Christmas in March

Just kiddin!  Actually, I'm kinda kidding.  I am going to be out of commission at the end of the month for a while and have a list a thousand miles long to accomplish before then.  I have been wanting to create something to contain my Christmas card pictures that I have received over the last few years.  It has become such a popular thing, sending out photo cards and I just can not bring myself to throw any of them away.  I do not keep the card cards but I do the photo cards.  This project needs to be able to contain 2008-2013.  I have very few from 08-09 but then they started flying in.  Over at eclectic Paperie, there is an e Picks Challenge "do something with a Bag."  I remember seeing someone create a mini album with a gift bag.  So, down to the basement I go, digging through all my Christmas bags. I was looking for silver but don't have one.  So, I found a shiny red that works perfectly.  

I started by collecting papers that I wanted to use on the cover.

I cut my bag apart very carefully.  If you look close, I removed the complete bottom of the bag and the sides.  Leaving the larger part of the bag and the handles.

Feeling that my bag was too flimsy, I folded over the sides that were still attached to one side and added chipboard cut to size to the other.  You can apply chip to both sides if you want.

I created a clump of papers, tag and my title.  

Attached this to the front of my bag and threw it all in my sewing machine.  I did this so that my title would not come off in the next few years from being handled.  It also reinforces the whole front of my bag.  Nothing is gonna fall off this baby!

The trickiest part is creating a template and punching all of your cards.  I tried to arrange mine all in a certain order and by date.  It was tough.  

So people, in the future, add the date to your photo cards, makes it easier for people like me who don't want to throw them away!

Thank you for stopping by!

Mary-Ann