U-Handbag Tutorials

I'm sure many handbag makers are familiar with Lisa Lam and U-Handbag and her blog. I came across her website a few years ago when I started my bag making adventure. At the time, she posted great tutorials and tips. Now she's the author of "The Bag Making Bible" and is penning a second book.

Anyway, if you've wanted to learn how to make a variety of bags, check out her free tutorials and blog that she still posts on (she also has other tutorials you can purchase). They are really easy to use and very clear! Click here to see!

CRAFT ON TAP - Mingei International Museum

Last week I received an email from the Mingei International Museum (well, a person from the museum) about an event they have called "Craft on Tap." Mingei celebrates "art of the people" and has wonderful exhibits on folk art, craft and design. Here's a little bit from their website:

The word mingei, meaning 'art of the people,' was coined by the revered Japanese scholar Dr. Sōetsu Yanagi by combining the Japanese words for all people (min) and art (gei). Yanagi's teachings awakened people to the essential need to make and use objects that are unfragmented expressions of head, heart and hands.

Established in 1978, Mingei International Museum collects, conserves and exhibits these arts of daily use - by anonymous craftsmen of ancient times, from traditional cultures of past and present and by historical and contemporary designers.

This particular event hosts craft food, beer, art and local artisans (me!).

Here are some pictures of my display area (shared by other San Diego Etsy Artists).

Do you stumble?

So, my latest online adventure is learning the ropes with StumbleUpon. I'm going to be honest, I don't completely get the point. But alas, I do find myself clicking the "Stumble" tool bar when I'm bored to see what pops up. I'm having a hard time refining it to things I love... so far it's things that I kinda like. Maybe I should start using the "thumbs down" too!

I also try my best to send in recommendations... but I never know what to write for the review, or what tags would be best. I guess it's all practice!

How do you use SU?


On an interesting note, here are some stats on SU found on their blog:

• Stumbling increases very quickly in the morning commute hours, and mobile plays a big part in that – during this time, mobile stumbling is 70% higher than the daily mobile stumbling average.
• There is an inverse relationship between what gets stumbled during work hours and what gets stumbled in the evening. Some of the most popular topics during work hours are Cars, Technology, and Health. Some of the most popular topics stumbled at night are Relationships, Philosophy, and Babes.
• There are clear gender differences with many topics on StumbleUpon: e.g., men strongly prefer topics like Babes and Cars, and women strongly prefer topics like Beauty and Fashion.
• Users stumble at work only 20% less than off the clock. But users still stumble once every 3 minutes on average while at work.
• Men stumble later at night than women

There are also some great charts and statistics on the full article if you want to check it out.

Coin Purses

My new venture for my shop is coin purses! I've made four of them for now... I'm still deciding on the right size for them. Here's a little preview of what they look like and I will posting them to my shop in the next week.

How to Care for Your Clutch...

So now you own a lovely Simply Clutch purse… how do you care for it? Let’s start with some common sense...

Everyday care

• Don’t use your clutch when it’s raining outside (unless you will be strictly indoors).
• Avoid leaving your clutch laying on grass, flooring, or even on a table where wine or food can easily spill or splash on it.
• Keep the clutch in the dust bag with the pillow insert so it will keep its form and shape while you are not using it.
• If you take your clutch on a trip and it gets crunched or wrinkled, you can iron it. Set the iron on the silk setting for silk (or cotton) with some distilled water. The steam will help get those wrinkles out. Be gentle when ironing. It might help to open the mouth of the clutch and insert it on the narrow end of the iron so you can steam one side and then the other.

Stains

Oh no! Something stained my clutch! How do I clean it?

• First, empty the contents of the purse.
• If the stain is not too bad, use warm water and a few drops of detergent for delicates (like Woolite® or baby detergents) and dab at the stain gently. Try not to rub the stain as that can cause it to spread and wear down the fibers (especially silk).
• If your clutch it cotton, you can get away with trying a stain remover if it’s a heavy stain. But please be careful! Use just a little and again blot the stain as you go.
• If the stain is heavy, severe, or on light colored silk, consider taking it to a dry cleaner. I would highly encourage you to be mindful as to what dry cleaner you go to. Dry cleaners use a chemical called perchloroethylene or “perc,” which is really bad for the environment (classified as a Toxic Air Contaminant). There are dry cleaners that use a different process (like Hangers Cleaners) that have environmentally safe cleaning technologies (they use carbon dioxide, GreenEarth cleaners, and provide wet cleaning, which is the safest professional cleaning type). Here is more info on the process that Hangers Cleaners uses – try searching for environmentally friendly cleaners near you.

(click on the image to read it)

Here’s an old article from The Wall Street Journal that has other suggestions for cleaners at the end.