Dec 7, 2017

Mrs. Claus' Paper Purse

Hey there!

We’ve talked about the fact that it is gift giving season. I love making gifts for people and it comes easy. You want to know what doesn’t always come easy? The vessel that you put the gifts in. So, let’s talk about carrying cases for some of the things that you might make!

Well, one of the carrying cases.

If it’s a cute paper craft, I’m probably going to try it. When I saw this cute purse paper craft, I immediately had to try my hand at it.

What will you need?

The project that I originally saw on Pinterest used a brown paper bag. I wanted mine to be a bit sturdier so I picked up these bags from the Dollar Tree. I know that they have a design on them but we’re going to cover it so it’s ok.

Whatever paper bag you use is fine. Just lay it on its front with the flap in the back. All bags measure differently so even though I’ll give you my measurements, the main idea behind this project is to cover the bag.

So, my bag is 4.5” by 9.5”. I don’t need all 9.5” so I cut it down to 5” high.

I like making life difficult so I am using scrapbook paper that has patterns. A safer plan would be to use plain red, green or whatever color you’d like. I’m making my purse in a Mrs. Clause type so I like the red paper. Because my bag is 4.5” wide, I cut my scrapbook paper in 4.5” strips. I used 2 strips.

I cut the scrapbook strips into 4 pieces. According to my bag size, I cut them into…

7” scored at 2” (used for the back of the bag)

4.5”

2.5” (used for the bottom of the bag)

1.25”

Again, your pieces might be different. All you need to do is have 1 large piece for the back of the bag and 3 pieces for the front.

I always check all the pieces before permanently attaching them. Once you attach them, they should look like the picture above.

If you wanted to, you could add a strap and stop there. You know I can’t do that! I decided to add a belt to Mrs. Clause. So, I used some black paper, silver paper and a small circle punch.

I want my purse to close so I used some of the fasteners that I found at the Dollar Tree. You don’t have to use it but I wanted to fill my purse up with goodies so I need to make sure it will close.

I added lace at the top with a thin piece of scor tape.

I wanted to add a purse strap and I wanted it to be sturdy so I used my craft knife and cut slits in the flap of the fold (the score line that we scored at 2”).

You can just barely see it but once I fed the end of my ribbon through the slits, I taped them down. Once you fill up your purse, you won’t even see them.