...and Yet One More Snowman

My good friend Carolyn asked me to make a purse as a Christmas gift for her brother's girlfriend. This woman likes lighthouses, and one day while Carolyn and I were shopping around in Old Time Pottery, she found a tapestry place mat with both a lighthouse and a snowman. There was only one, so she asked me if I thought I could make a purse from it somehow. Of course, I said! This is the result.

Since the placement of the snowman on the tapestry was so close to the bottom, I couldn't make the same type of bag that I had previously made with the snowman tapestries. Putting the gusset in would have chopped the snowman up until only his head would have shown...not good! So I decided to make a small Scout Messenger bag with it. I used a faded denim I already had; Carolyn and I found the lining material at Fabric Shack last week; and I used the place mat as the flap.

I didn't have enough of the denim to make any outside pockets, so I put one zippered pocket under the flap;

...and there are four pockets inside.

The flap closes with a magnetic snap, as does the main body of the purse for extra security. I think it's really cute and I hope Vicky likes it.

Now, only ONE more snowman purse to go and I can take a break until after Christmas. Whew!

Oh Christmas Tree!

I know that I normally only blog about the handbags that I make, but thought that I might just take a moment to share a photo of our Christmas Tree. We have been having a lot of "technical difficulties" with our lights this year, so while they were actually still working, I thought I'd get a pic to share. They went out shortly after the picture was taken. Jeff will be doing major Christmas Tree light maintenance when he gets home from work tonight!

Our trees are always live (well, they were before they were chopped down!) and we only use vintage ornaments to decorate them. Some are from Jeff's childhood; some are from mine; and the others are from the lives' of people unknown to us and purchased at various antique malls and flea markets across the country. There are no gifts under the tree yet because Noah, our 3-year-old hound, would have them all unwrapped and torn up within a few minutes. It's all I can do to keep the two cats, Buster and Wilson, from carrying off the tree skirt. They love to play with it and it's always in a heap somewhere in the room when I get up in the morning. So, enjoy the scene while you can!

P.S. Obviously I, Ms. Photo Challenged, did not take these photos. Jeff took them for me. Thanks, honey!

Another Snowman Purse

This is the snowman purse I made for my friend Dee for Christmas. (I don't have to worry about her finding out what her present is because she doesn't read my blog! :o( Anyway, this bag was made from two tapestry place mats I found at Old Time Pottery for $1.50 each. I think the design is really cute and is different from the other two snowman bags that I recently made. The front and back of the bag are exactly the same...

Another of the "hated" zippers! This one turned out okay, so I'm pleased.


I used a really cute red and gold/tan mini check for the lining and used the last of the red and gold snowflake fabric for the seven inside pockets. I used a red jute webbing for the strap.

I hope she likes it!

The Stockings Were Hung...

I have a group of four friends that I get together with every month. We usually go out to lunch and catch up with each other. But in December, I bring the fun to my house with our annual Christmas Party. We are always at my house because I am the youngest of the group and I love to have friends over. We eat good food, drink some good wine, open gifts we've gotten or made for each other, and laugh and have a great time.

For their gift this year I decided to make each of them a Christmas Stocking. Every one of us in the group loves snowmen, and I had all this fun snowman fabric in my stash. I wanted the stocking to look sort of like a vintage sock, with the toe and heel. I set to work and designed the pattern; then my father-in-law drew it for me. (I can't draw to save my life!) Once that was drawn to my liking, I started putting all the fabrics together. These were so much fun to make and I think they turned out very cute. I put a nice candle and some yummy candies in each stocking, and the "girls" loved them. I was very happy indeed.

I hope this tradition continues for a very long time!

Pardon Me, Have You Seen My Keys?

This is the latest phenomenon to hit Bluebird Handcrafted Originals. These aren't new; I know that a lot of people out there in the craft world are making these key fobs, though I make mine completely from fabric. They are selling like hot cakes right now~I can barely keep up. I have sold about 90 of them in the past few weeks as people are buying them for Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers. Who knew that everyone would want one (or two or 20?) I'm not complaining!!! :o)

The Snowman from Hell!

Oh yeah, he looks all sweet and innocent, but he's really the DEVIL in disguise!

Okay, so do you ever have one of those days when, despite your very best efforts, NOTHING goes right? Well, that's the case with this snowman purse. A friend saw the snowman purse that I made for another lady and wanted one just like it. I normally don't like to make duplicates of bags because I like for each one to be an original. However, I made an exception for this very nice lady. Everything started off okay....then the nightmares began. First, there was none of the fabric I used for the lining to be found! NONE!!! Fabric Shack had no more (apparently I had gotten the last yard they had). None of the other on-line fabric shops had any; eBay didn't even have any! So, what to do. The color of the blue on this tapestry is very strange and SUPER HARD to match. I ended up buying 6 different blue snowflake fabrics and none of them really worked. So, I had to go with a red. And it couldn't be a true red or a Christmas red; it had to be sort of a burnt red, with snowflakes! Sheesh. I finally found it at JoAnn fabrics and thank goodness it was 50% off! So, now I have the lining. Then came the zipper. I first tried a red one and since it was one of those heavier zips and it was plastic, it ended up crimping somehow! :o( So I had to rip it out. Then I tried a natural one and it looked awful. Rip again. Next I tried a navy one and it worked, but the zipper tabs ended up being too long. Rip a third time. By this time I had to cut new zip tabs and I'm down to my last small piece of tan twill. So, I carefully sewed the tabs and zip and they looked great...only I forgot to shorten the *#!% thing. I'm rippng again! Finally, success. So I get the main body put together and start on the lining. Somehow, I cut the fabric the wrong size (don't ask!!) and didn't realize it until I went to put the two pieces together. Uh, the lining is about 2 inches too short! D@&m! So, back to the fabric store I go to get more fabric. Fortunately, they still have just enough. By this time this is lining fabric No. 8. Home again, and I am very diligent about cutting. Success. So, after much ripping, cussing, trips to the store and time, I have a finished bag. Yea! So, now I'm pressing it. My iron accidentally touches the PLASTIC zip and guess what? Yep, it melts onto the iron and then transfers blue onto the tan zip tab. D@&M again!!! So, I try to get it out with my "magic" laundry stuff. No luck. It did lighten, but it's still there. And, I have no more snowman panels and no more patience for this purse! Bottom line....I have spent about $100 on this bag and now I'm going to GIVE it to this very sweet lady because I messed it up. She would still probably want to pay me, but I just don't feel right about that.

So, all that to say....I HATE THIS PURSE!!!

Charlotte's Special Order

My good friend, Charlotte, requested four Dottie Bags for Christmas presents. Well, actually three presents and one for herself. She and I picked out the fabrics together (although she lives in Louisiana and I am here in Ohio~we did it all through the magic of the Internet!). I put the fabrics together in a way that I thought she and her family would like. I hope that they fit the bill and will be pleased when they open their gifts this Christmas.

Charlotte wanted one of my wallets to go with each bag, but I told her that they were a little too large for the Dottie Bag, which is a small hipster-style bag. There are three credit card slots in each Dottie bag, but I made a little coin purse for each, which will hold change, paper money, and any extra cards needed. They fit perfectly in the bottom of the bag and I think make a nice addition.

I want to thank my good friend, Deb Wiggins. She is a very talented jewelry-designer and she made the lovely zipper pulls for each bag and coin purse. As always, Deb, YOU ROCK! If anyone out there wants to take a look at Deb's jewelry and Prayer Beads/Rosaries, you can find her at http://tnbeads.blogspot.com/.

Please be sure to scroll down to see each bag individually!!!