The Practical Valentine Gift

My husband is a very practical man. He loves things that are going to be useful as well as inexpensive. I think that is why I have finally come to realize our idea of romance is quite different from each others perspectives. So this year I have tried to put myself in his shoes so that I can be more "practical" with my gift giving. 

As I was pondering over the practical gifts I could give him I noticed his bike lock bag was falling apart at the seams... in every literal sense of the word. (You can see from the photo below that it's true.) 

I decided that it couldn't be too hard to just make him a new one. So when I was at the dollar store I came across this black and red backpack. Now keep in mind it was made out of a very cheep rain poncho type of plastic and the back of the bag was lined with thin styrofoam and the same material as reusable grocery bags. I knew if I used enough layers of this I could make it work.  

Besides what did I have to lose except a dollar and a little bit of time. :)

The poor little thing had so many holes in it I was surprised he hadn't lost his lock already. 

I started the process by disassembling the bag piece by piece. 

I cut the straps off, unpicked all the seams, salvaged the zippers, and ended up with a big flat piece that would work for most of the bag. 

 After all of that I realized that I needed an accurate pattern so I unpicked all the seams to the bike bag itself and used it as a pattern. Needless to say it worked out awesomely!! Wahoo for success.

And the hubby said he likes it and I did a very fine job :) 

Happy "Practical" Valentines Everyone!