Small Toy Carrying Case

Awhile ago I saw this idea at one of my patient's house (I'm a nurse). It was an easy to make carrying case. They had theirs filled with different medical supplies, but you could use it for just about anything. I decided to make one for our different little plastic toys sets that we use in our kid's toy rice bin (see previous rice bin post for more info). I know some people make these and use them as a first aid kid. The one I made is bigger, but you can make a smaller version using a fabric hot pad and snack baggies.

Supplies needed:
-Fabric place mat
-8 Large Ziploc bags (I liked the ones that actually had the zip glider to open them)
-Sewing machine
-Any color thread.
-2-2 1/2 feet of any color ribbon

-Lay the place mat flat down.
-Lay your Ziploc bags down, 4 on each side, alternating 1 bag on the right and then one bag on the left. Make sure the open end of the bag aligns with the edge of the place mat (I used pretty big bags, so I had about a two inch over hang from the center line of the place mat on each side from the bottom of each bag.)
-Straighten all the bags and sew a tight, wide (button-like) stitch all the way down the middle of the place mat, securing all the bags to the place mat.
-Once you have done this you can cut off the excess of the bottom part of the bag if you want.

-Next take your ribbon and cut it in half. Then sew the ribbon on the inside edge of the place mat.
-I like to use a match or lighter to seal the end of the ribbon so it doesn't fray.

Here is the carrier closed and tied shut.
-I used yarn to stitch the word "toys" on the outside. (This stitching didn't turn out great, but oh well.)

Here is the inside loaded with all our different toy sets. You can also use the baggie labels to label the baggie contents.