CARPE DIEM!

Today is the day! I am heading down to The Store to get me an obscenely large Dr. Pepper, packing up all my products and fresh produce and heading over to my parents obsessively cleaned condo to take photos in their kitchen.

I wish that my best buddy Melissa from Tigerlily Photography was here to help me with some super funky fresh pro photos... but alas my little sony point and shoot and some serious photoshop work will have to do the trick for now.

Raising my 52 oz Cup of Happiness to the sky... SKOAL! Heres to a great photo shoot!

Revising the shop

Wow it has been a while since I posted anything about anything. I figured since I only have one follower it wasn't of much importance, but since I would like to start branching and sending my followers from twitter to my blog I better start blogging regularly.
This week I have spent many hours thinking of new ways to get traffic to my Etsy shop. I came to the realization that I am really an amateur when it comes to Etsy. My pictures are sad to say the least, yet I have had sales despite the bad photos. So, this week my husband will be helping me set up a little studio so that I can retake all the photos of my products. I was able to run out and get some fresh yummy looking produce to showcase my produce bags and grocery bags and I bought a HUGE sandwich to highlight my sandwich wraps. I am really hoping that this does the trick. I also need to redo my descriptions so that they are more friendly and less abrasive. In the rush to get my stuff posted I didn't think too much about how I was describing my products and just wrote some short and sweet descriptions.
I would seriously benefit from anyone who has more experience than I do on the subject and if you have suggestions PLEASE feel free to make comments.

Thanks!

COMING SOON!

COMING SOON... Reusable snack bag/sandwich wrap sets with a new spongebob theme, spiderman and select floral corduroy fabrics. Also, I will be posting some reusable shopping bags in fun halloween fabrics that can be used as trick-or-treat sacks. I have recently been eyeing some ballerina fabric that I thought would be PERFECT for all those little dancers to put their dance clothes, shoes and other items in, so let me know if that is something anyone would be interested in. 

If you have a request for a bag or sandwich/snack bag set please convo me with a picture of the fabric and which product you would like made out of it and I will set up a private listing for you. 

All of my shopping bags are made from 100% cotton and are washer/dryer safe. The sandwich wraps and snack bags are made of select fabrics most of which are 100% cotton or 100% cotton corduroy. The liner is made of 100% PEVA liner. All of my fabric is pre-washed to reduce shrinkage.

At the end of the month I will be getting a fabric die-cutter that will allow me to cut shapes for quilt making. I will be posting quilting kits with patterns included and pre-made quilt tops so please remember to check back often.

If you like my stuff and would like to be the first to know when new products hit the shelves you may follow me in several different ways:

Twitter: @LilianGraceBags
Blog: www.liliangracebags.blogspot.com
Facebook: do a search for Lilian Grace Bags in the stores section

I would love to get to know my customers and would benefit from any suggestions you all may have. Thank you for visiting my shop and if you have any questions please feel free to convo me - I will get back to you ASAP. 

Super WOW!

Today I am feeling super excited! I got my first sale, and I am officially setting up my first review and giveaway thanks to Jessica at pudget1.blogspot.com. Her blog site is being featured in Woman's World national magazine for her twist on losing weight on a budget. Jessica will be reviewing my bags and will sponsor a giveaway of one of my new shopping bag sets.

I have to admit that I was feeling a bit discouraged about not having sold anything, thanks to Katrina (cousins are great) I have a renewed sense of confidence and went out and purchase MORE fabric for MORE bags. YAY! I guess I will be sewing and cutting ALL day today so keep checking my Etsy site for new arrivals.

Grey and Pink Tweed Buttercup bag

Here is the latest and greatest. This one took me a while to finish up, just because the fabric is thicker than the other stuff I have been using... my sewing machine had a hard time with the layers.  You may purchase this on my Etsy website liliangracebags.etsy.com.


It is made of Cotton/Poly/Wool Grey and pink tweed with a HOT pink satin lining. It features a cell phone pocket, 2 pen/pencil pockets and one all purpose pocket as well as a charcoal color snap fastener and hot pink piping for an accent.

New bags and things

Last night I worked on reusable sandwich wraps and snag bags till about 10pm. I also started this new purse which I am pretty excited about. I saw the fabric and just about died! I will be finishing that up and posting it for sale today. Who knew that sewing would be just time consuming work and harder than I thought too?

New items on my "to buy" list:

   more comfortable sewing chair

   table lamp that doesn't make the room heat up to 500 degrees

   cutting table

   a GOOD pair of scissors ;)

   thread and bobbin holder

I think that's it for now... if anyone was wondering what to get me for christmas... there ya go :)

Here are some pics of the new purse and lunch stuff. Just a side note...I made up a prototype for the sandwich wrap and put two pieces of bread in it... the bread has been in the sandwich wrap for TWO days and is still soft and fresh. So, they really do work. They both have a 100% PEVA liner which is supposed to be food safe, BPA free, biodegradable, waterproof and mildew resistant. The outer is made of 100% cotton. Turn inside out and wipe clean or hand wash in warm water and hang dry. 

