the creative bag blog: 2013

Love is in the air at Creative Bag

Monday 30 December 2013

Creative Bag wedding - new products for 2014 | creativebagwedding.com

burlap chic ring pillow // leaning in for kiss & balloon wedding cake topper // vintage chalkboard sign

I hope that you had a wonderful holiday and that you are ready to for the countdown to a new year. I am personally looking forward to 2014 and all of the creative projects that I am currently working on.

Love is in the air at Creative Bag as we set up for Valentine's day in our stores and our warehouse prepares to receive lots of new wedding products.

If you or someone you know got engaged over the holidays or is planning a wedding, January is wedding show "season"! This weekend the WedLux Wedding Show is taking place on Sunday January 5th at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto. Today I am pulling together everything for our booth at the Total Wedding Show on January 17 to 19, 2014 at the International Centre.

The new 2014 Weddingstar magazines are on their way and will be available for sale in our stores very soon. You will be able to view the Weddingstar digital e-catalog in January 2014 but if you can't wait - many of the new products can be seen and purchased here.

This is a sample of some of the new wedding products ...

From Top Left Corner: Adventurer’s Compass Favor // Decorative Apothecary Style ClearGlass Beverage Dispenser // Personalized Wood Veneer Pennants // Personalized Wood Veneer Sign –Deers // “Perching” White Ceramic Bird // Miniature Faux Antler StationeryHolder // Couture Brooch Bridal Bouquet // Interlocking “Bear Hug”Wedding Cake Topper/Figurine // Antiqued Battenburg Lace Parasols // “A Sweet Embrace” Wedding CakeTopper/Figurine

Happy holidays to all of our loyal creative customers!

Tuesday 24 December 2013

After a very busy 2013 holiday season, all of the staff at Creative Bag are all looking forward to a couple of days off with families and friends. At this time, we'd like to wish all of our loyal and creative customers a happy holiday. Thank you for a wonderful 2013 and we all look forward to working with you again in 2014.

You can find our holiday hours on our website or here on the blog!

burlap Christmas inspiration

Thursday 19 December 2013

We carry lots of burlap products at Creative Bag all year round but this year we added a few extra holiday products that have been very popular. I thought that I'd show you how I included some of our burlap products into my personal holiday decorating and gift wrapping projects.

Please note at this time of year, as holiday specific products sell out, items will be removed from our website.

1. I decorated four of the burlap stockings with lace ribbon, snowflake ornaments, baker's twine and wood letters to hang from the fireplace mantle in our family room.

2. Last year I gave you the directions to make these cookie mix gifts packaged in a four cup jar with a free recipe tag download. This year I created the cookie mix gift again but this time I used burlap to decorate the top of the jar and one of our chalkboard tags. Red ribbon and baker's twine make it easy to attach the burlap and tags to the jar.

3. We have a number of different burlap bag styles. I love to use these study bags all year long so the packaging in this project is like receiving an extra gift. You can decorate the burlap bags if you want or just leave them as is like I did above. I tied a satin ribbon to the bag handles and attached a kraft tag with baker's twine. I like to use tissue paper to hide the present inside and give the bag a little colour pop.

Note: I have started to stock a number of our bakery boxes and different colours of baker's twine in my pantry. I usually volunteer to make desserts for parties and family gatherings and these come in handy to package my baked goods. The bakery boxes are expensive and I don't have to worry about finding dishes or plastic containers at the end of the event to take home.

4. I added burlap ribbon to garland on another fireplace mantle in my home. It was easy to tuck the burlap ribbon into the garland and I love the way it looks at night with the lights shining through it. You can find my tutorial and free download for the "twenty thirteen" chalkboard bunting project here and here.

5. Our burlap bags with drawstrings come in many different sizes and shapes. I used a wide satin ribbon to decorate this one. For a final touch I add a snowflake ornament and a gift tag you can find here to download.

6. These mini burlap stockings are the perfect size to hold a gift card and a sweet treat. I added one of our mini chalkboard clip tags to the stocking as a decorative element and to hold a gift tag (not shown). If you add a magnet to the back of the chalkboard clip it can be used on the fridge later to display holiday cards.

Looking for more burlap products? We have burlap bunting, runners and more in stores and online. Looking for more burlap decorating and packaging inspiration? Check out and follow our burlap Pinterest board!

Christmas holiday hours

Monday 16 December 2013

creative holiday packaging and more | creativebag.com

I'm so excited ... my gift wrapping is complete and I'm ready for Santa!

