A Few More Purse Ideas

Here are just a couple more purse cards that I made. I am thinking that with a new month starting I will also have to change focus now. Small fry's B-day is coming up in April and Easter too so I will work on Easter and Birthday stuff during March, but if I find another cute purse thing of course I will add it. For these cards I made up patterns myself. The first card that looks like a purse I saw in Paper Crafts Magazine but of course there was not a pattern for it so I created my own. For the second card I used fun foam (a new favorite) to make the purse and did some hand stitching to embelish it. Just a couple of cute ideas to enjoy.

Place Mat Purse

I honestly can't remember where I first saw this idea. I think there are a lot of blogs/websites that have featured place mat purses. I thought if I found a cute enough place mat then I would try this. Well I did find a cute place mat. I found it at K-Mart for $3.99. Now that is a steal for a purse. Here is a tutorial to make one of these quick and easy purses. I love this idea.

Step 1: Start with a standard size place mat. You want one that is not too flimsy but not too thick either.Step 2: Cut two pieces of ribbon for the handles. Mine were 17 3/4". You can adjust that length depending on how long or short you want the handles to be.

Step 3: Fold under a 1/2" twice on both ends of each piece of ribbon and pin them in place on the place mat. I pinned mine to the side that I wanted facing out. You could pin them to the inside as well. I pinned mine 3" from the outside edges and down about an inch. Make sure your ribbon does not get twisted.Step 4: Sew the ribbon onto the place mat. I sewed first in a square and through the center of the square to make an X. Repeat this on the other 3 pieces.

Step 5: Fold the place mat in half, right sides together and pin your side edges. Make sure the top edge is even too. Sew the side seams. I sewed 1/4" seams. Back stitch start and stop.

Step 6: Make the box corners. Open up your purse and flatten the side seams so that you get a point like this.

Step 7: Pin the sides to hold the corner in place. Measure from the point up 2". Place a pin to mark that spot.

Step 8: Sew a seam straight across from one side to the other at that 2 inch mark. This does require a bit of eye-balling. If you don't think you can sew a straight line you can draw one first with a pencil. Repeat with the other side.Step 9: Pin the points to the bottom of the purse and sew from the bottom of the triangle to the point directly over the existing stitches to attach the triangles to the bottom of the bag.

You are done. Turn the bag right side out and enjoy!! I think these are so cute. I like the fact that it is already lined. There are no unfinished seams on the inside of the bag. They are really quick and easy to make. No cutting involved. You have got to love that sewers!!!!

Shop til you drop card

Here is a cute purse card idea. I found the pattern for this in the April/May 2005 issue of Paper Crafts Magazine. I just embellished the purses with what I had on hand. I turned the inside of the card into a money holder. I think this would be a cute card for a little or big girl for a birthday. If you can't find the pattern it would be easy to create some purse shapes yourself. There are lots of possibilities with this card. Enjoy!!

New Recipes

I am behind on posting my new recipes for this week and yes I have more than one. This week I tried out 3 new recipes but only 2 of them were keepers. I decided it is not worth it to post all of the steps on how to make these so I am just going to share the recipe, my changes/additions and a picture of my finished product.

Sliced Baked Potatoes

4 medium potatoes

1 tsp salt

2-3 TBSP melted butter

2-3 TBSP chopped fresh herbs

4 TBSP grated cheddar cheese

1 1/2 TBSP Parmesan cheese

-Peel potatoes if the skin is tough, otherwise scrub, rinse and pat dry.

-Cut potatoes into think slices but not all the way through. Use a handle of a spoon to prevent knife from cutting all the way.

-Place potatoes in a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt and drizzle with butter. I would use olive oil next time instead of butter. Sprinkle with herbs.

-Bake potatoes at 425 F for about 50 minutes.

-Remove from oven. Sprinkle with cheeses and return to oven until cheese is melted. I sprinkled mine with bacon bits first and then cheese.

Grilled Pork Chops

1/2 cup miracle whip (or mayo)

1 TBSP lime juice

1 TBSP fresh chopped cilantro

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 tsp chili powder

4 bone in pork chops or you could use boneless

Blend first 5 ingredients together. Put pork chops on the grill and brush each side with the sauce while grilling. Grill chops until they reach an internal temp of 150 F. I brushed some of the sauce on each side of the pork chops before we put them on the grill and let them kind of marinate. This sauce is delicious. I think it would be good on grilled chicken too.

