Camp Shine: Get crafty idea #2 -- DIY purse (with some parental help)

Little girls love toting around purses. It always helps when that purse is just the right size for tiny hands.

Skip to My Lou recently highlighted a DIY purse for little girls -- the tutorial was created by the bloggy gal at The Object Project.

Here's what's awesome about this project: your daughter can pick out her own fabric (and perhaps repurpose a cute pillow case or other piece of clothes at home), help you measure and cut the fabric, and even participate in the actual sewing of the bag. Also, I dig that the handles are small bracelets that canbe used later on when the purse is no longer being used.

That said, a parent will have to be involved to supervise the cutting of the fabric and the sewing, unless you have an older daughter that has some sewing experience.

I made the above purse for my 4-year-old niece using 1/4" yard of Tinker Bell fabric (US$3), cute buttons (US$2) and rubber bracelets I found on sale for two bucks at Anchor Blue. The bracelets are sold in packs of five, so I dropped one of the extras in the purse for my niece to wear. Total cost of the project was US$7, and I still have fabric, buttons and bracelets to make another bag. (Brother sent me a loaner sewing machine to test out and I am obsessed with using it as much as possible!)

More Camp Shine ideas:
Cooking with kids idea #1 -- DIY strawberry fruit leather
Camp Shine: Get outside idea #1 - Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles