Hello crafters – Dawny P here and welcome to the Craft Room today.
The project I’m sharing with you today is made using the really clever and very sweet Tonic Studios Satchel Bag die set. This is a fabulous set of dies and can be made up to store photographs, school year mementos etc. You could even pop a gift card inside or turn it into a stationery holder to house notelets. Endless possibilities here and it is just so cute.
There are 26 dies in the set plus full instructions. And as this is a verso set, you will of course have your outside and inside edges to decorate or to use on your other projects. There is a pocket die in the set which could also be used on the front of your cards or even to pop onto a gift to hold a tag. There are 2 sentiment dies as well – Love and Hugs and Open Me and again these could be used as gift tags. There are 2 different patterns on the verso dies, one is floral and one is geometric. Both are generic and really stylish so could be used for anybody. This makes it a ‘must have’ for me because I like to get the absolute most out of my die sets and the more uses they have, the more I love them!
The satchel is cleverly designed so that it can be opened flat and to keep it closed there are cute little butterfly shaped clasps to hold it together. And the finished size is approximately 115mm x 120mm x 55mm (or 4.5” x 4.7” x 2.1” in old money!!). So it makes up into quite a substantial and sturdy project. It could easily be doubled up to make something bigger.
Normally when I do step by step instructions, I will put a list of tips at the end, but I’ll add them as we go along for this project. There are a lot of photographs here which I hope will help, and also I wanted to show that even if you are either a new crafter or new to die-cutting, this is a very achievable project. Imagine giving this to somebody as a gift – they would never believe you were a beginner.
If you are a newbie, I mention valley and mountain folds and this is what they should look like -
I’ve broken it down into three simple stages so shall we get started?
To Cut – time to fire up those die cutters!!
Side panel decoration – cut 2 outside edges in both black and white and cut verso inside edge die into black pieces as shown.
Lid top decoration – cut 1 outside edge in both black and white and cut verso inside edge die into black pieces as shown.
Front lid decoration – cut 1 outside edge in both black and white and cut verso inside edge die into black pieces as shown.
Preparing our cut pieces
Stick the side panel and front lid decoration pieces together as shown.
Do the same with the lid top decoration – I used dimensional pads here. Then stick down onto lid top pink piece as shown.
To prepare the insert separator pieces
Firstly, you will notice that there are pairs of sections on these pieces that are slightly wider. Add a strip of DST to one of the sections in each pair as shown. Now mountain fold these sections, remove tape and stick the sections together . Valley fold the sections either side of the stuck together sections - it should look like the centre picture. Do this on both pieces.
Tip – remove one bit of backing tape at a time, stick together and move on to the next section.
To prepare the insert pockets
Crease tabs on both pieces. Add a strip of DST to each tab as shown. Remove the backing tape from one tab, line up with the un-tabbed edge of the other piece and stick together. Fold in half, remove the other backing tape and stick down.
Tip – fold in half and remove the backing tape slowly, sticking down as you go.
To prepare the front pocket
Crease and fold the tabs as shown. To start, have the right side facing you then mountain fold to the back the first tab. The other tabs are then concertina’d. Tuck the little shaped tab at each end of the longest side into the last fold on the shortest sides. Glue down. Then glue down on top the little tab on the shortest side as shown. Apply strips of DST to the three sides.
Stick the black decorative piece onto the front of pocket. Stick the sentiment piece into the middle as shown. You could use foam pads for this for extra dimension.
To assemble
Take both base pieces and add glue or DST to the panel which I’ve scribbled on. This will be the base of the satchel. Do this on one piece only.
Tip – I like to add strips of DST, remove the backing and and then run wet glue over the tape. This means that you have a bit of extra time to line things up and also the glue will make the base a little sturdier once the glue has dried.
Remove the tape from the first piece. Now take the other piece and lay it on top so that both base panels are together. It will look like this. Now take your bone folder and give everything a good crease.
Take the pink butterfly clasps and pinch the wings together. With the right side of the base piece facing you, thread the wings through the slits on the lollipop shaped bits as shown. Now flatten the wings down. Do this with both pieces.
Bring the side pieces in. Fold over the 2 lollipop pieces as shown. Glue the pink butterfly clasp on the back to the other lollipop piece. Add the glue to the pink card only and remember to add a thin line of glue along the centre to hold it all down well. This is your side opening and closing mechanism. To open, just pinch the wings together and slide out if the slit.
Now for the front. Take the 2 white butterfly clasps, pinch the wings together and slide through the slits in the straps as shown. Open the wings.
Remove the backing tape from the front pocket and stick to the front of the satchel.
Tip - before removing the backing tape, bring the straps to the front to check that it all lines up OK. Once you are happy, take the tape off and stick down.
Bring the straps over to the front and glue to the back circles on the decoration. Again, add the glue to the white card only and remember to add a thin line of glue along the centre to hold it all down well. This opens and closes the top of the satchel.
