"SIMPLE STEMS" PURSE

For the past week (at least that long), I've been taking my time to do some weeding out and moving around in my stamp room.  Four bags of trash were taken out of here yesterday, so I don't understand why this room is still so full.  Ha!  During most of the cleaning process, I haven't had an open space for stamping and have been missing my hobby!  I finally kicked it in gear really late last night and cleaned off my desk, and you know how stampers are . . . show us a tidy area, and we instantly feel the urge to make a mess.  And so I did.  During one of my "digs", I found a Stampin' Up! card kit (can't remember the name of it) that had a pretty box to hold the cards so, before assembling the box, I made a template out of cardboard.  Pictured in this blog post is what I created with that template . . . a pretty purse!  My Very Vanilla card stock pieces were stamped with images from Stampin' Up!'s Simple Stems and Off the Grid stamp sets using Soft Sky, Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango, Always Artichoke, and Baked Brown Sugar ink.  The die-cut foliage is from the Secret Garden Framelits, and I used the Spiral Flower Originals Die to create the three rosebuds.  A small piece of gold metallic paper from the Calypso Coral Celebration Basics Add-On Kit was used to stamp and punch the live happy sentiment, which is from the You're Lovely Sale-a-Bration stamp set, to mimic a name-brand label on the purse.

During the creation of this purse, I thought it needed something different on the front, so I cut a piece of card stock that followed the same contour as the top, embossed it for texture, and sponged the edges.

The above photo shows some of the details.  I used Fringe Scissors to create the tassel and punches to create the purse strap attachment that allows the strap to move somewhat freely, which makes it easier to open the purse.  I had a lot of fun with this project and seeing how it evolved from a test to see if the template would work to figuring out how to finish the purse with enough detailing.  I had only used the Spiral Flower Originals Die a couple of times, but I developed quite an appreciation for it while making the three flowers for the purse.  It's amazing how quick and easy it is to make something that pretty!