I am a sucker for alot of things, and things that are cheap, i.e.; don't cost a lot vs. tacky cheap, are on my perpetual list. (Just one list of many but I'm not going into that right now, that's another blog post.)So I found this wonderfully large, sturdy tote for fifty cents at a local thrift store and snatched it up immediately. Sure, it had a company name on the side but it had a bonded vinyl interior and it was really well made and it was notalottamoney so I grabbed it.
Notalottamoney? It was practically free.
While I was preoccupied with this tote, by the way, my daughter found a gorgeous lined burlap tote with wooden handles and an old fashioned carriage printed on it. I was momentarily envious but I consoled myself with my fifty cent tote. Fifty cent tote, baby! I already had BIG PLANS for this find.
And here's what Miss Fifty Cent looks like now....
And this pocket on the other side.....
(My sweatshirt is reflecting onto the pics. Weird.)I wanted a big tote for thrift store, flea market, yard sale, fabric store shopping with room for all my great finds. My youngest daughter gave me a wonderful all leather very stylish bag with lots of pockets but it's capacity was limited. So this big, cheap tote looked like the ticket. My leather bag will be my serious purse and this restyled tote will be the fun one. You understand, don't you leather bag? Thanks, sweetie.
So I went to my stash of fabric, buttons, beads, lace, tulle and stuff and started putting things together. THIS is the part of a project that trashes my craft room, since I'm taking stuff down and putting things side by side and generally looking for a match to the idea in my head.
And since I can't leave well enough alone I had to embellish the pockets with black velvet rosettes, buttons, beads, tulle and lace. Plus more fabric rosettes til I finally said enough.
I've finally learned the "less is more" lesson but sometimes I still go for it. This time I restrained myself...a little bit.
Since I wasn't blogging then I didn't take any process pics but I'll tell you what I did. I knew I wanted two big outside pockets that were roomy enough to reach into, and those were easily done. I knew I was tired of my cell phone getting lost at the bottom of my bag and I wanted a pocket easily accessible, so I included that in the liner. I wanted a divider in the bottom so I could keep my wallet, etc off to one side and a container for my various small tubular shaped items like lipstick, lip gloss, tylenol bottle, perfume, etc, to keep them upright and accessible. No more random pile in the bottom of my bag! I added some velcro to keep her from gaping open and voila!
Here's a pic....just look at all that room, oh yeah! Yes, that's a Joanne's ad in the pocket. ; 0 )
And here she is full of Saturday's haul from two yard sales and two thrift stores. I found an ornate Christmas tree sculpture thingy, long cinnamon sticks, an amber bottle, a very cool decanter with a lid, a little rake, two oversize crochet hooks, 3 yards of way cool glitzy fabric for Santas, a blue crackled glass ball and a little posing art guy. All the stuff in there cost me less than $10 and I still had room for more. I love my fifty cent tote!
I'll be linking to the following blog parties this week. See you there!
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Just Something I Whipped Up Monday at The Girl Creative
Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays at Coastal Charm
The DIY Showoff Project Parade
Toot Your Horn Tuesdays at A Silly Little Sparrow
Talk To Me Tuesday on Tip Junkie
Talk About It Tuesday on Blogger Chix Designs
Woo Hoo! Wednesday at Always Nesting
Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts
Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple
Friday's at Remodelaholic
