diy s'more favors in our clear 8oz take out boxes

Monday 29 July 2013

diy s'more favors by Lorrie Everitt for Creative Bag
I have received lots of inquiries about how to make my s'more favors lately so today I'm going to give you ALL of my tips and tricks for making these yourself! 

When I originally posted about these s'more favors I filled our clear take out box with marshmallows, Hersey's chocolate bars and graham crackers that I had left over from a s'mores kit that I had purchased at Loblaws. I understand that the graham crackers that I used have been difficult for people to find. I remade these favors on the weekend at our cottage and here is what I found:
Lorrie Everitt compares s'more kits - make your own s'more wedding/party favors
1. The President's Choice S'mores Kits have changed and no longer contain a rectangular graham cracker. The new kits have a larger graham crackers that is square shaped and fits inside our 8oz clear take out boxes if you place them on their side as you can see above on the left. 

2. I have been able to find lots of the Hershey's S'mores Kits pictured above. The graham crackers are larger but they can be cut and stack easily inside our 8oz take out box

Lorrie's Tip: If you need to buy a few extra Hershey's chocolate bars because your friends ate one or two while helping you to assemble the favors, you can buy them at the Dollarstore for $.69 each.

Now let's get started!
Lorrie Everitt's diy "take out box" s'more favors tutorial
You will need 8oz clear take out boxes, ribbon, labels and your s'mores (chocolate, marshmallows & graham crackers). I love the look of our new chalkboard labels on these favors and I recommend using a chalk marker.

I decided to use the Hersey's S'more kit and the graham crackers for my sample. The graham crackers have to be cut into four. Use a large sharp knife and cut each cracker as shown above so that they will fit inside the take out box. The chocolate bar will be also be cut into four pieces to match the shapes of the graham crackers. 

Layer the s'more elements inside the takeout box in this order:
two graham crackers,
two chocolate,
two graham crackers,
two marshmallows.
Note: this favor will make two s'mores!

Close the top of the takeout box and get ready to add your personal touches. 
 Tie a piece of ribbon around the favor as shown above and tie a knot. You could do a bow if you like but I find the simple knot and nicely cut ends to be just enough. I used a crochet lace ribbon on my favor but you can use any colour or type of ribbon that suits your theme or style.

Add a label to the front of the favor to finish and keep the ribbon in place. You can use a personalized label or a chalkboard label like my sample. 
Tip: If you are going to use our chalkboard labels, I found it easier to write or stamp on the labels before sticking them onto the favors. 

Never used chalk markers? You can see how I use chalk markers on this post if you missed it.

Creative Bag has everything you need to make s'more favors for your wedding/party
Recreate these favors for your wedding or party! 
Chalkboard markers are available in limited quantities in our stores.

Looking for more favor ideas for your wedding or party? Follow us on Pinterest




mason jars + chalkboards = luvly bridal shower inspiration and a free party printable downloads

Thursday 25 July 2013



Are you planning a bridal shower? I've noticed lots of "bridal shower" boards popping up on Pinterest lately and I decided to design a bridal shower printable that you can download for free.

We recently had a surprise shower for one of our staff and many of the projects that I created for at that party were used as inspirational for this bridal shower set up. I found this really cute image featuring a vintage mason jar filled with flowers that reminded me of our glass jars and it was my starting point for the invitation. I purchased the mason jar flower image from a new online digital design marketplace called Luvly.co. 

And now, here's my bridal shower party:
bridal shower party ideas from Creative Bag

bridal shower ideas from Creative Bag

Bridal shower ideas: 
1. Use our beautiful Rosanna cake stands to display an assortment of sweets. The cake stands are available in white and a few pastel colours. I suggest mixing patterns and sizes for a pretty presentation. Use mini chalkboard signs to tell guests what the sweets are and/or if there is anything special about the baked goods. Guests with nut, lactose or glutten allergies will love you for letting them know! Because I used a chalkboard background in the party printables, chalkboard elements are a perfect decorating detail for this party. 

2. Send guests a words of wisdom tag along with their invitation or have the tags ready at the party for guests to fill out. Hang the completed tags to one of our decorative trees using a pretty ribbon or twine. I placed the tree in a 12x12 burlap tote bag and decorated the bag with one of the gift tags and paper crinkle ribbon. This words of wisdom tree would make a great centre piece for the party and and lovely keepsake.

