And the winner is….

Thank you everyone who entered my ‘Name that Bag’ giveaway.  So many lovely names for the new bag design!

As you can see there were loads of ideas!  I decided to put all the ideas on paper folded over.  I used a bag to jiggle them around:

Then I used a passing monster to pull one out:

And the winner is:

Well done Chris.  Your make-up bag will be posted to you soon!

Thanks so much for entering my latest giveaway

Monday Mosaic

My Monday Mosaic has been focusing on a colour theme each week, but I have now decided to switch to featuring Etsy shops by country.  Etsy is beginning to acknowledge the growing number of shops from around the world, so I thought I would also start to look for shops from different countries.

This week I am starting the UK.  There is loads of creative talent in the UK as you can see:

1 AliBaliJewellery

2 Cowisland

3 AMIDesigns

4 Lupin

5 cutedesigns

6 redrubyrose

7 ColoursandTextures

8 kaoriyatsumoto

9 nicknackynoodesigns

10 onlinewithdesign

11 PrinceDesignUK

12 MischaM

I hope you enjoy checking out the shops from the UK that I have chosen – there are so many gorgeous shops to choose from!

Spa Bags – Can I come too?

Last week I had an custom order through my Etsy shop for 7 bags to go on a hen weekend (bachelorette in the States) in America.  So after the frantic week of story sacks I have spent the weekend completing the order so I can get the order sent out in time.

These are the lovely ladies lined up waiting for the above felt flowers to be put on.

I just love this Amy Butler fabric from the last collection and it has proved really popular in make-up pouches and pencil cases.  This little tote is also very cute.  It is getting harder to source, but I know her new ‘Love’ spots are going to be just as popular!

Here are the finished totes that will be leaving for America in the morning:

I wonder if I could personally deliver them……

The Big Bagathon!

The mission was to run 5 workshops with 30 year 10 (15 years old) gifted, able and talented students to help them design a story sack.  I then had to take their ideas and turn them into bags for them to use in presentations the next day! 5 story bags decorated, lined and sewn up in less than 24 hours was the challenge. 

The overall theme of their story sack was about food and creating a bag that would help children aged 4-6 to learn about healthy eating. They had to make games, teaching resources, a toy and something to eat ,all to fit in with the theme of the book.

All of the books the kids were given were different and each group approached the design problem in different ways.  The 30 minutes I spent with each group was brilliant.  They were so imaginative and knew what they wanted.  A few ideas they had were far to complicated for me to put together in the short time scale, but I think you will agree that the bags turned out really well!

The first book was Gobble It Up! by Jim Arnosky.  The group decided to use the front of the book as their inspiration:

Each group choose their own fabric panel at the top and handles.  This group choose fabrics that reminded them of the sea.

The next book was The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. Again they used the front of the book for inspiration, but they put a small pocket in the middle of the flower that they used to hold cress seeds and used brown buttons to represent seeds falling.

They wanted the top of the bag to represent the sun so I curved the top panel and attached the handles to represent the rays of the sun.

The next book was Mr Wolf’s Pancakes by Jan Fearnley.  The group had a fabulous artist who drew the wolf perfectly onto the felt and I used glittering fabric for the pancakes:

I really loved the wolf and the fabric with the knives and forks.

The next group had a more traditional book, The Gingerbread Man by Ladybird.  The group wanted a pocket on the front so they could make finger puppets to put in it.  Unfortunately I didn’t get a pic of the finger puppets, which were amazing!

I really liked all of the bright colours they choose.

The final book was Oliver’s Vegetables by Vivian French.  This group were really determined to the design they wanted, so determined infact their workshop over ran by 10 minutes whilst they decided on where everything should be placed!

So there are the 5 bags that I made overnight. It was really hard work, but I it was fabulous to be able to turn the kids designs into bags.

The presentations the kids gave were amazing.  They were judged on the bag, all it’s contents and their presentation skills. I was really pleased I didn’t have to decide the winner because they were so good!

But a winner had to be choosen and it was Oliver’s Vegetables.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my latest adventure, hopefully there will be many more to follow! I am off to catch up on some sleep……

Monday Mosaic

Last week my friend Lou said that she loved seeing my Monday Mosaic and checking out the shops in Etsy.  I love doing them, but it was nice to hear that someone else enjoyed them too!

I asked Lou for a suggestion for this weeks Mosaic and she choose stripes.  So here are 9 gorgeous items from Etsy with Stripes!

1 TheLovelys

2 blackbirdfashion

3 RAJKpatterns

4 felted

5 MangumPottery

6 jenniebgoode

7 thebotheredowl

8 RustBeltThreads

9 zimka

I hope you enjoy having a look at the items and shops!

