Monday, April 19, 2010

Fifty cent tote, baby!

I am a sucker for alot of things, and things that are cheap, i.e.; don't cost a lot vs. tacky cheap, are on my perpetual list. (Just one list of many but I'm not going into that right now, that's another blog post.)

So I found this wonderfully large, sturdy tote for fifty cents at a local thrift store and snatched it up immediately. Sure, it had a company name on the side but it had a bonded vinyl interior and it was really well made and it was notalottamoney so I grabbed it.

Notalottamoney? It was practically free.

While I was preoccupied with this tote, by the way, my daughter found a gorgeous lined burlap tote with wooden handles and an old fashioned carriage printed on it. I was momentarily envious but I consoled myself with my fifty cent tote. Fifty cent tote, baby! I already had BIG PLANS for this find.

And here's what Miss Fifty Cent looks like now....



And this pocket on the other side.....



(My sweatshirt is reflecting onto the pics. Weird.)

I wanted a big tote for thrift store, flea market, yard sale, fabric store shopping with room for all my great finds. My youngest daughter gave me a wonderful all leather very stylish bag with lots of pockets but it's capacity was limited. So this big, cheap tote looked like the ticket. My leather bag will be my serious purse and this restyled tote will be the fun one. You understand, don't you leather bag? Thanks, sweetie.

So I went to my stash of fabric, buttons, beads, lace, tulle and stuff and started putting things together. THIS is the part of a project that trashes my craft room, since I'm taking stuff down and putting things side by side and generally looking for a match to the idea in my head.

And since I can't leave well enough alone I had to embellish the pockets with black velvet rosettes, buttons, beads, tulle and lace. Plus more fabric rosettes til I finally said enough.

I've finally learned the "less is more" lesson but sometimes I still go for it. This time I restrained myself...a little bit.




















Since I wasn't blogging then I didn't take any process pics but I'll tell you what I did. I knew I wanted two big outside pockets that were roomy enough to reach into, and those were easily done. I knew I was tired of my cell phone getting lost at the bottom of my bag and I wanted a pocket easily accessible, so I included that in the liner. I wanted a divider in the bottom so I could keep my wallet, etc off to one side and a container for my various small tubular shaped items like lipstick, lip gloss, tylenol bottle, perfume, etc, to keep them upright and accessible. No more random pile in the bottom of my bag! I added some velcro to keep her from gaping open and voila!

Here's a pic....just look at all that room, oh yeah! Yes, that's a Joanne's ad in the pocket. ; 0 )




And here she is full of Saturday's haul from two yard sales and two thrift stores. I found an ornate Christmas tree sculpture thingy, long cinnamon sticks, an amber bottle, a very cool decanter with a lid, a little rake, two oversize crochet hooks, 3 yards of way cool glitzy fabric for Santas, a blue crackled glass ball and a little posing art guy. All the stuff in there cost me less than $10 and I still had room for more. I love my fifty cent tote!








I'll be linking to the following blog parties this week. See you there!

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Just Something I Whipped Up Monday at The Girl Creative
Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays at Coastal Charm
The DIY Showoff Project Parade
Toot Your Horn Tuesdays at A Silly Little Sparrow
Talk To Me Tuesday on Tip Junkie
Talk About It Tuesday on Blogger Chix Designs
Woo Hoo! Wednesday at Always Nesting
Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts
Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple
Friday's at Remodelaholic









28 comments:

  1. I really like your tote! I became a follower today. :) Thanks for your sweet comments on my blog too. Good luck to you too!

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  2. Wow! What a great idea! I am so inspired. I get tons of this type of bag in my line of work (public relations) and never know what to do with them because they always have some logo plastered on them. I typically toss them in my yard sale pile. Not anymore. I'll be able to recycle them. Yipee! Thanks so much for the idea and the lovely comments you left on my blog.

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  3. This tote is so stinkin cute...the makeover rocks!

    Blessings,
    Linda

    I’m having a GIVEAWAY…come by and check it out…I think you will like it!

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  4. so perty, i would have that thing packed so full! love the black and white, especially the embellishments! :O)

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  5. She turned out beautifully...one of my favorite ways to dress things up is to use buttons too...

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  6. I bet adding the liner gave the bag a lot more durability too! Has nothing to do with your bag, but I have a "thing" for those little posable art guys. :) {Found you via Tip Junkie}

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  7. This is such an awesome idea. Thanks for sharing. It turned out wonderful. My kind of doing! Be blessed. Cindy

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  8. I Love this! Super cute! I would love it if you linked up to my Talk About it Tuesday party because you have such cute ideas!

    http://bloggerchixdesigns.blogspot.com/2010/04/im-currently-reading-marketing-book.html

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  9. Great job. I have some rather unattractive totes that could use some sprucing up!

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  10. WOWZA GIRL...you are so creative...I love this bag..so beautiful! I could have never thought to do such a thing! Come say hi :D

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  11. Your bag is gorgeous! I have a tote bag that I tried to fancify with a freezer paper stencil this week, and it went horribly wrong. Dressing it up with fabric like you did might be the way to go!

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  12. Now that's incredible! You took a little something and turned it into a spectacular big something. Talent, pure talent.

    Thanks for linking to Woo Hoo! Wednesday.
    Hugs, Marla

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  13. You did such a great job with this! I love the black and white, and nobody would ever guess that this started out as a fifty cent tote from a thrift store! I've seen bags not nearly as nice at craft shows and the price would be closer to fifty dollars :) Kathy

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  14. I'm so HAPPY to see you at NIFTY THRIFTY TUESDAYS...hope you had a good time:)

    Blessings,
    Linda

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  15. What a brilliant idea. I cant even count all the free bags I have given away, one just last week. It looks so pretty, and how appropriate that words underneath your handiwork say "creative"!

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  16. Oh my goodness........A girlie after my own heart. I LOVE free/cheap. They don't call me Tightwad Tilly for nothin'....

    Great re-do.

    Warm blessings,
    Spencer

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  17. Woohoo, great tote and wonderful embellishments and 50 cents. Winner!

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  18. How about a tutorial for those of us that are "sewing" challenged??? Now a follower! found you thru the blog party!

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  19. Cute bag, I love the fabric patterns. I'm now a follower and I'd also love to see a tutorial!

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  20. Wow! Great bag! You did a really good job!

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  21. I am GREEN with envy!!! Envy of your bag & envy of your talent!!!
    Did you sew it on? How did you put the liner in?

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  22. What a fabulous idea! I wish I had thought of it.

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  23. What a fabulous idea!! Love it. I always find bags like this and never thought about transformating them! Would love to have you stop by the Sunday Showcase Party. Hope you are enjoying your weekend! Great job - so creative!

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  24. Great Job! I'm a sucker for those 'notalottamoney' finds too. :)

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  25. Thanks for visiting my blog! :-)
    Was just looking at yours and this tote!!! AWESOME! It's not just pretty - it's so practical! When I started reading the first thing I thought was ... well, it is way to big for a bag that I could use. But you are completely right! When going on fleamarkets or on a big shopping tour I always end up with all these huge (and ugly) plastic bags that even rip if I am unlucky enough! This would be perfect! And I LOVE all the mix-matched black and white fabric! SO PRETTY!

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  26. I am so jealous. I need to find a tote like this to carry around my treasures. The black and white, I am drooling over it now.

    Thanks for linking to my linky party!

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I love your comments and read every one. They let me know if I'm on a good track with my blog. Thanks for stopping by!

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