Put a little {glitter} heart into your valentine packaging

Wednesday 29 January 2014

great inspiration and tutorial using Martha Stewart decoupage and glitter on fabric favor bags and more | creativebag.com

If you have been following our blog for a while, you know that I like to use our fabric bags for favor and holiday packaging. I've been playing around with the concept of adding a little sparkle to our linen and cotton bags for Valentine's Day and came up with a few ideas to share with you.  

These adorable glitter hearts are a simple way to dress up fabric bags. Make the hearts as big as you want ... use one heart like I did or add a few to create a pattern.! Just add a gift tag and you are ready to go! If you are going to use these bags for candy or food products, I recommend using a smaller sized clear candy bag to contain the food before inserting it inside of the fabric bag of your choice. 

great inspiration and tutorial using Martha Stewart decoupage and glitter on fabric favor bags and more | creativebag.com

I added a single band of glitter to the bottom of the linen and cotton bags pictured above. We were giving out these cute little buttons at the Total Wedding Show a few weeks ago and I thought that something like this would be cute on the bags with the glitter. You could use vintage buttons or brooches for a more vintage look!

great inspiration and tutorial using Martha Stewart decoupage and glitter on fabric favor bags and more | creativebag.com

Here's how I added the glitter hearts and stripes to the bags: 
1. Gather your supplies: linen/cotton/burlap bags, Martha Stewart decoupage (multi-surface durable glitter finish), Martha Stewart glitter (in colour of your choice), paint brush, painter's tape, large sticker and paper punch (optional).
2. Tape off the area you want to add the glitter using painter's tape.To create a perfect heart, I used a heart shaped paper punch and cut the heart out of a large sticker. Make sure that your tape/sticker is tight to the fabric so that the decoupage does not bleed underneath.
3. Using a paint brush, add decoupage to area that you want to add glitter. While the decoupage is still wet, sprinkle glitter to cover area completely.
4. Immediately remove the tape/sticker and allow to dry for a few hours.
5. When completely dry, add a top coat of decoupage over the glitter to stop the glitter from flaking off. 

great inspiration and tutorial using Martha Stewart decoupage and glitter on fabric favor bags and more | creativebag.com

The great thing about this technique is that you can do it on glassware as well. I used the heart sticker that I created when making my favor bag to create the heart shape on the glass vase. The only difference with using the Martha Stewart decoupage on glass is that you want add 2 or 3 coats of decoupage over the glitter so that the glassware can be dishwasher safe (after "curing" for 28 days). These glass containers would be nice for flowers, candles or as a candy container for a sweet table!

great inspiration and tutorial using Martha Stewart decoupage and glitter on fabric favor bags and more | creativebag.com

You can add glitter to burlap as I did with this David Tutera burlap candle holder. I added a vintage brooch to mine to dress up the candle holder. We have one brooch available on line right now and a few more vintage style brooches will be arriving in time for spring/summer weddings. I'll keep posted when they are available!

great inspiration and tutorial using Martha Stewart decoupage and glitter on fabric favor bags and more | creativebag.com

Here's one more look at my glittered linen favor bags. I attached my vintage brooch to it - I think that this would be lovely as a favor for a bridal shower or wedding. 


Wedding favor and sign inspiration using our free downloads

Friday 24 January 2014

wedding favor and sign inspiration using Lorrie Everitt's free downloads | chalkboard inspired art

Last weekend, in our booth at the Total Wedding Show, I displayed a number of our products with some tags and signs that I created. A number of people expressed an interest in them and so I have created a few free downloads to share with you on the blog today. Enjoy!

Photos above:
Our new "mustache" stainless steel flasks will make a great gift for all of the important guys in your wedding. I gift wrapped one using black wrapping paper, baker's twine and one of my gift tags. I used a chalk marker on the black wrapping paper to add to the "chalkboard" theme. You can see my tutorial for using chalk markers on wrapping paper here.  
(fyi - we have a "red lips" flask for the ladies as well!)

The rectangular signs in the download have been made to fit inside our David Tutera wood frames. The signs are blank and can be used two ways: 1. add text to them on your computer before you print them out or 2. write directly on the blank signs using chalk markers. You will notice that I gave you two pre-made signs as well. 

wedding favor and sign inspiration using Lorrie Everitt's free downloads | chalkboard inspired art

Photos above:

The square signs in the download were designed to fit into our new antique finish wood frames. The downloads for the square signs have two options - blank signs that you can fill in and a couple of pre-made signs.

