Thursday, March 25, 2010

Gamaguchi Coin Purse

I made my FIRST japanese gamaguchi coin purse!! I am proud of myself :)

So...i often carry bills or change into work w/ me for my break for when i want to buy a drink or snack from the vending machine. Well, sometimes i use paper and staples to make a makeshift coin bag so i don't lose my money in the drawer. Therefore - i decided i wanted an actual coin purse i could carrry around with me for such occassions. And...i decided i wanted to MaKe my own!

I went to Etsy and ordered some purse frames and bought fabric and any other needed materials from walmart and craft stores.
supplies
I started out by tracing around the top of the frame to get my desired width and then just drawing a square at the bottom of it. I used the swirly fabric for the outside of my bag, the felt for my inner lining to give the bag durability, and a solid red satin fabric for the inside of my bag.


After sewing the felt and outer layer together, and the two pieces for the inner layer together, i combined them...

This is what it looks like...haha, notice all the sewing needles laying there...i used them as stick pins to hold my fabric together while sewing until i actually bought some propper pins for the job :)


..this is what it looks like after sewing all the pieces together.

Now i need to add the purse frame and i'm done! For this i used craft tacky glue and inserted the top of the bag into the frame. Haha, i used a butter knife to push the fabric into the frame. Then, i used a wash cloth and some pliers to clamp the frame down onto the fabric to make sure it wouldn't come out! 

My finished bag :)
I felt like my bag needed a little something, so i sewed on a red satin flower that i made using the same material on the inside of the bag...

my pretty flower


my end product!!



My first bag turned out pretty okay :)  Now i just need to invest in a sewing machine so i don't have to continue to hand stitch them!!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Craft Night: Travel Mugs



Okay, so friday night was girls craft night with my friends Antonya, Katrina, and Whitney (plus her friend Heather). We all LoVe coffee, so we decided we would decorate our own travel mugs/tumblers.  We found the travel mugs and scrapbook paper at our local craft store (my favorite store!!).


This is what we started with.....

....and here is my end result....


I wasn't as happy with mine as I was hoping, but I loved the way my friends' mugs turned out. I wasn't sure which background pattern I would use while I was choosing them at the craft store, so I didn't have the best selection of letters or background letter colors to make my mug just right haha. So....I ended up going back to the craft store and made another :)  .........

I am much happier w/ this one :)

I have more ideas for how I want to decorate my travel mugs too! It was so much fun! I wish I had taken pictures of my friends' mugs as well, because they all turned out different, but all so cute!

Monday, March 8, 2010

First Time Blogger

Hello :) This is my VERY first blog! Ever! So my friend Jenna pretty much has a million sites dedicated to all her hobbies and she has recently began blogging. I really enjoy reading her blogs so I decided to start one for myself...and here we are! I am no computer whiz so I may end up  getting her help to jazz it up...but for now, I'm gonna attempt to make it pretty all on my own ;). 

I am such a googler. I am constantly searching for new things to make and supplies to make these new things. With this said, I have come across many blogs - which has also contributed to my decision to create my own. Here, I can discuss my crafts and share them with others!

This is short and sweet...because I have housework to do and dinner to make :) ...but bloggers, here I come! Haha!