Pretty in Pink

Last week I received an order all the way from Australia! Way back in March I made a little tote and matching purse for a customer in Australia, but it needed to be delivered to a special birthday girl here in the UK.

Now the same wonderful customer wants a bag and purse for her little girl.  So I worked hard this weekend so I can get the present to Australia in time for her birthday in just under 2 weeks. 

The lovely Amy Butler Mint fabric goes so well with the pale pink lining.

I added a felt flower to the bag and purse to finish them off.

I hope she likes them! 

They will start their long  journey this morning – fingers crossed she will like them!

If you would like a similar set for the little girl in your life feel free to email me using the address on my contact page!

Bags of Diaper Fun!

When my youngest monster’s key worker at nursery said she was pregnant I was really pleased for her, but also a little bit sad for us – well actually very sad!  The monster adores her and talks about her at home all the time!  I wanted to make her something to say thank-you for the wonderful job she has done with my youngest and middle monsters, so when she said she hadn’t found a diaper bag she liked I jumped right in there and said I would make one for her!

She picked the new Amy Butler Love Range for the bag, which is such a lovely bright and summery range.  After 3 weeks of thinking and jotting down ideas I finally started work on it this week.  Here are some pics of the bag that I dropped off for her today:

It is a big bag with a waterproof  lined pouch that she put used baby wipes into.

Years of experience as a mother and childminder has taught me that there is never a bin nearby when the monster spills half a ton of gunk over themselves!

The inside has 2 pockets for baby wipes and nappies, as well as a zippered pocket to keep her keys and purse safe. I also included a pouch for  a bottle and key fob for attaching the pouch or dummy:

There is plenty of room for a change of clothes and even Wilson the dog!

I had put on shoulder straps but she also wanted a longer strap as well.

I have to wait for the swivel clips to arrive, but I also wanted to try buggy straps with elstic so she can suspend the bag from her buggy without a longer strap dangling everywhere.  I also added a base from U-Handbag to give the bag some stability:

I am really pleased with how the bag turned out and I hope she loves using it as much as I loved making it!

Even had a few people asking if I will make them one without the baby additions so watch the space for some new bags!

If you would like to a diaper bag please contact me:

anna@funkydivadesigns.com

On with the next adventure!

From Russia with Love!

This week I thought we would venture to Russia in our Monday Mosaic.  It is a huge country with a fascinating and turbulent history!  The shops on Etsy are beautiful, as you would expect!

I hope you enjoy looking!

1 MaguStudio

2 Shkolnik

3 manonknits

4 irinaj67

5 TianaCHE

6 Chernikova

7 Aurvero

8 Svetusha

I hope have enjoyed our trip to Russia!

Happy shopping!

Flickr and all that Jazz!

When I started funky diva designs I have to admit I did not know about the online world of handmade sellers.  I knew I wanted to make bags and sell them online, but I was stumped as to how to do that. Then I stumbled across Etsy and realised that there was a whole virtual world out there that is vast and ever changing.

I took the plunge and opened a shop online in November and quickly realised that just opening a shop is not enough.  When you first open a shop you think that you will be selling straight away and your items are so lovely everyone is bound to want one!  Then it dawns on you that the market place is MASSIVE!  At this point I started to panic about how I would get my beautiful bags out there for people to see. 

All the tools and advice you need are in the Etsy Forum, which can be a bit daunting because it is such a large community, but most people are helpful and supportive.  After a bit of research it became clear that there were 3 main ways letting the world know about my bags:

1. Facebook - I had a personal account, but I didn’t realise I could also have a funky diva designs account. It has been great to show people my work and keep in touch with fans about blog posts and new bag designs.
2. Twitter – I had never considered Twitter before, but now I am hooked!  I can communicate with my followers about bags, design and include some personal tweets as well.  I have met some amazing people there and I hope to meet many more.
3. Flickr - I had never heard of this site, and I have to admit that 6 months down the line I am still not sure about it.  It is an amazing place to display my work, but I just haven’t managed to get into uploading photos onto the site.

These are the 3 main sites I use for promoting my bags – and it is all free!  Through these sites I have sold bags to America as well as all over the UK.  But I sense I might be missing something…  going to have to keep working on Flickr and keep my eye out for other sites….

Cupcake Crazy!

This week funky diva designs has been Cupcake Crazy!

I first met the lovely Louise of Cirencester Cupcakes on Twitter and when she dropped off some cupcakes for my Birthday in February I thought I had died and gone to heaven!  They were so yummy!  They inspired me to make a cupcake tote which fortunately Louise loved.

So when she approached me about making some exclusive bags, purses and make-up bags for her new shop in Cirencester I jumped around for joy!  We have been plotting for a couple of weeks and I have been putting together the first set of cupcake lovelies for Louise.  Finally, yesterday all of the cupcake lovelies were price tagged and ready to go.

Here are the purses and make-up bags.

The purses and make-up bags are available in navy, pink and white.

The lining is the same as the cupcake applique.

The large totes are all fully lined and big enough to carry all of your lovely cupcakes home!

Louise and I are really pleased with them and hopefully visitors to the shop will also love them!

If you are in the Cirencester area, Cirencester Cupcakes can be found in Swan Yard.

Going to eat my chocolate cupcake now!

Monday Mosaic

Today we are going a little bit closer to home – a short hop across the Channel to France! We all know France is the original home of all that is fashion and chic, and the shops on Etsy are no exception!

I have found some really lovely items from some fabulous shops, and I hope you enjoy exploring them as much as I have!

1 MyPrecious

2 malam

3 VerteAdelie

4 BlueTerracotta

5 lillalotta

6 FrenchGirlOrganics

7 SlyvChezPlum

8 tialys

9 TheNebulousKingdom

I hope you enjoy our trip to France!

Already planning our next outing…..

Ballet Shoes or Doc Martins?

I have a confession to make… I am at heart a mathematician, well my brain was wired for maths.  I come from a family that is big on engineering and maths.  My sister is the only artistic one and a superb photographer.  She must have found it hard growing up in a household of people who could do maths so easily.

I do have an obsession with fabric that goes back 15 years when I saw my first ever patchwork quilt in a magazine.  I blame that magazine entirely for my inability to stop buying gorgeous fabric!  It was the maths involved in putting the quilt together that got me started.  2 years later and my first king size quilt was finished.

Now I am a fabric addict with an obsession about bags and quilts. I dream about new bag designs and quilts I want to make, but I feel like I struggle with the artistic side of crafting. Is it something a person can learn or is it in your genes?

I love looking around on the internet and reading other peoples crafty blogs.  They are all so delicate, pretty and artistic.  It feels like they are wearing ballet shoes and I am stomping around in my Doc Martins!

So my Sunday morning question is: Can a person learn how to wear ballet shoes, and be pretty and delicate? Or is better to just be yourself and keep wearing Doc Martins?