Tag Archives: gift packaging

Applique Projects with Printed Canvas

group

In this project you can practice your skills in fabric painting, fabric coloring and applique. I had a lot of fun with my stashes of fabric, trim, buttons and threads to create different blends of colors and textures. I used blank burlap bags and fabric remnants to make festive and reusable containers for small holiday gifts of different kinds. I wrote this last year and it didn’t get published by Canvas Corp at that time because they got sold to another company and disbanded their Creative Crew that I was on. It might seem a little early for Christmas projects but if you make your Christmas gifts it’s really not unreasonable to start working on them now. Also you can use the same techniques with different themes to fit the season. I had a ton of fun making these. Enjoy!

Materials
Printed canvas sheets
Burlap wine sacks
Burlap shoulder bags
Assorted burlap, trim and other fabric remnants
Gold fabric paint
Fabric markers
Assorted sewing and embroidery thread including gold metallic
Clean scrap paper
Buttons (optional)

Tools
Small paint brush
Fabric scissors
Tape
Scrap cardboard
Pins
Sewing and embroidery needles
Iron and ironing board

Instructions

Select images from printed canvas sheets by Canvas Corp and cut around them with fabric scissors. Tape an assortment of cutouts to a piece of scrap chipboard or cardboard. Outline the images with gold fabric paint. Let dry, and heat set the paint with an iron if necessary. Place the fabric pieces between two pieces of clean scrap paper to protect the iron and ironing board from paint and ink.

gold_outline

Color the images with fabric markers, and heat set if necessary. The particular fabric markers I used did not require heat setting.

colored_images

Lay out the burlap blanks that you are going to use on a work surface. For my samples I used Canvas Corp wine bag and tote bag blanks. I also had some remnants of burlap that I decided to cut into rectangles to make into little Christmas themed door hangers with pockets that could be used as ornaments or to hold object such as greenery or small gifts. These burlap remnants had a very loose weave so I backed them with green fabric pieces. Match up your decorated printed canvas cutouts with a burlap bag or piece and go through your fabric and trim stash to find scraps that look good layered behind the printed canvas pieces. Pin the trim and fabric remnants together with the printed canvas pieces on top. You might want to leave some fabric edges raw or hem them for slightly different looks. You can explore a lot of design options by working on several pieces at a time. Pin your printed canvas piece on top of the fabric and trim arrangements. Don’t pin the canvas/trim/fabric assemblies to the bags yet – some of the sewing will be easier to do before the assemblies are attached to the bags. Here are a couple of burlap wine bags with pinned assemblages ready to be sewn…

wine_bags

…plus a couple of burlap shoulder bag examples…

tote_bags

…and some rectangles that will become door hangers with the addition of a loop of braided trim for hanging.

door_hangers

Sew around each printed canvas cutout with gold embroidery thread. Secure the trim pieces with embroidery thread in a complementary color. If you want to, add a few buttons or other embellishments as accents. Once all the layers on your assemblage are sewn together, pin the assemblage to the front of your bag and sew in place. You are done!

with_buttons

Give Your Mason Jar Gifts a Beachy Look

Handmade candle in a Mason jar, decorated with collage papers and a handmade tag.
Handmade candle in a Mason jar, decorated with collage papers and a handmade tag.

My tutorial on decorating the lids and making tags for seaglass-colored Mason jar candles has been published on the Canvas Corp Brands blog.

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QUICK AND EASY – PRETTY PACKAGING FOR MASON JAR CANDLES

To learn how I made the candles, you can read my tutorial on the Schnarr’s Hardware blog:
Make Old Wax Candles Into New Candles

Schnarr’s Hardware sells several sizes and shapes of Mason jars as well as lids and other canning accessories.