Girls "secrets purse".

All little girls love somewhere to keep their secrets and messages from friends, so here's a step-by-step to make a little purse to keep them safe. Similar to the men's wallet, only easier and prettier!

Ok, firstly cut a piece of card 8 x 5 inches.



Next, pick two pieces of patterned paper. Here i have used the "Wings" patterned paper from the Angelique Collection by Prima.



Now cover both sides of your piece of card, remembering that one side will be the inside of the purse, and the other the outside. Place your covered card in front of you, inside looking up at you..

Mark your purse folds with your scoring tool at the measurements shown, for a larger image, please click on the picture.

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I find this a good time to give the front some decoration. All i have done here is used some lace, eyelets, distressed an inked the edges, added some fibres, a bloom with a fabric rose, and finally the word "Secrets". As you can see, i have used a simple Velcro dot for the closure.

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Flip it over, and you are ready to do the inside. I've added a little lace again here already.....

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Now you need somewhere to hide those secrets. We are going to make a simple pocket, but you can use a pre-made envelope if you wish, maybe even a pretty little organza bag or similar?

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For this pocket, cut yourself a strip of card 8 inches long. The top inch is for the pocket lid, and you can see that i have added some flaps at the side of the bottom 3 1/2 inches. The dotted lines are score lines which will be folded...

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Cut some patterned paper the same shape, and cover the card. Score the fold lines..

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Fold this pocket over in half, gluing the tabs inside to make the pocket. I have used a border punch on the flap, and some fibres and a ribbon and brad closure to pretty it up.

Add some more decoration if you wish. My eldest loves music, so i made a simple LO involving a handmade miniature wooden recorder, and a scroll of music. Instead of this, you could think about having a few journalling pages there, or a notebook to write the secrets on.

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Just be careful of making the inside too bulky or it will not close. If you do envisage a bulky load inside, just slightly increase the distance between the the fold scorelines..

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That's it finished! One purse fit for a princesses secrets. :)

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Thanks for looking, i hope this has been useful and i look forward to seeing what you do with it.

Calv.