Sometimes you just need to add a little color to your purse to make it feel new again — especially if you’re on a slim budget. Add a little puff of color with a pompom keychain that you can make with things you might already have on hand.

Materials Needed:

—Yarn in a couple of colors
—Scissors
—Small trigger snap keychain (we purchased ours at TruValue for about $3)

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Instructions:

1. Select a brightly colored yarn.

2. To create a pom-pom, begin by wrapping your hand with yarn. The more you wrap, the fuller the pompom. When you feel like you’ve wrapped a lot, wrap a bit more.

3. Pull the yarn off of your hand carefully and tie one long piece of yarn horizontally around the bundle of loops you created. Pull as tight as you can and double knot to secure, leaving two long strings.

4. Use a pair of scissors to cut the loops above and below the knot you just made to create the pompom.

5. After you’ve cut all the loops, begin to trim the pom-pom into a ball shape, being careful to not trim the long strings in front of the knot.

6. Repeat steps 1 through 5 in different colored yarn to create three or four pompoms in various sizes.

7. Holding the long strings from each pompom, position the pompoms in a pleasing arrangement and tie a knot just above the highest one. Double knot the mass of pompoms to the key chain, and leave an inch long tail of all the strands for a little mini tassel.

8. Attach to purse or backpack!

Camela Guevara is a Redux studio artist and seamstress at the Charleston Garment Manufactory. She enjoys sewing tiny beads on fabric and sewing thoughtful garments. She is a founding member of the One Love Design House, which seeks to change the way fashion is consumed and produced in Charleston, S.C. She is also a founding member of Charleston Supported Art, an organization that seeks to directly connect artists to patrons through the agricultural CSA model. Guevara is one-half of the fashion and music blog Gemsounds.com. View her artwork in Invisible Labors on Fri. Oct. 25 from 6-8:30 p.m. at Christophe Chocolatier, 90 Society St.

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