Clearance SCORE!

I've been on a hunt for a fabulous new purse now for about 5 months.

For the last 6 years, I've actually been using a scripture tote for my purse. It's been great - but it's just not big enough anymore. I want to be able to fit in my wallet, a spare diaper, AND a pack of gum.  So I've been looking.

 

My better than what I had before 6year old purse.

However, I haven't been willing to pay much for it.  As in, I want a fabulous purse for less than $20.  Not an easy feat.

I finally decided I might just have to make myself one. I now have this huge file of bookmarks of purses.

Before my trip, I'd narrowed it down to to a decision between this one:

And this one.

I was leaning towards the awesome organization of the second.  But my big hang up was the 3 yards of upholstery weight fabric, not to mention all the super duper interfacing and magnets and zippers and such.  Unless I found a killer sale, it was going to cost me about $30 to make the silly thing.

I was hoping I could find some great cheap fabric on while visiting my family.  I found something much better.

Every store we went to (which was way more than we should have!) I would look at handbag selection offered. I finally found one that was kind of sorta ok at wallyworld. It was $16, but I knew to actually like it I'd need to add some magnetic snaps, so it would push it over my magic $20 mark.  I also knew I could get the exact same bag back home, so I put it off.

Then, we went to a craft fair.  I found the most amazing bag ever.  I'd tell you the kind - but I don't remember. But it's this awesome brand that has great magnets on the outside, and changeable shells that you can just slap on and change the whole look in a few seconds.  I loved the style, I loved the pockets, I love everything about it.

But not the price. To get it all the way I wanted to, even with the fabulous deal she had going on, would be close to $100.  Um, yeeeeaaaaaaaahh. That's not happening.

We continued wondering on. I found other adorable offerings, but nothing I couldn't live without.  Then,  I noticed another purse booth. 

I knew right away, I wasn't really interested in her stuff. The name of the booth was something along the lines of "purse bling" and everything was super big and showy - not my style.  But I noticed a big tub labeled "clearance."  Well, I had to at least look, now didn't I?

Most were the same that she had displayed, but with a broken zipper or other imperfection.  And then  I saw it.

A cute, understated purse, with great dividers.  Nothing broken, in great condition.

 The price?

Nine bucks.

That thing was sold as fast as I could find a family member who had more than the dollar cash I had on hand.  What? I was traveling, and all I had was my debit card.  But don't you worry. I went back to wally world that night and got some cash back to pay my adorable niece right back!

Just a bit bigger than my old one!

I love my new purse. It's truly awesome just how much I can fit in there. Things are much easier to find, and it looks a lot nicer than my old one!

time

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.
-Abraham Lincoln


The first day has come and gone.

No one was excited about it either.

And this one most assuredly did NOT wake up at 6:00 asking if she could get dressed yet.

At least he remembered to turn around and wave goodbye.

And with 'Lil taking a 3 hour nap during the day, I'm left with too much time on my hands.  

This week I'm letting myself just read and relax.  Next week, I'm going to start deep cleaning the house and working on projects.

Summer Sewing: Kid edition

Did anyone start to wonder if I was still alive?

I am. Life is even going pretty well. But, with an almost 3 week trip visiting family, a massive activity to plan, and two kiddos starting school, this little blog has really suffered.

But enough excuses: on to the good stuff!

I've mentioned several times that we made a summer bucket list. We managed to cross of almost every single thing - and the three that are left are all ones that cost money (I'm cheap, what can I say!)

Before our fabulous trip (really, everyone should experience 10 hours at the airport with three kids and no stroller), I taught my kids to sew.

Every once and a while, I think about how flippin easy kids have it today. Ok, that sounds like I had it hard too. When I mean today, I mean in the last 80 years or so.  No chopping wood, no hauling buckets of water, no plucking chickens.  Sure, many people never learned how to read, and died super young, or had a chance at education or things like that. But little kids started doing chores - including sewing and baking - at a MUCH younger age than we would consider it today.

Girly-Lou is almost 7.  In pioneer days, she would be making patchwork quilts and mending pants.  And she just barely grasped those silly lacing cards.

So, I asked her what she wanted to learn to sew. I said we could do something like a bag, or a pillow case, or something like a monster or a toy. She instantly grabbed onto the monster idea.
 
We bought a big pack of felt, and she picked out all the colors. I did a quick pattern according to her instructions (crazy eyes, big teeth)

(why does blogger sometimes randomly turn pictures?)

She helped me trace them onto the felt.  Then I showed her how to pin the face pieces together, and how to sew by hand:

She had it super fast!

Once all the face was sewn to the body, I helped her sew the front and back together.  We kept it really simple (straight lines!), and just turned it inside out, leaving the entire bottom open. We stuffed it together, then sewed along the bottom (yes, you can see that seam. But since it's felt, it's not going to fray, and it's a super easy way for a first project!)

Once we were done, Buddy decided a monster would be pretty cool too.  He changed his design up a bit, but we followed the same steps.

And my monsters get to show of their monsters!

There's a long way to go before they really know how to sew on their own, but it was a great first step.

I'm linking up HERE

*do you guys like linky parties? They are such an awesome place to get new ideas (and a bit of a time suck too!)