Good advice for search engine optimization in your items titles using both Etsy and Artfire from Kristy over at Shiney Adornments. Most of us really don't think much about our item titles, but these are what Google uses to generate search results. It's worth the time to consider each one carefully and change them to get better placement. You can't rely on just "walk through" traffic on etsy or artfire to bring people into your shop .. afterall they have HUNDREDS or perhaps THOUSANDS of other options on both sites selling similar products to yours. In that kind of maze, every little bit of edge helps people find YOUR SHOP.

Check out the articles below for an explanation of how both sites generate the search titles and how you can impact your rankings by working within their framework.

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So a few weeks ago I was bemoaning the wearing out of my old faithful wallet. The ladies on my Carried Away team made a bunch of great suggestions, but of course... I had to do it myself. The challenge, you know. I finally got the time yesterday to tackle it. Of course, it's orange, as plain colors bore me to death. I mean, have you seen my hair?

I used the tutorial over at Confessions of a Fabricaholic. It was easy to follow, with good directions and clear pictures. I am fairly pleased with the results, except I interfaced most of the pieces and it is pretty stiff. It was a difficult monster to turn. I also need to shorten the tab a bit, but for a first try, it's good! Sadly, the pictures are not so good :(



I also sewed up this small clutch to match my dress for the upcoming AIGA Work Show Gala. The cute little ceramic charms are from a contest I won that was held by ETT. They were made by Lynn from Midnight Coiler.

You can make your own stacked frayed edge flowers as shown on this bag with my tutorial.

Sunday means it is time to promote a sister on my Carried Away bag makers team. This week, I'm swimming with the fishes at courtesy of the whimsical creations of Tina at Salmon Barn. She does all her own screen prints in a barn outside her house in New England that is well, salmon colored, hence the name of her shop. I love the bold, yet fresh look of these articles. Perfect for a little beachy fun this summer.

If you win this giveaway over at my sister's site, you'll also get this patriotic makeup pouch I made up this morning. She's filling it with loot such as BB Couture Nail Polish in Red, White and Blue to show off your spirit for the 4th. The giveaway is FREE and I'd love to see one of you win.

Unfortunately, the owner of the images used in this post has decided to withdraw his permission for their publication. I regret that, due to his decision, I have had to remove the post entirely. Comments on this decision may be directed here.

Fellow designer Recycled Sewing found me on twitter. She used my Flip and Sew Patchwork tutorial to make this incredible upcycled skirt with a sunburst pattern. I LOVE IT! I'd never thought of using the technique this way and I am really impressed with her creativity and sewing skills. Click the link above to see more pics on her blog.

So I got this box from my sister yesterday with my brand new nail polish color in it. What's so special about a bottle of nail polish? It's incredibly exciting if your sister, who owns a beauty website, has asked the owner of BB Couture Nail Polish to formulate a color JUST FOR YOU!

Kim (my sister, owner of Overallbeauty.com) and Cindy (owner of BB Couture Nail Polish, beloved by nail polish junkies the world over) have worked together in the past to formulate new colors. Because Cindy is making it up in small batches of a hundred gallons or so, she can try new color ideas out without it being a large cost commitment. And once it hits the shelves, it goes fast because people know it will sell out quickly. So anyway, Kim had this knitted bag made with some glittery purple yarn that she really liked and she asked Cindy if it could the color with the glitter could become nail polish. Balboa Beach Bunny is the result and the color has been a huge hit.



So I got this idea, what if Cindy made a set that was inspired by the colors that you see on hot rod flame paint jobs? (Obviously, I have been hanging with the Harley gang too much!) Those bright sunset oranges, popping candy reds, deep electric blue, mellow yellows and almost magenta purple-pinks and deep night violets?

Witness Torch, the first color is my requested Hot Rod collection. The color just came from the chemist, so wasn't even in a BB Couture bottle yet, but it is undoubtedly one of Cindy's colors. It goes on just as smooth and has the remarkable color depth that really sets her polish apart. I think I'd like it to be a bit more yellow, but I can't WAIT to see what else comes out of the lab to bring flames to the fingers and toes!

