A Handbag...

I keep seeing little handbags crafted from Designer Series Paper and so thought I'd make one to hold some small cards as a gift for someone. I like to keep one or two projects ready just in case I need a present at short notice.

Designed and produced by Amanda Charlesworth

I'm basing mine on a You Tube tutorial by Amanda Charlesworth who has a blog under the name of Scrimpingmommy. Click HERE to go straight to Amanda's blog post for instructions if you'd like to make her gift bag.

I've chosen to use the True Gentleman DSP, I really like the small design of this particular paper and although it is obviously more masculine, Crumb Cake and Night of Navy are neutral colours.

Crumb Cake

Night of Navy

Tranquil Tide

The size of my bag is a little larger to accomodate some Stampin' Up Narrow Note Cards and Envelopes but can still be made using a sheet of 12"x12" patterned paper.

My measurements.

Card base box 8" x 3¾”      Score at 1½" on each side. Cut flaps and trim excess paper on each of the corners to create the box.

DSP - Body of bag 12" x 4½”

Handles x 2 1" x 10" - I made mine 8" but on reflection think as the bag is bigger I should have made them longer.

I also added a 1"x12" strip inside the top of the bag to hide the back of the split pins. You'll need extra DSP if you want to add a pocket and/or strap to close the bag.

A tassle hangs from one handle, held in place by a double bow made from Linen Thread.

I used the Lots of Labels dies to create the tab so that the bag can be closed with the addition of velcro circles.

I wasn't going to add a front pocket at first but because it is a little larger, I felt it needed something.

In the end I decided on a decorative pocket that is big enough to put stamps in. I can never remember the safe place I've put them so thought this an ideal solution.

Which do you prefer? With pocket or without?

See my next post for the cards I made to go inside. You can see a sneaky peak of one of them in one of the photos above.

  

While I've been making this, Ive had a couple of quotes from one of my favourite films running through my head. Whilst I like both of the film versions, It's Dame Edith Evan's voice as Lady Bracknell I can hear in my head. "To be born, or at any rate bred, in a hand-bag, whether it had handles or not, seems to me to display a contempt for the ordinary decencies of family life that reminds one of the worst excesses of the French Revolution." Lady Bracknell -

The Importance of being Ernest by Oscar Wilde