cigar box purses

Hey all, I know I'm a bit off on my craft medium here, but this was a fun project. I gave the whole decopage/embelishing a cigar box a whirl. My only problem is that I want to do more, but I can't find a decent paper store here in moreno valley, just michael's who doesnt have a great selection. Also, finding cool embelishments has been a challenge. Any suggestions on stores in my area to find this stuff would be great! thanks much! Jen

Hey! I'm in the middle of a similar project. A few months ago I found an old beaten up retro-looking, ROUND hard-case suitcase...and I had always wanted one of those. Unfortunately this one is a gnarly old blue color. I've just been waiting to decide what to do with it. I found some leather paint that I think will do the trick, and I've been told you can even use plain old acrylics, as long as you topcoat the bejesus out of it to protect it. BUT the best part is, I went into this really COOL local import-type store called Bad Blanche. Sorry, but it's not a chain! But they had some awesome vintage-type just drop-dead gorgeous looking travel/suitcase stickers. You know, "Medina Hotel, Cairo" with camels in the background. "Aero Roma" airlines sticker with the vatican in the background. Famous hotels on lots of them. My favorite is a purple and gold one from Thailand with traditional dancers on it. Best of all, these were only a buck apiece! I'm going to leather-dye my suitcase in a battered old brown, stick these all over the bugger, and then poly the heck out of it! It'll be the suitcase of my dreams! I know these are hard to find, so I thought you'd want to know. If you're interested in them at all, I could scan some for you and maybe you could print them out? I could also buy you a few and mail them, but I'm thinking on a printer, you could always minimize these. A couple of them are pretty big, so you could downsize them! Also, I don't know if you're handy with a needle and thread, but I do a lot of beading. Sometimes what I do with cigar box purses is just go to a fabric store and buy fabric to cover it in that I absolutely love. Then do a little bit of bead embellishment to highlight cool bits. Plus, bead stores are always cool places to get ideas, especially for purse handles! Anyway, I hope that helps. I'll stop rambling now!