Bari J.

I've finally broken down and officially released the new prints for "Design Your Own" handbags. They are fine Japanese home decor weight fabrics that have of course received our special treatment for the backing. And, here they are in all their glory...

Cherry Blossoms, Hibiscus, Tea Time, Blue Poppy, Sweet Dreams and In Flight

You probably noticed that I released the Millie Fleur for pre-orders. We will be shipping them in about two weeks and already have a bunch of orders from both stores and individuals.

  Millie is a large girl... Although my grannie, Millie, was a little lady. This bag is about 16" across and 12" high with a 20"x 5" round base. It features a drawstring and magnetic closures. There are tons of pockets and it comes with a key fob... which all of our bags will come with very soon.

Another big bag that has been added to the line is the Betty Weekender, named for my mother who was not pleased with a tiny cell phone cover named for her. I've actually removed the cell cover from the line as all of my bags have that outside pocket for your cell. My mom, btw, is also a very little lady at just around five feet so it's funny that the largest bag in the line is named for her... that's for all the love you have, Mom... You had to have a bag big enough. :)

The Betty Weekender is a whopping 20" wide and 14" tall with a 5" wide base. Muchachas... she's B.I.G. big.

Just to give you and idea... if she was a lady her butt would not fit in this big arm chair... She'd have to turn to the side. (I'm thinking I'm so funny right now)... Is that not politically correct? I didn't say fat. I wanted to say fatty, but that just doesn't seem right. I've got a big butt myself. The girls and I were just singing the big butt song last night. I had them cracking up dancing around the kitchen in my pajamas. One of them had said something about my voluptuous tush, and I broke out in song. (Ok, now I'm really laughing at myself). But, wow, I have digressed...  I know I showed you before. My memory hasn't completely broken down, but you didn't really get to see her S.I.Z.E.

So without further adieu, here's The Fabtabulously Large Betty Weekender...

And again here wearing my mother's wedding gown. Or is my mother's gown wearing her? Whatever! She's a beaut! Oh, and she's got on some of Jennifer Pagenelli's Sis Boom Line. Gorgeous, Jennifer! Also, you should know that I am shipping this girl (and a couple others) off to Elizabeth at Daphne's Cottage. You can get this one right away from her. The pages on her site are not yet shopping enabled, so call her. If you call her and it's gone, just go to my "design your own page". We'll get you one a.s.a.p.

   

I read this weekend on Belle Pink Cafe that Tara Frey calls her guy Superman which reminded me... "Hey, I've got one of those!" So, I've taken to calling him Super Husband. He LIKES it... a lot.

I know why I married Super Husband. He's really cute. Really, really smart. And, pretty funny to boot.

But most of all, it's because he can build stuff... You've got to have someone handy around. I am certainly not that person. You also have to have someone who can fix computers which Super Husband is also really good at. He built his own computer if that is any indication of how good.

The point of this story... I asked Super Husband on Saturday to put up some peg board in my studio (I had seen a pic from Pixie Blossoms which set the whole thing in motion).

Ask and you shall receive ... if he is in a building sort of mood, which thankfully, he was.

By the end of the day on Sunday, I had my own pretty pegboards hanging above my desk.

Not only did Super Husband hang some peg board, he framed it out too because he said he didn't want the inside of our home to look like a garage. Good point, Super Husband. I think maybe I'll paint them a pretty green too.

Another good thing about Super Husband is that he always, always, always finds the studs in the wall before he hangs something.

Which I'm telling you is a really good thing for a reason.

I'm not so sure I found the studs when I hung these.

I'm waiting for them to fall on my head. Super Husband was in London when I hung them and his reaction when he saw it was not pleased... "My God, Bari. You just couldn't wait, could you?"  ...

Uh, no. But the truth is they've been just fine if not just the slightest bit tilty for over a year... so there.

My next job for Super Husband is to find a way to organize this... God forbid I want a roll from the back. Go Super Husband! I know you can do it!!! XO XO XO.

From While They Play...

Kalurah is a genius with yarn. Isn't this pretty? And now... It's MINE all MINE. I love the combo of brown with black. Kalurah is also now selling patterns... cool deal! 'Cept I can't knit or crochet... But you all can. Not me. I am challenged in that area.

Kalurah is also a photography genius. She has several blogs you need to check out. While They Play and Open Shutter Case ... Oh, and she can write too. Her stuff has me cracking up!

Just stopping in to say hello. This week sure got by me... Sigh.

Today, I've been playing with the camera that I spent so much darn cash on last summer and still haven't figured out how to use... so, here's some shots from around our house... what I really should be doing is cleaning it. Eeew.

   

Hey all... been getting the question a lot these days. Where's Daphne?

I know, I know she hasn't been blogging. Just so you know, she had/has been quite sick for several months. Some not good stuff at all. BUT... she is on the mend and will return to blogland soon.

We can look forward to her hysterics and ranting to return in just a short while I am told.

So, send her a kiss and a get well message! I miss that girl!

I'm FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The brochure obsession is over. Ha-le-lu-jah!

I won't even try to account for the days, hours, minutes I put into this thing. But, I'm FINISHED! Great big happy dance. Happy dance like you've never seen before. My family can have me back now.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you a little bit about the new fabrics and The Millie Fleur that is pictured here! Happy Saturday night. I better run and be with the family before they disown me.

Hi there. I found the fonts at a good price too AND for commercial use. If any of you are looking for some really lovely handwriting/script fonts that you can use commercially you'll want to go to Graphxedge.com. They're really helpful with getting them installed too if you have any trouble.

Funny story  The ridiculous truth is that I freaked out when I couldn't figure out how to install them and couldn't IMMEDIATELY get hold of someone. So... in my mind decided that "OMG, this must be some fake company and I've just given out my credit card info." Not only did I freak out in my mind, I proceeded to send a couple of hostile emails.

