Teachers Day Gifts- Paper Purse Tutorial

Teachers Day Gifts- Paper Purses

          Hi friends, in India we celebrate Teachers' Day on Sept 5th and though my daughter's school doesn't encourage gifts they do accept little handmade tokens.Over the years I have made post it note holders, photo frames, pen-stands and mini albums. This year we decided to make cute little paper purses !

Teachers Day Gifts- Paper Purses

The paper purses were made from sturdy cardstock using the Spellbinders Labels 8 die which was also featured in the Diorama Card Tutorial .This one has a handle of silver pearls and  a handmade rose.

Paper Purse  Tutorial 

Though you can make paper purses with any kind of supplies...I love to use my dies whenever I can so this Tutorial features a few die cutting tricks!

To Make the Back and Flap of the Purse

One technique anybody with a die cutting machine should explore is partial die cutting...you can really get value for money if you use this technique....for example you can extend a square die to cut a rectangle and more!

For this project I let the top part of the cutting plate reach only upto the center of my Spellbinders Labels die.You can use any die you think will work for a purse shape .

 Paper Purse Tutorial 

Partial die cutting can be tricky and frustrating in the first go so I will share some important tips which help me!

• Partial die cutting Tip 1: Always keep a spare  pair of  cutting plates with you. Not only will it come in handy when your cutting plate breaks out of the blue but for techniques such as partial die cutting...it is so much easier if you have a nice flat cutting plate instead of your "super used" bent ones
• Partial Die Cutting Tip 2 : Apply firm pressure on the end of the cutting plate- die sandwich with your fingers as you are rolling your sandwich into the machine so as to avoid shifting of the die/ cutting plate and paper.

 Paper Purse Tutorial 

The picture above shows the partial die cut obtained thence. Snip off the excess paper shown lifted up in the picture above.This part will form the closure flap of your purse.

Place the die cut snugly against the scoreboard and score at 2 inches and 2 and 3/4 inches. I wanted my purse to be 3/4 inch wide so only I used the 3/4inch measurement.

 Paper Purse Tutorial 

Now place the die with its end reaching slightly beyond the 2 and 3/4inch score line as shown below.Your top cutting plate should reach up to the scoreline

 Paper Purse Tutorial 

Partial die cutting Tip 3 : In partial die cutting , keep the part you don't want to cut  away from the  roller of your die cutting machine...this way there is less chance of the die / cutting plates to shift as you roll the machine.What I mean is dont put the part you want to partial die cut first into the machine as you roll....if you do it that way the sandwich  is more likely shift!

 Paper Purse Tutorial 

Snip off the excess and don't obsess about the slightly off alignment...believe me it will hardly be noticeable in your final outcome. 

Your  back , top and front flap of your purse is now ready....! And all from just one piece of card!!Isn't it cool

 Paper Purse Tutorial 

Make the front of your purse
To create the front of your purse, use the same die you used earlier and snip off 1/4 inch or so from the die cut so as to create a straight edge.

 Paper Purse Tutorial 

Punch or die cut a small opening  on this straight edge. This opening makes it easy to insert and take things from your purse. You can use partial die cutting techniques here too. In the picture below, I have used the Tim Holtz ruler to find the exact center of my die cut...you dont have to really take out a ruler and find the exact center but just eyeball it but sometimes I like to indulge my obsessive compulsive perfectionism nature!!LOL!!

 Paper Purse Tutorial 

Design the inside of your Purse

You need to make a box open at the top.

 Paper Purse Tutorial 

When constructing purses/boxes form diecuts/ hand cut shapes you can design the size by measuring the width and length of your die-cut and subtracting a margin of 1/4 inches .

Based on the shape of the Spellbinders Labels 8 , I designed a box measuring 5 x 2.5inches with a width of 3/4 inches[already decided earlier and reflected in the top flap I cut for the purse earlier too]

 Paper Purse Tutorial 

So that translated into a piece of card measuring 6 .5 x 5 and 3/4 inch scored 3/4 inch from either end on the 6.5inch side and scored at 2.5 and 3 and 1/4 at the  5 and 3/4 side.

 Paper Purse Tutorial 

Snip off  wedges on some of the flaps as shown to facilitate easy gluing and decorate the outside of the box before gluing.

Paper Purse Tutorial 

Now all 3 pieces are ready....just glue the box onto the back of  the purse and stick on your front piece

 Paper Purse Tutorial 

When making for the first time I would advise you to use liquid glue [rather than tacky tape] as it allows you to wiggle the parts a bit for perfect positioning!

 Paper Purse Tutorial

You can design fun closures using velcro or magnets.If using strong magnets ,stick one magnet inside your box and the other one on your flap so that there is a piece of card separating the 2 magnets.... as otherwise these magnets are super strong and difficult to pry apart!

Paper Purse

I punched holes on the top of the purse, inserted eyelets  and threaded pearl strings to create the handle of my Paper purse!

Teachers Day Gifts- Paper Purses

The  animal print purse has a handle made of ribbon folded in half and stitched for extra sturdiness!This ribbon handle was threaded through eyelets set in the top of the purse and secured inside.

Teachers Day Gift - Paper Purse

The purple one shown below is my daughter's favorite and has a lovely glittery paper which reflects the light so beautifully !

Teachers Day Gift- Paper Purse

We made a total of 7 purses!

Teachers Day Gifts

These little purses can hold small gifts such as sweets, notebooks, pens ,jewelry etc .

My daughter helped to make small mini books to add inside each purse

Mini Books

Each mini book is made using a single 12 x 12 inch paper

Mini Books

 We designed ours with 8 pockets and added tags into each pocket.

Mini Books

Used one of the smaller dies from the same Spellbinders set to create mini cards to add inside each purse!

Teachers Day Cards

My daughter has just started learning calligraphy  by watching youtube videos and took so much care to painstakingly  write " Happy Teacher's Day" inside each card!

Teacher's Day Card

What do you think my friends...?

Supplies : Mostly all are from Crafters Corner
Dies : Spellbinders Labels 8, Poppy Stamps Pinpoint Main Street Tags , Spellbinders Rose Creations,Spellbinders Elegant Ovals,Spellbinders Crown Ovals,Cheery Lynn  Rose Leaf Strip

Stamps : Studio G women silhouette