I'm so grateful.....

I want to give special thanks to all my customers and new friends who visited me and made a purchase this summer at the Chesterton European Market! I am so grateful to you for your kind words and purchases....and I hope you continue to like the item or items you purchased from me.

Because this summer has been so successful, I really haven't had the time to add to the blog, or to post new items on Etsy....everything has been selling so quickly!

The next event I'll be doing will be the Celebration of the Arts show at the Schoolhouse Shop in Furnessville, just north and east of Chesterton. This is the 19th year for the annual show, and I'm honored to be part of it!

Yes, I'll have more wine

I'm on this mission to start a world-wide trend: to have everyone use a fabric wine bag when giving a gift of your favorite vino! Makes so much sense....much better presentation than a paper bag, adds a touch of elegance to your gift...and the bag is meant to be re-gifted!

At the markets this year, about one-fourth of my sales have been from wine bags. Aaahhh...trend is building. Last spring I shopped for fabrics that I thought would sell for this type of product. I found a couple of prints with wine bottles or glasses, a couple of spring/summer floral prints, some sports fabrics. Seems to be working...someone will come in to buy one with a fabric from their favorite team, end up buying four...or five...or six.

Tell your friends! Spread the word! Drink more wine!!

Buttons anyone?

For some time now, I've wanted to start a photo set on my Flickr page that features all the buttons used on my purses. When I first started making the purses, I used the buttons and a loop for the purse closure; now that I use zippers for closure, the buttons are just the best decoration...kind of like jewelry adornment for the purse.

A few of the buttons I've used are shown on this blog post; to see the whole set, visit my Flickr page, and click on Buttons!