Crafts Archives - Page 2 of 2

So, I started making the bags for the gifts my grand-daughter made for her teachers today. You can find the gift ideas and how to for here. This was one of those ideas that came to me last minute. I thought the homemade bags added a nice touch to a homemade gift. But because it was a last minute thought, it was also something I started without finding out if I had everything I needed.

Thankfully, I buy things on sale when I see it because it “might be useful for something” and I rarely throw away scraps of any good size. This is handy and can make for a stack of “stuff” that my other half is not always real happy about:-) But hey, he does the same, so he generally is pretty quiet about it.

Gathering your materials

A few thoughts before you get started.

Be sure to think about and then gather all your materials ahead of time, so you have everything at hand. This is something I’m real bad about. I will think of an idea and start putting it together without thinking the whole project through first. Then I find myself in the middle of a project looking for something (like my pinking sheers) and not finding it or having to improvise. Note to self……

Gather your supplies BEFORE you start. Makes life a whole lot easier.

These bags can be made from any cloth you may have laying around. It can be a good way to re-purpose old shirts or pretty sheets. Or, in my case, a while back I bought some remnant cloth for less than a dollar with a Christmas theme, so I started with that.

Fabric remnants for making DIY gift bags.

I ran out of the remnant cloth for the teacher’s gifts so I looked around a little more and found some old left-over fabric I used to trim some kitchen curtains I made a few years back and decided to use the rest of that.

Assembling your DIY bags

I’m not a seamstress, by any stretch of the word. I have a sewing machine my mom got me for my birthday, probably 20 years ago, but it rarely gets used. I do have, however, a good amount of ironing tape I got from my mom. This I can do.

I cut the fabric to size. I wasn’t terribly worried about the perfection of the shape so I just eyeballed it. Then I cut the ironing tape to fit the 3 sides and just ironed them together, right sides out.

Once I got them ironed, I realized I wasn’t real happy with the look of the edges. So when I finally found my pinking sheers I cut the edges making a zig zag. That made the sides look more finished.

Zig zag edges after using the pinking sheers.

Bias tape sewn with a straight stitch to finish the edges.

The left over kitchen curtain fabric was really thick and it didn’t like the ironing tape. It just wouldn’t stay stuck, so I actually had to do some sewing. Since I didn’t want the edges to be raw, I bought some bias tape to use along the sides. These bags were folded on the bottom, so I only had do deal with the sides. So I cut the bias tape to fit and sewed the edges with the tape finishing the sides.

Closing your bags

I came up with several ways of closing the bags, but in the end decided the simpler the better. I used some left over gold cord (from a Halloween costume) and Christmas ribbon to close them.

Creating the bags was easy. Think your idea through and pull all of your materials together and you’ll save yourself a ton of time.

If you know of someone who can use this idea, be sure to share this post with them. And, please let me know if you’ve made your own gift bags. I’d love to know what you used and how you put them together. You can leave pictures and share your gift bag projects in the comments below.

Talk to you again soon.

Health, Wealth & Blessings~ Tracey

My grand-daughter is in kindergarten this year and she LOVES school!! Makes me so happy. I know it probably won’t last, but a grandma can wish, can’t she? Anyway, I thought it would be kinda cool if she could make presents for her teachers.

I have to admit, as easy as it was to put this together, it is kinda girly. She also has 2 male teachers. I haven’t yet come up with what to get or make for them, but I’m working on it and I’ll let you know what I come up with.

So this year, we made sachets and bath tea bags for the lady teachers. Just guessing the guys may not enjoys these so much. I bought pretty bags for the sachets and I have small muslin bags I bought several months back for a “just in case I need them” kinda thing.

So I went to our local organic store and bought several different herbs. I bought lavender, catnip, orange peel, rose petals, chamomile and red clover.

I’ll tell you how we combined the herbs and in the coming weeks, I’ll go over each herb and tell you the reasons why I chose each one.

Sachets

I found these bags in the wedding craft section of Wal Mart and had way more than I needed. That’ll leave me some for another project some time. I like that kind of excess.

For the Sachets, I used lavender, rose petals and orange peel. I loved the colors, the combination of the smell and the different types of textures each showed through the bags.

First I poured the herbs in red plastic cups so my grand-daughter could spoon the different herbs from them easier.

I held the bags for her and had her use a plastic teaspoon, putting 3 spoonfuls of each of the herbs lavender, orange peal and rose petals into each bag. That didn’t fill up them completely but made it a nice each size.

Now you have to realize some spoonfuls were way bigger than others. I tried to keep it pretty even, but sometimes, it was “just good enough”.

Every time we finished one, she was very proud. She couldn’t believe how good it smelled. I was a little shocked myself. I wasn’t sure if I would need to add essential oils or not, but truly it wasn’t necessary.

I put each one in a plastic baggie to help contain the scent, for one because it’s so long until Christmas/Yule and for another, it’s just so strong!! I think they turned out great.

Bath Tea Bags

Next we did this bath tea bags. These are made to put into your tub to steep, just like tea, and then soak in them.

Did you know you can soak in the goodness of the herbs through your skin and get good out of it just like drinking the tea? Well, it’s true. You can drop these tea bags into your bath and get the same goodness as if you drank it.

For these I used chamomile, red clover and catnip. These herbs help support relaxation and are good “for what ails you”.

These were just a little smaller than the other bags and a little harder for a 5 year old to get the spoon in, so I actually did most of these.

I have to admit by this time she’s had enough too. They can only sit still for so long. We made 10 of the sachets and 10 of these.

Now she’s worried we’ll forget her guy teachers. I’ve assured her we won’t. Now I just have to come up with something just as cleaver for them as we did for the ladies.

I bought some of these bags at Mountain Rose Herb and I’ve also gotten some of these from Bramble Berry. Both places have great things for different purposes.

When buying herbs, make sure you are buying from a place you trust, whether that’s a brick and mortar or an online store. I have sources for both and trust them, using them over and over.

So let me know what you think. Have you done something similar? If so, let me know what you did different. Leave pictures and links in the comments so we can see your creations too. I know I’d love to see them.

Keep a watch out for future posts on each of the herbs used in this project. I’ll explain why I chose them and how they can support you.

Until next time….

Health Wealth & Blessings ~Tracey~

Category: Crafts

DIY Gift Bags For All Occasions