february artful bag challenge

*  *  Please click here if you participated in last month's challenge. *  *

Happy February!

I think I can say that the Artful Bag Challenge got off to a great start. I was just amazed by the beautiful and creative bags everyone came up with. Thank you to all of you who played along and shared your sweet little paper purses.

Before I start on February I have a winner to announce and one more bag to share. Sandy from Sandy's Space created the adorable bag below. It's sweet and feminine and makes me think of Spring. I love the flowers on the button which match the flowers in the background. Sandy is sponsoring the January challenge and is offering the book Purse Pizzaz to the random drawing winner.

Thank you Sandy!

Since Sandy and I are not included in the drawing the actual total number of participants is 27 (Sandy didn't add her link but I added mine first to test the Linky). This means everyone's number jumps back by one. Number 2 becomes 1, etc. I used the Random Number Generator this time and the winner is...

Number 8 who is really #9, and that is Debbie from Simply Debbie
Congratulations Debbie!

Enjoy your book!

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Now on to the Febraury Artful Bag Challenge!

Our second theme is Alter It. The objective is to take any object that is NOT a bag and turn it into one. Boxes, pudding cups, bottles, mint tins, plaques...anything you can think of. The finished product can be decorative or functional but should clearly look like a bag.

Since there was such an abundance of Valentines stuff out I decided to use a box of Sweethearts candies. I couldn't resist all the fun pink and sweet pastel colors. I imagined going to a Valentines Day tea in Wonderland with the Mad Hatter himself.

I covered the box with Gesso and washed it with different shades of pink, lime and yellow gold. The Mad Hatter and tea set graphics are from my Halloween Alice in Wonderland scrapbook papers by Graphic45.

I cut out part of the front to create the flap and painted a black and white stripe along

the edges. Then I added black trim to the flap, black paper roses and

puffy pink glittery hearts.

The handle is made from the stems of 2 silk roses which I twisted into shape then hot glued on. I also added a large vintage pearl bead to create the 'clasp' and 4 smaller ones for the feet.

I thought of this saying which I remember seeing on another project in Somerset Studio. I always liked it because I think of myself that way. I love pinks and frills but always need a touch of black and a bit of grunge or it's too too sweet. I guess I'm just not sweet enough!

I hope you will decide to play along this month. Remember the challenge is open the entire month. I will add a button to the sidebar to make it easy to find this post. I can't wait to see all your fabulous creations again. If you didn't join us last month you are very welcome to start this month. Please feel free to visit the Artful Bag Challenge page for schedule and guidelines or drop me an email anytime.

The new Linky tool is right below.

Please add the link to your bag post.

See you soon.