Ali's Teacher Bag

       My wonderful cousin Ali is graduating college this year with an Elementary Education Degree. Sadly I cannot be there for her actual graduation but I am excited to see her a week or two before it (she lives in California and I in Alaska). As a fellow teacher I wanted to make her an awesome graduation gift that she could use in her future life as a teacher and what is one thing every teacher needs? A bag! You need to have a way to lug all your paperwork and whatnot back and forth everyday. Of course knowing Ali as I do I knew that the bag had to be two things: functional and cute, which can be a bit hard.
       Off to pinterest I went in search of some cute big bags that Ali could use. My first stop was spying on all her boards to get an idea of what her taste was, second was calling my sister Sarah to ask for advice. Then I spent a few hours perusing pinterest to get an idea of what I would like to do. Luckily after some time I came across this bag from Sweet Verbena:

Cute, big and functional all the necessities covered!! So I decided to create a bag for Ali inspired by this bag. After spying on Ali's boards on pinterest and looking at the fabric choices at Joann's I came up with my fabric choices and bit of a plan: I would use three different fabrics a regular light colored canvas, a dark brown for the handles and bows and a leopard print for the lining because she seems to like leopard print and has many leopard print things pinned on her boards.

    I set to work and eventually came up with a bag that I am sure Ali will like. It may not be my preference and is a bit different from the inspiration bag, but that is fun because it makes it all a bit more unique...

I also added a small zipperd pocket to the inside for added storage...

     After a bit of work and consultation with my wonderful roommate Ariel I finally finished the bag. I decided to use a brown scarf to tie it together and incorporate a bow, it also has the added bonus of being removed and worn if needed. I worked on the edges to allow a bit of the leopard print to be seen from the outside making the bag a bit more stylish and feminine. Furthermore, I put two small pockets on the front outside of the bag to use as storage for a phone or pens (and to break-up the monotony of the canvas). Hopefully this bag will be the perfect blend of style and function for Ali as she begins her teaching career. I wish her all the best of luck and am excited to give her the bag when I fly down to California tomorrow.