I attached baker's twine to a gift tag and tied it to the handle of a s'more favor packaged in a clear take out box. You can find the tutorial to make this yummy favor here

You can also use the tags as place cards. Our new faux birch log card holders work well with these tags. I used a fine chalk marker to write the name on the sample place card. 

wedding favor and sign inspiration using Lorrie Everitt's free downloads | chalkboard inspired art

Photos above:

Our gumball favors have always been a big hit for young and old. I used ribbon and baker's twine to attach the gift tags to the containers. 

These clear cupcake bags make wonderful favor packaging. I punched two holes at the top of the folded bag to add ribbon and a gift tag. 

wedding favor and sign inspiration using Lorrie Everitt's free downloads | chalkboard inspired art

Photos above:

Our high gloss boxes are beautiful and look great with the chalkboard inspired gift tags. Wrap the boxes up with ribbons to match your wedding colours to make these your own. 

The faux antler card holders are another option to use with the tags. 


wedding favor and sign inspiration using Lorrie Everitt's free downloads | chalkboard inspired art

The 16" x 20" poster print above can be downloaded as a separate file. I printed it at Costco and it's a fun sign that can be used at a wedding or party. Like all of my downloads, this poster print for personal use only.

(Note: At the wedding show I made the poster print to fit a white antique frame that I had on hand. The art was modified to fit into an Ikea frame.)

wedding favor and sign inspiration using Lorrie Everitt's free downloads | chalkboard inspired art

 And now for the free downloads! 

Thanks for visiting us at the Total Wedding Show!

Tuesday 21 January 2014

Creative Bag Wedding booth at the Total Wedding Show 2014
Creative Bag Wedding booth at the Total Wedding Show 2014

Everyone at Creative Bag would like to thank all of our loyal customers who stopped by to see us at the Total Wedding Show this weekend. We had an amazing weekend at the show and met so many wonderful people. It was exciting to talk to so many brides, grooms, parents and bridesmaids about wedding ideas. We hope to see lots of you in our stores this year - we'd love to help you to make your wedding dreams come true.  

Congratulations to Eryn Kidd the winner of our email contest!

We are just about finished doing inventory in the stores and look forward to expanding our wedding section with new products in the next few months. We will be updating the website as the new products arrive. For now you can shop online for some of our wedding products here and here


I'll be posting the free downloads for the wedding shoe graphics that were used in our booth later this week so please stay tuned for those! If you are not already following our blog by email you can sign up here.


If you are looking for custom wedding stationery and missed the opportunity to talk to Rebecca from Blank Slate you can find her here





Wedding trend for 2014 - Springtime in Paris

Monday 6 January 2014

I was at the Wedlux Wedding Show yesterday and took a few pics to share with you. Unfortunately my cell phone does not take the best pictures but I'm sure you will get the idea! The show was held at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto and theme was "Springtime in Paris". Every room was beautifully decorated and inspiration was everywhere. 

Creative Bag Weddiing | creativebag.com
Creative Bag Weddiing | creativebag.com
Creative Bag Weddiing | creativebag.com

Here's what we saw: antique gold | shades of pink, blush and white | vintage jewellery, head accessories and decor items | flowers everywhere - real, fabric, paper and edible | custom stationery, cakes and cookies

Creative Bag Weddiing | creativebag.com

We donated a number of packaging supplies that were used for many of the giveaways and diy projects around the show. I especially love how they painted our chalkboard signs with gold paint at the "marche aux fleurs" by Jackie O booth. 

The diy tissue tassel wall photo booth backdrop by Mango Photography was awesome ... I especially liked the gold accents!

Creative Bag Weddiing | creativebag.com

They displayed one of our banners at the show and Kerri and I stood beside it for a photo op! 

I was so inspired after the show and couldn't wait to get home and relax with a cup of tea and my note book. As I was writing notes and doodling ideas I started to get really excited because I realized that we have lots of wedding products on their way that would be perfect for a "springtime in Paris" themed wedding or party! You can shop for many of them online right now. 

Creative Bag Weddiing | creativebag.com

Save the date! We have a booth at the Total Wedding Show at the International Centre on January 17-19, 2014.