Card and Gift Bag Combination

This week I've been busy working on some book reviews as part of my summer job, thus my cardmaking has gone slightly by the wayside.  Last night and today I gave my self a break and sat down with my Cricut Gypsy.  Back in the spring I took advantage of a deal to get seven free cartridges with the purchase of a Gypsy.  One of those cartridges was Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More.  I experimented last night making a couple of bags on the 12X12 mat.  I just wasn't pleased with their tiny size.  Perfect for a gift card or ring box, but not a sizeable bag.  I rustled up some 12X24 paper and went to work this morning.  The pictures show what I came up with.  Using the larger paper and mat, my gift bag is now around 7 1/2 inches wide by 6 inches tall (8 1/2 with the handle).  I found some wonderful plain "tag" cards in the dollar bin at Michael's and used one of those to create a matching card.  I really like these tag cards.  I always like to display my holiday cards and these have a prepunched hole perfect for hanging with ribbon or beads.    Okay here's my "recipe" for the bag and card:

Bag:
I used one piece of red 12X24 cardstock from The Paper Studio cut at 22.75 X 11.58 (these sizes were created on my Gypsy).  I then traced around the outside of the bag to put my snowflake pattern paper, from Recollections, in place.  This also gave the bag a little more stability.  Everything was put together using an Elmer's gluestick and Glue Dots to reinforce the bag seams. I embellished the outside by cutting a doily from the Cindyloo cartridge at 4.5 inches using white cardstock.  I sprayed the white cardstock with sparkle Sheer Shimmer Spritz.  I then cut a snowflake and background from the Winter Lace cartridge at 3.5 inches each. I added some sequins from Recollections and some bead trim and a bow.  The bead trim was from RibbonFx and the ribbon from the Ribbon Boutique.

The Card:
As I've already mentioned, the card comes from Studio G.  I adhered my snowflake patterned paper with a gluestick and then spritzed the exposed white area with sparkle Sheer Shimmer Spritz.  I used Cindyloo again to cut a doily at 2.8 inches.  Winter Lace provided me with the snowflake and background, cut at 1.8 and 2.1 inches respectively.  I then added the same theme with the bead trim, ribbon, and sequins, using Glue Dots to hold everything together. 

I know it's a little early for the holidays, but this crafting activity has me thinking of cooler weather as we hit 90+ temperatures and elevated humidity today!!
Have a wonderful rest of your weekend!!

Patty