Treat Bags

Sometimes it is fun to take a break and stamp something other than cards. For today's post, I am including some treat bags I made using some of the new clear border sets from Impression Obsession. The paper itself comes from a kit made by the Paper Cut. You could cut and fold your own, but to me it is better to have someone do this part for you. Why do extra work if you don't have to? I also used the 4" x 4" plastic bags from the Paper Cut to hold the candy. Again, you could use larger bags from your household, but then you would have to fold them to be the correct size to fit in the paper frame.
Before I stamped any lines, I folded the paper frame so that I could get a sense of what it would look like when finished. This was important so that I would know which way was "up" on each of the sides. I really didn't want to stamp the words upside down! I then used a light pencil mark to measure 3/8" all the way down the front of the bag. The marks really helped me space my lines somewhat evenly. **great tip- buy yourself a clear grid ruler. You will love it! Instead of measuring 3/8" on a standard ruler, I just moved my clear ruler over "three squares." I can't tell you how easy and fast it is to use these rulers!
For the Halloween bag, I stamped images from IO's Fall/Winter borders set. The pumpkin border was inked with Colorbox Pigment orange and the words in VersaFine black.
For the Christmas bag, I stamped images from IO's Christmas borders set. The words were stamped with VersaFine Crimson Red and the trees were stamped with Memories green. For both of my bags, I stamped the words with VersaFine so that all the tiny details of the lettering would be noticeable.
As an extra embellishment for the Christmas bag, I included a shrink plastic charm made from the peppermint image in the Leigh Hannan Holidays set. To make the embellishment, I stamped it with Satin Red Versafine onto ultra thin white shrink plastic. I used the Satin Red color because colors darken as they shrink, and the Crimson Red would have been too dark. I also picked the ultra thin shrink plastic so that I wouldn't have to sand the plastic before I stamped on it.
General tips for stamping on shrink plastic....normally I use Staz on when stamping onto plastic. However, it is not a good idea to use Staz On with clear stamps. Staz On is just too rough for the clear polymer and is almost impossible to get off of the stamp. Instead, I used VersaFine ink. It was more prone to sliding when stamping onto the shrink plastic, but it did dry when heated (I had my doubts). Also, make sure you punch a hole in the plastic BEFORE you shrink it!
General tips for the candy... don't fill the candy bags too full. I put too much candy corn in the Halloween bag, and it bulges a bit. Also, I unwrapped the peppermints before putting them in the plastic bag so that they would photograph better. This is a BAD idea if you want to give the candy to someone. My peppermints have stuck together to form a solid peppermint chunk.....very bad for eating but heavy enough to possibly be used as a weapon.