Halloween LOOT BAG

Hi Everyone, this is Kymberlee, from The Paper Midwife.I am extremely honored to have my first ever Design Team post on TheBugBytes! Thank you, Pam for inviting me :)

As most of you know my twin daughters, two grandsons and "The Nicks" (both my son in laws are named Nick) lost their home in a fire the end of July. My grandson "Roo" got to stay with me this summer by himself for the first time ever and Gussie had to go buy him some cowboy boots. Well during the fire, Roo had on those cowboy boots and he hasn't taken them off much since. It was literally the only things he had left. Let me tell you I have gotten my money worth on them. The kid WILL NOT take them off. Short on this summer, no problem they go with cowboy boots! Pajamas? Oh yes, they go with cowboy boots too! Too hot for clothes and just wearing unders? No problem, cowboy boots go well with them too!

It came as no surprise when he decided he wanted to be a COWBOY for Halloween this year. Yes, we do think that far in advance around here ;) What does this have to do with my first ever Design Team post you ask? Well.... as I scrambled to come up with something this evening I was talking to my daughter about his costume and suddenly the TREAT BAG came into my head! I thought it the perfect entry post on this adventure because not only can I show you something simple, I can also show you that you CAN in fact cut felt and cut it beautifully on your electronic cutters!

My own personal preference is the stiff stuff called EASY FELT put out by CPE/The New Image Group, whose products I am very partial to. You can buy directly from their website if you can't find it at a store near you.

So here is my grandson's costume...

I started with a package of Printed Felt this is softer and easier to sew than the Easy Felt. I know it is giraffe print but it looked like COW to me at the time and hey, I was tired!

I cut a piece and adhered it to some of the stiffer felt so the bag would have more body and hold up for a night on the town with a four and a half year old. Then I set about whip stitching it together by hand

Using DMC floss called Antique Gold, I also whip stitched the handle together

I thought that would give it more of a rustic look (and I don't sew hahaha)

When cutting felt I keep a special mat just for the purpose. I just marked it on the plastic cover although at this point it is pretty obvious it is my Felt Mat because it has little fabric particles and glitter all over it from the last felt project. You really will want to keep a special mat for your felt and fabric.

I made the design I wanted to cut on the Gypsy, in this case the Sheriff Star from Create A Critter

I used a little tape directly on the mat from my ATG to make sure it held and adjusted the setting to

Speed 2

Depth 3

Multi cut 4

Made sure I had the DEEP CUT BLADE on my E2 set at 6 and loaded

The secret is to be PATIENT and let it cut slowly and use the multi cut feature.

This is a very basic shape but in the past I have cut out some very intricate details on felt using these settings. Don't be afraid to try it!

Once the shadow layer and main shape were cut I again whip stitched them onto the bag after tacking with hot glue and then glued on the lettering and TA DA

HALLOWEEN TREAT BAG to collect all the loot!

THANK YOU for looking at my project, hopefully now YOU have the desire to cut some FELT!