Keeping it Real: Upcycled reusable Christmas gift bag

Yes, yes, I know Christmas is still a couple of months away, but I like to start early...

...so when I received this plain drawstring bag as part of a birthday gift...

...I knew I wanted to reuse it by turning it into a Christmas gift bag:

So I went through my stash and picked a couple of holidays themed fabric scraps and glued them to each side of the bag, with a bit of batting (again, scraps) in between:

Then, with red embroidery floss, I added a blanket stitch all around:

And finally, I glued some fake gemstones over the fabric:

Overall it took me less than half and hour to complete this little project and now I already have one reusable (and inexpensive) gift bag ready for Christmas (front and back below)!