a wallet, with a coupon

Five and a half years ago,

when she graduated from highschool,

I made her a wallet,

and this week, I made her another one :-)

(I'm kinda surprised nobody guessed...)

~

Remember my love pictures ?

Well - as soon as Andy posed the question

"                                                                                                                                   "

my mind was whirring.

My first thought was,

I need to turn this into a printable and make gifts for everyone.

My second thought was,

I sooo don't know how to do that,

and I really don't have time to figure it out.

My third thought was

Meg!!

Maegan,

in addition to being one of my daughter in law's very best friends,

is

a graphic designer.

I figured she could put together a printable

with much less effort

that would look waaay better than anything I could come up with.

And I was right!

I was a little concerned though,

about what her expertise might cost me.

So after asking if she could and would make a printable,

but before telling her to go ahead,

I asked, "How much (ish) will this cost??"

And she replied, "How about a trade?"

"You remember that wallet you made me?

I've worn it out, but I haven't found anything I like as well to replace it with.

Could you make me another one?"

Ya'll.

That girl made me feel like a real artist!

She wanted to trade my work

for hers!

Not a 'let's swap for fun' deal, 

but a bona fide barter

for goods/services that we each wanted...

Of course, 

I said yes :-)

I love the little surprise of the glasses hiding in the pocket!

Here are the pictures she sent me for color inspiration,

but she told me she didn't need to 'approve' anything;

she wanted it to be a surprise

My fabric choices are a bit bolder
and don't elicit the same calm feeling

that her inspiration pictures evoke,

but I think she'll be happy with them anyways.

Meg ~ I hope you love your wallet!

I sure am happy with the printables you made me,

and the gifts I made for my people with them :-)

~

If you have need of a custom printable, 

contact Meg via her etsy shop

and tell her I sent ya.

She's got fun printable cards and customizable invitations and announcements.

She also has a brand new 8 1/2 x 11 printable.

And she'd like to give one

 to one of you! :-)

Simply pop over to her shop 

then come back and leave a comment telling me what caught your eye.

We'll draw a winner Wednesday evening :-)

Creating these love printables 

has her feeling extra nice,

so

she also gave me a coupon code (YAYVALENTINESDAY) to share with ya'll

for 10% off any order from her shop

through 11:59 PM (central time) on Sunday.

If you don't see anything you need right now,

but think you may have need of custom services in the future,

follow Meg's shop,

so you'll be able to find her when you do need her.

(tell ya what ~ I'll give you an extra chance at winning the printable if you follow her,

so leave a second comment telling me ya did)

~

I followed this tutorial,

which is great,

except that she doesn't note in the cutting directions

which pieces are for what parts of the wallet,

so I am going to list them here, 

so I don't have to spend another hour figuring it all out

next time I want to make a wallet.

(which, quite honestly, was part of my foot dragging)
The asterick denotes that the piece should be interfaced.

*8.5x9 - outside (I used fusible fleece to interface this piece)
*8.5x9 - inside, underneath all of the pockets

8.5x4.5 - outside (front) of zipper pocket
*8.5x4.5 - inside zipper pocket, facing the zipper (you really don't see this at all)
*8.5x4.5 - outside of zipper/inside of slip pocket
8.5x4.5 - inside of zipper pocket (this is the one you see when pocket is open)

*8.5x4.5 - backside of largest CC pocket
8.5x4.5 - outside of largest CC pocket
other CC pockets:
8.5x4
8.5x3.5
8.5x3

*2.5x5 , cut (and interface) 2 -  strap for snap closure
(I think this is too long, 4" is better)

This is my 3rd wallet.
(besides Meg's first one, I also made one for Kacy (using, gasp, a pattern I paid for)
(oh cool ~ I've used a bit of the same exact fabric in Meg's wallet that I'd used in Kacy's :-)

It just now occurred to me that I might find wallets a little easier to make
if I didn't treat them as a mini quilt
(as in - how many fabrics can I use in this 7 1/2 x 4 x 1/2 inch space)
 ;-)

Linking up with Amanda Jean and the Finishers :-)