17 May 2014

Bags of Creativity

"Pretty" and "cheap" are two of my favourite characteristics (the other one's "tasty"), so any craft project that combines the two (or three!) is always a winner.

One of my favourite birthday presents this year was a beautiful pair of polkadot skinny cords from Joules from my Mother-in-law. The trousers are seriously stunning (the button even has a fox on it!), and the bag they arrived in was so beautiful it was like an extra present! I couldn't bring myself to recycle it (yes, Joules' postage bags are recyclable- green thumbs up!), so I added it to my Pretty Packaging Pile* until I thought of something crafty to do with it.

When my Mum gave me a huge embroidery hoop she'd found in a charity shop a few weeks ago, I had a sudden lightbulb moment. To be honest, I don't know why it took me so long to think what to do with the bag; Tom would testify that I frame everything round here that's flat enough to fit in a frame...


After finishing the embroidery hoop version, I had a rummage through my stash of empty picture frames and made a second, smaller one:



Now I just have to find an empty piece of wall to hang them on... I think that's going to be the hardest part of this project!

Katie xxx

* I genuinely have one of these. Don't you?

8 comments:

  1. They are so pretty! This is such a lovely idea, I have a fairly overflowing Pretty Packaging Box that my boyfriend is dying for me to get rid of (we share one room in a house!), but this seems like such a great way of using it up. Thanks for the tip! :)
    Carrie xx

    carriebrighton

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    1. You're very welcome! Sounds like you'll have to get plenty of frames :) xxx

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  2. modern art indeed, very creative :) x

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  3. I have a ppb too but mine includes basically any sort of jiffy bag or plastic packing that has come from anything in the post so I don't ever have to actually buy a new one! X

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  4. Oh what a great idea! I also have a hard time getting rid of pretty packaging. I'm a sucker for tissue paper... anything with a print or pattern on it, I have to keep it. I have quite the stash haha.

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  5. Love designs in embroidery hoops - I have a wall of cross stitch and needlepoint in hoops (that I often blog about), so fun to keep adding to.

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  6. Firstly, thanking you muchly for all the comments recently! yes, Athena does have her own jewellery box the jammy little sproglet she is!
    I never ever see embroidery hoops in charity shops, or at car boots. I went to two this week and zilch! darnit.

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  7. That's a very ingenious use for a bag! And very very pretty as well :-) I kept hold of a large Joules bag (from a pair of wellies I'd ordered) for about 4 years until we finally found a use for it a few months ago - as a computer monitor cover for our PC upstairs (the one that only gets switched on about twice a year...) :-) xxx

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