Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Christmas Gift Project: Grocery Bags with the Yudu

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Ours was great, but I am still in awe about how quickly it came and went. I was busy up until the last minute making gifts and baking so I didn't get a chance to post some of the things I made this year and I guess it's not too late to do it now. Sometime this summer I came across a site that sells blank grocery bags and thought of using the Yudu with them. (The city I live in is actually contemplating banning plastic grocery bags, so these would come in really handy here.) Anyway, my original intent was to personalize sets of them to give as gifts, but I waited too long to actually start working on them, so I did two more generic designs, using one for each side of the bag.
This is the biggest project I've done with the Yudu, and now I feel like a pro! (not really) The design had to be created so that it would fit between the raised areas on the bags where the straps are sewn down. Then the hard part was making sure each bag was put on the platen just the right way. I got smart after pulling the first bag and marked  the Yudu with painters tape so I would know exactly where to line the top and bottom centers of the bags. I had a few that went astray, but overall they came out like these. Also, since I was working between the two raised areas, I found it easier to pull from side to side rather than top to bottom.
The design on the left is from Word Collage and done in Brown Yudu paint. On the right I used images from Home Accents (apple and pear), Gypsy Wanderings (cupcake) and Stretch Your Imagination (ice cream). The paint color is Putty. The images were cut with vinyl then placed on transparencies which were used to burn the screens. I'm sure there is an easier way to do that step, but it works well for me.
I ordered the bags here and must say that I was pleasantly surprised with the quality. They are well constructed and even came with the rectangular rubber pieces to put in the bottom of each bag. I ended up with 32 screened bags when it was all said and done and used 25 for gifts. The left overs were ones that I deemed unworthy of gift giving, but will probably use myself. I gave sets of 5 to each of my kids and my friend's daughters along with gift cards to their favorite stores. Not too bad of a gift idea, if I do say so myself!
Thanks for stopping by!

7 comments:

Carolyn/MamaC said...

What a wonderful idea! The bag is practical and creative! Congrats on being successful with Yudu! Thank you for all the tips!
Carolyn
http://cccscraproom.blogspot.com

Missie said...

What a great way to personalize an everyday object! Thanks for sharing.

L.B. said...

Those bags are great..Makes me want to A: buy a yudu and B make some for me.

Lady Fair said...

Ditto what L.B. said! I even showed your bags to my hubby and I told him I "need" the YUDU. :) You are such an enabler, Maria.

Nadia (WithGlitteringEyes.blogspot.com) said...

I absolutely LOVE this! The bags turned out perfect and how cool to put them with gift cards! I know they loved these!

I am going to pin this on pinterest so I don't forget for next year!

Sheila aka SassyLady said...

What an awesome project. I liek the individual look... always afraid they may try to charge me again as the store brand always look like what is alread on the shelf! These are wonderful.

Rose said...

Love these, they came out great. I love the simplicity yet uniqueness of them.

NSD 2015 Challenge: Leave You In Stitches

Hi all and welcome to my blog. It's been a long time since I've posted here, but I'll fill you in on that another time.  Today, ...