Bags in the Shoppe :: Version 2.0!

I lined mine in the text print.
I'm pretty much in love.
I pet it.
Don't tell Duke.

Last week I shared this gorgeous little photograph on Instagram last week, my long-time-coming Framed Tote 2.0.  Everyone was so kind with their comments!  It took me a while to wrap my head around how to keep the "framed"-ness of it, but then a solution occurred to me!  Its a panoramic!  Boom, solved!  I'm still figuring out how to incorporate other designs into the panoramic style.  I think the sunshine burst might work quite well, and perhaps some arrows...?  Ideas are welcome, I love a challenge!

However, that is not all I have for you today.

Oh, no.  There was to be no "2.0" release for one until there was a "2.0" release for all!  And so here we are:

These ones are not yet lined, awaiting someone's preference of the gorgeous Indelible set...

These bags are the same size as the originals (approx. 11"x14"), but instead of the seamed portion being attached, it is separate from the body, creating an exterior pocket!  For me, this exterior pocket is perfect for keeping my phone, keys, and mail.  Inside, well, I find all manner of items to store inside my "black hole" of a bag, as Handsome calls it.  

The bags are now listed in my Storenvy shop, feel free to brows around!  I'm super excited for this next step in the shop.  Designing and manufacturing these bags is so enjoyable to me, and I'm so glad to get to share it all with you!  If you want one for Christmas (I know, its not even Halloween, but its coming all the same!  And if you wanted one for Halloween, well, you're too late.  Sorry.), there will be a cutoff in mid/late November for all Holiday orders.  Just to put a bug in your ear about it ;)

<3 M.

Luxury for your Friday

Did you know I try my darndest to post a #fridaybaby picture on Instagram each week?  That daughter of mine, RG, is so stinkin' expressive, I sometimes feel bad keeping her cuteness all to myself.  So I make it a point to try and share her best expression from the week, as well as stretch my creative captioning skills.  Its a luxury for your eyes, trust me.

"It's that time, y'all, and #rileymag is looking at you. Have a glorious #fridaybaby!! You've earned it!"
Speaking of eyes, am I right!?!

I wore leggings as pants last week.  It made me feel uncomfortable, I'm just saying.  In fact, they were jeggings.  I don't know that that makes it any better.  But today, I'm wearing these babies.  And oh. my. lanta.  Luxury on my legs.  There's actually a subtle woven-sweater-look to them, and (drumroll please) they are FLEECE LINED.  Which may seem outrageous to you folks with your  sunshine and your lack of furnace running, but it was in the low 40's when I drove to work this morning, so necessary, and luxurious, at the same time.  Do it.  Your legs will love you!

Shop Here

Finally, if you're in the market for a little leather luxury, might I suggest the Great & Many Things Shoppe?  We've got a fall sale going on right now, and it seems like maybe a new purse might be just the thing for your Friday... or maybe that's just me :)  For realz, though, I'm making myself a new one, and I'm puh-uhmped!

<3 + Leggings,

M.

A Peek In The Shop :: Shipping

Remember how I love making?  Did I tell you that?  I do.  I love it.  I love it in the beginning when I'm designing and figuring and ordering.  I love it in the middle when things start to take shape and I'm able to hold something useful in my hands that was previously just parts.  I love all of that.  But most of all, I love the end.  When someone has ordered something and I give it to them.  I got to do that three times this week, which is a hatrick, yes?

The first two were leather bags.  Y'all are awesome.  I re-opened my shop and boom, someone ordered a chevron tote.  I finished it up and got it ready to send off!  The second bag is also sent off, a shoulder bag that is now on its way to the lucky winner of Maggie Whitley's back-to-school giveaway.  I can't wait to hear that they've received their bags, and that they love having them as much as I loved making them.

Please excuse the cheesy "Your Name Here" patch on the photo, I didn't do the clever thing and cover the lucky adressee's adress with my hand in the picture.  Or with an apple, or anything at all.  See also the fact that the bottom bag has a return address from SC.  Because I forgot where I lived for a moment.  I'm a professional, don't ever not believe it.

Want to know a secret that only a few handfuls of people in the world know?  That packaging up there, its pretty much free.  Because I'm cheap, yes, but also because I really do like to reuse/limit new things as much as possible. So on the inside of those bags, its possible that you might find a grocery store's logo or something similar.  The bags are nice and sturdy for packaging, the seams that hold them together have never failed, and I get to add a little flair to the recipient (and the postal workers') day!

