Seasons of mist and mellow fruitfulness ....!

There is something very beautiful about the onset of Autumn.  The trees have not yet been transformed into the glorious splendour to come, but the early mornings are shrouded in a misty haze and the days are still bathed in warm sunshine.  **ooh, hello, I've gone all John Keats! ...**  An added bonus this week was also being able to watch the deer in the meadow that backs on to our garden with the sun just coming up and the mist still swirling around their feet.  I hope you were also able to catch glimpse of this week's stunning blood red harvest moon?  Wasn't it breathtaking!  Mr Crafty Cow managed to take this rather impressive shot on our point and shoot digital camera ... cool huh?!

So this week, I received several requests to show how I made this cute little gift bag and so I am sharing a short tutorial below which hopefully you will be able to follow (I am afraid I haven't ventured into the realms of Video tutorials quite yet, sorry!)  It really is very simple to make and just uses a few scraps of card and pretty papers, but looks so effective.

Cut a piece of card to 15cm x 5cm and score at 2cm & 5cm*  (I just used a piece of plain white card from my scraps box)

*This measurement can be adjusted to fit your chosen contents, e.g. if your item is only 2cm deep then adjust accordingly and you would therefore score at 2cm and 4cm.

Fold along score lines so that your strip of card now looks like this

Now, cut two pieces of  your chosen decorative paper to match the measurements of your card.  In my case, these were 10 cm x 5cm and 2cm x 5cm.  I used the Moonlight paper stack from Stampin' Up!

Stick to the card as shown

Now cut a contrasting strip of paper 1cm x 16cm*.  Centre along the front flap and stick down.
*Again, adjust according to the depth of your gift packet

Bend gently at each side and then secure to the back.  [I added a glue dot to the back of my small gift and then pressed gently to the back of the card so that it held in place and didn't slide around in the bag.]

Place your gift in it's holder inside a cellophane bag (I used a small card bag) and then cut a piece of card 10cm x 5cm for the gift tag and score in the centre.

Cover with a scrap of matching paper and punch a small hole in the top left hand corner so that you can thread ribbon through.  I used Scalloped circle punch to punch out a circle in Lost Lagoon card stock and a slightly smaller plain circle punch to punch out in Whisper white to stamp my message on.

I used a sentiment stamp from Stampin' Up!'s Pennant Parade set and stamped in Lost Lagoon ink.

Thread a scrap of ribbon through your tag and then tie around the top of your gift bag.  Done!  These are so easy to make using just a few scraps of card and paper and can transform a small gift or favour into something really special.

As for the Bake Off news this week ... I gave up trying to find a European cake recipe that wasn't a gazillion layers and covered in sickly icing and filled with cream, so I opted for a Nutty Apple Loaf from the Hummingbird Bakery book.  Hadn't made it before but oh my goodness, it was totally scrumptious and will certainly be making it again!  Next week is pastry week ... better get my thinking cap on again ...

TTFN
Bev x