The Next Adventure…

Before Christmas I had a stall in the student union of the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester.   It was an okay day but quiet, so I didn’t expect to hear anything from the again.  Then 2 weeks ago I had a phone call from the Widening Participation Officer with an interesting and challenging proposition.

They run programmes for school children of all ages.  The kids go to the college and try different learning experiences.  She had phoned me because they are running an apprenticeship style project for able and talented year 10 pupils.

The 15 year old students have to put together a story sack.  They will be given the books, all based on food, on day 1.  They have to bake a related food item, make a resource and make the bag itself. The final stage, on day 3,  is a presentation of their bags and contents.

The bags is where I come in.  I am going to run 5 workshops with 7 pupils in each group.  The groups have to decorate the bag to reflect the story book, as well as think about costings for each bag.  I will then take their panels home and put together the bags for their presentations the next day.  It is very exciting!  I am a trained maths teacher, but it has been a while since I had to plan a workshop and presented it to some pupils!

To show the kids what is possible I have choosen a book called Oliver’s Fruit Salad by Vivian French to make a prototype bag from.  So far I have sourced all the fabric/ felt for them and cut out the letters for the story sacks.  Now I need to put the prototype together, cut out the fabric panels for the bags and plan the 45 minute workshop that I will give 5 times!

Going to put together my example bag tonight, so I will show you how it turned out tomorrow.

First Stall of 2010

It has been a while since I have organised a stall.  Last night I was invited to a pamper evening at a local school.

The mummys can get a reduced priced treatment and do a bit of shopping as well.  It was quite a quiet evening, but a good chance to meet some new people as well as previous customers who checked out the new bags and let me know how their bags are doing.  Their stories gave me a new idea which I am thinking out at the moment!

I thought I would show you my stall from last night.  I usually have a stand as well, but I couldn’t fit it in the car!  I will have to think about how to get around that problem!

All the bags look really pretty sitting together!

Hope you have a great weekend!

All the Colours of the Rainbow!

A couple of weeks ago I shared with you a really exciting new venture with the Colourful Coach, Cathy Dean.  Today I completed the 12 bags for the order and I am really pleased with the result.

The 12 bags had started life looking like this:

Which I then organised into bag sets:

These sets, with a lot of sewing, have turned into this:

I think you will agree that I have met Cathys design brief of bright and colourful bags!

I couldnot have done it without the wonderful shops Saint and Pinners and Fabric Rehab.  They got my fabric to me super fast and offer the best ranges in bright colours!

No rest for wicked though – on to the next project that I will share with you over the weekend…..

Name that Bag!

As you know I posted a picture of my new bag design yesterday.  It is on sale now in my Etsy shop, but I have run out of inspiration for naming my bags.  So I need your help!

All you have to do it suggest a name for my new design and either become a fan of my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter.  If you are aleady following me,  just suggest a name!

 The person who submits the winning name , to be picked out of  a hat on the 30 March 2010, will get this gorgeous make-up bag:

Perfect for carrying all your make-up in!

I am happy to ship overseas, so this giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere!

Good luck!

Passing Comments…

Yesterday I was walking through town to post office when I bumped into one of the mums from my sons school.  She commented that she never saw me around anymore and I said what with work and the boys it was hard to get out for coffee mornings, etc like I used to.

Then she said something that really affected me, she said she was jealous of me.  I was quite shocked, then she went on to say that she was jealous of me running my own business.

It left me feeling a bit stunned.  My life feels liks one long slog.  Between trying to get a business off the ground and raising 3 boys on my own for the last 15 months, I don’t feel like I achieve anything.  But then I started thinking about what has actually happened in the last 15 months.  I have been looking after my 3 gorgeous boys and they are happy, outgoing, bright little boys.  The trauma of the last year will have had an effect on them, but we are handling it as a family and getting stronger each day.

As for work, she was right.  If  I’d have met me  as I am now 2 years ago I would have been insanely jealous.  I am doing a job, that whilst it isn’t paying the bills – yet ,  is my dream job.  It is what I have wanted to do for a very long time.  I am getting sales, I have a wholesale order each month and even a teaching gig next week (more on that later).  Actually that isn’t too bad after 6 months of trading.

Although on most days I beat myself worrying if I am doing the right thing for me and my boys, I have realised in the last 24 hours that I wouldn’t change a single thing.  I will continue to worry non-stop and stretch myself as far as I can go, but I know now that I am living my dream. 

Funny how passing comments made by someone you know can suddenly make you think about things you never even realised were there….