How to Make a DIY Upcycled Purse from a Diaper Box – Because Bold Is Cool

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I love this quick project for making a purse out of an old cardboard box! How genius. I want to make 10! LOL!

Ok, so, apparenlty, there is an overabundance of diaper boxes in my house–and an UNDER-abundance of bold and awesome purses. So, I spent about 30 minutes on Saturday making myself a real treat: a DIY Upcycled Purse from a Diaper Box. It’s bold, it’s cool, it shows my style. And I love it.

how to make your own purse fast feature

I totally saw that peacock-feather/dragon-scaley fabric and just had to have it (you know, one of those impulse-crafty-buys that you might REALLY regret later…or REALLY love)…but had no idea what I might make with it.

how to make a purse from a cardboard box hero

I got the fabric, then headed on with my shopping, but right after I was on Walmart’s fabric aisle, I was over on the oral-care aisle to load-up on some Listerine for my “amazingly clean mouth” (this is per my dentist–thanks to the Listerine). And, when I saw the LISTERINE® POCKETPAKS®, I got all excited…I love those things (they kill 99% of odor-causing bacteria in 30 seconds–which rocks). So, I snagged a 72-pack in addition to my liter of Cool Mint (heh).

DIY purse idea instore

There, on the mouthwash aisle, I decided to make myself an upcycled purse to hold those cute packs. A purse so bold that EVERYONE will think I’m cool (even if I am a mombie most days, heh).

What you Need to Make a DIY Upcycled Purse from a Diaper Box

It's a DIY Upcycled purse from a Diaper Box Yippee! fb

  • 1 diaper box (really just the flaps, honestly)
  • 1 yard of cloth (I broke my yard into 3 colors/patterns because I’m awesome like that)
  • Decoupage glue (about a gallon)
  • Paint brush for glue
  • Fastener/Closure
  • Hot glue gun and glue

How to Make a DIY Upcycled Purse from a Diaper Box

Please, my running-with-scissors friends, feel free to watch the video to figure out how I did this.

Or, be like me and look twice before crossing streets and read the instructions (heh):

  1. Cut off the diaper box flaps and set aside the rest of the box for some other crazy project (check back later, I’m sure I’ll come up with something fun).
  2. Using 2 identical flaps and a piece of a third flap, cut narrower but the same length as the identical flaps, line them up as shown in the superbly-produced film above. (meaning, close together in this order: fat, thin, fat)
  3. Slather everything with decoupage glue.
  4. Place external fabric across the whole expanse of cardboard.
  5. Trim fabric to 1-inch from the edge of the cardboard.
  6. Flip the entirety over and decoupage the edges down neatly and tightly.
  7. Glue fabric to the “inside”, trim and basically repeat what you did with the outside.
  8. Fold the purse into place and hot glue or decoupage glue the sides of the internal fabric to each other, folding it however you need to in order to make a pocket. Just watch the video….its something you just have to do to get it.
  9. Hold it in place with the Listerine and allow to dry.
  10. Decoupage glue everything down. Everything.
  11. Decoupage glue the outside, too.
  12. Using a little bit of fabric (about the length you want the strap to be, plus length to go down the sides of the purse), roll it up, or fold it up to about an inch or two in width, hot gluing it in this roll or fold.
  13. Hot glue the strap sides to the sides of the purse.
  14. Hot glue any accents on (I had cute peacock feather sequin fabric to add! eep!)
  15. Hot glue the fasteners to the top closure.
  16. And DONE!

easy upcycled purse project sq

What do you think? Gonna make your own upcycled purse with some impulse-buy cloth??? I’d love to hear about it–just drop me a line in the comments below. And don’t forget to pop over and grab a coupon for your Listerine!

Oh, and run on over to see all the other awesome DIY projects featured along with this one on DIYCrush (my favorite place to go for ideas!).

Thank you for sharing!

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