Placemat Purses!

OK, here's the cool crafty project I promised to show you. AND, it is super fast & easy & would make fun Christmas gifts!! The group of ladies at my MOPS (Mothers Of PreSchoolers) group today LOVED this project. It was super fun to see the tables of sewing machines lined up & the cluster of crafty ladies on the floor working on attaching the grommets to their newly sewn bags. (I even got to teach a lady to sew who had NEVER sewn before! YIPPEE!) If you google "placemat purses" you'll find TONS of stuff! Here is the link I had to a tutorial: http://elandmarc.com/amysfavorites/2004_09/home.htm

Here's the samples I brought to the class today...This first one is a simple woven placemat with sorta holiday-ish colors the my friend Julie sewed. It has a long over-the-shoulder ribbon sewn on both sides as the "handle". I'm planning on adding a giant vintage button right in the center to the keep the bag closed.

This is one I splurged on with the wooden handles. I really had no idea what I was doing. I just went for it & it seemed to turn out OK. I LOVE this bag! I attached a floral pin I already had in my stash of "accessories". It's a really heavy placemat & was the most expensive of the bunch--at $1.50, from Big Lots!!

This bag was sewn by my friend Tiffany. I attached the grommets & gold cording for the handles. Grommets are so much fun! Once you learn how to use them, you'll want to grommet everything!

And, I couldn't finish my sample of purses without attacking one with a cupcake! I still have to finish this cupcake with my little stitches all around the edges of the design, but this was all I had time to finish.

You could add so many different embellishments AND there are so many different ways you could create the handles. They'd be fun Christmas gifts filled with "themed" items, such as cooking gadgets for a chef: handprinted recipe cards/a fork easel from WhiMSy love (hee hee!)/a hand-knitted dish cloth/a hand-sewn apron OR... handmade beauty products for your diva sisters OR... hand-knit items (socks, scarf, mittens) for your...cold(?)...friends OR... handmade toys & puzzles to keep in the car for your favorite kidlets...(In fact, that gives me a great idea! This Sunday's "YOWZA! My Favorite Things..." will feature my favorite "themed" gift ideas!)

The possibilities with these purses are endless! (Did you get my "handmade" plug?) And, who knows, a few purses may pop up in the shop for sale, just in time for the holidays!

I was thinking about what I'm thankful for today. While I was organizing & setting up for the craft at my group this morning, I had about 4 or 5 toddlers, ages 3 or 4 surrounding me & "helping" me. And I just had the most FUN time talking to them! I'm serious! Not only do they say funny stuff, but sometimes those little buggers have real insight. So, today I am thankful for conversations with kidlets. Sometimes my own wee ones say things that get me to thinking about OTHER things & then I get inspiration or ideas or a new perspective that I wouldn't have gotten unless I took the time to have a conversation with them.