On Stage April 2018 Swap

Hey hey!

This year I thought would make a swap for On Stage. I chose an explosion purse. It has been around for a while, so I don't know who to give credit. Here's how I made mine.

There's a very clear video on making one on Julie Dimatteo's YouTube channel. Her channel is called The Paper Pixie. Her purse has smaller dimensions, you might want to check it out. I have not yet progressed to making videos. Blogging is enough for now, she said.

You need:

a piece of Designer Series Paper of 7½" x 7½"

for the top of the bag a Cardstock circle measuring 2½"

for the handle a strip of Cardstock measuring 3½" x ¼"

small magnets to help keep the purse closed (or Velcro dots)

Fast Fuse to adhere the top of the purse (or Tombow Multipurpose Liquid Glue or Tear&Tape)

Glue Dots to adhere the handle and magnets

By the time I got down to writing this blog post I had run out of the blue Designer Series Paper, so here you see different colours. 

Score the 7½" x 7½" piece at 2½" and 5", turn the paper and score again at 2½" and 5". Along two (opposite!) sides, make a small indentation at the 3¾" mark. Then make score lines from the two 3¾" to the corners. Also make diagonal score lines from the centre towards the corners. Please see the picture of the template.

Mind the following: the 3¾" marks will be the sides of the purse that will fold in, so if you are using patterned paper and the pattern is important, have a look at what will be the part that folds up under the top of the purse. Do I make sense? I hope so. I learnt the hard way. Look at the picture for the direction of the paper and the position of the halfway score marks.

Put down the paper like this.

Fold and burnish all score lines and cut off the corners.

Take the 2½" circle and score it at 1⅛" and 1⅜". Fold and burnish. Take the handle and score it at 3¼", turn it and score again at 3¼".

Adhere the top to the purse. I fold in the sides of the purse, this helps me align it. 

Adhere the handle to the top. Then adhere a magnet to the inside of the purse, not too far away from the edge.

Inside

Allow the other magnet to adhere itself to the first magnet on the outside of the purse. In that way you are sure it's in the right position. Stick a Glue Dot on the magnet on the outside.

Outside

Fold the purse together like this

(In this picture, the magnet is already adhered to the top.)

Fold the top of the bag over and adhere it to the Glue Dot. Gently press down, then open the purse. Press the magnets well onto the paper.

Finally, stick an embellishment of some kind on the top of the bag to simulate a closure. The Metal Rimmed Pearls look beautiful for this.