Uh oh. Just a teeny weenie substantial over-reaction. (Who? me? over-react? no, no, I don't have a dramatic bone in my body.) About an hour later a lovely lady called and thought I was going to be some mean man. She totally helped me out, and I felt like a class-A i.d.i.o.t. Oops, just another day in the life of me.

I'm justifying this little drama by saying "This is what happens in our world of credit card fraud." When the truth is that I really am a total freak. Talk about letting your imagination get the better of you.

Here's a sample of what I did with their fonts. I love the one that I wrote "Applique" in... it's called, Adina. So curly and cute!

Holy stinkin' moly! This goober is taking me forever. Far longer than I anticipated. See, you can't use any pre-done digital art or anything like that, so I had to scan everything. And, I did. Everything from tags, to wallpaper, paper clips, pins, tape, string, ribbon, jeans, fabric... and who knows what else. I actually surprised myself at how resourceful I could be... and how well I know Photoshop. All I have to do now is find commercial use fonts ('cause a couple of these are from two peas, a ((great resource for non-commercial... and a little commercial, btw)) and I've got to change that) and oh, about six more pages... I won't even talk about the detail of proofing etc.

 

 

   

I've been in hiding the past couple of days creating my new brochure. I say "hiding" because I haven't come out of this little hole I call a studio (Kevin calls it "the cave"... the girls call it "the black hole")  in I don't know how long. It has to be done in several versions: one for retail, one for wholesale, and one for media. That doesn't make it easy. Plus, whereas before I was simply putting everything on a white background, I got this wild crazy hair to make it look collaged. This is something that is driving Kevin crazy as he wants to actually SEE me again, but on the other hand, I'm really, really pleased with the way it is starting to look. Here's just a little preview... it's actually over 20 pages long. I have found photoshop to be completely invaluable. I really should get Illustrator, but this seems to be working just fine. In my next life, I'm going to be a graphic designer and have all the goodies.

I have had a growing need for easy access to sparkly stuff. Every once in awhile I go to adorn a bag with a pretty and head to my stash only to find zero that will do. Usually the issue is lack of sparkle. So, I broke down and ordered up some really gorgeous vintage inspired pieces. I actually special ordered them to my specifications. And really, I wasn't expecting much, but when these turned up I was pleasantly surprised. They're super sparkly and very vintagey looking. Wee-hoo! You'll see them dancing on some handbags very soon.

Holy embarrassment! Did you know that you can't write "available here" or put a link back to your website in the description on FLICKR???

I'm a total dope. I didn't know that.

Sure wish someone would have mentioned that to me before a got an OFFICIAL EMAIL FROM FLICKR.

What's worse, it's right there in the rules when you sign up. I should have known.

No, what's even worse is that I'm convinced that someone who viewed my photos "turned me in" instead of writing me a nice little Flickr mail to let me know.

Now, that's just not nice!

They almost took my account away. In fact, I think it's downright vindictive.

You can call me paranoid if you want, but there are MILLIONS of people on Flickr, how would the authorities that be have found little old me otherwise?

*Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr & ((((((%%%&&&&&(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *********************!!!

And one more thing ...  I've most happily changed my descriptions.

No, one more, one more thing... if you are reading this, you little tattle-tale: I am a rule follower! I am not just a rule follower, I'm a serial rule-follower. So, in the future, if you got (purposeful bad English) a problem with me just let me know. I'll take it very nicely. It's very cowardly to have someone else do your dirty work, you know.

thanks, ~b

PS I feel much, much better after letting it all out. Thank you all for bearing with me. Later (or tomorrow) back to my regular prettiness. Ahhhh....

EDIT: After having said all that, I just thought I should maybe ask if anybody else got an email. Ok, maybe I'm not being singled out somehow. The note I got just made me so embarrassed and angry because I really do follow rules. In fact, I'm the enforcer of rules. I like 'em. Puts life in order. Strange thing to like, but it's true.

Yeah-huh, I did! Weeks ago, right? Vvvvvell, here it is. Finally. Next time I'll just say "I'll be posting a tutorial on this ... soon ... ish."

Download pin20cushion20tutorial.pdf

In the interest of creating actual usable tutorials, please let me know how this works out for you. Thanks. ~b

Thanks to a very nice customer, it has come to my attention that the fabrics Couture and Nesting were missing from the main fabric choice pop-down menus. When I went to fix it, I noticed Lacey and Autumn Blooms were missing as well.

Bottom line: This has been corrected, and you can now order those fabrics... BTW, they are up to 50% off on select styles.

I am just chopping at the bit to get out the Spring line here on all of January 4, so I'm selling off my "old" yardage. Check my etsy store frequently for updates... Today I've listed these...

Well, thank goodness that's over. I'm gaining poundage at an unprecedented rate. The holidays had to end before I exploded.

As sweet and wonderful as the season is, I'm glad it's gone. Is that so terrible?

I was dieing to get back to work the whole time, and as you can see from the postings below, I didn't exactly stop.

But when I did, I was E.A.T.I.N.G! Or

S.L.E.E.P.I.N.G. (I'll admit that though I can't sit still, that's only when I'm awake. We slept an incredible amount over the past two weeks. It's obscene really.)

I was not ...

E.X.E.R.C.I.S.I.N.G. (good grief it's not easy to type periods after each letter. It's like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time)

So today, I resolve as I do every year to get in shape. This time I want you to hold me to it.

I'm going to walk every day (almost) and no more red meat. And chocolate only when it's completely necessary (there are those times... we all know it).

That's about it with the resolving. I'm ready for some to do lists! Bring it on!

Happy New Year!

(Image from Go Cake Go.)