So that's how we do.  That's the whole science behind the packaging scene at A Great & Many Things Shoppe.  I'm working on designing some smaller items that I will hopefully be able to tell you about next week, but that's all for now!  I want to know something from you: Have you ever bought something just for the cute packaging?  Be honest, this is a safe place :)

<3 M.

Makers Gotta Make - The Shop Is OPEN!

Want to know the most disconcerting feeling I had while packing for our move?  When I finally boxed up my sewing machine.  I'm sure it should have been when I packed the medicines away or when RG had no more toys to play with or photo albums or something.  But no.  It was the sewing machine.  Crazy thoughts raced through my head, like "What if a seam tears and I can't mend it!?  What if I want to make something, I get inspiration and have to act right. that. moment. and I can't??"

Cue slight hyperventilation.

Ridiculous, yes, but I've come to grips with the fact that I'm a maker.  I have to make.  Give me a 2-hour naptime for my toddler, and its off to the sweatshop - its where I unwind.  Making things helps me feel calm and creative, productive (one of my favorite feelings) and satisfied.  If I felt the way about exercise that I do about sewing things, I would be much more impressive physically, but whatever.  As I've found out, a maker has got to make!

And so things have slightly settled down in these parts, and I've gotten back to making.  Yes, I'm in the process of both a Laura Ingalls-Wilder dress for my niece (birthday request - from a to-be-7-year-old, no lie!) and a Land of Nod inspired baby quilt, but mostly, its been leather, all leather.  My upstairs smells so good, y'all!  I've been working on the exteriors of purses so that when I re-opened my shop, I would be able to have faster turn-around time, and also so that the bags would be more uniform, having all been made at the same time.

I posted this picture on instagram the other night, because it was just so happy for me to look at, bad lighting and all!

So now the shop is re-opened, and I'm taking orders and all that business.  I'm still working out some smaller items for people who don't need a whole new purse, but would like some quality leather accessories, so I'll be sure to update you when that's listed!  But in the meantime, want to know my favorite thing thats new this season?

The Framed Lonestar Tote & The Framed Sunshine Tote

These two.  And specifically, Mr. Sunshine there on the right.  I've had dreams of a quilt that is along those lines for a few years now, and when I realized I could make it into a framed tote, I was so excited!  Now I'm just trying to keep myself from trading my current bag (the framed chevron tote) in for Mr. Golden Sun... but I can always make more... ;)

And in case you need some size reference, I submit to you a nearly in-focus, husband-turned-photographer picture :)  

If you have any questions, feel free to ask away!  And if you want to check out more information, follow the link to my store on the right (or right here)!  Big huge thank you to all of you for your support and for waiting so long for me to get my feet under me again!

<3 M.

Not On Top of My Game

So, I'm not the most "with it" person I know.  There are others who are worse, yes.  A friend from grad school just posted a picture of her PhD husband who had opened a resealable bag of shredded cheese from the wrong side.  She "Doc shamed" him.  I couldn't stop laughing, but perhaps I should have, because friend?  The mighty have fallen.  

There are also those who are better at being on top of their game than I am.

Enter: Handsome.

He has a system.  Many systems.  He keeps his wallet either in his back right pocket, or beside the sink.  If its not in his pocket, and its not beside the sink, it is legitimately lost.  Truck keys go front-left or on top of the microwave.  The system may not seem to make sense, but he has a system and always knows where stuff is.  Compare this to him asking me where my keys where.  Which is a regular q&a that sometimes has an answer and often ends with big sighs on his part.

This last time it went like so: "Where are the keys?"  "In my purse" "Where's your purse?" "Uhm... I think its in the car.  Yes, in the car, passenger seat.  The keys are in the inside pocket of my purse that is in the car, on the passenger seat.  The purse is also full of peaches." "I hate you."  He doesn't hate me, of course, but our ways of keeping track of stuff are a wee bit different from each other's.  And his is right.  I admit it.

I have other problems, though, besides keeping track of stuff.  Like literacy.  Sometimes I think I know what something says, so I don't really read it, and then I end up sewing the ends of a boxy pouch together the wrong way.  Hypothetically.  Or, I see an adorable little purse pinned on Pinterest, and see that there's a sew-a-long, and that she's going to post the pictures on Monday, so I do my darndest to sew one up this weekend.

