Paper Moroccan Purses

Shutter-style paper purses look like the real thing!

Shutter-close Moroccan purses are genius - I've admired them since I was a kid. It's magic when they un-spiral to reveal their contents, then swirl shut securely again. The wow-factor makes these paper purses ideal for giving small gifts to children of all ages. Instead of being made from leather stamped with gold patterns, these papercrafted dead ringers are made from leather-look paper decorated with peel-off stickers.

I've given designs for 4-sided, 6-sided, and 8-sided purses (j-pegs below). All are really easy to make. Here's how: cut out the design in leather-look paper (mark it on the wrong side, of course). Top tip: pre-crease the folds. (The purse sides are mountain folds and the diagonal tucks are valley folds.) Apply stickers to the top and bottom edges. Join the adjacent sides. (You can either apply PVA tacky glue or double-sided tape to the tabs.) Crease the folds consecutively, going anti-clockwise (counter-clockwise) to close. Once the purse is shut, you can add an optional small sticker on each face - the finishing touch stickers are easier to position once the purse is shut. Now you're done! 

Open and shut. Just spiral the folds to close.

 

4,6, or 8: choose sides!

These purses are super-easy to craft, so you can make them up in quantity as party favours. You can also make them up in pretty papers as card focals or as memory pockets on scrapbook pages. Adding a message inside the purse is a fun surprise - remember to do this before assembling the purse.

Stuff I used: Hot Off The Press Peacock paper in red, black, and white available from PaperWishes.com; JEJE Produkt peel-off stickers.