Sister Friday!!! Making kids journals & bags

So this Friday we went to Therese's house to work on some very streamlined and simple entertainment for her kids during church service. Her husband just received some responsiblity in their church where he will no longer be sitting with them durin the service. Needless to say 4 children fighting over snacks, crayons and such is not fun to deal with on your own! So we made them each a bag big enough to hold a notebook, a religious childrens magazine, colored pencils, and a snack. Now they can just grab their bag and be done with whole ordeal!

To make the notebook we folded 5 sheets of regular printer paper in half at a time until we had a large stack,

We punched two holes in all the paper

I measured the material to fit the little notebooks and cut with the croc-o-dile holes to match up with the paper and snaped on the little fabulous rings- again with the croc-o-dile!

Therese really wanted a family picture on the front of each notebook, sooo...

We cut the pictures to the size we wanted thn laminated the pictures.

Next we measured from the pictures and cut out a whole in the front of the cover. And cut a piece of fabric just larger than the picture to go behind. At first I was designing it to be a little pocket for the picture, like what they have on je front of some scrapbooks, but that was NOT working! So Therese just sewed the pictures in the pocket...perfect! Done...easy and quick!

Jocelyn, in the meantime made bags for each child ...

First she made a pattern (yep that's the cover from the cord of paper...so rescourceful!) and cut out the bag.

Sewed up each side. Serge

Cut out a strip of fabric 27x3 inches for the strap, serge, folded it into 3rds and pinned down.

Sew down the edge of each side for a nice finished look.

Serge the top edge of the bag, fold over the top of the bag about an inch in towards the inside of the bag.

Pin the handle into the fold, tucking it up and under, do the same for the other side, making sure not to twist the handle.

Sew the top hem down twice, each stitching line about 3/4 of an inch apart.

Press and done!!