Easy homemade gifts - matching bag and notebook

No, I did not fall off the face of the earth. But I was nearly there. Things have not been great at work, then the kids brought home a nasty stomach virus and finally we had a series of birthday party invitations which occupied almost all our free time.

Since this year I'm trying to give handmade presents as much as possible, birthday parties also mean I'm busy with a lot of projects at the same time. So I have selected two of the most recent ones (that I remembered to take pictures of) to share here.

The first one is a set of bag, notebook and hair clips I made for six year old girl.

This is the bag:

The original bag pattern can be found here, but I think it is too big for a little girl so I made it a smaller size. The bag is lined with a different fabric and has a pocket sewn on the inside. This is the second bag I made using the pattern and this time I also modified the strap: I used a coordinating ribbon instead of sewing a strap with the bag fabrics.

The notebook cover is made of the same fabric as the outside of the bag and lined with pink felt (I made a previous version lined with fabric but found it was too soft and lost shape, so I discarded it).

Inside there is a small notebook and I added a set of coloring pencils.

The hair clips are made with yo-yos and buttons covered with the bag lining fabric.

Everything goes into the bag...

And here it is, wrapped up and ready to go to its new owner.

I hope you enjoy it. Tomorrow I'll try to find the time to share the other birthday project.

See you around,