Felted Wool Handbags - Many New Designs!

I have been so busy sewing, I have not had  time to post pictures of many of my new items.  Today I am posting pictures of my new handbags.  I will have some of them available this coming Saturday at my last craft show of the season at Bear Creek High School.  Here is the info:

                             Bear Creek High School Holiday Arts & Crafts Fair

                                              Saturday, December 3, 2011

                                                      9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

                                                9800 W. Dartmouth P.

                                         (N. of Hampden, E. of Kipling)

                                                       $2 Admission

Get ready for LOTS of pictures.  Originally, I planned on posting one handbag a day but that was a week and half ago.  We will be leaving for our family Disney Vacation this Sunday (very early)...so excited!  So, I decided to post pictures of all my new handbags in one posting.  I have also had my Etsy shop on vacation mode for a lot longer than I expected (I need to update my shop notice).  I have sold many of the handbags, bookmarks and large  rose pins on my Etsy shop at craft shows.  I will need to update the shop when I re-open it.  Now, I realize, I will probably have it on vacation mode through the end of December with our Disney vacation coming up and the Christmas Holiday.  So, whatever handbags don't sell at the Bear Creek Craft show or become Christmas gifts, I will post on my Etsy shop in January 2012.  

One more thing, all the felt was originally wool sweaters purchased at my local thrift store.  All the vintage buttons, earrings (bling), crochet flowers and lace came from local estate sales.  I love incorporating all my vintage finds into my handbags and other things I make.   

Butterflies and Dress-forms have been my inspiration this season!

Fabric lining...My Minds Eye, one of my favorite paper companies is now selling their designs on fabric...this is one of them. 

A great use of felt scraps....lots and lots of little butterflies!

Festive fabric lining

My sister Gaby took this one home with her.  She picked out all of her Christmas gifts

Glass Button with gold flowers.

One of my personal favorites...sold it at Sugar Plum Bazaar to one of the other vendors

Love that vintage button...this was the perfect handbag for it.

Crochet flower and rhinestone  button ...vintage finds

Love fabrics with text or script

Love these type of vintage buttons...so happy when I find them at Estate Sales!

My attempt at a Mix-Media look...wool roving and felted needle used.

Lining for Butterfly Tree Purse

Vintage Earring

Lining for Black & White Dress-Form Purse

Large Vintage Glass Button

Fabric Lining

Lining for handbag

Script Fabric Lining

Finished it late at night just before Sugar Plum Bazaar...only photo taken at the Bazaar

I am hoping to do another posting before we leave for Disney with photos of all my new scarves.  Plus, I have been working on some other fun projects this week....Christmas gifts!

Happy Thanksgiving

These last few weeks have been a blur.  I have been so busy sewing felted wool scarves and handbags.  Last weekend, Staci and I had a great experience at the Sugar Plum Bazaar.  We sold lots of our felted good items and best of all, we got to met lots of friendly customers and learned from many experienced vendors.  Now I have my eye on a smart phone and a little device called Square which will process credit card sales.  I was using the old dinosaur processing machine with the paper credit card charge slips...remember those?  Well, due to cost and the fact that our craft sales have been from October through December, that is what I have been using to process credit card sales.  But, not next year!  I had never felt I needed a smartphone since all I do with my phone is make/receive calls and text (97% of those text are with my teenage daughter Laura) but now, I need it...I want it.  After spending an hour on Saturday and Sunday, calling in the credit card slips I am definitively ready for a change.

My sister Gaby and her two boys, Tony and Santos arrived Monday morning from El Paso, TX.  They will be spending the week with us.  I am so grateful they made the trip and have chosen to spend it with us because this is going to be an especially difficult holiday for them.  Unfortunately, they have been and will continue to experience many "first times" without Robert.  We all miss him dearly.   Robert's thanksgiving tradition was on Wednesday (today) he would bake  like a thousand pumpkin pies.  Robert baked pumpkin pies for all his brothers and sisters and made a special diabetic version for my mom.  He baked and delivered all the pies!  Everyone will be missing him and his pies this year.  In honor of him, today we will bake pumpkin pies in my kitchen.   Unfortunately, since we are in Colorado and Robert's extended family is in El Paso (including my parents), they will not get the pies the kids and Gaby make....but we will. 

