The fabulous ladies from Therese's Treasures and One Kiss Creations challenged a group of us with the task of making a beaded purse. A big challenge, for sure. And they gave us several months to prepare our projects.
Many thoughts came to mind. A peyote amulet bag? A leather pouch with embroidery? Embroidering on an existing purse? So many, many options!
Here's a sneak peek I gave last week - did you guess what it was going to lead to?
At my job, I have to use a key card to get into most of the offices and secure spaces. And because it's a performing arts organizations, I often have to work at concerts. Toting around a very official looking key card on a lanyard when you're wearing a fancy dress isn't always the best look. So I decided to see if I could combine the need to camouflage the very functional realities of my workday with this creative beading challenge. Thus, the beaded key card purse!
I started with a basic plastic card holder, to which I affixed snaps on the back.
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| Pretty, ain't it? |
Then I embroidered a couple of interchangeable decorative panels with snaps on their backs, to switch out as needed. The first one was an easy choice - I had done some bead embroidery around a violin bridge several years ago for another challenge, inspired by music.
At the time, I thought I'd make it into a necklace, but that never happened. So it became the first front panel of my beaded key card case.
Then, because I am apparently from the school of "why just "do" when you can overdo?", I decided to make another cover. Sadly, this one didn't get its edging completed, but here it is anyway.
And here it is, with its beaded fob (aha! the sneak peek!)
I can't wait to use these at work. If I don't have a waistband for the fob to attach to, I can carry these in my hand, almost like a small clutch purse.
Here they are, all together.
And in case you're interested in seeing the mechanics of it all, here's the backside.
I'm pretty sure I've taken an unorthodox approach to the beaded purse challenge. Want to see what everyone else has created? Go check it out through the links below, and thanks to Therese and Christine for organizing this challenge to get me off my beady butt and doing something new!
