Sunday, February 17, 2013

Repurposing: Thirty-One Gifts purse into an small electronics case

A wonderfully generous friend and book club lady, gave me a lovely Thirty-One Gifts purse. I liked its slim profile and adjustable strap immediately. Until I tried to carry it as purse. Who am I kidding? I am not at a point in my life, where a slim purse will do. Maybe when I go out to dinner with H or a night on the town with friends.

I need a super-sized, shoulder murdering, carpet bag. I still seem to be carrying around everyone's stuff. Plus I tend to travel with a notebook and pens and sunscreen and many other "just in case" items.

Nope-- no slim purses for me.

But I like it. It is so pretty. Admittedly it has been very pretty hanging on the closet door. Until Friday. I was packing for my trip and I needed something to slip my kindle, headphones, iPod and related cords into. My camera too... I wanted all my electronic gizmos, in one bag.

Then it hit me. My Thirty-One Gifts purse, would be perfect, with a few modifications.

 It really is a cute bag. But with a super long strap.


And the interior pockets will be perfect for slipping in my camera, iPod and cords. With my kindle, it will still be slim enough to slip neatly into my carry on bag.

At first I thought I would use my seam ripper and just remove the strap altogether. That however was a no-go. As a well constructed bag, it has the straps nicely attached.

Then I decided, well a bit of a strap would be helpful.

So I cut the straps and then sewed them down, careful to double them over, to avoid fraying.

I created a carrying strap using the hardware already on the bag.


And a tab detail. I used a zigzag stitch as it will show.

I am pleased with my quick repurposing and cannot wait to try it out. I think it will be just perfect.


Saturday, February 16, 2013

Things are changing all around me...

Well not exactly. I am changing them.

In the coming weeks I will be migrating this blog, to my own website. I bought the domain -- susansthoughtsfromtheedge.com. I am going to build my own website using WordPress. Changes are also coming to my business, which after a hiatus, is reemerging, slightly new and different focus.

This January I took Allison Lehman's WordPress class and I finally feel empowered and competent enough to build my own space. That is coming in March. I will likely shift my blogging focus a bit and my plan is to try and refocus my writing.

This blog is not going away. I will leave it up. Instead of trying to import nearly 7 years worth of posts into the new space, I will link to this blog, so that people can look back if they want to. Some of the really good posts, I will likely repost and many of my DIY projects may make a reappearance.

Why am I changing? Well, blogger has made some updates and honestly, for new bloggers or those who want to blog and go, I can 100% say Blogger's platform is the way to go. It is easy. This is why I have stayed here for 7 years. This last upgrade, in my opinion was actually a slight step backwards. My skills and blog aesthetic have outgrown Blogger and frankly all the cool kids are talking WordPress.

WordPress is really flexible and it has some neat bells and whistles. I have used the back end of WordPress for years-- carefully posting content for clients and hoping like hell, I didn't accidentally blow anything up. Well now, I am going to try building my own place, from the ground up.

My goal is to have this all finished by the end of the first quarter 2013. So hang tight... change is coming and soon.