Make Your Own 221B Baker Bag: Sherlock Purse

Make Your Own Sherlock Bag
I've been working on several cool furniture projects for an upcoming Spring Market. Unfortunately,
most of those are still unfinished.

However, I did find time to finish one project, not furniture but something else I've wanted to do for a looooong time: a Sherlock Holmes purse!

I'm a bit of a geek, especially when it comes to books/movies, and I recently came across an Etsy shop that sells bags that look like Sherlock Holmes' door.

So cool! I wrote to the guy and asked him about them and found out they are just flat, two-dimensional pictures. There is no real hardware on the bags: no coolio door knocker, no numbers. I probably should have realized that right away, but I geeked out over it and thought maybe it had actual hardware included. Nope.

I decided in order to be truly cool, I needed a purse with actual hardware. Then, I remembered that Tim Holtz makes a mini lantern.

From Amazon




Thus was born my 221B Baker bag! I bought the bag at Goodwill. It seemed like a good size and had a nice, flat black back that made a perfect canvas for my "door." Then I found a black fabric belt to criss cross over the purse and create the illusion of panels intersecting. After much searching, I found a shop on Etsy that sells small metal numbers and letters. I painted them with gold acrylic, then did a light misting of black spray paint to make them look old and weathered. I also ordered a pendant pull on Etsy that resembled the actual door knocker from Sherlock.

I assembled it all by fastening the hardware on and sewing/gluing the belt to the purse. Finally, I tucked the battery pack to my lantern inside the purse pocket and allowed the lantern to hang outside the door. The final result is just awesome! At least for a geeky girl like me. :)

 

 

Autumn Sign & Vintage Items

Finished my autumn sign/door just in time for fall! Also, got a couple new items up on my Etsy store: salt & pepper shakers and beautiful candle holders! Buy them here!

Autumn Sign on Reclaimed Wood

Just finished this gorgeous autumn sign on reclaimed wood! Here's how it happened:

1. Put the words together in Photoshop until I got the look I wanted. 
2. Printed and assembled the document in pieces.
3. Colored on the back with charcoal.
4. Traced over the words to "transfer" to the wood.
5. Retraced them in pencil so they wouldn't just smudge away when I touched them.
6. Filled in with paint in black, red, and orange (tried white, just didn't like it).
7. Planning to seal this with Mod Podge and possibly add hinges and a knob to make it into a "door."
8. Also planning to eat LOTS of chocolate because I starved myself in the MANY long hours it took to do all this. :) Although I DID watch two whole seasons of Fringe on Netflix... or listened to them anyway.
9. Done. 
10. BONUS! When you flip this around, it makes the perfect background for a Christmas wreath! So, it can go up in September and stay up until January! :)

Autumn Sign by What's On My Porch
Bonus! Flip it over and hang a Christmas wreath for more mileage!

This is the "getting ready to trace" stage. Ah. Good times.