Darcy Wilkinson Project #2 Stickles Storage Bag....

"Here is this month's storage idea. Everyone loves a bit of glitter right...and Stickles happen to be a little bit addictive. Strangely enough I don't actually use them a lot, but I do love those little bottles of sparkly glee. For the longest time I have had them thrown in a small bag, all jumbled up, and it was never easy to find the colour that I wanted. Also these bottles really need to be upside down, so that the glitter glue is at the nozzle end and ready to come out. So a solution was needed that would keep the bottles upside down, and in place".

A while ago I went to a crop, and my friend Fiona was using an old cosmetic bag for her
stickles....ohh wow genius! I knew immediately that I wanted to make one. So many thanks to Fiona for the idea. I gathered my bottles, measured the heights and the area needed, and messed about with paper shapes till I had a pattern that I thought might work.

I then cut my pieces from Calico, this was then gessoed to make it stiffer and easier to accept the stamping and paint. Here we have base and lid, two pieces for a handle. A long piece to go around the sides, a smaller piece for the back, and two skinny bits for trim.

Now to choose a colour scheme. Using my tags from yesterday I selected these two that I thought would look good.

I decided to go with the Stone, Bora Bora and Blood Orange combination. All pieces were painted with the Stone and Bora Bora.

I then took the PaperArtsy Tall Heart Die, and used it to cut a stencil. Using Blood Orange I stencilled the heart onto the lid.

The piece from the middle was made smaller and then turned into a smaller stencil. I used this medium heart twice on the back section.

I then had a happy accident, as I stencilled some of the paint seeped under the shape, so I took this kitchen scrubbie that I use for cleaning my desk. As the paint was already drying I scrubbed at it a little to remove the bits I didn't want, and by accident some of the paint from the middle of the heart came off too. I loved this 'worn away' look, and repeated it on the other hearts.

I used the Mini Dot Stencil to decorate the base of the bag, and again used the scrubbie to wear away some of the paint. You can see the difference in the before scrubbing and after.

Then I cut the same heart down again to make a third smaller stencil, this was used all along the side piece. Then scrubbed back the paint. The skinny pieces were stitched around cord and coloured with Blood Orange.

Now to add decoration. I stamped the text and the flower from HP1204 onto the lid and the back piece. 

Then I stamped the bubbles from Squiggly Ink Mini 15 onto the side piece.

 

I used French Roast to do the stamping. I also outlined each of the hearts with a scribbly line using a Mitsubishi Eye Pen

 

I then started to stitch it together. First I joined the two handle pieces, and attached the piping to the lid and the base.

Next I stitched the base to the side piece and the back piece, and added a long zip.

Finally I stitched on the lid and then painted on a layer of acrylic wax, this seals the surface, and makes it wipe clean.

I then filled it with upside down stickles. It measures about 6 inches long by 3 inches high, small and neat and perfect for taking to crops or art days. No more will I have odd bottles of glitter glue rolling around.

So now I have a handy, dandy little bag full of glitter glue. I love it so much I may make another one and actually use it for cosmetics!

Over to you, make yourself a piece of painted storage. It doesn't have to be fabric, you could easily turn a plain old box into very pretty storage for your workspace.

To play along with any of my challenges this week, click HERE to upload/share your project.

Leandra Says: The scrubbie acts the same way as a sanding block on paper! How cool was that accident!! I also love how you gesso your fabric and it acts as a stiffener, same for the wax layer on top! You are one helluva smart cookie Darcy!

Gillian Says: Oooo really like the distressed look to the painted hearts from your "happy accident" ... who knew. Another great storage idea Darcy, thanks for sharing how to create our own little custom bag.