Stenciled Pineapple Gift Bag

 A blogger friend of mine,Yvonne (Do More With Less) Yam, featured lots of lovely, decorated gift bags in her recent post.  I decided I needed to build up a stash of ready-to-go decorated gift bags, too. Here is an example of what I made using a pineapple stencil ( Echo Park) I purchased from HM Ben Franklin Crafts.  Together with  Liquitex light modeling paste (also from HM BFC) I was able to create a raised texture which is very appealing to me.  First, I sprayed the back of the plastic stencil with Elmer's Spray Adhesive and then I adhered the stencil to the bag (from an economical BFC multiple bag pack).  With my finger I applied the modeling paste, carefully pulled up the stencil, and let the bag dry.

Next, I stamped onto watercolor paper and heat embossed the  Avery Elle pineapple design before die cutting it. I used Tim Holtz Oxide Inks and Infusion dye powder to color the image.  For the 'aloha' I used the Avery Elle die to cut two shades of green card stock and off-set them to give a shadow look. With the addition of raffia to tie the pineapple tag onto the bag, the any occasion pineapple gift bag was ready for giving. Hope that you will look at the amazing stencils sold at HM Ben Franklin Crafts and see what you can create with them.  Happy Crafting!