Keepsake Suitcase

Hello everyone! I am so excited to show you the suitcase I made for my nephew Spencer. He came to Alaska to stay with us for 3 weeks! I wanted him to have something cool to put mementos in.

I got the suitcase cutting file (here) from the awesome Cutting Cafe. Regina has a video to help you put it together. I cut the suitcase out with my Cricut Explore, but if you do not have a cutting machine it also comes in PDF form so you can cut it out by hand.

I was able to find the perfect paper for this project at a cute little shop in Palmer (where we live) called Stamp Cache...they have tons of great paper and much more! I love the Alaska selection they have. The paper I used for the outside of the suitcase is actually a map of Alaska. It even had the little town of Palmer on it. I marked it with a tiny red star.  

I inked the edges of the suitcase and the straps. I sewed edges of the straps before I taped them to the suitcase to dress it up a little.

Spencer thought his suitcase was the coolest thing!

Spencer was amazed that my Cricut Explore could write as well as cut =) (a function I love very much!)

A few things I put in the suitcase...A list of all the places we took Spencer
                                                        A list of guns Spencer shot (we took him shooting, a 1st for him)
                                                        A list of facts about Alaska
                                                        And 4 discs of pictures

I had taken a ton of pictures while Spencer was here! I put them all on discs for my sister...I know she will want to scrapbook them eventually. The file for the CD sleeve also came from The Cutting Cafe you can find it here.

The State of Alaska was also cut out by my Explore. It's from the 50 States Cricut Cartridge.

I absolutely love how this suitcase came out! I will definitely be making more of these.

Thank you for stopping by! I hope you have been inspired =) Happy crafting!