Amy's bags

Here are a few of the bags Amy has at Heritage Photography. These are all my Medium Tote size, and they have coordinating key fobs. Can I tell you how much I like key fobs? They are so fun and cute. And truthfully, my keys are so much more easier to find now.

I love these fabrics. Here I have used fabrics from Heather Ross, Heather Bailey, Marcus Brothers, Alexander Henry, and Tina Givens. They rock my socks!

What's New at Seat Of My Pants

Lots has been happening here at Seat Of My Pants since the last time I loved my blog.   Here's the short and sweet of it:

* Home bag parties--so far they're a hit!  I'm pleased to have had five successful bag parties so far.  It's a lot of fun, and I am slowly figuring out the rhythm of how they should go.  Packing is the hardest part, because my workshop is in the attic and the car of course is in the driveway.   I can get everything down in 5 trips, and none of it is heavy at all (although the relative weight will seem much less after I am walking around for one again!)  And in a couple of weeks, I'm having my first Seat Of My Pants Open House.  Slightly less moving involved with this one.  I'm really looking forward to all the froofy, girly food I'm gonna have at that event.

* Updated Diaper Bag design--It's a great big messenger bag with a very sexy front-flap zipper, binding, and super duper pleated pockets.  It has a few Katie Straps (which I call that because my friend Katie suggested that I add them), which are straps with snaps on them for hanging pacifiers or other things with hooks, a magnetic snap closure and a top snap flap to keep things under control at the top of the bag.  

* The Folger Home Summer Market in Avon Lake, Ohio--Oh, I can't tell you how excited I am about this event.  It's an invitation-only event--invitation only, can you believe it??  Erin the coordinator ran across my shop on Etsy.  It's July 26, right at Rt 83 and Lake Rd. in Avon.  There should be a lot of great stuff to see and do.  I will be about 8 months pregnant then, so that'll be interesting.  But I am so excited!  Click here to see their website.

* Friday With The Artist at Tower City in Cleveland--This is such an awesome venue because it is really busy with people walking.  Lisa the coordinator says there's a week of advertising for

 the shops all included.  And no jeans--very fancy!  I'm really looking forward to this one--it is on Aug. 1.  Click here for information about Friday With The Artist and other events at Tower City.

* The Handbook to Handmade--an awesome collection of Etsy artisans put together by Tim Adam.  The next book is volume 7.  It's a beautiful book--Tim does a really terrific job.  Each artist has about 4 pictures and the address of their Etsy shop included.  The back of the book features little advertising spots for other artists.  I think this is such a wonderful idea.  Every time we take the books around to various events, each of the artists is supporting everyone who is in the book.  How cool is that?  For more on the Handbook, check out the blog or the the forum thread.

New... and Let's Party!

Today I posted that Joel Dewberry diaper bag. Of course I still love it. I just don't need to keep one of everything I make. This is an important realization for someone who makes bags, I think.

Another new endeavor in the last few days: I made my first pair of earrings on Saturday. I like them a lot because of the combination of materials: African amber, ostrich egg, and synthetic blue quartz. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. I got all the supplies from a really nifty bead shop in town, The Bead Cafe.

I am having a heck of a time deciding what to stock up on for my upcoming bag parties. I already have a bunch of medium and large tote bags, so I'm torn: do I make a few more diaper bags, or some wallets, or a handful of journal keepers, or something else all together? My husband thinks that people will want to snatch up the wallets. I kind of think I'll have a lot of custom orders inspired by items I've already made.

My first party is May 8. I am SO excited about it. I have these sweet little mirrors and lip balms for people who place orders, and I am almost as pumped about them as I am about the event itself! Christine at http://christinerenee.etsy.com made the mirrors for me--I cut the papers and decorated them, and she did the hard part. And Iva at http://ivaart.etsy.com made the world's best lip balm with a cute little Seat Of My Pants label on them. (I'm serious--I've never tried one better!) For the mirrors, I have made little tiny pouches to keep them from being scratched or finger-printed up. They turned out so nicely. Plus I made them from material I had that I didn't have other plans for. That makes me very happy.

Question of the day: What do you think I should do about my inventory? If you were hosting a bag party, would you like to see more totes, more diaper bags, more wallets, another size of bag, little pouch wallets, or something else??