LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY PURSE

A while back I found a cast-off, lunch-sized picnic basket at Goodwill (thrift store).  I don't know how old the basket is, but it appears to have been around the block a few times.  I paid $2.50.  Of course, I didn't take any before photos because I was too excited with my new found treasure and wanted to get started with the revamp right away.  You can take my word for it that it was in desperate need of some TLC.

Job number one was to gut the basket, thoroughly clean it, sand down the lid and paint it my favorite color.

Then I went to work crocheting numerous roses.  There are more flowers on the basket than you can actually see because I doubled some of them up to make them appear fuller and give it some various heights.

The flowers would need a platform to be attached to, so I made one using recycled cardboard and a layer of thin foam rubber which I covered with a scrap of natural colored cotton batting.  I used hot glue to adhere.

Next, I added a trim of cotton lace around the edge to hide any batting that might be visible.

After finding the center of the purse, I hot glued the platform to the top.

Around the edge I put some very sweet, pale pink velvet ribbon, just to finish it off.  The ribbon went on very neatly and I tacked it on with two sequin pins at the very back - no glue clumps here!

Then came the fun part of flower arranging.

Each flower is attached with a pearl head pin, some pink some white.  The leaves are also attached with pins, this way if anything should get dirty I can easily remove the flower for hand washing or simply make a new one, repin and send it on its merry way.

All the flowers are crocheted from various cottons such as my very favorite Tahki Cotton Classic, Paton's Grace, and maybe some crochet cottons as well as some embroidery floss.

On the front I added a pink umbrella dangle charm (which I found at Michaels) as well as some pink cherries to give the purse a front and back.

I have been stopped by more people than you can imagine (both men and women) who compliment my purse and want to know where I got it.  I proudly tell them.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my new old purse.  It's a real conversation starter.

S.W.A.K.

Don't forget to visit Frannie at CuteKatyDolls on YouTube!