Mootiful!

Sometimes you hear something on Twitter or Facebook, just passing comments, and you think I will look into that later.  Later for me takes about 3 months, if I am lucky.  Ask any of my friends and they will tell you that when I say ‘later’ it pretty much means I will totally forget what they have asked me to do.

I blame the 3 monsters I am dragging through any hedge I can find backwards (sometimes they do look like they have been pulled through a hedge).  And I feel that it is a pretty valid excuse….. My friends might not agree!

So a few months ago I saw a lot of tweeps about an amzaing company called ‘Moo‘ and I thought ‘must check that out later’.  Checking it out ‘later’ turned out to be this week.  I just had to have some to tie in with my lovely new website and images of my bags.  I am totally blown away!

So here my lovely new business cards!

On one side I put some of my new images and my signature  green on the other side with my business information on.

I absolutely adore them. Can’t stop looking at them!

I just ordered some mini cards to use as price tags and I can’t wait to see them.

Fly Me Away!

To celebrate my new look website I thought I would take you on the trip to South Africa that I promised on Monday!

I hope you have your passport with you, because although there are not many shops on Etsy from South Africa, there are some really pretty ones!

Hope u enjoy exploring them!

1 BiscuitScout

2 Dandie

3 starbrightgirl

4 SunshineCrafts

5 ColourSpun

6 gypsytrove

7 SoArty

8 HelenduToit

9 MayBeMe

I hope you enjoy looking around South Africa!

Where shall we visit next week?

Monday Mosaic

This week I am going to continue the world theme – we might be the only people taking a trip out of the UK at the moment! So I thought we would head to the other side of the world – China.

I have found some lovely shops on Etsy:

1 bytinster

2 akun

3 IbonDesign

4 zeng

5 Stonetalk

6 ChuanShuo

7 JingjingHandmade

8 Art68

9 smartartshop

Some really cute shops on Etsy based in China.

Hope you enjoy shopping!

Ready to go Dancing!

Last week I posted about a custom order for a big bag for a trainee dance teacher.  She needed room for her dance kit as well as folders and personal things like a purse.

She loved the Navy cotton twill which is hard wearing and lovely to sew with, but it took a while to decide which fabric she wanted for the rest of the bag.  She had a look through my stash and settled on the Flower Child Sorbet in Purple from Fabric Rehab.  She loves purple so this was the perfect choice for her! 

So in the last 2 days the stash of fabric has gone from this:

To this:

It is the first bag I have made that has a zipper closure, which has been really exciting to do.

It also has a zippered pocket on the inside and a flap pocket with a magentic snap on the front so she can keep things like a purse secure, but easy to access.

Because the bag is so big, I have added a swivel hook and a matching zippered pouch:

So the 2 bags together look like this:

I hope she likes it when she comes to collect it later this evening!

Monday Mosaic

We are flying off again! This time to Turkey to see some of the gorgeous shops from there on Etsy.

I hope you enjoy this weeks selection:

1 staroftheeast

2 milkysupplies

3 cheerfuldesigns

4 filofashion

5 sabahnur

6 meltemsem

7 SebboDesign

8 aysetugrul

9 senayakin

I hope enjoy my selections!

Made for Dancing

A very good friend of mine is currently doing her PGCE to be a secondary dance teacher. In the ten years since I met her, dance has been her true calling and she is going to be a superb teacher.  She approached me to make her a bag big enough to carry her dance stuff as well as some A4 folders – oh and it it needs to be funky!

I love people asking me to make them a bag, especially when they have a basic idea that we can build on. She settled on using the lovely blue twill and is matching it with this great fabric:

This is Flower Child Sorbet from one of my fav shops, Fabric Rehab.  The webshop is fantastic. Fabric orders 3pm Wednesday and on my doorstep Thursday morning!  Means I can get the bag before my friend heads back to the big smoke on Tuesday evening.

She needs loads of pockets to keep things safe as well as enough room for all her things so this project is going to be loads of fun designing.

Keep checking back for progress updates over the next 2 days.

Linen Hearts

In January I made a pencil case using linen and Amy Butlers’ lovely Cherry spotted fabric:

I sold 2 of these lovely pouches, one overseas and one to just down the road in Stroud. The customer from Stroud emailed to say she was so pleased with the pouch that she had decided to use it as clutch. 

Last week she got in touch again to order a custom made bag to match the clutch.  She had settled on my Victoria design and wanted the exterior in linen with the lovely spotty lining.

I finished the bag and sent it yesterday, so she should be getting a lovely parcel this morning – fingers crossed!

The heart ‘balloon’ matchs the one on the clutch and the lining is in matching spots with a zippered pocket:

I hope she likes her new custom bag.

Monday Mosaic – Poland

The second in my country themed Monday Mosaic is staying in Europe, but going to the Eastern part: Poland.

Here are some of the gorgeous things I found in Polish Etsy shops:

1 mmagda

2 dagmarabuczek

3 galafilc

4 magnesina

5 madebyagah

6 SchneiderGallery

7 MagdaleneMarszalik

8 shoutrinse

9 okime

I hope you enjoy looking through some of the shops based in Poland.

The beauty of Etsy is the fact that you can buy form talented artists all over the world!

Happy shopping!

Easter Weekend Sale!

This weekend all stock in my Etsy Shop is on Sale at a 20% discount! 

To grab yourself a bargain and a wonderful new bag please check out my shop:

www.funkydivadesigns.etsy.com

Happy shopping!

Market Ramblings

As you know I am based in the gorgeous Costwold town of Tetbury.  It is very pretty with loads of very old stone buildings and antique shops – I heard a rumour it is the Antique centre of the Cotswolds!

Under the town there is a market most days of the week.  Saturday is very popular as are Wednesdays as there is plant man, fruit and veg as well as an assortment of other stalls.  Infact the only day I could get a pitch was a Thursday.  Ordinarily this might be a problem, but Tetbury is the town closest to Highgrove, the official country residence of the Prince of Wales.  Infact there is even a Highgrove shop in Town where you can buy everything from soap to fruit cake all stamped with the Prince’s seal of approval!

So as a town we can get 6 coach loads a day of tourists on their way to Highgrove tours or just to look around our pretty town.  My hope is that as the spring progresses and turns into summer I may attract customers to my stall who are looking for something beautiful and little bit different…

This week Spring was not in evidence at all. The wind blew and the hail fell! It was freezing cold on the market and it took me all night to warm up again! But here are the pics of my first day of the summer session out on the markets:

I share the space with a Jewellery maker and a traditional market stall of hats, gloves and socks!

My lovely ladies look great hung up and ready to be taken home!

All of my lovely ladies sitting proud on the table!

So if you are in the Costwolds on a Thursday please come along and say hello!