I am not a purse girl, particularly. I like a practical (okay, and nice-looking) tote that fits at least one book, if not more. However, I am willing to make an exception, especially when the purse IS A BOOK itself. Woot! The other night, I was chatting with a friend who isn’t in the book world, but is an avid reader. She sent me a text: “Just got this!” with a link to an Etsy.com photo: it was Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, in purse form. I may have started salivating just a little. And then I started checking out the vendor’s other book purses: Pride & Prejudice, Little Women, Crime and Punishment (don’t take that one through airport security), The Secret Garden, Alice in Wonderland, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, a pretty spectacular Wicked with dangling beads…. She’s got Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, too. Let’s just say I was in bibliophile heaven, and that I fell in love with a certain To Kill a Mockingbird handbag with a wooden handle.
I was curious about how these purses are made. The vendor, NovelCreations, has this blurb onsite:

UPCYCYLED BOOK PURSES !

My search starts with ♻ gently used ♻ books. They have to be unique, eye catching, or “make a statement” type books with their covers. My treasures come from garage sales, flea markets, estate sales, and the used bookstore where I work. In some cases, I will purchase a new book if there is a special request that I just can not locate used. Searching for that perfect book is half the fun. The rest is matching the fabric, handles and the button enclosure.

The inside pages of the book are ♻ recycled/upcycled ♻ into other projects that I am working on currently. If you want the inside pages from your purchase, just let me know and I will ship with your purchase at no extra charge.

So, pretty, literary, and ‘green’! What’s not to love?!
I felt it was only fair to send the vendor a note saying I would be blogging about her creations for PW. Frankly, I think she might get ready for a possible uptick in sales.