Christmas Gift Bags with Stencilling inspired by Lelainia Lloyd

I really liked Lelainia Lloyd's idea of decorating your own Christmas gift bags using a stencil and a vibrant Lynne Perrella image and Portfolio Pastels over on the Paper Artsy blog. I only had very small gift bags and it was difficult to fit in both stencilling and the image so I have tried out one on each side and not stuck the image down yet. I will get some larger bags and experiment some more.

I decided to try Sara Naumann's idea of tinting the grungepaste with reinkers instead of Frescos which I would normally use. I thought Brilliance reinkers would be perfect for Christmas as they are shimmery but it made the mix too wet and, combined with the uneven surface of the bag, caused a bit of seepage. So, not my best bit of stencilling! I sprinkled some copper glitter on whilst the grungepaste was still wet and for a Christmas look I really liked this.

My friend was here whilst I was using the Portfolios which she hadn't seen before and she thought they looked fun! I hadn't had such great results before so I looked at Leandra's tutorial under The Classroom section on the blog and followed the instructions there and got the vibrant result I was looking for. I felt like a kid playing during half term week, having a good scribble with my crayons!

I finished off the bag with some of the Damask patterned tissue from Paper Artsy. I am entering the challenge here.