Unity Friends with Flair

 Hello Everyone.  I have a new (to me) toy   tool to play with and I needed to use it to make my dd a small appreciation gift to take with her for her host on her college visit.  I thought it would be nice for her to give a small token to the young lady who volunteered to let her stay with her.  I used my We R Memory Keepers gift bag punch board.  I made a gift bag at the largest size to fit in a couple of packages of microwave popcorn.  The packages would not allow the gift bag to fold in on the sides so I decided I needed to make a "gift bag topper"  I had seen ladies make them to go on "store bought" bags so I thought "how could I do this?" Then I looked on my craft space and the 2 inch piece of cardstock I just cut off  was sitting there, staring me down.  It said "me, me."  So I thought I would put in on the punch board and repeat what I had done to make the gift bag and voila a "gift bag topper" was born.

For today's post I used the smallest gift bag size to make a gift bag to share with you.  The width of the cardstock required for a small gift bag is 10 inches and the height can vary from 4-12 inches.  I made mine about 8 inches.  I used the remaining 10 inch wide piece to make the "gift bag topper".  Remember the topper has to be the same width as the original bag you built and the length needs to be at least 2.5 inches to properly sit on bag, anything shorter and it wants to fall off.
Today I used Unity's Treasure to Me set to stamp the flowers and leaves.  I used my Sizzix die for flower pot (which I inked and then chalked for depth).  I added a tag (QuikCuts) with sentiment from Jillibean soup.  It is a smaller version of some of the stamps in the Dutch Mustard set.  I found it at Michael's and thought it would be perfect for this small tag die that I purchased on clearance around Christmas.  I also matted my image my Perfect layers tools.  I have had them forever, but have all but forgotten them due to my increased use of Spellbinder dies.  I was reminded of them a few days ago and dusted them off and used it to make a perfect 1/16th of an inch border around my image.  Does anyone else have tools you have long forgotten, we need to remember to look around and use some of those great tools again.
I received the envelope punch board for Christmas and it is very versatile and I was singing it's praises to my husband, who then decided to buy  me more punch boards for my birthday and it took quite a while but they finally arrived this week and I couldn't wait to play.  The gift bags are quite small, but they are perfect for bags of treats or small gifts, if you wanted a larger gift bag to hold a shirt or stuffed animal you would need to use a purchased gift bag.  The widths of the gift bags cannot be altered since it is set by the markings on the board.  I can see many uses for the sizes I can make and the boards are quite easy to use, once you have made a couple.  So if you are looking to purchase any of these boards (I have tried all except flower maker), I highly recommend them.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope this information was helpful.  Have a great weekend.

 Gift bag topper:  cardstock was 10 inches wide (because I made the small gift bag) and 3 inches deep.  I used the gift bag punch board, following directions I used to make gift bag and folded the lid box and used red line tape to seal flaps, then I cut a piece of cardstock to the dimensions of the top of lid and adhered to cover the flaps.  I also cut a piece of 10 inch wide white cardstock and punched with border punch and place on punch board but this time only scored the lines for the gift bag, so that I could easily fold the trim and attach to lid.  Decorate as you wish.  I have looked at a lot of videos and blogs about these punch boards, but I did not see anyone make a "topper", so I hope this helps to make this more versatile for you.