I've got a brand new bag!

A couple days before I left on our Florida vacation I was browsing the forums on my favorite stamping website when I came across a post offering SU! Demos the opportunity to try a bag from a new company for FREE. Well, of course all the warnings my mama has always given me popped into my head (in her voice of course! hehehe)..."it sounds too good to be true" "nothing is ever free", etc...

I was a bit leary, so I checked out their website. They had several different styles of totes, handbags, planners, etc...all with a clear window to insert a photo, scrapbook page, stamped art, etc...all I had to do was choose one and pay for the shipping and it was mine to try! After hearing that a few other demos had tried it and did receive a bag (which they were raving about) I decided to go for it.

When I got back from vacation my brand new bag was waiting for me! I've been super busy getting other things done around the house, but in the back of my mind I've been thinking about how I was going to decorate my first panel for my new bag. Yesterday I finally had some spare time and this is what I came up with.

Isn't it cute?! The quality of the bag is really nice! It is lined with a bright green fabric and has pockets on each side with magnetic snaps. There's a few pockets on the inside too...one perfect for a cell phone, a zippered pocket that I can slip my mini catalogs in, and another that I'll probably use for my keys and misc small items. Please visit the Daily Window Bags website to see all their great products. The style I chose is called Eight Days a Week .

For my insert all I did was cut a piece of watercolor paper to fit inside the window. Then I stamped the 3 images I wanted to watercolor with Black Stazon ink. The large flower is the Level 1 Hostess set From the Garden, the butterfly is from Touch of Nature and the dragonfly is from the retired set Measure of a Life. I water colored them with Classic inks pooled in my ink pad lids and my aqua painter. For the background I wet my paper with plain water using a larger water color brush, right to the edges of the images I had just colored. Then I dipped the corner of my brush into a bit of Soft Sky re-inker and washed it across the edges of my paper letting it bleed into the center of my background area. I did this until I got the desired effect, also adding a bit of Lovely Lilac ink here and there. Here's a close up view:

When my paper was thoroughly dry I went back and stamped the swirls from the Baroque Motifs set and the word collage from the retired Natural Beauty set. This was a fun project! I look forward to making more panels that I can swap out for the season or just to match an outfit.

Have a fun Memorial Day weekend!