Money Bag Purse

 Hello Readers. I am going through a yellow phase this week. I am loving mustard yellow. You can imagine my excitement when I was given this bank bag from my mother-in-law. She worked at a bank when she was younger. It's mustard yellow!

I do not know much about banking. I am not sure how she walked out of the bank with this bag? And I did not ask. It has been a long time so....I'm sure it's fine.

 It is very sturdy, it locks and it has some kind of number on it. I tried to Google for more information and could not find anything quite like it.

I did some consulting with my daughter and came up with a plan. I wanted a cross body bag and I had a shoulders strap I could use. (Also from mom-in-law!) I needed something to attach the shoulder strap to. I wanted gold to match the hardware of the bag. The only thing I had was this men's belt. 

I cut the belt away from the gold buckle. I knew the rings would be strong and sturdy in my new bag.

I had some help from my husband bending the rings open. They were tough. If you don't have a husband handy try a dad, boyfriend, neighbor, teen-aged son, strong friend, random dude at the gas station... just kidding. (Please do not approach random people at the gas station!)

How would I attach them to my bag? I needed to make holes. I used this cutting set to do that. It has a tool for buttonholes and a round tool to cut holes. It is great for belt holes but today it is helping with this purse. This small cutting mat will make sure I do not stab through the whole bag and table.

I measured to make sure the holes would be evenly placed. 

You can see how the tool cuts a clean hole through this thick leather and canvas. O made the holes in the leather because I knew it would be strong and never fray. A nail and hammer would probably do the same job in a pinch. 

 I forced the opened rings through the holes. It was not hard, it just required some wiggling. I then had husband bend them closed again.

I attached the shoulder strap to the rings so the purse folded over. The bag was very tall and this made the bag visually smaller. The shoulder strap I used matched the dark brown of the handles and the zipper really well. 

My new bag and I are ready for fall. And a Target run. (Not an ad. I just wanted some chips.)

 I wish this money was really in my purse!

 Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. ***Note-An Instagram friend found a bag like this. It was called a "locking mail bag". 

***Chickie's Year End Review-This bag is an all time favorite refashion. I love it.