dreaming of hearts

 

Valentine’s Day became even sweeter in our house when our sweet smilin’ Rylie was born 10 years ago. The anticipation of this day each year now has me dreaming of hearts and the color pink like never before. So Friday night, when I found myself with some time to sit down and sew I couldn’t wait to make some little girl bags, like I used to make for her (she is WAY too cool for them now!).

I also was wanted to make a jersey scarf I could wear that wasn’t overtly Valentine (quite a bit more subtle than the sparkly heart shirt I wore last year!).

 

Check out my ETSY site for little girl bags and red, white and pink jersey scarves made just in time for Valentine delivery AND, be sure to watch facebook this week for a jersey scarf giveaway!

tis the season

Pumpkin spice candles are burning, frost on the roof, the heat just kicked in… it just makes me want to bake! Made some YUMMY gluten free banana chocolate chip muffins this morning to greet this beautiful day and thought, hmmm… finger mitts – the perfect giveaway for today! Leave a comment on the blog or facebook with YOUR favorite thing to bake and you will be entered for a chance to win these cuties (see below!). Winner will be announced at 3pm CST today on facebook!

 For the gluten free fans out there, here is my quick and easy fix for banana bread muffins – enjoy!

Banana Bread Muffins with Chocolate Chips

1 package of Gluten Free Pantry muffin and scone mix

2 eggs

1/4 c. oil

1/2 c. milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 c. mashed bananas

1/2 c. mini chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together and fill 12 cupcake liners 3/4 way full. Bake for 15 minutes at 350. Easy peasy!

new journey

A new journey is underway. I am not sure where it will take me, but I am ready. A press release is going out at Noon today and I wanted to share the news with you first. I have been so aware (but denying) that my heart is just not into Bagolitas anymore. I miss philanthropy, community and feeling a great sense of purpose each day. BUT, I love to create. So what to do? I finally have settled on a solution and am so excited to open myself up to new possibilities. It’s a win win. Read on!

PRESS RELEASE 10.19.2012

First and foremost, I just wanted to take a minute to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support and interest in Bagolitas. SO hard to believe that it has already been over 7 years since I opened my home to show off my creations. If you have been following Bagolitas through the years, you are well aware of the rollercoaster ride of explosive growth through direct sales and rapid downsizing with the economy to a soft landing back in my home.

 

While I felt so incredibly blessed to be able to hang onto a piece of the company that I dearly, dearly love, I can’t shake what my heart is telling me – God is calling me to something new. The final push I needed was a book called Crazy Love by Fancis Chan. It is an inspiring book, calling us to live a radical, love-motivated life, fully surrendered to God. I was paralyzed after reading it the first time, trying to decipher what that looks like for my life. After reading it a second time and not wanting to let go, it is time.

 

BUT, it’s not exactly over. I love creating, love sharing what I create and think that is still an important part of who I am. Luckily, there is a brilliant solution called ETSY. It is a community of 400,000+ online stores of crafty people like myself. By moving over to ETSY, I can eliminate all of the overhead cost of keeping up my website. Hooray!

 

Because of my savings, I’m passing it on to you; FREE SHIPPING on all orders – 24/7! New items are already waiting, including toothfairy pillows and hot iron holders. Check it out: www.etsy.com/shop/BAGOLITAS

 

Moving to ETSY means that I will no longer have an email database, so this is the last email correspondence that you will be receiving. If you would like to continue our journey together, I would be thrilled! There are 4 ways to do that:

 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bagolitas

“like” the Bagolitas fan page on facebook and be part of this community of amazing people. There are over 2000 fans already out there to take advantage of seeing all of the new arrivals, being eligible for giveaways and to hear what’s going on in Bagolitaville. First giveaway is next Friday!

 

My Blog: www.fortheloveofhandbags.wordpress.com

I never write as often as I would like, but love sharing what is inspiring me, what I am working on, stories from life, recipes and talking about faith. Subscribe and new posts will come right to your email.

 

Email:

Not on facebook? No worries! Just send me an email (janice@bagolitas.com) with subscribe in the subject line and I will email you directly when there are new arrivals. Be sure to add my email address to your contacts!

 

A New Adventure!

The Iowa City Community Hunger Project:

www.facebook.com/iowacitycommunityhungerproject

 

“like” our facebook page to keep tabs on the project, happening June 7-8, 2013. Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed the poor. Proverbs 22:9

 

My small group from church is taking on this project and will be recruiting 500 volunteers and raising $22,000 to provide 100,000 meals for Feed My Starving Children. So exciting!

 

I am both honored and humbled that you have been part of this journey and look forward to all that is yet to come!

 

With gratitude,

Janice

nothing sweeter

My sweet cousin, Mel, is getting married in October. I absolutely love that making handbags allows me to give a truly unique gift, so I was thrilled when she let me make her a clutch for her special day.

She wanted something that she could wear beyond the big day (she’s savvy, too!). We added a touch of her wedding colors (eggplant accent) and added a wristlet strap.

