So what is a girl to do? Make her own of course!
I set out to find the perfect purse to turn into a camera bag…not an easy task. I needed pockets (lots of pockets!), a sturdy fabric that was semi thick, but yet still pliable, preferably leather, or something water-resistant, and it had to have a long strap so I could wear it messenger bag style. Finally, after months of searching, buying purses, bringing them home, wearing them and returning them after I didn’t like how they felt, I found the perfect bag on the clearance rack at TJ Maxx. It was a $140 purse on clearance for $30– can’t hate that!
The purse has two main compartments, each with pockets inside of them, and two outside zippered compartments.
I got right to work measuring and cutting, and in less than 2 hours, had a nifty little foam insert with velcro-ed foam dividers to protect my camera and 2 lenses. This little insert is made from 1/2″ foam and beige knitted suede, and it fits perfectly into one of the main compartments. The other compartment is the exact size of my iPad, and will also hold my wallet, keys, phone and anything else I may need. The pockets securely hold my camera’s remote, extra memory cards, cleaning cloth and filters. And best of all– it is so comfortable when I wear it that I barely know I have it on! It’s also great for changing lenses, because the other one is right there at my side, and I don’t need to set anything down. And (yes– there’s more!)– it doesn’t scream “Camera Bag”, so I don’t look like a target to anyone who might want to steal my equipment, and I don’t look like a tourist walking around! Win, win and double win!

So cute, right?

The inside– I took out the camera in the middle so you can see the velcro and the adjustable dividers:

Everything safe and snug inside!

The hardest part is stripping all of the crayons of their little paper clothes:

Just loved how colorful this pile of crayon shards looked

But the end result was worth it! And the kids loved them!! I gave it to them with a book- Twas the Night Before The Night Before Christmas– a cute story if you ever run across it in the store!

This year, we went with a new design- a different roofline than we’ve ever done. It still has our famous rounded bow window and interior lighting though!

The finished product:

We also made a second one, and donated it to my school to be raffled off:

And some detail shots:

#1- “Staching Through the Snow”- I hand painted the mustache and wrote “Staching Through the Snow”, and filled it with glittery “snow”– apparently it’s some Air Force tradition to grow out a mustache when you’re deployed- and it’s been the source of many of my jokes towards him (all in good humor of course!).

#2- Poker- one of his favorite passtimes while away was playing poker (and he even won quite a few tournaments!), so I made him these two ornaments out of wooden blocks, scrapbook paper and Poker scrapbook stickers.

#3- Scrabble- another favorite passtime for him is to play me in Words With Friends, a scrabble app on our iPods.

#4- Giants- he’s a huge Giants fan, so I took a glass circle, and using etching cream, etched the Giants logo onto the glass. After it was done, I rubbed a Sharpie marker over it to “tint” it.

#5- Jersey Shore- we’re both from the good ole Jersey Shore, and he’s mentioned more than once that he misses the beach in the summer, so I took beach sand and shells and filled the ornament with his own little piece of the Jersey Shore. The other ornament is purchased- it just says “Jersey Shore” with a picture of a snowman on the beach.

#6- The Distance Between Us- we know that a long distance relationship is going to be difficult, but we’re ready to tackle it– this ornament has two hearts connected by a line- one heart for me in NJ and one for him in WA.

#7- 27 Reasons for your 27th Birthday- this ornament is filled with 27 little origami stars- each star begins as a strip of paper, and on each strip I wrote one reason why I like him before folding it up. Don’t worry- he’ll know what they say- I also wrote them on a separate sheet of paper to give to him as well!
A picture of the strips of paper before they were folded-

#8- This one was purchased- he’s a huge fan of his alma mater, Rutgers.

#9- Two airplanes- he’s a pilot, so this was a no brainer- one is a red, glittery biplane, and the other is a glass blown airplane-

#10- Air Force star- found this one in a little shop in Lancaster- it was the ornament that gave me the idea for the whole gift!

I designed the stencil for the pumpkin myself- it’s a vintage camera with billows- it’s hard to see in daylight…

But I loved how it looked at night!

The pattern was a Jessica McClintock- with very detailed bodice (nearly twenty pieces in the top alone!). I ended up making a cotton bodice out of scrap material just to make sure the pattern would fit okay, and thankfully it did with very little alterations!

Now, don’t be fooled- it may look nice all done, but it was a pain to sew! It took nearly three Saturday’s to finish (with pretty much one whole day being dedicated to cutting– between the dress, the lining and the interfacing, there was over 50 different pieces. Then the bodice had to be made twice because the interfacing was causing the fabric to bunch and not sew properly. Ugh. Anyway– I’m pretty happy with the way it came out and got many compliments on it the night of the gala!

Close up of the bodice:

And the whole dress- I love this fabric to pieces! It reminds me of something Chrissy Snow might wear on Three’s Company

We decided to make a camera that was taking a picture of a sand castle- here’s the first layer of the camera:

Here’s the camera- almost done being built:

And all done!

Just the camera:

A few weeks before the actual contest, we went to the beach to do a trial run (to make sure we could actually do this!) and that day, we took a picture of the castle– we then printed it out as an 11×14 so we could attach it to the back of the camera as if it was the LCD screen showing you what you were taking a picture of.

….and in case you were wondering– we took 3rd!

Seriously- who doesn’t love glitter?

A colorful fishy:

Mickey Mouse!!

And a better picture of the owl I made the other day:

Thanks to my dad’s vintage (anything that’s older than me is considered vintage…lol) Minolta SLR for being a wonderful “model” for my lens bling!