Pokeball Bag / Halloween Candy Tub

About

You Will Need (6 things)

Steps (15 steps, 60 minutes)

1. 1

   This was the thing that gave me the idea - an actual Halloween Trick or Treat sweety thing. For English readers, they're 80p from Wilkinsons so go buy one. I'll wait for you to get back.
   Non-English readers, you'll need to find a round tub, about six inches in diametre.

2. 2

   Back? Ok - take off the eyeball celophane and tip out all the disgusting sour sweeties inside. Give them to a handy boyfriend, or perhaps a small child in your family.
   While you're at it, remove the black string. We'll be replacing that.

3. 3

   The next key ingredient is a length of 1cm thick chain. Make sure it's long enough to function as a handbag strap, however long you'd like that to be.
   I couldn't find just chain thick enough for the right price, so I nipped into my local Poundland and got a £1 dog lead. It works just the same! Cut the black handle off, and if you can get the clip off then you're stronger than me and a fully grown chocolate labrador. Be proud of yourself!

4. 4

   To attach the non-clippy end of the chain, poke it through the hole the string left (I found I had to make a slit down from mine to make it fit through).
   Now if you're impatient like me, you can glue the chain in place with a metric ton of hot glue (measurement may be an exageration). If you're clever, you'll wait until you've painted the Pokeball...
   If you've left the clippy bit on if you're using a dog lead, then it'll just clip into place so that's nice and simple.

5. 5

   This is how it'll look with the chain fully attached.
   As I say, it's probably best to wait until AFTER painting to attach it permanantly.

6. 6

   It's not very clear in this photo, but here I've drawn a very basic outline for painting. A circle, where the 'button' goes, and a line where I need to paint the red up to.
   Don't miss this step out. It'd be very easy to forget the button or go wonky if you just go straight to painting.

7. 7

   Now you can grab the red paint and just go nuts! Do a few coats so that you get a good coverage.
   I've used poster paint because I didn't have anything else in. Poster paint doesn't really like plastic, so it took a lot of coats to get the solid colour. Also, it will chip very easily. I'm only wanting this to last for one night, but if you want it to last longer then I recommend investing in some tougher paint specifically for plastic, or a really good varnish.

8. 8

   Let the paint dry overnight. Don't be tempted to rush and go on to the next step before it's properly dry. Go on, off to bed.
   **********
   Did you sleep well? I didn't - my boyfriend and I discovered a rat in our bedroom at 5am and spent a few hours chasing the darn thing to catch it and put it outside. True story.
   Anyway, enough of my night time escapades. Your Pokeball should be dry by now.

9. 9

   Next we'll draw on the black seal. You can do this bit with more paint, or if, like me, you're not steady handed with a brush then use a Sharpie.
   Start by outlining the button. Don't worry too much about drawing a perfect circle (if you can do that by hand you're insane apparently...) just make it neat as possible. You can add extra detail to make it look more like a button too.

10. 10

    For drawing the lines round the circumferance, I recommend drawing some guide lines so that you can make sure you meet up at the back. Do a little bit from each side of the button at a time and you'll not go wrong.

11. 11

    Now fill in those lines! You may have to do a couple of goings over to get a solid cover, which is ok, because Sharpie smells lovely. (Disclaimer: Don't sniff Sharpies. That's how the crazy guy at the bus stop started...).

12. 12

    Now you can leave it at that if you just want a pot for your ill gotten sweeties. If you want to use it out on the town like I do, then you need a way to protect your valuables.
    Grab a scrap of red fabric, and cut a circle a bit bigger than the hole in the top.

13. 13

    Using your glue gun (I hope you didn't leave it on overnight) glue the circle over the hole. Trim if needed. Now so that you can access your goods, cut a slit in the fabric (remember to sew a few stitches in the ends to stop it ripping further than you want). Now you can get to your things, but they won't fall out when you're not looking.

14. 14

    An alternative to that last step would be to use velcro around the edges of the hole, then you just have to rip it off when you want to get inside, and slap it back in place when you finish rummaging. Probably a better idea if you're going to put more things in it than I plan to.

15. 15

    Clip the other end of the chain in place (or put it on for the first time as I described waaaay back in steps 3 to 5).
    There you have it - a Pokeball bag to treasure forever. Or at least the end of Halloween.