Enjoy!

http://www.beatroute.ca/view_article.php?sectionID=1&articleID=2868

http://www.avenuecalgary.com/articles/page/item/cool-hunter-%3A-go-boldly

I gave Miesha Louie a guitar strap because I like her so very much… and she had it in the photo that Beatroute took of her for their Bedroom Eyes Segment.  Thanks Miesha!

I also got to tell Beatroute what my favourite makeout song is… http://www.beatroute.ca/view_article.php?sectionID=19&articleID=2813

Finally, Avenue Magazine Calgary will be featuring one of my bags in an upcoming issue’s Cool Finds segment.   I’ll let you know when it’s published, and provide the link then.

That’s all I know for sure.  Some other things are on the horizon but nothing is finalized.

Thanks for caring!

The shop is ready to go as well, and the bags have been re-priced thanks to a change in retail relationships!

http://www.sabramottramdesigns.ca/Home.html

Please have a look.  New bags will be added to the site soon as well.

Turquoise has always been my favorite colour, so expect lots of bags of that colour this year.

I haven’t made a lot of red bags, and I have 2 red hides ready to go.

Vernongirl http://www.vernongirl.com/ told me that blogs should teach people, so I will be posting about the creative process and how I make handbags.

At this point, I’m just thinking about the style of bags that I want to make.  I have cherry red patent leather and a standard red distressed type leather.

As patent leather is quite stiff, I’m limited to a hard bag or the patent will end up crinkled and won’t look nice.  As I have yet to decide on a design for the bag, this will come later.

The next step in my process is to choose the linings.  I have a collection of satin fabrics in my studio, so I usually try to use what I have to create the bag so that I don’t have to go shopping too often.

I have decided to use navy on the patent leather.  It’s a blue based red, so I want to pick up on that by making a cruise style bag.  As I was sketching the bags last night, I decided on using an anchor applique on the patent.

Next, it’s shopping for the navy lining!

Guitar strap

I recently made a guitar strap for a local singer/songwriter.  It has some western style tooling, but it is of a more modern style.  Tandy has lots of stamps that are cool; stars of many styles (4 shown in the photo), fleur de lis, sakura / japanese style cherry blossom and more.

Stamping a basket weave pattern with a stylish stamp really helps to modernize  the item.  To do a basket weave pattern, use a ruler to draw the first three lines with a stylus.  Make your stamps on either side of the line and continue on from there.  On the piece pictured, I had the basket weave pattern unravel so that the stars descend down the strap.  You can also stamp over top of a basket weave pattern to add interest.

Tandy blanks generally come with patterns, but you can use any pattern you like.  On this strap, the client asked for a bear.  I used a stylus to draw the bear on the strap, then used a shading stamp to complete the design.  The shader stamp was placed so that the stamps looked like hair.

While the leather is wet, you can fix many of the mistakes you make.  On this one, I accidentally stamped the E upside down.  I stamped the E properly over top of the mistake, and smoothed out the edges with the spoon end of the stylus.

The leather is dyed with Eco-Flo’s All-In-One Midnight Black.  It is leather dye and satin shene in one bottle. It goes a lot farther than the two products do individually and is also a truer black than the solo black dye.  It’s also water based – environmentally friendly with no harmful emissions.

Use your imagination with leather.  You can use anything for a pattern and turn leather into any style you like!

Vernongirl, a social media guru blogged about how I have used social media to help launch my business.  I started to show my bags on a social networking site, and just recently graduated to a full website that I built myself on iWeb. Vernongirl is a great resource for information about how to use the internet to market yourself.  She’s even written a book about it!

Calgary Fashion recently blogged about my winter collection launch.  Reading the blog has made me aware of how often I call myself ‘anal-retentive’.  Personally, I prefer ‘meticulous’… I’ll have to be aware of what I’m saying in future interviews.  This was my first, so I’m prepared to cut myself some slack!

Avenue Magazine recently featured “Grace Kelly” Traveler under the title:  Fabulous Clutches for Fall:Got to Love the Clutch: This season says luxury and glamour

This is my first ever magazine! I was so excited, I scanned the magazine.