Denial & Ode to Summer

I think we must seriously be in denial about Fall and Winter coming. We have been putting together the Fall Line for Teresamia and everything just keeps coming out so summery ... we can't stop! Recently, Christina sent me a bunch of drawings for some new bags. One was the inspiration for the "sunshine" bag.

Summer is just too fun: swinging on swings in the park, trips to the zoo, sprinklers, homemade juice popsicles, picnics in the backyard, BBQ-ing, garage sales, family camping trips, lemonade, flip flops and pedicures, beach trips, bonfires, fresh fruit and plaid shorts. Ah! Summer is melting into Fall ...

Nie Recovery

One of our favorite online companies, Shabby Apple, is hosting an online auction to help the family of plane crash victim, Stephanie Nielson. If you would like to be a part of this check out Shabby Apple's Blog and auction:

http://www.shabbyapple.blogspot.com/

Or directly donate whatever you'd like to the Nie Recovery PayPal account:

I LOVE Halloween

Halloween is my favorite holiday besides Christmas. Halloween is very close to my birthday so, growing up I had dress up parties. Now I am an adult and still want to dress up, but it looks weird to dress up on Halloween and go grocery shopping or show up trick-o-treating with my 2 year old as a tiger ... people just look at you strangely and it takes all the fun out of wearing a headband with tiger ears on it and a tail ...

Everyone has Christmas parties and December is such a crazy busy month anyway, so that's out. Thanksgiving is not a month to hold parties, cuz everyone travels to be with family and it's more of a family holiday and everyone thinks Halloween is a kid holiday! Nobody thinks of holding a dress up party for adults! I LOVE IT! I always write on my invitations: "costumes are required".

Anyway, so my husband and I decided to start hosting an annual adult Halloween Party. I got the idea from my older sister. I spend months trying to figure out how to transform my home into an evil lair or a haunted old mansion. And picking out the food is as important to me as the decor - it's not fun to go to a party unless there's some awesome treats!!! So I thought I'd pass on a few links to my favorite Halloween ideas and websites ... you should start a tradition too!

Halloween Food
Spooky Tree Centerpiece
Tombstone Brownies
Glitter Tombstones

Of course, Martha Stewart is a bounty of knowledge and ideas ... here are some favs:
Orange Jack-o'-Lanterns with Sorbet
Pumpkin-Gingerbread Ice Cream Sandwiches
Papier-Mache Pumpkins

The year I was pregnant with my first little boy, I had to come up with a Halloween costume and I was almost 8 months pregnant and huge!!! This is what we came up with: 3 Peas in a Pod

frank bag

So ... I called Christina the other day and said, "I need to come up with a few more Halloween bags, what should I do?" We threw around a few ideas and she asked what cool amterial I had lying around. I pulled out some purple velvet, shimmering silver polyester, lime green, shimmering black, and a bunch of fleece. I don't know how it inspired her, but Christina blurted out "How about Frankenstein?"

I asked how the heck I'd pull that off and she started describing shapes to me, "The hair is like upside down grass, you know, all spikey and the face is like a rounded rectangle ...". I kept her on the phone until I had it all cut out, then hung up and went to work. And we came up with the "frank" bag. I love Halloween!!!

littlemiddlesister

My friend, Suzanne, has the cutest line of clothing for little girls that she sells on etsy.com, so I thought I'd share it! Suzanne and I are friends from college. She and I sang the lead role for Carmen (the opera) together, except I was her understudy - she is amazing - as a person and as a singer!

She and her husband are in the process of adopting and in an effort to off-set the cost of adopting, she started this etsy shop. It's a worthy cause, supports a wonderful woman and they are the cutest little girl clothes!!! It's really a shame I only have little boys! Maybe someday ... check her out!

mia bag

So ... I was talking to my husband a few nights ago and asking his opinion of the bags I was making lately. I asked if he had a favorite and he did! He said he really liked "sunset" and suggested I make another one that was the same style. I always ask for my husband's opinion about bags and purses and then I'm always surprised and totally laugh when he actually has input for me.

Anyway, so I found just a little of this flower print cotton left over from a yoga bag I made for my sister, Christina, and I LOVE it, so I used it.

What's funny about this design is that it is the most popular style of bag that Teresamia has ever created, and yet it was a comlplete mistake! I was trying to make a bag with handles as a fluid part of the bag (not sewn on seperately), but it was a hideous mistake and so I just cut the handle parts off and I was left with this very strange, long, shallow purse. I didn't know what to do with the remains, so I started brainstorming. I decided to add a drawstring effect on either side of the bag to make it shorter and added ties to make it cute. Then I put on some handles to cover the stitching left from the scrunchy drawstring portion and viola! Our most popular style was born! The Fall Line has this style bag in three different fabrics - and it always turns out fun and cute with all the ammenities people are looking for (magnetic snap closure, cool, cute and bright fabrics, and a cell phone pocket).

