Back to Normal

Whew!

I've been working on a few large projects.

One was that crazy magnet order... 320 magnets. They were being used as wedding favors. It took a few weeks, but with my husband & mother's help we pulled it all together.

Then I accepted a quest to make 5 foam bags for a piece of medical equipment. I finally finished the demo bag (just to make sure everything was the correct size) and I've got the official order to make 5.
That is a continuous thing I will work on, but the demo was the main hurdle to get over.



Now I'm trying to get back to normal.

I finished an actual m. ranae designs bag yesterday (the first in a month) and I'm looking into some craft shows for this year (I believe I have a November one set up already).

Hopefully, in the next few weeks I will meet with the Asheville Etsy Street Team group to plan our own show.

On top of all this, I've decided to start selling AVON. That I decided because I was having a hard time keeping an AVON Lady and I love, love, love AVON. All but one item in my makeup bag is AVON and I really like their jewelry. So... if you're in the area and want to look at a brochure HIT ME UP! I'm doing this to support my habit, but it can't hurt to sell some stuff to others.

That's the plan for now... to keep on working.

Oh! I am working so hard that it's time to hire a bookkeeper and possibly an Intern. More on that to come...

Belated Resolutions

Well, I'm a sucker for peer pressure.

All along the web I've seen people (bloggers and such) talking about their New Years resolutions, in the crafty sense. Some talk about all the things they want to accomplish and all the things they want to create. Others talk about things they'd like to avoid or things they'll change.

And I'm usually a firm believer that resolutions don't work. Blah, blah change... blah, blah diet... blah, blah bigger boobs.

But secretly, I've been finding my hate towards resolutions softening. I now see that a new year is like changing the sheets. It's so fresh and crisp and it smells awesome!
Plus, everyone else is doing it (don't worry, this never worked on me with smoking).

So here are a few of my resolutions. Some are personal, but most involve m. ranae.

-- Blog more. No surprises here... especially if you actually read my blog and wait patiently for the next post (which sometimes takes a while).

-- Upload to Etsy more frequently. It's a known fact that the more days you upload stuff to Etsy the more "seen" you are. I use to upload tons of things at a time... now I pace myself (like a seasoned runner... running, of which I know nothing about).

-- Do at least one craft show. This may be harder than I think, because you have to be accepted to do it. I was recently rejected... so maybe my rejection streak will continue. Nonetheless, I'm gonna try.

-- Keep track of my papers. I don't sell tons & tons of stuff, but the bit I do involves some paperwork. This year I'm gonna keep my files organized and easy to locate. Yay!

-- Keep track of my life. I'm forgetful and scattered and sometimes I don't have a clue what I'm doing. I have an iPod with all the right apps... I just need to use them.

-- Learn more about running a business. I feel the key to success is know your enemy. My enemy is bookkeeping and other business related voodoo. I bought a "Gardening for Dummies" book and now I can actually grow things. I plan on buying "Small Business for Dummies" and start growing my biz.

-- Play more Plants vs. Zombies. Nuff said. Really.

-- Get healthier. I take a lot of vitamins and I try to be conscience of what I eat and do. I got into the habit of exercising last year, but fell out of it. This year I'm gonna conquer exercising.

-- Perfect my art. Every day I get better and better are making my bags, wallets, pouches & such. But there is still room for improvement. There are still things to learn. So I'm gonna keep on keeping on.

Well that is it for now. I'm sure along the way I'll decide that exercising sucks, Plants vs Zombies is time consuming and it's more fun to play games on my iPod than work. But I'm a winner as long as I try to follow these resolutions

Eureka! Fabric Flowers!

So I had a dilemma...
My new Pockety Bag needed something.
What did it need? I did not know... but something.
The overall look was good, but something was missing.
Wait...
Wait...

Eureka!
I need a little flower! Yes, a cute little flower pinned to one side.

And I thought about it for a while... I honestly wasn't sure where to start making a flower. I messed with some ribbon and scraps of fabric, but I wasn't coming up with something I liked. I searched Etsy for awhile looking for brooches & fabric flowers. All were great, but I didn't want to jack up the price of my bag because I purchased something from someone else. I needed to figure out how to make one.

So I considered using someone else's pattern. After searching the internet I finally found a flower I could be proud of... Wise Craft's Flowers. There is a downloadable pattern and full instructions.

These were created by this awesome lady named Blair. She's even more awesome because she let me use the flower pattern on my bags. And I so, so thank her.

I made my first one... the yellow one for the bag and I loved it. Wise Craft even says in her blog how addicting they are... and they are. I ended up making four total that day, but as I type this I get the urge for more... one in every color!

Anyhow... the flower was what was missing from the bag. Now it looks awesome instead of just "great." This exact bag is now for sale on my Etsy. You can check out the rest of the Pockety Tote here. And check out Wise Craft's blog... it's one of the best crafty blogs out there... I swear. I'm not just sucking up 'cuz she let me use her pattern. She is super-crafty.

Happy Birthday m. ranae designs

Yay! I've been selling on Etsy for a year now! Woo!

And I haven't sold enough to quit my job, but it has reinforced how much I love making and selling stuff.
And I've grown so much in the past year. I get better everyday at sewing and being creative. I've learned a few tricks and I've found some great vendors for supplies.
I made up all kinds of different things... things that sometimes come to me when I should be sleeping (and then I want to get up to start making them).

Honestly, it's been good. I'm about to really dig my heels into Christmas and I'm hoping this next year is even more fruitful and exciting.

To celebrate I've discounted everything in my shop by 15% for the rest of the month of November... and I'm gonna add new stuff every week this month!

So check it out & keep in touch. I'll see you next year!

