Bridal Shower Gift Bag for Eileen Hull Designs with Sizzix

Hi everyone and welcome. I hope you've all had a good break over Easter and found a little time to get out those craft supplies. With the promise of sunshine and warmer weather on the way I've been focusing on flowers. First a heads up that I'm excited to share a new tutorial with you over on the Ranger blog using Wendy Vecchi's products and designs from Ranger and Stampers Anonymous. Please do make sure you check it out HERE.

Meantime, throughout April Eileen Hull's Inspiration Team are following the theme 'April Showers', so with Spring nuptials in mind I have created a Bridal Shower Gift Bag;

Looking more closely you'll be able to spot the pearls on the leaves, the beautiful detail from the Sizzix Textured Impressions 'Eyelet Lace' Embossing Folder on the DCWV pearl card, the layers of ribbon and lace behind the bouquet and the gift tag with a greeting stamped using Ranger's Letter It 'Wedding' Stamp Set. It's amazing how the embossed panel, lace trims, die cut flowers and a gift tag can transform a basic small white gift bag into something rather special.

Flower Tutorial

The flowers may look complicated to make but actually they are relatively easy to do. Here's how;

For one flower, cut five same size 5-point flowers from the Sizzix 'Stitchy Flowers & Leaf' Thinlits Die Set (there's a larger and smaller version in the set) using watercolour paper. Apply Eileen Hull's 'Wildberry' Clearsnap Colorbox Blends Ink to a craft mat and mix with a little water. Spritz the die cut flower shapes with a little water and add the diluted ink so it spreads unevenly across (leaving white areas). Dry and repeat on both sides of the die cut flower shapes until you are happy with the colour intensity.

Blend a little brown ink around the edges of each die cut if you want a vintage look to your final flowers. With the first die cut flower use a ball tool to bend the petals inwards then add a little adhesive to the petal edges and pull them in to form a tight bud shape (as shown above).

Use the ball tool to reshape the second die cut flower inwards and add adhesive to the flower centre and base of the petals. Place the bud inside this second flower and draw the petals up in a slightly looser pattern (as shown above). Repeat this process with the third flower adding adhesive to the centre and placing the larger bud into it.

Reshape the final two flower die cuts using a ball tool on the reverse side so they bend downwards (as shown). Stick one flower inside the other, then add the large bud into the centre to finish. I created three large and two small flowers for my bag.

Cut leaf shapes from watercolour paper using the leaf shape from the Sizzix 'Stitchy Flowers & Leaf' Thinlits Die Set. Apply Eileen Hull's 'Frog' Clearsnap Colorbox Blends Ink to a craft mat and mix with a little water. Spritz the die cut leaf shapes with a little water and add the diluted ink so it spreads unevenly across (leaving white areas). Dry and repeat on both sides of the die cut leaf shapes as before and add brown ink to the edges if required. Fold each leaf in half, cut from the base to the centre and use adhesive to cross one side of the leaf base across the other (as shown above).

Cut the branch shapes from the Sizzix 'Birds & Butterflies' Thinlits Die Set and colour with Eileen Hull's 'Beach' Clearsnap Colorbox Blends Ink using the same method as shown for the leaves. Cut the multi-leaf shapes from the Sizzix 'Leaves, Spring' Bigz Die and colour with Eileen Hull's 'Bay' Clearsnap Colorbox Blends Ink using the same method as shown for the leaves. Shape the branch and multi-leaf die cuts with a ball tool.

The Close Ups

Here are some close up shots so you can see more of how these flowers and leaves look when arranged together over lace and the embossed background;

So that's how you can transform a simple white gift bag into something special for a bridal shower. I hope you feel inspired to give it a go. For more 'April Showers' ideas throughout the month make sure you check out Eileen Hull's Inspiration Team to see what they've created.

I'll be back tomorrow with a new project for the current Frilly and Funkie 'Bloomin' Marvellous' challenge. For now take care of yourselves and get creative!

Jenny xxx