Giveaway (sur)prizes for the fabric survey winners!

I didn't really take much more away from the pin I saw, other than the roundness, the fold-over-ness, and the ruffle.  I made it, though, and it looked like what I saw in my head, which is the ultimate success of any project.  And I got on today and looked for that sew-a-long so I could post my ruffly clutch.

I couldn't find it in my blogroll (that list at the bottom of this page), which was weird, since I knew it was recent.  So I went to google and searched a couple of links, and then I found it!

Linked Here

Do you see what I see?  Or rather, what I didn't see?  Yes, dear gentle reader, this sew-a-long took place over 2 years ago.  I'm a little late to the party.  So late that I can't even comment on Kate's post and admit what a dummy I sometimes am.  "Precious" as I would call a student who did the same.  Sometimes I am just precious.

<3 M.

Fabric Survey & Giveaway!!

Hey friends.  I know, I said July 10, and here it is almost August 10, and whoa, late.  I know.  The good news is that everything is done and I am a Dr. (which is weird to say and also - not the medical kind so don't  call me if you have an emergency!), and I graduate Friday and move Sunday, and OHMYGOODNESS, its a lot.

Also, in a mildly-related note, just as I'm ready to get back into talking to you all and running my online shop, I've got to give back my school-supplied laptop, and have not yet purchased my own.  Which means I'm going to write this post and then disappear yet again.  I do promise to get back here by mid-August, as I'll be in an office (that says "Ph.D." on the door.  EEK!) and I'm assuming that I will have a computer in that office. If not, well, I'll need one and so I'll purchase one, and then I'll be back.  So either way.

But here's the survey part, where you come in.  I'm planning to re-open my online shoppe, where I plan to sell my leather bags/purses again.  For many reasons, not the least of which is that it gives me an excuse to have a room in the house that smells like leather every single time you open the door, and that, dear ones, is glorious.

The survey, however, has to do with fabric choices.  It's a single entry, although you can enter every day, because if you feel strongly enough about your choice that you're willing to come here everyday and vote, I want to know about it.  I've got 4 sets for you to choose from, and I'm wondering what you like best.  The fabric chosen will be used for the main interior of my bags in the Fall line. In no particular order (or picture format, whoops!) here are your choices!

Choice 1
AGF Indelible (Purple)

Choice 2
Cotton & Steel Assorted

Choice 3
AGF Indelible (Grey)

Choice 4
AGF Arizona

So, for your entry into a giveaway, the prize of which is a surprise gift of leather & fabric from my workshop, please use Rafflecopter below to enter your favorite choice.  And if you can't decide between one, come back and choose a different choice tomorrow! (If Rafflecopter won't let you enter again, just leave a comment on the blog post, because that's all you have to do for Rafflecopter anyhow!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If not before, I'll talk to you all once we're in Erie!  If you  get to missing me, keep up with me on Instagram, because that NO ONE can take away from me! (Except RG, who I am trying desperately to keep away from my phone!)

<3 M.

Monday Hello!

It is so nice here.  SO nice.  65 and sunny, nice.  And if its not nice where you are, well, come visit me here.  But when you come visit me here, you should know that this article pretty much perfectly describes my philosophy on life and housekeeping and friendships so, well, I hope you can live with that.

Speaking of friendships, I went to the dentist's office today, where my good friend Tonya cleaned my teeth.  Is that weird?  Having your good friend take care of your personal hygiene?  Handsome kind of gets weird-ed out if he thinks about it too long.  Me, I'm just glad not to have to make awkward conversation with a stranger while they notice how much I don't floss.

I've gotten some fancy fabric in lately, and if you've been thinking that you might like a pretty leather purse to kick off your February, consider a custom order with some of this gorgeousness as your interior...  I've also recently placed an order for "soft as buttah" black leather, in case that trips your trigger.  I'm open to custom orders, so feel free to check out my shop & message me!

Minimalista Fabric Line from Art Gallery Fabrics
via FabricBubb

Anyhow, I've got clean teeth, my baby girl is back at the babysitter's this week, and I've got the windows open and assignments to grade and purses to sew.  It's a glorious day and I hope you're finding some enjoyment in it!  I've got 3 hard days of work & lonely-parenting ahead of me, to be followed by a glorious, visitor-filled baby girl's birthday weekend.  WooHoo!  Bring on the week!

<3 M.