Some Commissions

I've had some people ask me to make them bags lately - which I love love love doing! They give me the basics of what they want (a bag they already have or a bag they've seen) and then I get to go with it. And these two were especially fun because I got to try some new things.

This bag was made for the lovely Ms. Mary

She had a black leather bag and she wanted a brown fabric bag about the same size and with a long strap and everything. Luckily I got the size right - which is great since I pretty much just laid her purse on a piece of paper and drew some lines around the sides and that's what I based it on.

And! I did a zipper in the back! Like a zipper IN the fabric in the back! I thought it would be a little rough, but I used this tutorial from the wonderful U-Handblog. It was way easier than I thought it would be! I'm going to be doing more zippers that way - for sure!

And then I made this lovely bag for the cool Keri:

There's pockets pockets everywhere! A zipper pocket in the front, one on each side, and some inside too! I think it was the first backpack I've made. And once I got the pattern together, it was pretty fun to put together.

She picked out the outer fabric and I picked out the inner fabric! I picked it mostly because it matched the outer fabric, but I thought it fit her seeing as how she's a pretty seasoned traveler. Here's a close up (I got it at Joann's).

I don't know if you can quite tell, but it's got postcard type things for Italy, Washington DC, Japan, Egypt, and some other famous places.

I LOVE making special order bags!

A Tiger Cottage

Apparently a good tool to have when entertaining my favorite 4 year old (aka Munchkin) is the Ikea catalog. The munchkin was playing with this little toy tiger (called Tigey, just like his stuffed cow is called Cowy) and we had to do something with it - so first there was a sleeping bag, with a handle to make it easy to carry around.

Well where is a Tigey in a sleeping bag going to sleep? He needs his own house, of course!
Luckily I had saved a shoe box (you never know when they're going to come in handy) and construction quickly started - mainly just a door being cut in the side.
Then there was the decorating. First, a tv and pot and rug and other random objects were cut out of an ikea catalog. Then the stickers were put on. Tons and tons of stickers. But I have to say, it turned out pretty nice. I wouldn't live there, but Tigey doesn't seem too picky.

Ring Bearer Pillow

Two people people I knew from high school, Fernando and Amelia, are getting married! I remember when we were in spanish together, we had a potluck lunch one time and Fernando was bringing in mangos, but I'm allergic. So he brought me a banana! (I always remember the weird things.)

Anyway - I was facebook snooping one day and Amelia had a link to their wedding website. On that website, she had a picture of a ringbearer pillow that she said she wanted but might have to try making or something. I knew I could make, but I was worried she would think I was crazy if I just randomly sent her a message saying I could make it for her. But I decided not to worry about what she thought. And I'm so glad I did. She said she had just given up on getting it or trying to make it!

We met and she picked out the ribbon and material and then I made it and just delivered it to her last week. I think she liked it and I was more than happy to put it together.

I was able to embroider their names and wedding date too! And we decided she could snip off the ribbon that the rings will be tied to and they can just keep the pillow as a reminder of the day.

I'm going to be way more forward from now on - good things happen when I go ahead and offer to do stuff!