3. Decorate a chair for the bride so that she knows where to sit! I used paper crinkle ribbon to decorate a vintage wooden chair. I could have just tied a big bow on the back of the chair using the crinkle ribbon but I wanted it to look a little more "special" so I simply tied a knot and let the two ends drape down to touch the floor. Then I cut the crinkle ribbon ends to create lots of long thin streamers. The vintage shape "bride to be" sign was punched with two holes and tied with paper twine to hang on top of the ribbon. Tip: I used some two-sided tape on the crinkle ribbon to make sure that it stayed in place on the chair. 

4. Use mason jars to display sweets, for serving drinks or to hold flowers at the party. You can find most of the mason jars we carry as well as the prices on our website but we don't ship any glass products so you will have to come into any of our three locations to see what is available. If you are thinking about using mason jars to serve drinks at the party you should also check our our assortment of daisy lids, paper straws and chalkboard labels!

bridal shower party products from Canadian retailer Creative Bag




free download by Lorrie Everitt for Creative Bag and Just Pretty Parties
Included in the free download is an invitation, words of wisdom and gift tags, and a chair back sign. You will also find project instructions on the first page of the download.


You can purchase the original Luvly.co digital download here if you want to create additional custom labels or stickers for your party.

Just to give you a peek at the surprise Bridal Shower we had at work ... here's a few of my pictures...

bridal shower at Creative Bag
We had the party across the street from our Toronto store at the Boston Pizza. The staff at Boston Pizza were very nice and allowed us to bring paper lanterns, tissue paper pom poms & garlands and our words of wisdom tree to decorate an area for our party!! The "K loves D" illustration for this bridal shower came from here.


More New Wedding Products Just Arrived ... Lace Umbrellas & Fans and Ribbon Wands

Monday 22 July 2013

Give your wedding photographer an opportunity to take magazine worthy photos with some of our new wedding decor products. Let me show you want I mean ...

lace umbrellas and lace fans available from Canadian packaging and wedding retailer Creative Bag

Our new lace umbrellas and fans are stunning!
If you have incorporated lace into any of your wedding details ... your dress, invitations or ceremony/reception decor ... then you have to check out these umbrellas and fans. And remember to tell your photographer that you have them so that they can incorporate them into their plans for shooting.

I've been pinning wedding and engagement photos with lace umbrellas and fans for a while and you can see some of my recent favourites above. 

Pinterest Pin Sources (from top to left/right and bottom):

lace umbrellas and lace fans available from Canadian packaging and wedding supply retailer Creative Bag

The umbrellas and fans are available in both white and ivory lace. 


The other wedding product that I wanted to share with you are these adorable ribbon wandsThese ribbon wands are a fun way to send off the new couple after the ceremony. 

Pinterest Pin Sources (from top to left/right and bottom):

The ribbon wands are so much fun and although we have them in our wedding section I could also see these at a party for young girls.

ribbon streamer wands available from Canadian packaging and wedding supplier Creative Bag

The ribbon wands come in four colour combinations: 1. yellow, light yellow and white 2. peach, orange, white 3. pink, light pink, white and 4. peach, grey, white.

Wedding Saviours GTA 2013 Contest winners, Sarah and Keith, are featured on City TV

Thursday 18 July 2013



Creative Bag is one of the companies donating product or services to the Wedding Saviours 2013 GTA contest winners
Creative Bag is proud to taking part in the Wedding Saviours 2013 GTA Wedding Contest.
Our team leader is the host of Wedding SOS - Jane Dayus-Hinch. 

Yesterday the contest winners, Sarah and Keith, were featured on City TV and you can see the interview here ...




Wedding Saviours gives away free weddings to couples suffering financial or emotional hardship. Their mission is to make the world a better place one wedding at a time. 

We were at The Vue for the event. This is where the wedding reception will take place this fall. A number of the vendors taking part in the wedding were there to show Sarah and Keith a sneak peak at some wedding details that will be available to them.  

