The Replacement Frog Princess Bag

Charlotte's birthday is coming up, so she gets to be the "Frog Princess" next week in first grade.  (It's basically a student of the week thing.)  The Frog Prince/Princess Kit came home with her on Thursday afternoon in a ratty old tote bag that had once served another purpose.  If you look closely, you can see that the words "Emergency Kit" have been crossed out with Sharpie.

UM, I DON'T THINK SO!  There was no way I was sending the kit back to school in that bag.  Not when I love making tote bags so much.  (And I have sewn a few things for Mrs. Bayma this year that she uses a bunch, so she probably won't be offended by the switch.  At least I don't think she will.)

I ran to Jo-Ann's and hunted for frog fabric.  I could only find one bolt, and it had frogs with pink hearts.  Not exactly gender neutral.  I did find some flannel, but that just seemed odd for a tote bag and the print did look a little babyish.  I know the bag needed to be tough because it was going to be dragged home almost weekly by a seven-year-old (or soon-to-be seven-year-old!) on a bus, so I chose denim and duck cloth for the main exterior fabrics.  For the lining and exterior pocket, I chose this cool "transportation print" that matched the colors of the stuffed frog.

Because I couldn't find good frog fabric, I made a frog appliqué for the other side opposite the pocket.  I may grab some golden puffy paint and add a little crown to the frog later if I have time.  I don't want to get all cutesy and paint on a face or anything, though.

I'm totally in love with the lining fabric.  I think I'm going to use it for a couple of projects I need to finish in the next couple of days.

The Frog Princess (still in her jammies) approves!  I think if that girl loses any more teeth, she's going to need dentures to tide her over until the adult teeth grow in.

We need to take the frog on an adventure, take a photo of it, and then do a write-up to put in a notebook that stays in the bag.  After that, we will fill the "guessing jar" with small objects for the class to practice estimating.  And then I need to send in a bunch of photos of Charlotte.  And then she needs to fill out an info sheet all about herself.  Sheesh -- maybe I should have been working on that instead of sewing . . .