Paper Bag Luminaries for Father's Day

Now that summer is supposedly arriving it would be nice to add a little glow to your summer festivities. Why not add these inexpensive paper bags to surprise Dad on his special day in June. Have a Bar-B-Q in his honour and make these lovely bags leading the way to the party.
Paper bag luminaries, made by yourself or the kids lend a warm glow to any nighttime outdoor festivity. The addition of a “stained glass” window of your own design creates an even more dramatic light. A few inexpensive supplies coupled with an hour or two of creative time and you’ll have a whole new look for your patio by evening. Decide on a theme such as fruit, marine life, or kids names or just "DAD" and how many luminaries you want to make. Obviously, the more you have, the more striking the visual impact. A half dozen is a good number; enough for an impressive display but not too many to become tedious in the making.

Putting it together:

On a bag that measures 5” wide x 10 1/2”tall, mark a rectangle of approximately 3 1/2” wide x 4 1/2” tall. It should be about 1 1/2” from the base of the bag and 3 1/2” from the top. Slide a piece of cardboard inside the bag to prevent cutting through both sides. Cut out the rectangle using an art knife and a metal straight edge. You should have a window on one side of the bag. Repeat on remaining bags. Cut vellum into rectangles slightly larger than the window removed from the paper bag. In this case, 4” x 5” will work. Using a pencil, sketch your designs onto the vellum. Color in with colored markers and let dry. To finish, outline the design in black tempera or other liquid craft paint. Use a round brush for the best “flow” of paint. Some variation in the width of your paint stroke is desirable; it gives the finished piece an artistic look rather than a mass-produced one. When the small paintings are completely dry, slide one into each bag and adhere to the inside using tape or rubber cement. Open the bag and fold the top over once or twice; crease sharply. Fill the bottom of the bag with an inch or two of play sand or kitty litter to create a solid base. Set a candle in a glass container into the center of the sand, light and enjoy.

Microsoft Office Using Word

Today I thought I would mention an under appreciated software used frequently by many in scrapbooking layouts. I couldn’t scrap without my MS Word. I use it primarily for printing text. Although I own a Cricut and am having fun experimenting with it, I still use Word to create a lot of the text for my layouts because the font possibilities are virtually endless. Using Word, I set up a table of a specific dimension and place text within it so there’s no guess work as to how big or little it will print.
There’s also the option of printing text within shapes. Using the Format Font option, I can apply a shadow to my lettering. I primarily use black as using colours can be unpredictable as they don’t print out precisely the shade you see on your monitor. I do, however, still use colored text occasionally.
The best part is that you can print on any paper. I routinely run cardstock through my printer. It works on both ink jet and laser printers. I’ve even printed on Creative Memories vellum! Your paper has to be cut to 8.5 inches in width, and the ink should be allowed to dry before you start manipulating it or cutting it out. And if your printer has an envelope feeder you can print on paper that is much narrower than 8.5 inches.
I’ve been using this technique for the past few years and have never had an issue with the ink colour fading. There are 1000’s of free fonts available online. As long as you’re using a true-type font it will print out exactly as you see it on your screen. Even if you don’t have Microsoft Word, you most likely have other word processing software on your computer. It will have similar functions. Take the time to get up close and personal with your own software, you could be surprised!!!