Yes, I'm still printing with these heart doilies. I don't know what it is with Valentine's Day and hearts. It's such a simple image and theme, you'd think I'd tire of it quickly. Some holidays I almost completely skip over, yet every year I seem to get sucked into the Valentine's theme.
But... Before I get into the heart prints (which you've probably heard enough about already, anyway), I want to tell you about these gift bags that I sewed using paper grocery bags. It's a lovely idea, but it's not mine. I found it on a blog before Christmas and sewed up some to wrap gifts in then. However I can't remember where I saw the tutorial and no matter what search words I type into Google, I can't seem to find it. Does anyone know or remember? I'm bummed, not only because I want to give credit where credit is due, but also because I want to send you all to this great tutorial that shows you how to make them, step by step.
The quickie version is that you cut out a section from the front and back of a paper grocery bag, reverse them so all the printing is on the inside, line up the handles, and sew along the bottom three sides. Add your gift, then sew it closed. The tutorial was really nice though, and she used fancy sewing stitches to add a nice decorative touch. My sewing machine is limping along and is in dire need of a tune up so I stuck to a simple straight stitch.
Now, for the printing... I used red glitter tempera paint and also some red activity paint (kinda like tempera) just because I had it and wanted to try it. But other than the paint I used (and the paper bags), everything else was the same as when I first did the heart doily prints.
Pretty, huh? I think these worked well.
I'm using these bags to wrap my soothing heart pillows. At Christmas I used them for wrapping things like wool felt potholders and hats -- things that are a bit hard to wrap traditionally unless you put them in a box first. And I just used a simple rubber stamp to add an image to the front then. But I'm enjoying how the image on these bags mirrors the image on the pillows.
I think these would be a cute way to present a heart-printed t-shirt as well...
If you liked these Heart-Printed Paper Gift Bags, then you might like the other Valentine's Day crafts and recipes in The Artful Winter ebook:
