A Messenger Bag

Finished up this little number yesterday.

The fabric has been embellished with fabric paints to highlight the print in various places (again, for some reason this just doesn't show up in the pictures!)



It is big enough to carry my laptop computer in, and has a nice sturdy strap that doesn't cut into your shoulder when you carry it.



Since a laptop will fit in it, I figured the inside needed to have some extra padding, so the lining is a quilted fabric that I created with some fabric, a remnant of a batting and a muslin back.

There was a little piece of the gusset left, so I turned it into a pocket inside the bag!

This item, along with a lot of the other bags I have recently finished, will be going out on Etsy shortly.

Thinking Spring!

Finished this one up last night, and this mornings sojourn in the photo studio was not all that successful.

I promise to take better pictures of this one on Monday if I still have it after this weekend's show.

This is made out of a really spectacular upholstry fabric that I have done some embellishment beading on in the same colors as the fabric (which is why the pictures from this morning don't really show very well).

It is just one of those pieces that needs to be seen in person to be appreciated!

can you hear me now?

Aren't these cute?

Nice little bags for your cell phone to keep it from getting scratched. For those of us that have really small phones, there's probably room in the bag for a couple of other things too!

All of them made from remnants, beads and chain left over from other projects....fun

These will all be going to the Green Mountain High School Craft Fair this Saturday, so if you live in the Denver area, come on out to Lakewood and visit!!

A Dressy Fall Bag

After several weeks of working on this bag off and on, I finally finished it last night.





The bag measures 15 inches wide at the top and tapers to 9 inches wide at the bottom. It stands 8.5 inches tall and is 3 inches thick. The handles are long enough for the bag to be carried over your shoulder.


This bag is made of hand felted wool fabrics. The darker strips on the front were once part of a woven poncho, the rest of the fabric was once a winter coat.

The felt, braid and beads used for the embellishments were left over from other crafting projects.




The inside of the bag is a bright spring green fabric that was a remnant piece that has been in my "stash" for quite a while.

The bag has a magnetic closure, and sports my trademark "hand made" charm.

Like yesterday's leaf bag, the plan is for this bag to go to a show I'm doing next weekend -- unless of course someone lets me know before then that they want it!

Leaf Bag complete

Finished another tote bag yesterday!


This bag is made of a sturdy cotton fabric which I embellished with embroidery over selected portions of the print.

It is 16 inches tall, 10 inches wide and 6 inches thick.

It has a handy outside pocket.






The sturdy strapping is seamed into the bottom of the bag for secure lifting even with a heavy load inside.







The inside (and the inside of the front pocket) are lined with a lovely cotton fabric in a red/green/blue plaid.

This bag will be going to a show I'm doing next weekend. If it returns from there, I'll be listing it on my Etsy shop.

Bears run wild!

"Running wild, lost control..."

The bears made me do it (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!)



Finished this little number in record time! It just went together really easily.

This is the outside.....



This is a close up of some of the embroidery work.....



And this is the inside (line with bear print -- what else!?)

This little gem has been added to the Etsy Store, and is available for you to view more details by using
this link.

Enjoy!!

Etsy Shop is now open!

After several hours of mumbling and cropping and fiddling, I have finally opened a shop on Etsy where Mama Rose's Reincarnations will be available for you to purchase.

The first two items listed are:


The Bear Bag

and



The Pumpkin Bag


Yesterday I spent some time working on another bag, and while I was working on it, an idea for another once came to me, so there'll be new things often!

You can use the link at the top left of this page to get to the new shop.

Pumpkin Bag

In keeping with the fall season, this latest bag has a pumpkin theme.




The outside is made of 2 different sturdy (but flexible) fabrics that I picked up as remnants while I was in Springfield.

The inside is fabric that I had on hand.



The diagonal embellishment is made up of 2 different ribbons and some cording.

The gold pumpkin is leather and the other two are felt. All of them have glass bead stems and leaves.

This is intented to be used as a tote bag -- perhaps to hold a knitting project or a sketch book and pencils or a novel and a snack -- so it has no closure. It is 14 inches tall by 11.25 inches wide by 4 inches thick.




Meantime, this bag (which was actually the second one I did) is winging its way to California today to be entered as a possible item for publication in Haute Handbags a publication put out by Stampington Press. I love their magazines (especially Belle Armoire) and since they are doing this new bag one, I figured why not see if I can get some free press!

So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

a bag that's not for sale (but I'll take orders!)

This one is mine!

I've been using a very nice leather bag for years, but right now its just not big enough for me to put everything in that I need to carry.

So, I figured I should make a bag for me to use!!

As you can probably tell by the picture, this bag began life as a pair of jean shorts.

The bottom is a piece of felt that I made from an old woven poncho (I still have many pieces of this lovely stuff left!)

Since I wasn't planning to use the back pockets to put anything in, I gussied them up with lace and ribbon and the corner of a bandana handkerchef (I used the corner that says "made in the USA") as I stitched them closed.




I plan to use the front pockets for my cell phone and my keys, so I just decorated them with ribbons, buttons, beads, and added the "hand made" charm.

The "belt" is a piece of the leftover quilt binding I had created for a quilt I made last year.



And then there is the inside.....

There are actually 3 pockets (of different sizes) inside the bag, and the lining (as well as the strap) is made up of bits and pieces of fabric, most of it left over from that same quilt....

I'm looking forward to using this bag and finally having enough room for everything!

(and I'm hoping to attract a little attention to maybe sell a few too!)

Its a Bear Bag.....

actually completed while we were in Springfield to do our show.



The back is made of one fabric that was once a coat and one that was a woven poncho. The front is made of pieces of upholstry velour that were given to me by the daughter of a bear maker after her mother died.

The handle is more of those wood beads from the car seat cover from my mom.

and all the ribbon trim is from some sale ribbon that was in the bin of odds and ends



this is a close up shot of the zipper pull and the beading at the top edge. The little bear charm is part of a pair of earrings that lost its mate.





Check out this cute little bear face! The eyes and nose are buttons that had been removed from a piece of clothing before it was turned into rags. (that's where the zipper for the top came from too)

The ears are a fur fabric scrap from the tub of fur pieces.



The paw has bugle bead claws (the picture doesn't really show them)

On the whole this one came out pretty well. I will probably do the zippers in future bags in a slightly different way, tho'

The finished bag measures 10" wide by 9.5" tall by 2" thick. It is lined with a cotton fabric that has (what else) bears printed on it!

another bag complete

Just in time for this weekend's show in Springfield, MO, I finished this in the car on the way down!

This piece had a former life as a wool blanket, which I put through the washer and felted.

The lining is made up of three different fabrics -- one left over from the lining of a suit I made my daughter, one left over from the fabric of the blouse I wore for my daughter's wedding and a piece of cotton left over from a teddy bear costume.

The handle is made of wood beads that once were part of a bead car seat that my mom gave me when it started coming apart.



The felt pieces, cording and beads were all pieces left over from other projects.

Pretty good I think!

I also started in on a third bag while I was in the car. This one is brown and green tones with a teddy bear face and footprint as embellishment....its coming along nicely!!

The first completed piece.....

This is the first completed reincarnated piece!

It measures about 6 inches square and is about 1 inch thick -- just big enough for a cell phone, an ID and some other small items.

In its first life it was a pair of blue jeans. I used the back pocket and part of the back of the leg as well as the waist band.



Here's a close shot that shows the detail of the hand made felt heart with its bead embellishment.



And now that my charms have arrived, each of these pieces will have a tag like this one sewed onto it somewhere!

This piece will make its debut at this weekend's Cider Fest on Walnut Street in Springfield, MO. This is a little test to see if there is actually any interest in these items.

Launching a new enterprise

So, in my most Aries-like fashion of being excited about starting new things, this is the official launch of Mamarose's Reincarnations.

More and more I find that my art creation is focusing on reusing, repurposing, redesigning and rebuilding things that are readily on hand.

Perhaps we could consider this to be a kind of transition to "art as politics", and my work is beginning more and more to reflect my thought that we should be using what we have.

Right now I'm making a list of projects I want to tackle --- creating jackets out of cast off, oversized shirts; messanger bags made from old jackets; grocery totes woven out of plastic bags --- to name a few.

Whatever direction this goes, I'm sure it will be interesting!