Monster Art Tote.

I whipped up this monster tote the night before our road trip to IN this summer (about a month ago). It's my version of this, a bit more grown-up with colored pencil teeth for my newly seven-year-old nephew (isn't he a cutie!?). I completely winged it and had a ton of fun sketching out the monster face and piecing it all together. Though I wouldn't recommend waiting until the night before a long road trip to make a birthday gift. I was up until 1 a.m.! Which is why I didn't take any photos of my little project, and also why these pics look a tad nicer quality than what you usually see. These photos were taken by my lovely sister-in-law who has a little photography business (Thanks Jenny!). Anyway I love the pinstripes with the monster applique. It's a fun contrast and looks very boy. For the applique I used some faux leather I had on hand, some jersey from an old tee, a couple scraps of felt, and a couple buttons (sewed on by machine! You can find a tutorial here). I filled the bag with a big doodle book and loaded it up with twistable colored pencils (no sharping duty for mom). It was a hit. I think I'm going to have to make one for my oldest little guy. He would love his own pencils and a special place to store a coloring book or two. Olivia is our little artist and she usually makes claim over the nice supplies, don't worry she's forced to share ;). But it would be great for him to have a few things that were just for him. Hmmm, perhaps I'll make some templates of my monster that I can share next time.