My own little Giveaway...

Doing this huge giveaway with AK Studio & Design really

inspired me to reach out in my own way. I decided that at the end

of April, I would draw 3 winners from everyone following my blog, and let them pick one

of my handmade bags to keep. 

Well...

Today I drew those names.

Congratulations to...

Heidi Ogao

Amy Dickie

Lindsey Vest

I absolutely loved doing this giveaway and I can't wait until the next one.

If you didn't win anything this round... don't fret!

For the next few weeks I am offering

FREE SHIPPING!!!

for ANY item in my Etsy Shop! 

Use the coupon code FREESHIPPING.

Head on over and take a peek!

Thank you so much for all the Love and Support! I really love my business and I love sharing my creativity with anyone willing to see. 

Oh Etsy...

I Finally Joined...

That's right. I am officially available to all my peeps.

Near and Far.

Etsy is a wonderful website.

I Love it already. So far, I have added a few items. 

I plan to add more VERY soon.

It is amazing what modern technology can 

help us accomplish.

Among being able to offer my handmade goodies all over the world,

I am also conquering the Wasatch Front. 

Yesterday, I spoke with Heather, 

from Liberation boutique, 

and needless to say,

SHE IS A DOLL!

We made plans to meet tomorrow (wednesday) where she will

pick some of my bags to sell in her shop.

HOORAY!

For those of you familiar with the Utah area, her shop is located in Sandy on

1300 East across the street from Gold's Gym.

I am so looking forward to meeting her and showing her what I have to offer.

I cannot say enough how much I really love to sew and quilt. 

I have come so far and

I still have a long way to go. 

I love being able to create something beautiful and useful and

share with those around me.

I find inspiration in everything I see.

I am looking forward to sharing my goodies with local shops in my area and with

other artists across the world wide web.

Expanding....

I have been 

BUSY BUSY BUSY 

making bags these last couple of weeks 

(hence the neglect in blog posts.) 

BUT! I do have some pictures to make up for it...

I am experimenting more and more with new elements like ribbon and buttons. 

It's been fun and it just makes each bag more unique.

 I am getting in touch with some boutiques 

throughout the Wasatch front. 

I am meeting next saturday with 

Liberation Boutique, 

in Sandy, Ut. 

Hopefully you'll be able to find my products at an array of shops all along northern utah.

I am starting to learn more about the blogging world. 

I have expanded my horizons with a new 

flickr account,

 and a facebook page. 

It is amazing how easy modern technology makes it to connect with

people!

My Tags Came!!!

I finally got my tags in the mail!!! 

After 1 long month of LITERALLY counting down the days, I was definitely jumping for joy when they greeted my grinning face in the mail box.

(Please Excuse my non-manicured hands... I prefer the "labor" look.)

I am ecstatic just thinking that I am one step closer to becoming as established as I would like to be.

One month is a long time to wait for something to arrive.

Trust me.

Here is what I did in the mean time to keep myself busy....

Pieced my own rendition of the Boo Davis quilt "Hootenanny"

Boo Davis is one of my absolute favorite quilters, um.... basically EVER! I absolutely love her style and if you are interested in learning how to quilt, I highly recommend her book Dare to Be Square.

It is a GREAT book for starting quilters because the designs are friggin sweet, and very simple because they only use 90 degree angles (minus the one tiny beak).

If you want to quilt, and you want your quilts to be sweet, start with that book.

I also designed matching pillows...

In other news...

Spring semester of 2010, I took a class up at weber state called Text and Textile. 

It consisted of writing, and hand-dying fabric. Amazing right? Well, throughout this class I dyed a ton of fabric but couldn't ever figure out what to do with it. I kept it all, being too afraid to cut it up, knowing that I could never again duplicate that fabric. But, I just had to tell myself that it was just fabric and it would be much more enjoyable to look at if it was made into something. So, I started making my little bags with it. I took them to a boutique, and the professor from my class, Judy, saw my hand dyed bag and now wants to by at least 10 more!

I was so stoked to hear this, so I started getting all the supplies ready, but again, I couldn't finish them without including my tag. So, the day my tags got here...

TAH DAAAHH!!!!

Here are the first 10 in my hand dyed fabric set. 

I hope she enjoys them as much as I enjoyed making them. 

Sneak Preview

I am working on a new line of bags this spring, and I'm quite excited about it to say the least. I have been exploring a lot of different fabrics lately, and I think so far, this is one of my favorites. Here is a sneak peak of what is to come in the next few months....

OOH! I'm so excited! 

Some other exciting news...

I recently ordered custom made fabric tags from a great website called namemaker.com. Check it out, its a great site for customized tags and gift wrapping supplies. I can't wait to get my new tags and I will be sure to show them off the DAY they come. 

It feels really good- having a plan and becoming more established. Another niche I have been involved in for the passed year is designing computerized quilting designs. I really love designing them, and I have even started selling them on the internet. You can see what I've got so far here.

-Kar

A Little Glimpse.

I thought it would be fun to showcase a few- and I really do mean just a few, I have been working hard and I wasn't able to fit even a quarter of all the pictures in this "glimpse" of pictures.

I'm realizing that it is really interesting to look at the pictures of some of my earlier bags compared to the ones I made just yesterday. I love seeing how much I improve over a period of time, and I love trying to polish the process of these fine pieces. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy making them.

Moving Forward...

I have been thinking a lot about the direction I would like to take with my work. It seems as though my mind's most productive hours of the day are also the hours that my body is begging for sleep. As I lay there, contemplating which fabric to use next, which thread to explore, the one thing I know for sure is that I must do something. I must keep moving forward. Life can get busy. But with it being the start of two-thousand and eleven, it is time to make priorities, and stick to them. I know that sounds like just another cliche its-time-for-new-years-resolutions quote. But I think those efforts wouldn't still be around after all these years if there wasn't any validity. I will keep them valid. This year is going to be great.