Anyway, thanks for the insight Daniel and here is the "mia" bag!

Colette Kids

I recently came across the coolest little website for kids' clothing. I loved the simple, cute designs on each tshirt and onesie and to top it off, they are environmetally concious too - made from USDA certified organic cotton in the USA. Anita, the graphic designer/mommy-to-be, and I have shared a few email converstaions and she's cool too - she's from the Bay Area just like Christina and me! Good luck and three cheers for Colette Kids. Check it out!

http://www.colettekids.com/

jane bag

This little girl bag was inspired by my little neice, Taylor. I made her a bag similar to this one for Christmas last year. Taylor is a total girl! She loves purses and "bling" (jewelry) and dolls.

She was such a cute, chubby infant that we started calling her "Fat Taylor" ... then Christina's little boy tried to say Fat Taylor and it came out as "fat tator", so that's her little nickname. She'll probably hate it when she's 20 and at college and bringing home her first boyfriend to meet her family and we all call her "fat tator". That's not gonna fly. But for now, she's "fat tator" to us and we love her and I miss her - she lives too far away - come visit us again Taylor!! Aunt Fran misses you!

tracie bag

I was talking to Christina on the phone about a week ago and she was all excited about pleats! We started discussing the design and then I started searching through my fabric to find an interesting fabric that would stand alone with this kind of design. I came across this pink and brown vintage style fabric.

I don't even remember where I picked this fabric up, but it always reminds me of my friend, Tracie. Tracie is the most fashionable woman I have ever met! She was wearing leggings and leopard print heels 2 years ago before anyone else was wearing leggings and I loved it! I loved her funky style - chunky, long necklaces, brooches, orange sweaters, black leggings, polka-dotted galloshes and leopard print heels - so fun!

She used to nanny for an executive that worked for a well known clothing line. The executive loved Tracie's style, as I do, and would sometimes base designs in her professional line off of clothes Tracie wore to nanny in! Tracie and I spent time together at play dates for our kids and then sadly, she moved away about a year ago.

But before she moved, she came over and looked at some of my bags in my studio at home. At the time I was making a large diaper bag out of this same pink and brown vintage style fabric and she fell in love with it and asked for me to let her buy it when I was finished making it. Now, everytime I see this fabric I think of my stylish friend, Tracie and I miss her!

This tracie bag is an ode to her!

Caramel Corn

My husband and I try to do Family Nights every so often and last Friday we held one. It was a blast! We spread out an old quilt on the front room floor, ordered pizza, made caramel corn and watched "Aristocats" that we borrowed from our local library. But because I am so food-oriented, my favorite part was the caramel corn! My sisters and I share this awesome micrwave recipe for caramel corn and I thought I'd share it with you - enjoy!

CARAMEL POPCORN

4 quarts popcorn (popped)

1/2 c. butter1 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. corn syrup

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1. Put butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and stir in 1/2 tsp. of baking soda.

2. Put popped popcorn in a brown paper bag (grocery store size) - I double bagged it - add the sweet melted syrup from the saucepan into the bag. Shake and put entire bag in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes. Take out of microwave and shake. Microwave one more time for 1 1/2 minutes. Shake. Pour into a bowl, let it cool and eat!

daniel bag

I'm all about recycling and re-using, so when my husband, Daniel, decided to downsize his closet full of clothes, I could not just let him toss them in the trash . So we offered the clothes to a few friends and widdled down the pile of clothes to a few shirts and a pair of khakis. It's so sad because the last few shirts left were ones I picked out and bought for Daniel and he hardly wore them and then wanted to throw them out ... oh man .... anyway, I decided to hang on to them and I threw them in with my fabric storage.

I sat down on Monday and had some time to sew and thought I'd like to make another boy bag, so I started rifling through my massive storage of fabric. I came across this blue striped shirt and Daniel's khakis and thought they'd be perfect for boy bags. I wanted to keep some of the elements of the clothes they came from to emphasize the recycling factor, plus it's just cool.

So the blue shirt bag kept the collar buttons and the khaki bag kept the back pocket. I think it gives the bags more character to know they came from someplace other than a simple bolt of fabric, don't you think??

naomi bag

I was inspired to make this bag from a little girl I saw on Sunday. I teach music on Sundays to kids at church and there in the front row is this adorable girl named Naomi. She was wearing this awesome batik-style dress that was colorful and flowering, it was just so bright and fun.

So on Monday as I was looking through some fabric I saw this fabric I had forgotten about. It is cotton canvas and has the look of hand painted flowers on it. It was so bright and cool and flowerful that it reminded me of Naomi and I thought I'd make a little girl bag from this material I stumbled upon.

I have wanted to do a tie top bag for a while, ever since I saw my friend, Shari, wearing one a few years ago. It looks cute and casual, and adds interest to an otherwise standard looking bag. And that's how this "naomi" bag came about!