2013 Christmas Gift Guide Opening Giveaway

Wow can you believe it is already October?  This is hard for me to get in my head.  But that tells me it is time to open up our 2013 Gift Guide.  I am featuring several Texas crafts "men" this year too.  We are opening up with Brenda.  She is a local lady that has amazed me at the useful ideas she has and how she is able to go after what she wants with very little worry if it will work out.  Full of life and very up beat, Brenda always cheers me up.

Well this summer she decided to create her very first e-Book for Kindle.  I was taken back that you could just go out and do this.  But of course, Brenda is fearless.  She created a how to book on making Up Cycled purses.  Now this is not a cute lil sewing project.  Nope!  Instead she used magazines and created the weaving material to weave her own purse.  Then she made a very easy step by step book to show us just how to do this too.  Just look at how cute this is.

Yes, this is all made from magazines.  Folded, glued into reeds and woven.  The handle too!  Brenda has used her purse since this last Spring to see how it would hold up to the day to day abuse.  Making sure to be pretty hard on it.  Tossing it into the back seat of the car, dropping it on the floor when she has come in the door and letting it be 'woman' handled as we all do with our purses.  It has not come undone at all.  Pretty good!  

Well the neat thing is that it is all made by hand and she wants to show you how you can up cycle your own creation.  How to Weave a Magazine Recycle Purse by Brenda Lindsey is only $3.99 on amazon.com.  I have looked at a copy of her book with Brenda.  So easy to learn how to tear out the pages, fold them for the reeds to make the bottom of the purse (giving it stability) and then the flat platting to weave the purse.  Making a purse with a full lining in place can be done in just a day or two for the persistent crafter.  Myself, I would have to have a week to make sure I was doing it right.  But this is not a hard one, just a lil time consuming.  I could see my friends Tammy and Maureen making these up in smaller form with the help of their daycare kiddos even.  

Here are several looks at what Brenda has created and you can too!

This is the 'reed' that helps create the bottom of the purse.  Remember all of this is made from using those magazines we all love to look at then don't know what to do with when we are done.

I love the bright colors that is shown off here.  Makes me feel so cheerful.  Did you ever imagine?  I did not til I saw them and then my fingers started itching to do this too.

I thought the handles looked really hard to create this tight weave.  But looking through Brenda's e-Book, I found it was not that hard, just taking the time to make sure I had the steps down.  Yeah sometimes we have to do a little practice.

On this purse, Brenda added wooden handles.  She also used a brown paint to stain the purse when she was done to get a 'leather' look to it.  But pretty good size to hold a e-Reader in with tons of room left over.

And this satin lining was just hot glued in.  Oh the glory of working with paper, glue really does hold.  Here you can see the width and depth available to you.  Not a lil tiny purse, well unless that is what you choose to make.  Remember here you become the crafts "man".

And yes, this is the ever so beat upon purse that Brenda carries herself.  Stuffed full and looks like how we all do.  Our life on a handle.  But if you really look at this can you believe it is made from paper and has been used for 6 months without tearing up.  Pretty amazing work.

Now this is our gift guide opening with our lovely Texas gal.  So you know we have a giveaway to share with you.  Yeppers, you can win one of these creations yourself (without having to do all the work).  Brenda was kind enough to share since she has been trying out all kinds of designs. 

So one of the purses above will become yours if you win.  You just enter by the Rafflecopter below.  I have an extra 10 entries for you if you purchase a copy of Brenda's e-Book too!  Oh and by the way, I did not get paid to do this.  Brenda was kind enough to share that lovely brown woven purse with the wooden handles with me.  Yes I do have one for myself!  But I will also tell you that Granny M saw it and took up with it real quick.  I am so glad that we can share since we are just in the next room from each other. 

Well Good Luck to all.  And Brenda, thank you for opening up our 2013 Gift Guide and being our first TEXAS crafter featured this year.

a Rafflecopter giveaway