This was the first time that I had the pleasure of meeting Sarah and Keith. Creative Bag will be donating the packaging supplies for their wedding favors and I brought lots of different packaging and decorating products for them to see. Once their favor has been finalized - cupcakes, cookies or chocolate (yum!) I will go to work with them to design the favor packaging. I hope that we will have samples to eat, oh no I meant to say, samples of the treats to make sure that they fit properly in the bags or boxes that we are considering. 



diy wedding projects using chalk markers and inspiration from Weddingbells Magazine

Thursday 11 July 2013



chalkboard signs from Creative Bag and tutorial on how to use chalk markers to create diy wedding projects

One of our buyers is getting married this month and we are all feeling the excitement as she completes her last minute plans (and projects) for her wedding day. 
chalkboard signs from Creative Bag and tutorial on how to use chalk markers to create diy wedding projects


We have these adorable little vintage shaped chalkboards on stands that our bride wanted to use for her dessert table and as table numbers but she felt that the natural wood coloured signs were not the right colour for her wedding decor. (Note: We have ordered these in white but they will not be in stock in time for the wedding date). 

I was already asked to do the writing on all of the chalkboard elements for the wedding and when we were looking at which chalkboards to use I told her not to worry about the colour of the chalkboard signs because it would be easy to paint these whatever colour she wanted using acrylic paint. And that is what I did! 

Here's how you can do it too ...
chalkboard signs from Creative Bag and tutorial on how to use chalk markers to create diy wedding projects
I used white acrylic paint but you could do this with any colour that you want ... except  maybe black. You could even use a metallic paint if you wanted to.

Here's my tips for painting: 
a) paint two light coats instead of one heavy coat. This will take longer but it's worth the effort and time.
b) paint in stages and allow to dry completely. I painted the edges of all of the bases
first (both coats), and after they were dry I painted the bottoms and then the tops. The signs were done in a similar manner and I used a container filled with sand (sugar or uncooked rice will work too) to allow them to dry.


I knew that I would not  be writing on these chalkboards the day of the wedding at the reception hall so had to figure out a way to make the lettering somewhat "smudge-proof" so they could be packed and moved around.  Regular chalk was not going to work for this project and I started looking into chalk markers. I actually had a difficult time finding chalk markers locally so we have ordered a few different kinds to test out in our Toronto store ... they will be arriving soon (I will keep you posted).  I manage to find a Bristo Chalk Marker and it easy to use. I even came up with three different ways to use my chalk marker!

chalkboard signs from Creative Bag and tutorial on how to use chalk markers to create diy wedding projects
1. Just like you would any marker - shake it, get the ink flowing and then (neatly) write directly on your chalkboard surface. The ink is smudge proof once it dries and you can erase it with a damp cloth. If you check out my last post you will find some font styles that you can "copy". The 6mm marker that I have been using is not as fine as I would like for the mini chalkboards and if you have a lot to write it could be a problem.
chalkboard signs from Creative Bag and tutorial on how to use chalk markers to create diy wedding projects
2. My chalk marker work really well with stamps. I did a lot of testing and most letter and number stamps I have worked great with this method. Simply trace the stamp image with the tip of the marker to add a thin coat of ink on the stamp and then stamp away! I prefer clear stamps so that I can easily see where I am stamping but you can try this with other types of stamps. The best part about using this chalk ink is that if you don't like the way the stamped image looks simply use a damp paper towel to wipe it away and try again!!
chalkboard signs from Creative Bag and tutorial on how to use chalk markers to create diy wedding projects
3. This last method is what I used on the wedding signs because I had a lot of words to get on some of the signs and the 6mm marker was just a little too thick and I had to print. I'm hoping to find some fine tip chalk markers but for now this method works really well. I was able to create a "puddle" of chalk ink on a glass tray by pressing down on the tip of the maker. Using a fine paint brush, I used the chalk ink like paint and wrote on the chalkboard. You need to do this while the ink is "wet" so if it drys before you have finished just create another puddle and continue to write.
chalkboard signs from Creative Bag and tutorial on how to use chalk markers to create diy wedding projects
Above photo: You can see that I used the chalk marker ink with a paint brush to create the "baked Raspberry" sign. Both the "5" table number sign and "thanks" chalkboard label on the favor packaging were created using chalk marker ink and stamps.

push pop containers from Creative Bag used in diy wedding project in Weddingbells magazine
The new Weddingbells magazine is out! You can find it on newstands today. I was thrilled to see the diy confetti poppers project using our push pop containersDon't they look amazing! I love the colours and graphics.

Looking for more wedding diy projects? Check out our Pinterest diy wedding board!




Chalkboard labels & inspiration and Lorrie Everitt's favourite {free} fonts for chalkboards

Monday 8 July 2013

chalkboard labels available at www.creativebag.com
The chalkboard effect is everywhere. You'll find chalkboards in wedding & party decor, in stores for signage & menus, in posters & invitations and in home decorating magazines & blogs. 

We have lots of great chalkboard products and our new chalkboard labels have just arrived!  Customers are picking these up for packaging and diy projects. The chalkboard labels come in three great shapes and each package include 36 labels. You can stick these onto paper, glass, tin ... whatever you want to "label".  And because the labels really are chalkboards - you can write on them with chalk or erasable chalk markers and whatever the labels have been adhered to can be reused or re-labelled over and over again!!

By the way, the tin containers, glass mugs, daisy lids for mason jars and paper straws in the picture above are all in stock right now.

Here's some of our chalkboard products that are in stores and on line right now...

chalkboard products available at www.creativebag.com


chalkboard inspirational Pinterest boards created by Lorrie Everitt and Creative Bag

 I'm always adding new pins and inspiration to our Pinterest boards!
Find the original pins/links to each of the pictures above here: 
one  two  three  four  five  six  seven  eight 

Creative Bag's blogger Lorrie Everitt shares her favourite chalkboard fonts to download for free
Looking for fonts to use on your chalkboard project? 
Here's 10 of my favourites that you can download for free! 




Holiday packaging collections for 2013 arriving mid September ... taking preorders now!

Friday 5 July 2013


Creative Bag Holiday 2013 Candy Frame Collection

Here's a sneak peek at our Holiday 2013 Collections. All collections are arriving mid September and we are accepting preorders for them now. 

Our red and white "Candy Frame" collection is one of the staff favourites. The simple red and white graphics and stripes makes this grouping suitable for the holidays and but we think that the bags and boxes could be used for packaging year round. The striped ribbons handles on the paper bags and ties on the window boxes are stunning. The collection also includes matching wrapping paper and tissue paper. We have lots of  chalkboard gift tags, red and white ribbons and twine that will look great with this collection. 

Creative Bag Holiday 2013 Falling Snow Collection
The gold and champagne "Falling Snow" collection is perfect if you are looking for something a little more sophisticated this holiday season. The stylized dot and swirl pattern has a winter wonderland feeling and the mix of metallic and matte finishes is elegant. The glitter bags, boxes and trays add an extra touch of sparkle and the best part about these glitter packaging products is that the glitter does not come off easily. We have a great assortment of black, charcoal, chocolate brown and metallic gold ribbons and bows that work well with this collection. Matching wrapping paper and tissue papers are available. 

Creative Bag Holiday 2013 Frosted Branches Collection
The "Frosted Branches" collection features a beautiful silver grey and white branch design that has a modern winter feeling and works for any winter themed holiday. Similar to the Falling Snow collection, this frosty collection has a number of glitter packaging products in silver.  We have a large assortment of white, silver, grey and metallic silver ribbons and bows that work well with this collection. We carry lots of silver tin containers year round that work well with this collection as well. Matching wrapping paper and tissue papers are available. 
Creative Bag Holiday 2013 Cirque Collection
If you liked our vintage themed collection in 2012, you are going to love our new "Cirque" collection because it has been updated with a kraft background. I adore kraft packaging products and this collection is one of my personal favourites because you can mix and match the patterned bags with the solid kraft boxes. The kraft boxes are available with either red or black ribbon ties in this collection. I would combine various textures of ribbons and twine with this collection and don't forget the burlap! We sell so many kraft packaging supplies year round that could easily be worked in with this collection as well. Matching wrapping and tissue papers are also available.

If you are interesting in preordering, you can do so now online. If you have any questions or need more information you can email us at infor@creativebag.com.