.................................................................................................................. BLOG .

Red rover, red rover....

...please bring some chocolate over!

...golden origami birds...

I made this list...

 

Etsy Project Embrace: for the fight of cancer

As some of you may know, my father-in-law Wayne lost his battle with cancer last year. His amazing life devoted to the service of others, gigantic heart with a smile to match, and an incredible child-like curiosity of any and all things made the rest of us who knew him pale in comparison. What an incredible loss for ALL the lives he touched. He will be missed...

In honor of Wayne's memory and legacy, I have recently become part of  Etsy Project Embrace. "Etsy Project Embrace (EPE) is a Universal Coalition of Artists whose main purpose is to create awareness and support for people who have been diagnosed with Cancer, whatever kind it may be." Proceeds from some of my handbag sales will be donated to the American Cancer Society, ACS, for cancer research.

Please check to the links below to find out more about...

Etsy Project Embrace: http://team.etsy.com/viewteam.php?id=685 & http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6296896&page=1

Donating to the ACS: http://teamacs.acsevents.org/site/PageServer?pagename=tacs_FY09_homepage

My qualifying handbags: http://www.etsy.com/search_results_shop.php?search_type=user_shop_ttt_id_5299593&search_query=teamepe

OK Post Office...I'm NOT going down without a fight!!

If anyone knows me, they know I have a complete volume, and counting, of Post Office horror stories to rant about since the inception of jennjohn handbags. I'm not proud of my frequent tirades, I just have to get out the frustration or my sewing lines become crooked after keeping all that angst bottled up.

But this week takes the cake! I have been on the phone chasing more packages and authoring more emails about  packages than I really have time and especially patience for! Yesterday I was really ready to pack up the Etsy shop and sell jennjohns exclusively at craft shows, no postage necessary! I spent over an hour yesterday reading and posting to an Etsy forum about Post Office woes. It was a very therapeutic way of dealing with my frustration and in a twisted thought process kind of way I'm glad to find out I'm not the only one in America having similar issues.

Of course! Today new entry: one of my customer's packages has been forwarded to another state! Why, I asked?! Because of another error, the wrong package was shipped/forwarded to the wrong place! I seriously don't know how much more of the Post Office errors I can stand!

We are well under way into the age of scanners and bar codes. Point, click, click. Done. The hilarious past of that is the Post Office is seemly only allowed to scan certain packages..?! What?! Why not ALL! Why not try to be efficient? Really? If I sewed my bags that way, maybe only some of them would get snaps...what would people say? Doesn't doing your job efficiently the first time save money in the long run? Oh! That's right...you have to pay almost double the money for the *guarantee* from the Post Office to do their jobs correctly, and get your package to it's destination within it's quoted time....?!!

So I was back to where I was yesterday..pack up the shop! Time to sell the bags in person schlepping the family around from craft show to craft show like gypsies of yore. And then I get this feedback tonight:

"This bag is amazing. The quality of craftsmanship is the best I've ever seen, and the creativity in color and fabric combos is superb. This is something I'd expect in a high-end fashion store . . . for big bucks."

And that is why tomorrow I will brave the Post Office like a gladiator returning to the coliseum, back for another beating. Weak from battle, out numbered, out smarted,(okay maybe not out smarted), tattered and torn, I have to walk through those doors again because it is the only way to get the jennjohns to the masses.

DEAR CUT & PASTE...!

Dear Cut & Paste:

Its 2am. and I running back and forth between my computer monitor and my studio to check the "cut & paste" photo you sent to make sure I have the exact layout you requested for your bag...lol, the things I do for entertainment ;) Just thought I'd share that with you...

Love me long time?

-jennjohn

I'M GOING ON A WORLDWIDE TOUR

I am *officially* announcing my "1st annual jennjohn Worldwide Tour." Since I cannot possibly go on vacation to exotic far away places for months at a time... I'm sending my bags instead.

I have been collecting BEAUTIFUL fabrics from, or inspried by, several different countries to use in the designs of my bags. The results are going to be TERRIFIC! I have vintage, hand embroidered, one-of-a-kind pieces and hard to find patterns. These color schemes and compilations are full of color, texture and history. They are going to be like nothing else...and you won't find bags like these anywhere else.

A few World Wide Tour stops include: Ireland, Sweden, Thailand, India, Australia, Africa, Canada, and France to name a few. Of course I have to include the USA, but with a twist...vintage Americana. I will be highlighting some of the decades with fabrics that capture those eras.

My first stop is Ireland. What better way to recognize St Patrick's Day that is just around the corner. With this stop you will find Celtic knot prints and LOTS of color schemes in GREEN.

My tour stops last for a month at a time or until the fabrics run out. So stay tuned, no packing or passport necessary!

As always...I would LOVE to hear your ideas! Also, if you have fabric from far away places that you have been holding on to for that special something, I can sew them up for you in the form of a fantastic jennjohn handbag...drop me a line :)

WHAT GOES INTO A HANDBAG

I was recenetly interviewed by a groovy lady, Mindy Wilson. Check out the interview, "What Goes Into a Handbag," at Mindy's blog. Be sure to check out Mindy's fantastic original art and wares in her Groovy Inclinations shop on Etsy...she even makes her own fabric! (I'm SO JEALOUS!)

SPRING COLORS FOR 2010

I ran across this website that forecasts the upcoming color trends in the fashion world for Spriong 2010. What a fantastic tool for a handbag designer like me. I just couldn't decide if my bags are "high fashion" enough for me to run out and buy yards of fabric in aurora yellow, fusion coral or amparo blue. I do LOVE the tomato puree and  turquoise...(you know it's a great color when it doesn't need an adjective in tow to help describe it.) And wouldn't you know it, one good website is always followed by another. This second website reports the percentages of designers that used these trendy colors. It also squashed  my fears that I do not need aurora, fusion or amparo...it looks like most of the high fashion designers didn't run out and buy yards of fabric in these colors either. Thank goodness because I'm not in love with aurora yellow! I can rest easy now and go back to my jennjohn color trend philosophy...I buy what colors I love and so do my customers.

Who Knew?!

I LOVE to make custom orders for my customers. It is so rewarding to be able to sew together a specific color scheme or combination of colors and fabrics that someone else regards special. I have made several custom orders over the years and have always cherished the opportunity. Until today I never thought of these custom orders as entertaining. Let me explain...

I have been emailing back and forth with a customer who loves one of my color schemes but was "nervous" about one of the fabrics in it, a metallic faux fur. She requested some alternatives to replace it and I suggested a few. She then requested close-up photos of the metallic faux fur and the replacement, just to be sure. I sent them to her and she decided on the replacement instead. I thought that was the end of the designing phase until I received this...

       
 
 
....a custom cut & paste, (or tape), example of how and where she wants the fabrics to be pieced together. "HILARIOUS!", I thought. I LOVE that my little bag could mean sooo much to someone to take the time to print it out, and cut & paste the fabrics exactly where she wants them. I LOVE IT! And I couldn't stop laughing for some time! That is the entertaining part. It struck me as so original! I think it is fantastic that the creative bug is contagious!  Thank you "cut & paste," you know who you are....

 My handbags are taking me to places I never thought I could go, to the hearts of several hundreds of people whom I may never set eyes on or meet, but have my creations at their sides to remind them they are as unique as my bags.... and so are THEIR creative endeavors!

HOPE YOU LOVE MY NEW VALENTINES

I have just added five new colorscemes to my Etsy shop for Valentine's Day. I created these new colorschemes to emulate a few of my friends and family. They are all uniquely very different from each other, but have a common thread, they are built from LOVE!