Just in case you have not finished your holiday wrapping, I thought that I'd share our store holiday hours with you!

Tuesday December 24, 2013 - open until 1pm

Wednesday December 25 & Thursday December 26 - closed

Friday December 27 & Saturday December 28 - open regular hours

Sunday December 29 - closed

Monday December 30 - regular hours

Tuesday December 31 - open until 1pm

Wednesday January 1, 2014 - closed

*Check our website for our "regular hours" ... each store is a little different!

brown paper packages all tied up with string ... these are a few of my favourite things {for Christmas gift wrapping}

Thursday 12 December 2013

kraft paper gift wrapping inspiration | Lorrie Everitt for Creative Bag

I'm feeling a little inspired today by both Pinterest and one of my favourite holiday songs from the movie "The Sound of Music". I remember learning the words to this song as a little girl to sing at a school Christmas concert and it always makes me feel happy when I hear it. I have been pinning a number of "brown (kraft) paper packages" on our Christmas boards lately ... I never seem to get tired of seeing all of the new packaging ideas that people come up with using kraft packaging products like the ones we stock.

Pictured above: one of our kraft take out boxes that I decorated with satin ribbon and a beaded ornament.

Check out all our kraft boxes, bags and gift wrapping paper on our website or visit one of our three stores!

Here's a few of my other brown (kraft) paper packages all wrapped up with (baker's twine) string!

From left to right: 1. kraft candy bags with windows, 2. kraft wrapping paper used as a bag header and added to a clear food safe bag, 3. kraft window box with ribbon, kraft jewellery box and a gift box wrapped with kraft wrapping paper.

Want more inspiration? ....

kraft gift wrapping "Pin"spiration by Lorrie Everitt

You will find more brown paper packaging ideas for the holidays on our Pinterest boards.

Visit our "Creative ideas for Christmas" Pinterest board to find the sources for all of these pins.

New Years Eve diy kit by gift stylist extraordinaire Corinna vanGerwen

Tuesday 10 December 2013

http://corinnawraps.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/make-your-own-new-years-celebration-kit/

Planning a New Year's Eve party this year? We saw this amazing diy party kit in the Holiday issue of Food & Drink that is available at LCBO stores in Ontario. I have to warn you that I have only been able to find these magazines in french lately because they tend to fly off the shelves quickly! The diy project idea is by gift stylist extraordinaire Corinna vanGerwen.

Corinna shares a stylish way to get guests in the countdown mood with her little DIY kit and you can read about it on her blog. We were so excited to see that she used our silver glitter window boxes and white stationery boxes to create these kits. We also sell sizzle and ribbon in lots of colors so if you are interested in making these yourself it will be easy to coordinate your party kits with your party decor!

Find more gift wrapping tips and inspiration by Corinna vanGerwen on her website and blog.

Cheers! holiday wine bottle packaging inspiration using chalk markers, tissue paper pom poms and paper bows

Friday 6 December 2013

wine bottle containers | creativebag.com

Our cylinder wine containers are a staple at Creative Bag. They have a rich textured finish and look great just as they are with the simple white accent and rope handles. But if you are looking for a wine container to add a personal touch to for holiday gift giving these containers are perfect! And I've got a couple of diy packaging ideas for you!

The red container was decorated with a small white sparkle tissue paper pom pom* that I attached to the lid using two sided tape. If you have been reading our blog for a while you may remember seeing the "Dear Santa" tag that I created as a free download last year. I punched two holes in the tag and used a white ribbon to attach it to the container.

*You can find my tutorial for making tissue paper pom poms here. Please note that to make this smaller pom pom I used 4 pieces of 10"x 15" sparkle tissue paper and opened all of the layers on the same side.

The black container is another one of my chalk marker experiments. And yes, as you can see, chalk markers work on these containers! I created the vintage frame element in my chalk design by tracing around the "Dear Santa" tag. I added "cheers" inside the frame and added random snowflakes all over the rest of the container. I made the yellow paper bow using a download that I designed for Weddingbells magazine.

gift packaging inspiration by Lorrie Everitt for creativebag.com

You can printable paper bow download and instructions here. The download is for two bows so I added the second bow to one of our black and white jewellery boxes. These boxes have a high gloss finish and are stunning. I did not use chalk markers on this box ... you could ... but wanted to keep this packaging simple and keep the focus on the box and bow.