I am so grateful for my family and all the blessing we have (which are many) but this year does come with a bit of sadness.   Together, at our thanksgiving meal, we will all remember Robert....his place in our hearts will always be there.

Indoor/Outdoor Canvas Pillow by Staci Alsop

Upcoming Craft Show and Bazaar

This past week I have been sewing many new  felted wool scarves.   I also have several felted wool handbags cut but still have lots of sewing left.  I should have all the scarves ready for the craft show this Saturday. Here are the details for the Columbine High School Craft Fair:

  

HOLIDAY CRAFT FAIR

COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL

6201 S. PIERCE ST.

LITTLETON

SATURDAY, NOV. 12

10 am - 4 pm

ADMISSION $1 (5 & UNDER FREE)

                                                                                                                                               

I am hoping to have all of my felted wool handbags ready for the upcoming Sugar Plum Bazaar.  Staci and I are excited to be a part of this brand new bazaar.  The organizers are doing a terrific job getting the word out on this bazaar.   Here is the poster for this upcoming event:

I found out about this bazaar last week when I received my Denver Handmade Alliance newsletter.  We applied and  were accepted.  Thankfully, the organizers were able to make more vendor space available at the Parkside Mansion.   Staci and I are one of the new vendors.  You can check out the Sugar Plum Bazaar blog here.

CreativiTea Craft Show

Setting up for the CreativitTea Craft Show took some creativity on our parts since Staci and I were sharing two 8 x 5 spaces.  Thankfully, we requested double booths (next to one another) so we were able to share the space in between both "booth spaces."  This was a different type of show for us as the there was a central checkout and it was a 2 day show.  We just had to make sure all of our items were properly tagged with a vendor number and amount.  For the first time since we have done craft shows together, we don't know exactly how much of our items we sold.  We have an idea but it's difficult to know when customers don't pay you for the items in your booth.  Overall, we had a good experience.  The ladies organizing the show were very friendly and took excellent care of all their vendors...they provided breakfast, an assortment of drinks and even lunch.  Staci and I look forward to returning to this juried show next year. 

 I took lots of pictures of our booths.  We have worked very hard to create many one of a kind up-cycled items created from felted wool, paper, vintage linens and fabric.  This year, many of my items and designs revolve around butterflies.

                             

Isabel's Butterfly Design Handbags

                                   

Isabel's Large Felted Wool Rose Pins

                              

Isabel's Paper Butterfly Garlands wrapped in a Wooden Thread Spool

  

Isabel's Butterfly Rings and Flower Rings

Isabel's Atlas Paper Butterfly Magnets (several designs and sizes)

Isabel's Vintage Paper Flower Magnets (several styles & sizes)

Isabel's Felted Wool Medium Size Pins

                                          

Isabel's Vintage Linen Pin Cushions in a small Ceramic Bowl and Silver German Glass Glitter

Isabel's Text & Music Butterfly Magnets

Isabel's Vintage Linen Stuffed Birds

Isabel's small Felted Wool Butterfly Magnets

Isabel's Felted Wool Butterfly & Flower Bookmarks

Isabel Vintage Linen Dress-form Pin Cushions/Decorative

Isabel's Felted Wool Large Butterfly Pins (small butterfly magnets)

Staci also likes to create up-cycled items from felted wool, indoor/outdoor canvas, fabric, thread-spools and paint.  Here are pictures of her items:

Staci's Thread-spool mini trees and Snowman Bookmark

Staci's Thread-spool  Christmas Ornaments

Staci's Felted Wool Flower Bookmarks using rulers as the base

Staci's Felted Wool Wrist-lets or Coffee Mug Holders

Staci...more Wrist-lets or Coffee Mug Holders

Staci's Rosette Pins

Staci's painted Canvas Pillow and Wrist-let's/Coffee Mug Holders

Staci's Felted Wool Mittens

Staci's Felted Wool Scarves

Staci's Felted Wool Ear Warmers

Staci's Felted Wool Handbags/Totes and Canvas Pillows

Staci's Indoor/Outdoor Hand-Painted Decorative Pillows

Staci's painted Indoor/Outdoor Canvas Decorative Pillows