BUT, the frosting on the cake was looking up as I was about to get started and seeing the spool of black thread I saved from our Grandma Sunshine’s sewing machine. It was just enough to make her bag. Nothing sweeter!

space hogs

Just read the book Miss Minimalist: Inspiration to Downsize, Declutter and Simplify. Am now HORRIFIED and the amount of stuff we have (and I was already a purger!). This morning I had a window of time where we had a service person come and I didn’t want to get into sewing mode so I tackled 1 quick decluttering project, all the pens and pencils. I mean seriously, 2 different drawers did not close without a wrestling match because of these innocent, unassuming space hogs. I am certain I still need to cut what I kept in half, but here is what is heading out. Woot woot! Next on the list, the tupperware cupboard…

If you had a window of time, what overstuffed drawer or closet would you tackle?!

coming soon

Traveling to Costa Rica this past week FUELED the itch I had to replace my Bernie* bag with something new. You, too?

I finally sat down to create my dream bag, pulling features from the old Boston* bag like the handles (love them!) and the scoop top between the handles to allow for plenty of arm room, the outside pocket and then I added fabric panels stitched together for a more sophisticated look. For sizing, I stuck fairly close to Bernie’s spacious measurements and made it just a little bigger (13″w x 12″h @ tallest point x 4″d). Can it be too big?!

It is tucked away in this photo, but I went crazy and added a messenger strap so when it was loaded down and my shoulder was tired I could give myself a break. HOWEVER, the bag is a wee big to throw cross body (a lot too big) so I am throwing that feature out. I know, bummer… maybe you can convince me to keep it? I hope you love it as much as I do, because it will be one of the new sizes offered this season, which will kick off NEXT WEEK!

*For those that aren’t familiar with the “B” named sizes of the direct sales days, my apologies!

for the love of FABRIC!

I can hardly stand it! After a year of working diligently to use up so (so,so,SO) much fabric that I could be buried in it, I have room on my shelves for more… at last! Nothing gets creative juices flowing like NEW!

My first big shopping spree was on vacation in Northern MN. Shocking to most, there is a hidden treasure for fabric lovers in Black Duck, MN, called Anderson Factory Outlet. The work that Anderson Factory does produces LOTS of scraps from high end fabrics – too small for most, but perfect for purses!

Here’s a peek of the haul that I made!

New sizes with these delicious fabrics will hit the website in September. Expect more ruffles and artistry put into these one-of-a-kind bags, along with the standard collection of fringed bags and bright NEW fabrics for all of the gifts and accessories.

And just in case you haven’t heard, room is needed on my shelves for all the new bags which equals SALE! The remaining bags on the site have been marked down 40% – only a few remain, so grab them while you can!

happy birthday, bagolitas!

It is so hard to believe, but it has already been 7 years since the Bagolitas journey began! It has been a WILD ride – but I wouldn’t change a thing. I loved the years of explosive growth, the stories from people that were redefined through Bagolitas and the amazing friendships and people I have met along the way.

What a great place to land after the wild ride… at home, makin’ bags. I’m so grateful for your love, encouragement and support. I can’t tell you how many times a note of encouragement came at just the right time to help me keep going and to make my safe landing possible. My love and thanks to all of you! xoxo

just do it

Hello ladies!

I hope this finds you LOVING the summer, it is here! We are wrapping up our efforts to fill seats at the Women of Faith Conference in DesMoines, and nothing would make me happier that to have your smiling faces there, getting a HUGE does of God’s infinite love for you! I have so many great books and devotionals from the conferences in the past that I try to dive into as often as I can to tide me over until I can get back to the conference and fill my heart up. If you are feeling empty, that your connection with God is missing or weak, or you just need to do something for YOU, I can’t think of a better way to ignite your soul than spending this AMAZING weekend together. http://www.womenoffaith.com/events/des-moines

The conference is Friday, August 24th (7-10pm) and Saturday, August 25th (9am-5pm). We have about 50 seats left to fill and the time is now – if you feel that tug that God might be calling you to attend, just do it and work out the details later. Trust in HIM and email me at gottaquestion@bagolitas.com to register.

For those of you that do not live near Iowa, there are conferences all over the country and a seat waiting for you, too! xo

gettin’ crafty. again.

Dilema. So many ideas running like crazy through my head on things to create. Problem. I keep feeling inspired, but never sit down and just make something. Solution. Just do it!

So yesterday it finally happened. I went into my little Studio in my basement and instead of feeling like I need to make something for the website, I just got 1 idea out of my head and into reality. It was so much fun. SO much fun! I love (am slightly obsessed?!) with ribbon. Honestly, it’s more than ribbon… fabric, paper, yarn, pens, clothes. Anywho – I have a BIG BIN of rolls (Hobby Lobby LOVES me!) and lots of overage from making various invites for events.

In my head, I knew that I wanted to try to make Ribbon Trim with all the leftovers I’ve been hanging onto and the rolls from the big bin. I am quite certain my route to the end product was more complex than it needed to be, but I grabbed a piece of leftover bias tape to  use as my anchor and began pinning all the ribbons to it. I tried to make a layer of shorter ribbons on each side and then layer some longer loops on top of them so when I folded it together to create the final trim, it flowed out the top like a waterfall.

Once I had the 18″ I needed heavily covered in ribbon loops and folded together, I straight stitched (very slowly with all those pins!) the bias together to secure all of the ribbons in place. Then I pinned the ribbons I missed the first time around and did a final zigzag stitch to make extra sure everything would stay in place. SUPER long process, but the end result was oh so cute!

At this point, the kids got home from school. (What?! You are home already?!) I couldn’t bear the the though of walking away so close to the end product, so I appeased them with food and went back at it. I decided with all that color in the trim to go for a neutral black bag with a black and white gingham strap and interior. 20 minutes, 1 sibling fight and 6 nerf gun disks shot at me later, it was finally done. SO precious!