You can see my paper bow bunting project in the spring/summer 2014 Weddingbells magazine.

Christmas wrapping is a piece of cake ...

Tuesday 3 December 2013

holiday gift wrapping ideas from creativebag.com | Lorrie Everitt's elegant rustic theme

I love our Rosanna cake stands. They are timelessly beautiful and I think that they would make a wonderful holiday gift. (Hint hint to my family if you are reading this!) But did you know that you can use our cake stands as a part of your holiday packaging!! I guarantee when you walk in the door with this gift EVERYONE is going to be hoping they are on your holiday list this year.

In this holiday packaging project I combined one of our cake stands with two round boxes. I wanted to create an "elegant rustic" look so the burlap pattern on these boxes worked perfectly for me. We have an great assortment of colourful round boxes that will fit our cake stands and give you a completely different look! You can use whatever decorative elements you want to work with your colours and theme or just use ribbon and no extra decorations for simpler version!

Here's what I did ...

a Stack the boxes from largest at the bottom to smallest at the top on the cake stand. To tie a ribbon around the boxes like mine, start at the base of the cake stand as shown in b and pull the ends of the ribbon up to the top of the smallest box. You can simply a knot with the ribbon or create a fabulous bow. I also tied a piece of twine to the smaller box as a decorative detail. c I wanted to create a natural woodland theme to my packaging so I added a bird with a clip to the top of my "cake". d The next layer down, I added a floral element on the left side. e The next layer down I added a small grouping of silver balls and burlap "leaves" on the right side to balance the floral element above.

Here's another look at my gift packaging. It's almost too pretty to open! Don't you agree?

If you like the "elegant rustic" look for holiday packaging, here's two more ideas ...

I love these silver glitter boxes with windows and attached ribbons. The boxes are beautiful and the best part is that the glitter does not come off! I told you in an earlier post how I make wrapping paper bands using our wrapping paper cutter. I did the same technique for this package only I also used a Martha Stewart paper edge punch to create the scallop edges on my kraft paper band. I glued a David Tutera burlap flower to a mini clothespin and attached the clothespin to the ribbon. A small piece of diamond wrap was taped onto a plain kraft tag to add a little bling.

And here's one more elegant rustic packaging idea. This time I used one of our burlap bottle bags to package a bottle of wine. It's embellished with a wool snowflake ornament, satin ribbon and a kraft tag embellished with glitter tape. I wrapped the satin ribbon around the top of the bag a few times to hide the drawstring on the burlap bag.

Creative Bag's cake stands by Rosanna featured in new Weddingbells magazine

Our Rosanna cake stands have been featured in the new Weddingbells magazine. Don't those cakes look amazing!!! The cake stands make a wonderful wedding keepsake that will be reused for many more years. You can purchase or order Rosanna cake stands in any of our retail stores.

Clearly yummy holiday packaging inspiration and a free download

Friday 29 November 2013

clear holiday packaging ideas from Lorrie Everitt | creativebag.com

Holiday packaging does not always have to hide your gift. Especially if you are wrapping something like beautifully decorated cookies or other yummy treats. We carry a variety of clear boxes and bags in lots of sizes that will make your holiday packaging projects a breeze.

Here's three clear gift wrapping ideas I'm going to be using this year ...

In this first sample, I packaged a snowman sugar cookie from Starbucks in one of our clear bags and tied the bag close with a clear twist tie topped off with a red ribbon bow. I like to give gift cards to friends and family for the holidays so I also packaged a Starbucks gift card inside a red striped pillow box. The pillow box was tied to the cookie packaging using red baker's twine. This would make a great gift idea for clients, staff and teachers.

This beautiful snowflake cookie from Cupid's Bakery was packaged inside of a clear bag that I embellished with a header that I made using our kraft wrapping paper, lace ribbon tape, baker's twine and chalkboard stickers. I cut the kraft wrapping paper using our wrapping paper cutter ... a great time saver if you plan to do a lot of gift wrapping this year! You can write on the chalkboard stickers using chalk markers!

Here's one more packaging idea using our clear boxes. The clear boxes come in many different of sizes. I filled one of the 2x2 clear boxes with some mini chocolates that I purchased at Costco. I created holiday wrappers to fit the mini chocolates and you can download them below if you would like to make these too. I used silver mylar sizzle in my box to keep the chocolates in place. Baker's twine adds a little colour to my packaging and is a good choice if you don't like to tie ribbon bows. I used a chalkboard sticker on the bottom of my box to use as a gift tag.

free download for holiday themed chocolate wrappers and gift packaging inspiration by Lorrie Everitt | creativebag.com

You can download my art for the holiday chocolate wrappers here. You will find directions for how to use the wrappers on the download. Many of the graphics used on the wrappers were from Luvly.co.

