A gift...

I am such a lucky lady, look at what the postman brought me on Saturday!! A sewing machine mat, beautifully sewn by Rachel from Contented. I have been friends with Rachel for a couple of years now and we met through the blogs. She's very lovely :)

I am always admiring Rachel's work and especially love the quilted projects she makes. Already being a proud owner of one of Rachel's mug rugs, it inspired me to order some very gorgeous 'sewing' themed fabrics with the idea that I would make a sewing machine mat.

Months go by and the fabric is still in my stash and I'm having a conversation with Rachel about how I never have time to do the 'me' projects. She kindly offers to make it for me and I accept......and I am sooooo pleased I did. Isn't it beautiful!! Sewing machine print on the front with a bobbin boarder and bound in the button print.

Thank you so much Rach you did a fantastic job and I love it, love it, love it!!!
I would never have gotten round to making one and because Rachel made it, that makes it even more special. Please stop by Rachel's blog and say 'Hi' you'll be able to admire the rest of her handy work.

Look at those neat lines!!!

And here it is, Bessie my Janome loves it too. Perfect!!!

Whats in the box???

I bet you are itching to know whats in here!?!? Its part of the 'Big Secret' I have been dropping hints about lately. I still cant tell you much (I know its not right I keep teasing you all) but what I cant tell you is that inside this box there were samples of all my bags.....and they've gone to a very special place indeed.

Hopefully once all the T's are crossed and I's are dotted I will be able to let you all in on it :D

Custom Orders

I love the fact I am quite a diverse 'crafter', in that I mean that I will take on just about any challenge. Quite some time ago I was asked by the very lovely lady called Clare if I would make a Kindle Cover out of some leather samples I was given. I said yes and took on the challenge. Fast forward to a month ago and Clare was back asking if I would like to make another.....Oh Yeah!! Then one turned into two. And here they are.

One for Clare's Dad which were 'manly' colours. Brown for the front and tan for the back and a cute book motif for the front.

The other for Clare's Mam which were lovely shades of pink and mauve. Clare's Mam is a quilter so I tried to mimic a quilt square and popped a pretty button in the middle.

Now I have an order for another two (not Clare), the theme dragonflies!!

I kinda feel that I've been neglecting you all lately. I know that I haven't been providing you all with the usual amount of blog eye candy and for that I am truly sorry, please bare with me I promise there will be lots of photos to come soon. I'm still popping in and reading your blogs just not commenting very often. I'm still being nosey though :) very busy time for lil'ol bagladee at the moment.

BBC Radio Nottingham - Interview with Bagladee

Its been anonther exciting week here at bagladee HQ. It started on Friday when I received an email from one of the producers for BBC Radio Nottingham asking if I would be interested in doing an interview about my bags, winning SBS and being in Elle Magazine.

How amazing!!!

So Monday afternoon I drove down to the studio and met Lewis, Nigel and Phillip. They were so lovely, they knew how nervous I was and made me feel relaxed. I had no idea really how it worked as I've never done anything like it before. I tried to answer the questions as best I could without stuttering too much :D but made a big FAUX PAS. Philip who interviewed me obviously refered to me as Emma Castle, but I never mentioned thoughout the whole interview that I was Bagladee. A bit silly really as you all know me as  Bagladee :( Hopefully some people will have put two and two together and worked it out. Definately something to remember for future interviews ;)

If you would like to hear the interview you can by clicking here its only live for 7 days from the day of recording but I'm working on getting a copy to pop on my blog permenantly. 

My Etsy & Folksy Shops are now....

....Christmas shops.

New additions to my felt decorations include this very sweet gingerbread house.

Candy Canes

Remember these little fellas?

And here's the gang altogether!

All available to buy from my Folksy & Etsy shop.

Welcome to my 'secret' world

Some of you have been here before when I showed the 'ta da' photos, right back in the beginning when C created the most wonderful workspace all just for me! For those of you who have are probably thinking 'shame on you' for letting it get so messy and for those of you who haven't then you're in for a right treat.

(No one actually comes up here other than me, C has tried to but gets shooed away, this is our secret OK)

Because of the crazy hecticness (if that's a word) of the last couple of months my beautiful workspace wasn't so beautiful anymore. When ever I went to get something out that I needed, I had to pull about five other things out just to get to it and just never put it back :( So last week I decided 'no more' I had to have a re-organise, I had to get things into order to make my work hours more productive.

So here are the pictures, before and after:

 Before: this was my fabric stash corner, not very organised at all and as you can see from the other photos most of the fabric is all over the floor (fabric sin!!!).

After : fabric moved and boxes re-organised with the least used 'stuff'. I may be 31 but I still love my stuffed teds :D

Before: I am not proud I let it get this bad ;) I'm surprised I could find anything in this mess!?!?!

After: a new home for all my fabric and felt and look no fabric on the floor.....Wooooo!!

OK, so I didn't have to organise it into colours, but it just looked so much prettier when I did.

Before: anything and everything stuffed under the desk, including my lovely felt which looks better in its new home where I can appreciate its vibrant colours.

After: all my ribbons, leather samples, cottons, scraps and tool boxes neatly stored away. Box sorted with the very few items of stock that I actually do have (good thing as means all others are sold).

Before: this is my 'relaxing area' although in that mess there definitely wasn't any relaxing going on here. Just moving mess from corner to corner.

After: now doesn't that look better? A place to sit and read or hand sew and a place to put my cup of tea :)

Now its all organised and I have a tidy workspace, its work, work, work. Or as I should say craft, craft, craft it never feels like work when I'm here doing what I love. 

My first magazine advert...

...was placed in this months issue of Elle Magazine! Unbelievable!!

I've just been to pick up a couple of copies as this is a huge milestone in Bagladee world. I have toyed with the idea of ads before but kinda passed it up as I didn't think my bags would sit well in most magazines, craft wise. Most people who read craft magazines can pretty much make anything they want and will most likely be looking for places to buy supplies. So when I was contacted by Elle Advertising team to be part of their 'Best of British' I sat and gave it some serious thought. Leaving it right up until the week of the deadline I said yes and bagged the last spot.

So here I am (bottom left) in amongst some lovely jewellery and accessories. I never dreamed that I would ever be able to open a magazine on the level of Elle and see one of my creations staring back at me!! Very surreal (I almost wanted to walk up to a stranger in Tesco and say "that's me!!").

I still cant believe what a month I'm having, Small Business Sunday Winner and then this......at one time I thought I was silly day dreaming about having my own business making things that I love. Finally I can now stand up proud and say "I made it!".

Cant wait to see what happens next...................

Are you ready to drool?

For the past couple of weeks I have been working on another trade order. This one was destined for Unbox Shop in Lancaster. It arrived yesterday so here I am to show you these lovelies.

There were 5 clutches and 5 purses in the order. This order was different to others. Normally (and I have learnt this through experience only) I buy in fabrics that are either in season/fashion or what I think a wide range of customers will like. This time I sourced Autumn/Winter fabrics that I thought would fit in with Unbox and their exhibition. I love their shop and their style and these fabrics I picked are very 'me'.

I love the lemon clutch 'Juicy Lucy' and could def see myself accessorising an outfit with it. It has made me remember the reason why I started out making bags. Bright and funky fabrics are a vice of mine and these were an absolute pleasure to make.

I already have my eye on some more funky fabrics and plan on adding lots more clutches to my website very soon.

The ones pictured above will be available on my website but there will only be one of each.