Birthday Present for Makayla

Since it's summer and I have a bit more time, I decided to go homemade and creative for Makayla's 5th birthday present. I decided to make her a portable art kit including a kid size tote bag and an artist roll (kid friendly).


Fabric for the tote bag. I got some iron-on red sparkly letters to personalize the bag with her name, along with some butterfly and flower appliques . The red and orange swirls were intended to be the bottom panel of the bag, but I realized that it would be too long, so I opted for a single fabric choice - the butterflies and flowers. The lining you'll see later in the finished product.

I got the idea for the artist roll from a book, the name I can't remember right now, but it's basically a tool holder for paintbrushes or knitting needles that the top folds down over the supplies and then rolls up so that you can easily carry and protect your supplies. I opted for a polka dot theme for the roll. The dark purple dots was for the back, the pink polka dots was the inside, and the green was for the individual pockets. The ribbon was for tying it all together!


The artist roll finished - but rolled up.
And un-rolled. It included 4 regular pencils with star erasers, colored pencils, twistable crayons, 2 stick erasers, a pencil/crayon sharpener, kid friendly scissors, 2 washable glue sticks, a set of 8 washable markers, a set of Mr. Sketch markers, a watercolor palate with some extra paintbrushes.
There is the bag with her name and the extra embellishments, the lining you can see in the first picture - is a peachy batik fabric. Inside the bag was a coloring book, some stickers, a pad of construction paper and a drawing paper pad.

I haven't seen it in action yet, but mom said she put it up on the wall by her desk so she can easily access any of the art supplies (and she tossed all the old dried up markers!)