Hi everyone! I'm sorry it's been a little longer than I wanted since my last post, but I'm back with a fun spring project to share with you. But before I do that I just can't go on without saying how much my heart & my prayers are going out to the people of Japan and the terrible, terrible tragedy that their country is dealing with. The images & the stories coming out of there are just heartbreaking.....this morning I saw on tv an elderly man who was riding around on a bicycle with his wife's name & pictures of her all over his bike as he desperately searched for her and I can't even begin to imagine how he feels but I pray that he & all of the others who are suffering will get some kind of aid & relief soon. As for his finding his wife, that's in God's hands. If you are so inclined please pray for the nation of Japan & it's people, animals & land. Sometimes that's all that we can do.....but it definitely IS something that we can ALL do.
It seems trivial to think about working on crafts & things like that when so many are suffering but doing what is normal is the way that many of us cope with what is overwhelming to accept, so I'm doing something that is usually a part of my daily routine (along with laundry & other fun stuff like that!)
So here is a fun little project that you could use to give small cards, tags & little treats to brighten someone's day or just to celebrate the (hopefully soon) coming of spring. I have a pretty good supply of little paper sacks in different colors & sizes and I like to use them occasionally to see what kind of different projects I can do with them. I made a few of these pockets around the holidays as gifts for friends & used brown paper bags so I thought it would be fun to do them in cheerful spring colors too. So I some med. & small bags & trimmed the tops with my favorite "clouds" scissors.
Next I folded up the bottom edge and stitched just a little way up each side (so that that I would have room to add some fun things). Then I added a small patterned paper liner to the back, it doesn't go all the way to the bottom so it's easy to adhere.
Aren't the little ones cute! Next I cut some strips of paper & pleated them by hand & stitched down the center to secure them. I added the paper ruffles along the top open edge of the pocket. I went to my stash & gathered some chipboard flowers (I've had them awhile & don't remember where I got them but I'm happy to finally find a home for them :> I was going to layer them with these white embossed flowers but I tried some punched circles instead & I liked the added bit of color.
I layered the punched circles with foam tape between them for a little more dimension. I love for things to be chunky, dimensional & look like they have some movement to the paper (like the ruffles.) I gathered a few more things such as buttons, some pretty pink floss & I used one of my favorite little Sizzix dies to cut "bloom" from some scraps of the patterned papers. I finally got around to picking up some little wooden clothespins at M's that I've been wanting to alter & use on my projects. I just used my ink pads to lightly tint the clothespins.....I do front & back(???) then I let them dry and later add the tiny dots with white paint & the tip of a stylus.
I adhered the layered flowers to the left side of the ruffled strip & the "bloom" sentiment in the bottom right corner. If the paper is thin that you want to use for the sentiment cut an extra one out of scrap cs & adhere the two together for a thicker, stronger piece. I even tried die cutting a sentiment from pink felt & it worked just fine :> hmmmmm.....I've got a pile of felt, this could lead to some marathon die-cutting sessions, we'll see! I added one more fun thing to my embellies, I punched some little dragonflies from white cs with a MS punch, love her punches...very well made!
So the final touch on my pockets was to add the clothespins & adhere a button tied with a bit of floss to top the flowers. I love these handy little guys.....they can hold a small card or tag, even a yummy bit of chocolate (like the individually wrapped Ghiradelli chocolate bars :>) You can make these with pretty much any size bag you want, what a fun way to recycle those brown bags we all have a few of .
I just love the silly little dragonfly...it's my favorite thing! I don't know, whatever :> So I hope you enjoyed taking a look at my spring pockets & I hope it made you smile just a little too. And for those of us living in the midwest: hang in there, baby! I'm sure spring is just around the corner.....I've been seeing some robins in my yard and the grass & woods are slowly greening. Have a great day & happy crafting to all, delisa
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