My darling neighbor (have I blogged about how awesome my neighbors are in Boston?) recently told me "I love how you just LOOK for a reason to celebrate".
And is she so right.
Luckily for THIS holiday I did not have to look far! Valentines celebrations are always widely advertised and a big hit.
I wanted to do something simple and cute for Kai's class mates. I would have loved to me more creative on the teacher gifts too, but, I just ran out of time, and had to commercialize their gift. I was thinking of keeping it to just the principle, his teacher and the class assistant, BUT when I showed Kai the gifts he said, and teacher ... and teacher ... and teacher ... and so began a very quick scramble to add the other teachers on the list too.
Here we go:
PS: The pictures are not edited. So please excuse the quality. I am working on honing my skills. Be patient with me.
Class presents:
Hessian (Burlap) bags with a red painted heart, ribbon draw string filled with chocolates.
To make:
Start by cutting your Burlap/Hessian to size.
I did not want to make the bags to big, so kept it so about 10 cm across (this includes the seam allowance) and about 15 cm high.
The reason why I love working with this material is how easy it is to cut, and measure. You literally don't need to mark anything. Just measure and then pull out a thread where you want to cut.
Once you have pulled the threads of your selected cut lines, simply grab a sharp scissor and cut along the lines.
Tip: I keep a little scrap note paper, to keep track of my quantities as I go. So as I cut a couple I just add the number, that way I don't have to keep counting my bags.
Next up. Stenciling the hearts.
I start by creating a stencil. The heart shape is so easy to do. I start by cutting it out of a piece of paper. Measuring it on the bags, to make sure its the right size.
I then trace the heart onto a thick piece of board, and cut it out with a exact-o / craft knife.
Alternatively you could also use a punch (if you have one that will go thru the material you want to use for your stencil.) My punch did not penetrate the board, and I did not want to use the limited amount of old X-RAY material that I do have.
Tip: Run the blade along the inside of the stencil to smooth the edges out once you completed the cut.
I took one A4 piece of hard board. ( I keep the backing board from note pads etc, specifically for these kind of projects). I made 4 stencils out of the A4 board. - Keep the stencils, they are re-usable.
Now that you have your stencil. Its time to pain the little bags. I have used normal School poster board paint as well as acrylic paint. Both work perfectly. These bags are a once off in my mind, so I am not looking at the paint lasting through the washing machine etc.
Grab an old news paper and fold it open on the first page. You want to be able to page over after painting a set so that you don't have leakage from the previous bag.
I set the bags aside to dry on fresh news paper and let them dry over night. Honestly time wise, an hour or two should be find, but I had the time to let it dry well overnight.
Tip: I did not have time to paint all the bags in one sitting. Squirt a little bit of paint at a time into the paint pallet, so you don't waste. Also you do not need to wash your brush between sessions. Wrap it nice and tight into a zip lock and pop it in the fridge. Once done. Wash.
I did not get a pics of the sewing bit. But essentially I just folder the bags in half, and over- locked them around the edges, about half way up.
I then threaded a piece of ribbon in using a plastic embroidery needle, and Bob's your uncle!
I filled the bags with a couple of heart choccies, and a gold coin, which I had left over from another project. I made sure each one had the same amount and size choccies in.
Last bit of work on this project was to add a tag. I opted to hand write 25 cards. (I know I am insane, just felt more personal ...) You could print them! I punched a hole in the top corner and threaded it through the ribbon.
The card reads: Friends make the best valentines. Love Kai B
All in all it did take a while to do, as there were many different aspects, but they turned out so great, I am happy I took the time to make them.
Next: Teacher Gifts.
As I said above I did not have time to be to creative, with the teacher gifts. I simply bought cute chocolates from "Clicks". Added some ribbon and a note. The little chocolate set is for the principle, his class teacher and the class assistant.
Card reads: Thank you for your love, all year round. Happy Valentines day, Love Kai B
For the rest of the teachers, I cut some board, punched a hole, and stuck a chocolate heart down with some glue dots.
I added the same note as for the other teachers.
That ladies and probably ladies only, wraps up Valentines 2016.
