Welcome to Your Creative Connection; a bi-monthly creative showcase which comes to you on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday/Thursday of each month.  Your Creative Connection came together from a group of eight global friends wanting to give you a worldwide connection to creativity.  We hope to inspire you to connect with us as we share papercraft ideas using Stampin’ Up! products.  Each showcase will have a theme, and we will ‘travel’ around the world to connect with our creative friends.

This week's Your Creative Connection theme is RETURN TO THE FOLD.  My first inclination was to create a fancy fold card but, instead, decided to use the Forever Greenery Designer Series Paper to fold a cute wee gift bag.

Bundles: Forever Fern Stamp Set + Forever Flourishing Dies (cling: 154094).  Ink: VersaMark (102283).  Card/Paper: Shaded Spruce (147006), Forever Greenery Designer Series Paper (152492), Gold Foil Sheets (132622).  Accessories: Flowers for Every Season Ribbon Combo Pack (153620), Linen Thread (104199), Gilded Gems (152478), White Stampin' Emboss Powder (109132).  Tools: 2" Circle Punch (133782), Heat Tool (129056), Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430).

Forever Greenery Designer Series Paper (152492) - $24.25
Twelve sheets of 12" x 12" patterned paper: 2 each of 6 double-sided designs

This little tote began as a 10" x 6" piece of designer paper, which was scored at 2-3/8" and 7-1/8" and folded into a flat tube.  It was then scored again at 3/4" on each side and 1-1/4" up from the bottom edge, and then folded again so that it had gusseted sides and sits up nice.  I then finished this gift bag with handles from the very pretty Whisper White 1/2" Faux Linen Ribbon from the Flowers for Every Season Ribbon Combo Pack.

I used the Forever Fern stamp set and coordinating Forever Flourishing Dies to add some personality to the front of this little tote.  The words are white embossed onto Shaded Spruce cardstock and punched out with the 2" Circle Punch.  Behind the words, I have tucked a Linen Thread bow, Gold Foil die-cut leaves, and some pretty gold Gilded Gems.

The next stop on the Your Creative Connection tour is Jenn Tinline...

If you get lost in your travels, here's a complete list of everyone on this tour...

Janneke Dijkstra de Jong - Netherlands
Michelle Last - UK
Vicki Boucher - Australia
Dawn Olchefske - USA
Barbara Meyer - Austria
Kristine McNickle - New Zealand
Jenn Tinline - Canada
Jennifer Pauli - Germany

If you live in New Zealand, love what you see, and want to purchase Stampin' Up! products then shop online with me...