black card stock, cut at 6.5" by 8.5" and folded it in half the long way.  Then, I proceeded to die cut a rectangular opening in the middle.  This worked best for me by using a die cut on the fold and put it through my die cut machine; however, you can simply hand cut a rectangular opening instead.  It just needs to be long enough to fit your handles through.

I've placed this bag topper over my folded bag, and then began to decorate the front of the topper.  Feel free to use your imagination as you decide how this should look!  I've glued some letters that spell HAPPY on the top right corner and then added my sparkly Birthday Chipboard Title underneath.  I like how these are a contrasting font from each other.

In the left corner, I've added my Present Chipboard Embellishment along with some coordinating papers as decoration.  This embellishment is backed by a black and white polka dot paper, and glued to the topper.

To assemble the Present Mini Shaker, I'm using the same black and white polka dot paper as a background, glued to the base piece.  Then, I glue 2 of the outlines to this shape, and fill it with an assortment of colorful confetti.  I also did the bow - this has a yellow pattern paper as a background, and to get the shape right, I trace it first with a pencil then cut it out.  These holes in the bow have black confetti - such fun!

When you have the colors you want inside, take the acrylic piece of the mini shaker and remove the film from both sides.  Then, use a clear glue to adhere it to the top of your shaker.  The final step is to glue on the painted sparkly top border and let dry.

Once your shaker is ready, put your bag topper on your bag first to measure how far down it will go.  Then, glue the shaker on to the bag before you open it.  Don't glue it too far down, or the bag won't open well for you.

And now we have a personalized gift bag ready for gift giving!  The color possibilities are endless - and this would also work for holidays too.  How will you decorate your gift bag?

I hope you give this project a try!  I've listed some supplies below if you do.  Thanks for joining me today - see you next time!

Maureen

Additional supplies:  gift bag with handles, card stock, glitter glue, white acrylic paint, glue, confetti and assorted papers for letters and shapes