A New "Pack Pack" for Noah

My little Noah gets so excited now when he gets to run errands with mama or daddy or when we are going somewhere as a family. It is heartbreaking to say no to him when one of us has to leave him behind, he just stands at the door with those big tears running down his cheeks-ouch. So, as he has entered this new stage of "adventure" outside the house, he has become quite attached to his little tote that I have used for his diaper bag the past year or so. He would rather me load it up with his trains than the necessary extras for running errands and the "oops" events of a toddler. But the tote bag, even though it is not very big, is a bit difficult for him to carry. He tries and tries to keep it on his shoulder, but he just ends up comically wrestling with it and of course turns down any offer for me to help because he is "big" now. Well the tote would eventually end up strapped on him like a back pack and worked alright even though that is not how it is intended to work. But, it did not take a whole lot of seeing this to "inspire" a new design for him. Hum??, I guess I need to make Noah a new bag;) Or should I say "pack pack" as Noah calls it!

Sunday night I was really not feeling well, but just could not sleep unfortunately. Matt had already headed off to bed early after getting back from running a camp for the Jr High this weekend. I had worked on the design for a new bag earlier but still had some figuring out to do on how I wanted it to work for Noah, so I decided to spend some of that restlessness on finishing the bag. Here is what I came up with.

He is pretty happy with the new "pack pack"

I added some fun pockets to the outside for those extra little treasures. I actually made the back pack in the shape of a regular tote bag to keep it simple for little hands. It simply folds over and a rubber band was used to loop over the button.
I was able to make the entire bag out of thrifted materials. The stars came for a pair of PJ pants, the stripes came from a thick shower curtain, and the polka dots came from a vintage piece of fabric.
The button has got to be my most favorite part of the tote. I love covering buttons! They just add such a one of a kind element to any project.

I am hoping to get some of these made for the shop in time for Christmas gifts. Perfect size for wee ones!