Super cute ruffled backpack

I love it when my boys are invited to birthday parties for little girls. It gives me a chance to make a girly gift. Tomorrow morning, my little guy will be presenting this ruffled backpack to a 3-year-old princess. I hope she loves it. It was fun and easy to make thanks to a great tutorial at Not Very Domestic. The only changes I made were to add an appliqued monogram and to sew on the cords instead of using grommets at the bottom of the bag. The grommets are an awesome idea, but I didn't have any. Must fix that for next time.

Cute, right? I can see it being used as a snack bag for trips to the park, or a carrying bag for small dolls or books. This project reminded me that I want to sew up some fun boy-patterned drawstring bags for my sons' Hot Wheels, puzzles, blocks, etc. Possibly wishful thinking, but maybe we can do a better job of keeping all the pieces together that way.  (=

Speaking of boy chaos, this is what happened when I tried to get my oldest to model the bag for me:

Blurry? Check! Plumber butt? Check! Shows off toys all over the floor? Check!

Back to the ruffles. Aside from the cording, which was probably less than $2 (purchased a while ago), this project was made entirely out of scraps from my leftover bin, so very budget friendly. Sometimes I worry that people think I'm being a cheapskate by giving homemade gifts instead of whatever is popular in stores, and while it's true that I usually spend less by going handmade, my primary goal is to give something from the heart. What do you think? Can handmade compete with store-bought items?

PS...I found the backpack tutorial while browsing Pinterest. Look it up if you don't know what it is...think the web bookmarking system of my dreams combined with social networking. I'm kind of hooked.

PPS...if you're looking for my Summer Daze Giveaway, it's here.

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