To Hold a Little Something.

When I first crossed paths with these cute Origami pouches I knew they would make great Easter baskets. You see, I was raised receiving Easter Baskets well into college age, but I have been off again/on again with them myself. I'm not sure why, but maybe it has to do with procrastination. When I do get myself in gear on time I usually go over kill with candy and junk and stuff, and honestly it makes me happy inside to do give to those I love. I'm the same way with stockings. I have been known to pile things around the stocking after filling it. I know! I know it doesn't have to be huge, and that's what I was working on this year. I wanted to make it special, yet not overwhelm myself nor my pocketbook.

These pouches seemed like a great help. I knew the original size was a little small, so instead of an 8 inch square I used a grocery bag from a local store and cut out a 12 inch square. I could have easily made it bigger, and as you can see they are still fairly small when you compare them to my cell phone and itouch. I simply felt as if this was a good size for a little something and would keep me from overdoing it.

What I did to decorate mine was paint the outside of the pouch with a light blue paint, and cut out shapes from scrapbook paper. On the paper I roughly painted black along the sides for a more definite edge. I let these sit all night so the paint and glue could fully dry. Then I glued the scrapbook paper on the side of the pouches with the most folds showing. It simply seemed "neater" to me, but I really don't think it matters. I allowed these to dry while I cut out the beige paper. These were originally circles, but I burned the edges for a rougher more random look to them. For the names I simply printed them out from the computer onto clear adhesive paper and cut it out right around their names. I only wish I could print that prettily. For the handles, I wrapped floral wire with wire edged ribbon, punched holes, and wrapped it through. The great thing is you can do anything to them, and she has some great ideas on all of her tutorials for the pouches.

It took me about two days, minimum cost, and it leaves me with a great little pouch to put a small treat for the boys and my husband.


*One little note, in the tutorial she doesn't go into all the steps of the origami pouch, but you can find all the steps on her newspaper pouch tutorial.

Stacey Lozano regularly shares her latest craft endeavor and other parts of her day at My Unfinished Daze.