Placemat purse

Another great idea came from Shannon. I went to her house and saw some adorable purses that she made out of a placemat and decided to go home and make one for Adrianne! It is very easy to do and Adrianne loves taking it to church with all of her books and coloring items.

















Purchase:
Ribbon
placemat
needle
thread
large flower if you choose

Directions: (this will be hard to explain so hopefully I can do it)
-buy a simple placemat, I bought mine from Bed Bath and Beyond for $1.99.
-fold the placemat in half, with the tag on the outside.
-measure a half an inch in on the top and three inches on the bottom and sew a diagonal line connecting the two. Do this on both sides. If you want you can sew a straight down instead of a diagonal line.
-To form the bottom of the purse, open the purse (it is still inside out) and lay the corners flat, forming a triangle. With the seam opened flat, sew across from the corner (it will be about two inches from the point). Do this on the corner too.
-Turn the purse right side out. There are a variety of ways to do the handles but I chose to do ribbon. Measure the length of the top of your purse and create two points where you would like your ribbon to be and do the same on the other side. I wanted mine close together, so I measure about 4-5 inches in. I did a zigzag pattern when sewing the ribbon on. Next attach a flower on one side or create a bow out of the extra ribbon and sew it onto the purse.

There are a lot of different things you can do with this purse. Shannon added a large flower onto hers and ribbon going all the way around. I have also found some with a variety of different handles.

Memory Board

I saw the memory board that Shannon made forever ago and have wanted to make one ever since I saw it! I tried to do it once on just a cardboard (hers is made with a wood frame and cardboard in the middle as backing), without the wood frame and it just didn't work. So, just recently I went to Joanns and bought a canvas with a wood frame and made one! I thought it turned out great and matches my house perfectly!

Purchase:
Batting
canvas with a wood frame or plywood
fabric (enough to cover the board and a few extra inches
ribbon

Directions:
-Take a canvas with a wood frame or plywood that is any shape you like
-Cut the batting and fabric to the size of your board or frame and leave an extra two inches all around so you can stable it to the back.
-place the batting (I used three pieces to make it padded) on a clean surface and staple it to the back. I know you can use a staple gun but I used a regular stapler which made it a little more tricky but it worked great!
-take the fabric and cover the front and staple it on the back, making sure the fabric is pulled tight as you go.
-Add the ribbon to whatever design you want. I did the typical criss-cross pattern. Start with an X that runs from one to corner to another. Staple the ribbon to the back. Then, measure your half way marks on the board and staple the ribbon from one half way point to the other. The ribbon should now be parallel to the orignial X. Make sure the ribbon is pulled right
-If you use piece of plywood, staple the ribbon down everywhere the ribbon creates an X and hot glue a button on each section. If you are using a canvas sew the buttons onto each X and then you are done and can hang it in your house! I just used nails to hang the canvas but with a plywood I am unsure of how to hang it (which is why I didn't do it).