Small fry update

I thought I would post a few new pictures of small fry. She has been sick this past weekend but I think today she has finally started getting back to normal. It is just no fun to be sick or have a sick baby. Luckily she still managed a few cheesy grins even on her sick days.

Cheesy Grin

Just like Dad

At the state basketball tournament. I made this coat while I was pregnant and we didn't know if we were going to have a boy or girl. The 44 is for my husband. It was his basketball number.

Paper Bag Purse # 2

Here is another idea for a paper bag purse (see the following post for the first idea) from an old issue of Paper Crafts Magazine. Once again it didn't have very clear instructions to follow so I just came up with something that worked for me. I was going to do a tutorial for it but it takes a lot of time to do tutorials and I don't have that kind of time for every project. So I just thought I would post my idea. If you are interested in the template that I created to make this purse and some general instructions drop me a comment and your e-mail and I will be glad to pass those on to you. Otherwise, enjoy another cute idea. Here is the side view. You can see the paper bag glued inside the purse front and back. This would make a cute little gift bag or take home gift for a girls party. You could also adjust the shape to make different styles of purses too and there is lots you can do to embellish the front.

Getting "Purse"onal

I have posted a few purse/bag related things lately and you know, I will just admit it, I love bags and purses. So I decided to try and do a few more purse related posts over the next couple of weeks. I think there are so many cute purse related ideas out there. So I hope that you enjoy these.

Paper Bag Purse #1
I saw this idea in an old issue of Paper Crafts Magazine and as is the case in so many magazines, the things that I like don't have good instructions. So I just looked at the picture and came up with a tutorial myself. I think these would make great take home gifts from a Birthday party or could be used as center pieces. There are lots of possibilities. Also you could make them bigger using a larger paper bag or smaller too. I used a regular lunch sack sized paper bag. One thing I did learn while making these was that not all paper bags are created equal. They all have their little quirks.

Step # 1: Trim the bag 4 inches above the bottom edge.

This is how it will look after being trimmed.

Step #2 Cut your paper pieces. You will need 2 sets (one for the front and one for the back). I used card stock for all of my pieces.

Bottom layer: 4 x 5 1/8", Top layer: 3 3/4 x 4 7/8", Paper Stripe 5 1/8 x 3/4"

I also used a piece of adhesive ribbon (Martha Stewart brand). If you are using ribbon you will want it to be a bit longer than the bottom layer so that it can wrap around the back side.

Step #3 Apply double sided tape to the back side of the top layer and center it on the bottom layer piece.

Step #4 Apply glue to the back of the paper stripe and glue it in place about a 1/3 of the way up from the bottom or where ever you like it.Step #5 Place the ribbon in the center of the paper stripe and wrap the ends around to the back side.

Use your first set as a guide to assemble your second set.

Step #6 Choose one set to be the front that you can add some embellishments to. You can do anything to embellish the front of these. I stayed pretty simple as I probably will just have these in my craft room for a while with no place to use them yet. I did buttons. I choose 3 different buttons and arranged them on the front.

I used my large needle to poke holes for attaching the buttons. Once the holes were poked I used my wax coated thread to tie the buttons on.

Step #7 Apply double sided tape to the back side of the set and attach it to the bag. Repeat to attach the other side also.

Step #8 If you want to make a bag that will be sturdy then do this step; if not skip ahead to attaching the handle. To make the side inserts cut 2 pieces of white card stock 4 x 3". Slip these into the sides of the bag.

Step # 9 Cut a piece of card stock for the handle 1 x 11". Fold under about a 1/2 " on each end.

I attached mine with eyelets, but you could use a large brad, or if you are mass producing these a staple would work great too. Center the strap in the middle of the side of the bag. If using eyelets, punch a hole in the middle of the handle side piece and attach your eyelets.

And tada, you are finished. Here are a couple that I made. There are lots of possibilities with these. Aren't they cute and so easy. Enjoy!!!