OMG!

So... I did something today on a whim.

Something that if I hadn't done it on whim, I might have chickened out and not have done it at all.

What was this crazy thing I did?

I applied for the December Big Crafty in Asheville.
GASP! OMG!

And since I've never done a show... I'm scared!
Of course, they may not pick me to do the show. Which means I can build my self up and try to do it again next year.
But still... I may get in. And that would mean that I was growing as a crafter. And that is always exciting!
OMG! GASP!

I will keep you updated!

New Stuff on Etsy

So my husband and I sat and lounged at the coffee shop this morning.
I brought my laptop and "worked" on adding some new stuff to my Etsy account.
Check it out! Here are some of the highlights!

My birthday loot!

Well, happy birthday to me! I'm pushing 30... but still young!
My family knows me well and they often get me crafty stuff for my birthday... this year I received some cash (cha-ching) and a gift card to a craft store (also cha-ching!).
So at the fabric store I bought the above: some purple suede, red denim, strippy cotton, blue linen & purple polyesther... I'm very excited about what they might become.

At the craft store I bought a corner embosser, some paper, lots of metal charms & chain, some more fabric and some stickers.
I've got big plans for the paper and I decided to use the charms as zipper pulls.
I just love birthday loot!! Thanks mom & grandma for supporting my crafty/fabric habits!

Happy Birthday Mom! a.k.a. Anatomy of New Bag Design :: PART TWO

Okay... so here's part two of my mom's birthday bag...
Now, where were we...

Here I'm marking where the zipper is gonna go in the inner pocket. This is a very fancy pocket... as you will see.



After sewing around the marks I made above, I cut a hole in the center of it and pulled the pocket through. This is what it then looks like... a big hole.



Now I pin the zipper into the hole.



Here is what it looks like from the back.



And then I sew it in. Doesn't it look nice?



Last part for the pocket, I add the back piece & sew it on.



Ta-da! A zippered pocket!




Next I pin in my label into the lining before I sew the two lining pieces together. Then I sew them together... my inner piece is done!



Now I sew the straps. After I turn them inside out, I add a touch of color to them with this topstitching.



Now for a little finishing touch... the button! I sewed it on and then I sewed on the elastic closure. It makes it quick & easy to open & close the main part of the bag. Plus, that button has tons of personality. Oh and by the way... I was gonna put a pink button on, but at last minute I changed it to a green.




Now I attached the finished straps to the lining of the bag after folding down the edge.



Okay... we're so close to finishing it! Here I insert the lining into the outer part of the bag. I poked myself with pins a lot here!


Next I pin my pretty, pink piping in between the lining & the outer part.


Nice! Now the lining is in & pinned with the piping. Lots of pins!! Again, here is proof I got poked a lot!



Very last step... I sew along the edge, sewing the three layers together. And it's all done!!




Looking nice, huh?! It was a nice looking bag in the end. I plan on making more for my Etsy account and I will call them DL Tote Bags. They're named after my mom, Debra Lynn.
Happy birthday mom!

Happy Birthday Mom! a.k.a. Anatomy of New Bag Design

Well first of all. Today is my mother's birthday! Yay!
And for her birthday I decided to make her a tote bag. As I was creating the bag in my head, I decided to document my journey so you can see how the bag came together.
So, here we go!

The first part is what inspired me. I really like this red bag because it was roomy and had great straps for slinging over your shoulder. But I liked the simplicity of this canvas book bag.
These two bags inspired my mother's bag. I imagined her using it to carry books around, since she likes to read.


































So next I picked out my supplies. The thing that grabbed me the most was this BRIGHT Elvis fabric. She loves Elvis, but I'm not so sure about bright colors. Nonetheless, I was not deterred. I decided to use the awesome Elvis fabric as a lining and then use a dull, muted black as the outside. The pink fabric I choose as an accent color which will show up as piping. The finishing touches is the bright green thread & zipper and the big, bright pink button.




























































































Next I started creating a pattern. The main reason for this step is so I can make another bag in the future if I like this one.
I decided on 16"x14" bag, but I think it ended up about 13"x15". I often make last minute size changes! The straps are about 22" long and I choose to have an inside zippered pocket and three large pockets on the outside.
















Of course, for the future... I marked the pattern pieces so I knew which was which!
















I turned the iron on next because I had to fuse on interfacing soon!
















Now I pin my pattern pieces to the fabric...














... and I cut it all out!




















And here's that part about the interfacing... I am fusing it on the straps, the four main pieces (lining & outer fabric) and on the inner zippered pocket. This makes it tougher!


















Now, for the fun part! I'm kinda joking about this...
I cut out strips of the pink fabric to create my piping.















And here's what the strips look like wrapped about the cord.















Next, I pin it in place...















... and then I sew it in place using a zipper foot. It's so, so tiny, but piping looks SO COOL on stuff I just couldn't leave it out of this project.
















Here I take my freshly made piping & attach it between the outer & lining pieces of the large outside pockets.















And after attaching, I turn it inside out.
















In this step, I attached the pocket to the main bag piece. I did this twice because I have large, outside pockets on each side of the bag.
















While sewing the other outside pocket on, I decided to include this little loop on the inner pocket. This is for hooking keys onto, so you don't have to search for keys inside this big bag! Nice, huh?
















Here is the exciting part where I sew the two outer pieces together (with their shiny, new pockets attached).
















Before I turn it inside out, I sew a little notch on each side at the bottom of the bag. This gives the illusion of a flat bottom, but eliminates the need for me to add another piece into the bag. It's mainly for looks.
















And ta-da! The outer layer!
















See my next blog for the rest of the bag... you're so excited huh?!!