Rainbow Christmas Bag Tutorial

Because I'm a sucker for a personal request!
So when I was asked on Instagram if I could do a tutorial on how I made my rainbow Christmas bags which I blogged about here, I didn't even contemplate saying no :-)

So it turns out these are really simple. Here's a look into what I did.

I start off gathering all my supplies together right at the beginning. I decide on a colour scheme that will blend nicely together, in this case greens and blues, and choose some mists that will work. It doesn't matter to me that they're all different brands! I also have a paint palette filled with water as well as a water misting bottle, and of course a paintbrush and my plain calico bag.

I dampen my entire calico bag with the water in the misting bottle - just spray it all over so it's nice and moist. I'm aiming for an ombre effect with my colours so I start with the lightest (lime green) and make it even more dilute by mixing it with more water. I paint some haphazard brush strokes across the top. Then I paint a bit of the lime green straight from the bottle so it's a touch darker.

I then move onto the next colour (aqua) and repeat a similar process. There's no right or wrong to this, I just slosh it on however I feel like. Sometimes I mix the mist with water, sometimes I paint straight from the water. Sometimes I drag the brush all across the length of the bag, sometimes I just paint a section. Just have fun with it!

I keep on going with the other colours until the whole bag is covered. I do like to finish at the bottom with a really bold dark colour though, and paint it quite heavily to create this dramatic effect.

After it's done drying (whether you have the patience to let it air dry or whether you speed it up with a heat gun) you'll find that the colours have blended nicely and have lightened up a bit. Now I like to spread on some glitter glue with a palette knife. You can be as scant or liberal as you want...... I love my glitter so I've added quite a bit to these bags. I've gone with a couple of different colours too just to make it more interesting.

The last addition to the bags was to stamp a simple pattern of crosses with Color Theory Ink. I just rolled them on in sections, again with no particular systematic approach... just wherever I had a little gap that seemed to need filling ;-)

The tags I made up as I went along. On some scraps of watercolour paper I splashed on some of the mists at the same time as I was painting the bags. I would just wipe my brush on the paper after I finished each colour on the bag. That way I didn't waste any of the mist and I knew the colours would match!

When dry I punched out the tag shape and added a simple (glittery!) letter.

Despite the non-committal face ... trust me.. the girls loved opening their bags on Christmas morning!
Hope you all had a marvellous Christmas celebrating the joyous season with friends and family.

xx