Hello friends,

I am knee deep in a couple of different projects this week but I have not quite pulled any one of them together yet. So for today’s post I will take you back to last Christmas for another one of my zany gifts. This may, in fact, be the most zany of them all. I call it the “little paper pig purse”. It does not really resemble a pig but some how that is the only name for it. To make this story even a little crazier I have to admit, that this is not the only purse I have made out of magazine paper. You may have seen my post on the paper mustache purse a few months ago. I guess you will have to be the judge on which one is the craziest.

I apologize that I do not have a lot of how to details for this project (I can here you thinking “Why would we need details for a project that is so silly no one would ever want to re-create it?”) So maybe I don’t really need to apologize.

At any rate I liked the way it turned out. And to the best of my knowledge my niece, the unwitting recipient of the little paper pig purse, has not yet tossed it into the trash. 🙂

It starts with two big tight coil disks that I shaped over a basket ball.

In the unlikely event you are interested in making a similar silly purse this video shows the details of the actual quilling process. (There are three projects in this video. The last one demonstrates the type of quilling needed for this project.)

Onward, assuming that you have made your two tight coiled quills and are ready to progress you will need two zippers long enough to go around half of the circumference of the coiled shapes, some E6000 glue and some straight pins.

Use the E6000 glue to attach one side of each zipper to the inside edge of one of the quilled shapes. When the zippers are closed they should meet at what will become the top of the purse. Use the straight pins to hold the zipper tape in place until the glue is dry.

Once the glue is dry unzip the zippers and glue the loose side of the zipper to the other quilled shape. Allow to dry.

Because I actually wanted this purse to be sturdy enough to use I added a thin strip of leather suede to the outside edge of each side. The leather strips were glued into place using the E6000 glue. To secure all the layers together I punched holes through the leather and the paper and inserted paper brad fasteners.

I wanted the purse to stand up so I added 4 metal “feet.” They were also shaped like the paper fasteners so they were applied they same way. You can see one of the feet in the bottom of this photo. I found the “feet” at a craft store but I don’t remember which department.

This is a view of the inside after the paper fasteners and feet where in place.

To finish the inside of the purse I added another strip of leather glued into place with E6000 glue.

I made some handles from the leather and they were also attached with the paper fasteners and glue.

Happy Upcycling,