Craft Challenge: Paper Bag Album

     Hey everyone! It’s Friday and here on Puddle Side Musings, Friday typically means it’s time for a craft post. Today is no different but, well, a little different. It’s a craft post alright but also, a craft challenge! That’s right, a craft challenge.

     Me and Myra from Those Secrets We Keep have been chatting about challenging ourselves to create something and show it on our blogs and we’ve also decided to challenge you, yes you lovely reader, to do the same.

     The craft that we have decided to go with this time is a paper bag album. There’s no specific theme or style, the aim is simply to create a mini album using paper bags as the base. We’ve also set a deadline for you: Friday, September 16th. Now, there’s nothing to stop you from accepting the challenge at any time past the deadline but we all know how easy it is to push back projects when you don’t have a deadline so hopefully this one will get you working on it quicker!

So, to sum up the basics of this challenge:

• Craft: Paper Bag Album
• Style: None
• Deadline: Friday, September 16th

     It’s as simple as that. I’d love to make a post featuring everyone’s creations so if you get your project up before the Friday 16th deadline, I’ll be able to do that. Just remember to link back to this post and Myra’s in your blog post and also let us know so we can go check out your work.

     If you’re stuck for inspiration for your album, head over to Pinterest or YouTube and just have a look around! Here’s the video I got my idea from but of course there’s plenty of other styles out there.

Here’s some other videos you might want to check out for ideas: [link] [link] [link]

      These’s crafts can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make them and you have two weeks before the deadline so hopefully a few of you readers out there will answer this challenge and I’ll be able to feature your creations on a future blog post.

     With all that said, I guess it’s time to take a look at my paper bag album:

     I used two small kraft bags to make my mini album but any size bag will work, as long as they’re both the same size. I know September has only just started but I did end up making a Christmas album. I couldn’t help myself – I bought this gorgeous First Editions Christmas card pack the other day and had to use it. The pinks, greys and coppers are unexpected for a Christmas theme but they look so nice and they happened to go really well with some Docrafts Forever Friends items I got which aren’t Christmas themed.

     As you can see, this kind of album is pretty bulky so you do need a ribbon to tie and keep it closed.

Open the ribbon and…

     …it explodes open!

     I’ve decorated the left hand side with some pieces from the decoupage I used for the front and some alpha stickers to spell out ‘memories’ while on the right hand side I’ve stuck a small drawstring pouch in for storing small little things.

     I’ve stuck tags into the middle of my album. I’ve sized mine so that I can fit pictures from my Instax Mini 8 on them but of course, you could also stick journaling cards in or fit more than the three tags that I have.

     And of course, because you used bags to create this album, you’ve got them for storage too! These spaces would be great for keeping the Christmas cards you get.

     In the bag made in the video above, she cut off all the handles but I only cut off the inside handles on mine so that you can carry it around or hang it from somewhere which I think would be really cute.

     I love this paper bag album idea, don’t you? I’m definitely going to be making more in the future. They’d make lovely gifts!

     So that’s my answer to the craft challenge. Let me know what you think of it and if you decide to make your own paper bag album, I look forward to seeing it!