Luvly is a premium digital design marketplace, selling graphics, images and vectors. You can find everything from invitations to clip art to scrapbooking designs. It's my new favourite place to be to find graphics when I am short on time and don't have time to create my own art from scratch!

Happy wrapping!

"chalkboard" take out boxes for holiday leftovers

Tuesday 26 November 2013

We have recently repackaged our 8oz, 16oz and 32oz coloured chinese take out boxes in smaller packages of 10! This is great news if you don't need 50 boxes or you want to buy a variety of different colours to match your party or holiday decor.

I thought that it would be interesting to see if you could use chalk markers on the black take out boxes like I did here with our black wrapping paper. So I tried it out this week and hey, it works!! I used the Bristo chalk markers on my samples. Aren't they adorable?

These would be a great idea for the holidays. No more looking around for extra plastic containers and bags. Send family and friends off with these "take home" boxes with leftovers. Long distant guests will think you are the hostess with the mostess when you give them these take out boxes filled with small cookies as a treat for the ride home!

If you want to use the coloured take out boxes you can simply add chalkboard stickers for a fun detail. We have three shapes of chalkboard stickers and you can write on them with chalk markers or regular chalk.

Here's another look at my funky little "take home" boxes.

Here's one for Santa! The beautiful snowflake sugar cookies that I used in my photos were purchased from Cupids Gourmet Bakery. Cupids is a nut free bakery with a locations in Oakville & Burlington and they make the most amazing (and beautiful) cupcakes and cookies!

Holiday gift wrapping inspiration ... our products featured in a few of our favourite magazines!

Friday 22 November 2013

Our products have been featured in a number of holiday magazines recently and I wanted to share some of them with you today. We are always so happy to see Canadian magazines featuring Canadian stores and Canadian designers, artists and bloggers. I personally like to know when I am reading about something in a Canadian magazine that I can either go out and buy it locally or order online and with the knowledge that I will not have to pay additional costs for shipping like duty and brokerage fees.

So here's the publications that I have on my coffee table right now ...

Style at Home magazine

Our ribbons, wrapping paper and boxes were featured in a number of articles ...

I also adored this home by Toronto designer Jessica Kelly. Her pink and grey gift wrapping was stunning ...

B.C. business owner, Cheryl Krescy, set up an afternoon tea party in her cafe using natural elements like burlap bags, lace ribbon, kraft paper and gift tags, stamps and handmade paper flowers. The article is very inspiring and although the products were not from us, we carry most of the items featured if you are thinking of doing some of these diy projects ...

Chatelaine

Our ribbons made the front cover! I didn't see the source for the paper straw but of course you already know that we carry paper straws in lots of colours (including red!).

Samantha Pynn used our boxes and ribbons in this "Design Expert" article. Love the jewel toned ribbons combined with beautiful white boxes (no wrapping paper!) ... so simple and elegant.

There is an awesome tutorial on how to tie a bow inside. I could not find a credit for the ribbon but I believe that it is ours. And there is a fabulous section called the "12 Days of Decorating" that I loved ... they featured lots of ideas for the holidays by designers and bloggers.

Canadian House & Home

Many of our food packaging products were featured in this article ... so many yummy packaging ideas!

Best Health

Our silver and gold boxes were used in these gift giving articles ...

and our wrapping papers were shown here!

Creative Bag was also mentioned on a few websites this past week. My diy bunting projects for Weddingbells can be seen here ...

Lorrie Everitt's diy bunting projects on Weddingbells.ca

diy bunting projects by Lorrie Everitt

And the final photos for the Wedding Saviours GTA 2013 wedding were just posted. We supplied the couple with boxes, ribbons, tags and bags for their special day ...

Sarah and Keith's wedding - photography by Virtuoso Photography

Favor packaging for rehearsal party - photography by J&L Photography

Monday 30 December 2013

Tuesday 24 December 2013

Thursday 19 December 2013

Monday 16 December 2013

Thursday 12 December 2013

Tuesday 10 December 2013

Friday 6 December 2013

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Friday 29 November 2013

Tuesday 26 November 2013

Friday 22 November 2013

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