The Story of the Chevron Bag

 At some point last year I caught the Chevron bug, I sent a friend some gift bags and she loved them and wanted some for her girls, a couple of the bags came with designs on them.   As I was working on this design, I decided I wanted the bag to have a chevron background and remembered seeing some at Hobby Lobby, but when I got there I realized I had not remembered exactly what I thought I had seen.  The chevron was too big and busy and it was on a bag with a white background which would not work for this design.  Then I remembered what I had seen was some SEI paper with chevrons on kraft paper, hmmmmm, note to self, slow down, focus.  One of the things I do when, I cannot find what I want and actually have some time, is just roam the store with my cart, looking and letting my attention drift away from what I want, this usually draws me to a good alternative or  a solution to my dilemma.  I found myself in front of the stencil section and I was just staring, there was a huge wall chevron and there was a tiny chevron but not one that would work and even if I did use a stencil, what would I use for my color?  Walk, walk, walk, I wandered back to the stencil area about 2 times and then I decided to buy the 9"X18" "Show Off" blanks and cut my own stencil.

 Here is the stencil on top of one of the blank kraft bags, this is more a sharing of tips than a tutorial. The stencil blank has a shiny side and a matte side, after cutting I realized that the shiny side has a thin film that comes off, since there is no mention of this on the packaging and very little direction, I will keep cutting with the film attached and remove after the cut.  I designed and cut the stencil with my Silhouette Cameo, my settings were speed:3, depth30 and blade on 6 and I set for a double cut. When weeding the stencil begin at the top left side and gently pull out zigzag on a slight diagonal, go slow, so as not to tear.  I would say this is a light weight stencil blank, just a little heavier than cover acetate. I used "Stencil ease" Stencil Adhesive on the matte side, I was able to do 3 bags before reapplying the adhesive to the stencil, after the second application you can get 4 to 5 bags.  My bag size by the way is 8"X10".  I wanted a subtle chevron and decided that I would try Ranger's "Distress Ink", for this bag I used "Wild Honey"

I found the best way to apply the ink was to begin in the top left corner pulling out about 2" and down, continue across the bag until completed, it takes about 2 or 3mins per bag, once you get the hang of it.  So this will be my new favorite stencil for a while, lol.

Here is the bag with the chevron done with distress ink, because I am doing the card hold border I am only distressing the front of the bag.  I am anxious to try some other paints with these, but will have to wait until I get this project wound up.  The moral of the story is:  If you can't find it, just do it yourself!  Hope everyone has a fab day, hugs