August Lately

It's a Blog Happy Day!

I'm a crafting hero. Well, I'm not so sure about that, but Lisa over at Craft Boom called me one! She was very kind in asking me to do an interview, and it was posted today! I must say that I feel a bit out of place among such incredibly inspiring women as Amy Karol and Amanda Blake Soule, but am very, very honored. Thanks Lisa!

And, when I came here to log in, I noticed that Rare Bird Finds, one of my absolute favorite blogs (run by some of my very favorite indie ladies) is the Typepad Featured Blog. Congratulations Sharla and Mei-Lynn!

Wow, that was a lot of exclamation marks. No more coffee for me.

Cyber Monday

It's that time of year again- cyber monday! To kick off the holiday shopping season, August Lately is offering free USPS Priority Shipping on all US orders over $50 through December. Just enter code HH07 at checkout.

Happy shopping!

Handmade for the Holidays

Thanksgiving is this Thursday, and you know what that means! Holiday season will soon be in high gear.

This year, my husband and I are putting in a real effort to make and buy as many handmade gifts as possible. Judging from all of the handmade holiday action on the web, it seems that we’re not alone.

The ladies at Sew Mama Sew are running a fantastic series on their blog- Handmade Holidays, 30 days of gifts to sew.

Each day features links to projects (all available for free at various blogs and craft sites) with a different theme. I haven’t started actually *making* anything yet, but I have found the perfect gift for almost everyone on my list through this series. Thanks gals!

Buy Handmade: Take the handmade pledge!

From their website: “The ascendancy of chain store culture and global manufacturing has left people all dressing, furnishing, and decorating alike. The connection between producer and consumer has been lost. Buying handmade helps them reconnect. We created the pledge as a call to action for consumers to be conscious of how they spend their money this holiday season. We want people, whenever possible, to support independent creators and shop outside the big boxes.”

At first, I thought that it would be difficult to go all handmade with two little boys in the house who have visions of toy trains and yu-gi-oh cards dancing in their heads. But as we’ve gone over their lists, we’ve found that nearly everything (with the exception of the aforementioned yu-gi-oh cards) can be handmade with a little creativity and effort!

So, I think, since I didn’t see any Chris Cringle on the pledge list, we’ll ask him to bring the yu-gi-oh cards, and the rest will be handmade from mom and dad. Our boys may not appreciate it much now, but I think they will some day.

The Perfect Gift

A unique twist on gift certificates! Order any Design Your Own item for the holidays and I will send a beautiful paper certificate to give to the recipient.

Here's how it works:

You purchase a certificate for any Design Your Own item from the website. When you check out, you will be charged for the item, as well as the shipping. The lucky person who receives the certificate can visit the website, choose her favorite fabric, and enter her shipping address. Two weeks later, her new custom gift will be shipped directly to her.

Easy, right?

In the Works

I'm always thinking about new items that I can add to the Design Your Own line, and two more are soon to be introduced on the site.

The first, just in time for cooler weather, is the design your own scarf. This will be available to coordinate with any of our bags and accessories. It's not super bulky, but the flannel backing makes it just snuggly enough to keep the chills away.

The next, which will also soon be available, is the Design Your Own Pendant. When you sew handbags for a living, you end up with a lot of scraps. I'm always trying to think of ways to make good use of them, and I think this is one of the best ways ever! Each one is unique, and I will make sure that each one is special and lovely.

Decompression

Sometimes, when I've been working for a long time on a certain project or a large order of the same things, I feel a need to stop and take a little time to do something creative just for the fun of it. I've been a bit obsessed with making things from scraps lately, so after cutting out five of the same bag, I latched on to a large scrap and decided I needed to make something.

I have a sister-in-law who likes to embroider using Jenny Hart's patterns, so I thought of a needle book. I grabbed a piece of scrap peltex and some felt and went to town. It only took about 20 minutes to make but I felt oh-so-much better when I was done!

The vintage button is from my massive collection. I love, love love vintage buttons!

Another New Addition

Yep- my new baby. I spent many months doing my research for a new machine and settled on the Pfaff select line. No frills, but an incredible workhorse. Please excuse the bad night-time photo- she's much prettier in person.

The only problem is, I can't decide on what to call *her*. I feel that she is definitely a she, and I'm so fond of her, she needs a special name. My first thought was Bessie, but for some reason that just didn't seem to fit. Any suggestions?

The bag in the photo is a prototype for a new design I'm working on. I have a tendency to design small bags and I'm trying very hard to expand (pun intended!) the line to include larger bags.

Why do I have a clock on the wall right in front of my sewing table? I have a tendency to get absorbed in sewing projects and I've had a few close calls when it was time to pick my preschooler up at noon. This way it's almost impossible to lose track of time!

And More!

More new goodies now available:

New Pretties

I had a productive day today-

Freshly listed and in-stock at the website or the etsy shop.

The Return of the Missing Blogger

Yes, I know. bad blogger. I've been busy with life in general, but also getting ready for the super busy holiday season and working on some great new items.

The most notable of which is the medium messenger bag. I've been wanting to expand the messenger bag line for a while, and here's the new addition:

It's just the right size for books and magazines, and the outer zipper pocket is perfect for storing a wallet, cell phone and keys- things that you need to get to quickly without dealing with the flap.

Of course, it's available as a Design Your Own bag, so you can choose your own favorite from dozens of fabric combinations! New fabrics are added on a regular basis, so be sure to stop by often.

Our latest addition: Spice Floral. Yummy!