Snack bag inside

snack bag outer

sandwich wrap inside

"Autumn Garden"

This bag is my newest creation. Don't let anyone fool you... the piping was a real pain! Then to top it off my button holer went wonky and I spent over an hour picking out the button hole. I am actually really please though with how it turned out. I was going to put a pocket in this, but that too ended poorly. I opted to just not have a pocket in this bag. 

Next on my list of todo items... get fabric sew-in labels so I can have a tag on my items. 

You may purchase this item for $25 dollars plus S/H at my Etsy store www.liliangracebags.etsy.com

Scissors

Today I have cut out 6 bags and all I have to say is NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF A GOOD PAIR OF SCISSORS. I spent all day switching between THREE pairs of scissors and a rotary cutter. 

A while ago I purchased a sharpener for my scissors and made the mistake of actually using it. All three pairs of scissors are now consequently dull and sort of chew through the fabric rather than cut smoothly. I have realized the importance of hiding your "good" pair of scissors from the kids because 1. they run off with them and NEVER return them, and 2. the paper they so lovingly cut their cards and crafts with dulls the blades of said scissors. 

The moral of the story is... buy good scissors - hide them from kids.

N

New bag set available!

This new bag set has a milk chocolate background and light blue flowers, it is lined with 100% cotton muslin and comes with 2 reusable produce bags - additional produce bags can be purchased for $2.00 a piece. You may view/purchase this set for $35.00 at my Etsy shop www.liliangracebags.etsy.com

I bought new fabric yesterday and am going to be cutting out purses for the rest of the afternoon, check back next week to see the new products.

Nicole

Sewing is a costly habit

Ok,  so I went to two different fabric stores and spent entirely too much money. Who knew sewing could cost so much even when 90% of the things you purchased were on sale!? I did, however find some really great combinations of fabric and am super excited to start working with them. I think that it could be a really bad thing that I have a fabric store just down the street from me. Pretty soon they will know me by name. 

Here are the fabrics I found today. I also found some great piping to go with.

Two new items for sale. You may visit my Etsy shop to purchase. You will get 2 bags for 20 dollars... groceries not included. :)
www.liliangracebags.etsy.com

Come see me on ETSY!

I now have an Etsy seller's account. Please feel free to visit my shop at liliangracebags.etsy.com.
Remember it's still new so I will be adding things frequently.

Nicole

Small "Summer Sunset" Buttercup Bag

This is my first bag for sale! I am selling it at a discounted rate because there is a small defect just above the button. This is a great bag! It features a small pocket for a cell phone and still has enough room for a wallet and some lipgloss.  This bag normally sells for $15.00, I will let you have it for $10.00 plus $4.95 for shipping and handling. Keep checking back as I have more projects I am finishing up today and will have more bags for sale this week. 


*Authorized seller of Buttercup Bags. Original pattern designed by Rae Hoekstra of made-by-rae.com. *


Buy Now at 35% off on Etsy!

Today, as I was selfishly thinking of ways I could increase my bag sales (which so far are ZERO) I came up with the idea of giving part of my proceeds to some charities that I would like to support. I decided on two charities that I hold close to my heart the first being the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Being a woman, I think that this one is a very important charity to contribute to and I found out that there is a fun way for people to donate called "Passionately Pink for the Cure". I will be making an assortment of pink reusable shopping bags & purses. I will choose a day, invite friends and family members, and we will have a PINK party to help fight breast cancer. I will have my bags up for sale that day, if you chose to you may purchase one and 10% of the proceeds will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. If you can not make the party, I will also have bags for sale online for one month that will also contribute to the donation. I think I will also have a giant penny jar at our party so that anyone who doesn't want to purchase a bag can put their loose change in the jar and contribute what they can. You may check out the website at www.passionatelypink.org

The other charity that I feel strongly about is the March of Dimes. This charity is involved in finding a way to prevent premature births and promote healthy pregnancies. I myself was born 3 months premature and also had one child who was premature. As of now there is no real way to determine whether or not a child will be born premature, just ways that are thought to  help prevent it. For this event I will be making baby quilts as well as the handbags and shopping bags, all will be sold online for one month and 10% of the proceeds will be donated to the March of Dimes charity. You may visit their website at www.marchofdimes.com.

I think that's it for now. Thanks for your support and encouragement!

Nicole

First Post!

I am not quite set up yet to start selling my bags yet. I have a lot of sewing to finish up. Today I was supposed to get the kids to clean out the office area so that I could get my sewing area organized (i.e. off the kitchen table), but motivation is slowing loosing ground and the desire to lay around "like a lazy poop" , as my daughter would say, is very quickly gaining on me. 

In the next couple days I will post pictures and set up paypal so that anyone who would like to buy a bag may. I am also working on getting a machine to allow me to cut quilt kits in under 15 minutes, which I will have for sale as well. I will also try to sew quilt tops for those people who would like the look of a handmade quilt but who don't have the time to piece a quilt. I will provide the tops and binding, you provide batting and backing fabrics. You may opt to bind the quilt on your own, or I will do it for an extra fee which will include binding and machine quilting your top. I will also be working on a partnership with someone who will be able to custom embroider shapes, names or characters to any item that I have for sale.

It is going to be an exciting journey! 

~ Nicole