Pesky Cat Designs

Special - Mini Art Feeling by ArtMind Today is my birthday! My plans are to take a nice walk through the city with my partner Tom and have sushi for lunch. The rest of the day is not planned as I want to keep things spontaneous. This morning Mitsy from ArtMind tweeted me with birthday wishes and a link to her Mini Art Feeling posted above. Aki of Oktak also sent me a birthday tweet and several friends and family members already sent me early morning birthday wishes via email. Thank you! I am truly grateful to have such wonderful friends and family in my life. That's the best gift of all!

Last Sunday and and this morning my work was selected for Etsy's front page! The treasury shown above made the front page Sunday morning. My Classic Carryall was featured and sold! The treasury below was featured early this morning and was also created by Etsy. Thanks Etsy for selecting my work for your lovely front pagers!

Photo via Modern Mechanix Custom orders have kept me quite busy this past week so I've been a little behind in my blog posts. Today I finally finished up my last handbag, a custom order going out to Switzerland that will be shipped tomorrow. It's a gift for a September birthday. About a month ago I decided to officially take on custom orders and it has been a success. So far this month half my sales were custom bags. They take a bit more time in the planning stage as I often need to send several emails back and forth to a potential customer to make sure to get all the details correct. I also have to check my stock of fabric and make sure I have enough yardage to produce a bag before I commit to an order. In the end it is satisfying to know a customer is getting exactly what they want. Custom orders rock!

Today is Labor Day, a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September. According to Wikipedia, the first Labor Day in the US was celebrated on September 5th, 1882 in New York City. This morning I had more to celebrate when I discovered that my newest handbag design, The Classic Carryall , made it to Etsy's front page! Thank you RunninginPlace for creating such a beautiful fall inspired list and Etsy for selecting it. It was a nice surprise. Wishing everyone a wonderful day!

T here was a time in my 20's that I only wore black, sorta like Johnny Cash, but as I got older I learned to appreciate a more color infused wardrobe. I still have the staple black turtleneck and trousers but I also own items in chartreuse, salmon and fuchsia. When I shop for fabric I am definitely drawn to bold colors but I realize that many women also look for more neutral tones when they are purchasing a handbag. So I make sure my studio is stocked with a little of both. In my recent search on the internet for the latest fall color trends I found a lot of gray tones. According to an article I read, the key to refreshing your fall palette is pairing brighter colors with today's neutrals. I had some gray pinwale corduroy in stock so I decided to create a purse using this fabric. In the meantime I got a request for a custom order messenger bag in this fabric as well. I think the Wayfarer Purse posted above would look great with a vibrant fuchsia colored jacket or perhaps one...

Etsy in Polish by Hare and Drum Yesterday I was quite lucky to be featured in two front pagers! The treasury above was created by the very talented Agnieszka of Hare and Drum  and features Etsy artists that are either Polish or have Polish heritage. I was born in the USA but both my parents were born and raised in Poland.  Agnieszka is originally from Poland and now lives in Montana, USA. She has an amazing shop that sells fiber jewelry, hand embroidery and home decor. The works are whimsical and beautiful and I am the proud owner of two of her creations. Thanks Agnieszka for including me in your wonderful treasury! Beckoning Autumn by NansGlam The stunning treasury above was created by Nan of NansGlam and was inspired by the upcoming fall season. I love the vibrant colors and all her selections. Check out Nan's Etsy shop, NansGlam ,  for gorgeous classic, romantic and vintage jewelry. Her work is dreamy! Thanks Nan for including me in your beautiful treasury!

Y esterday I discovered my Wayfarer Purse  featured in Etsy's gift guide titled Shades of Sapphire .   It celebrates the hues of sapphire, September's birthstone .  I am always perusing Etsy's gift guides to keep up to date with what is popular and to see if any of my items might fit into a gift guide. If one of my works fits into a category I will tag my item accordingly. I will also consider creating an item that will fit into a guide. If you are a seller and want to see if you have been featured go to Heartomatic and just type in your shop name. Below I posted some more lovely items featured in the Gift Guide. By the way, sapphire is my birthstone! A Selection of Items from the  Shades of Sapphire Gift Guide