I bought these attractive bronze earrings on artfire last week. I was shopping very late at night, saw what I liked and hit buy. I wasn't really paying that much attention to the seller, but it turns out to be a very nice lady from Singapore and this was one of her first sales. I'm so pleased to have given another artisan a boost of confidence and I can't wait to get my earrings! Go check out her studio and see if something catches your eye, as well.

This article on Burda Style raises some questions about the pending Design Piracy Protection Act. In theory, the act would greatly reduce the abundance of knock-off handbags and fashions, but like any law, there are always unintended consequences. It is of interest to any one who designs and sews items for sale.

Confused by social media for your handmade business? Carried Away Team Member Andrea Baker has posted this guide to connecting your Twitter and Facebook accounts so that you can spend less time on the computer and more time making what you love!

Follow me on twitter or visit my sadly neglected facebook page.

Shugi put together this gorgeous cool, cool summer treasury and included my Typhoon bag. This treasury is especially well put together and I could easily see it hitting etsy's front page, so thank you! Shugi for including me.

Look who has discovered a new place to play? Is this my just reward for cleaning out my bins ?

Carried Away, my bag making team is making a couple of quilts for Project Linus this summer. Since my daughter Holly was helping me with this, we stuck with a simple 12" railfence block. She was really proud of her first attempt and claimed it for her stuffed ducks to enjoy as a small blanket.

She did a pretty good job, but needs more practice with getting a good quarter inch seam. No worries though, she had a great deal of fun and with me for a mom, will have PLENTY of opportunities to practice.

Here's the four I am going to send in.



Nicole of Ni-chern Designs is assembling the blocks from the other teammates into finished quilts to send in. We are trying to make at least one boy and one girl quilt, so I did two boy and two girl blocks in nice, cheery colors. One is sassy butterflies and the other is bright colored dog or dinosaur bones.

Many bag makers tend to stick to just commercial fabrics. Nothing wrong with that. After all the array of designs and colors is jaw dropping, but for the truly unique and the absolutely one of a kind piece though, you have to broaden your horizons.

Let's explore a few treasures of handmade or hand altered fabrics...

Hand printed raindrops and foliage sampler pack by Swankyswell

Hand Painted Silk in Seabreeze by thredfairy

Yellow Scallops original fabric design limited edition print from Spoonflower by Wonderfluff

5 Artist Created Floral FQs by Jacque DesignsUrban Type Fat Quarter hand printed set by Green Olive Textiles

Hand Screen Printed upcycled fabric by Strand Redesign

Metallic Hand Painted Fat Quarter by Vicki Welsh

Azure hand dyed organic hemp by Noonday Textiles
No Simple Stories hand painted fabric by Monkey Shine Designs

Twist hand screen printed fabric in seafoam turquoise on oatmeal by Summersville

Hand Marbled Cloth by Dream Cloth

Hand block printed leaf motifs from HomeSweet

6 Citrus hand dyed fat quarter gradations by dyecandy

Rust Dyed Fat Eighth from Quilt Finger

So we've been on a cleaning bender all day. I just removed two large goodwill bags and 4 bags of trash from my kid's room & art area. GO, MOM GO!!!!

So what is it with children and tiny pieces ... scattered EVERYWHere??????

Craftopolis has introduced a new feature. You can find out which treasuries and gift guides you're in just by typing in your etsy user name. They also have a treasury clock that can help predict when treasuries will be available.

Regina from Miss Gina Designs created this great Sister love treasury for members of the Carried Away Etsy Bag Makers Team. My Frantic handbag is in the top row.

My day started with a live in studio appearance on KNPR's State of Nevada about dealing with the fallout from foreclosure. It was a very eyeopening and interesting experience. You can listen here if you'd like. Scroll down to the last segment "life after foreclosure."

A lot of people, including my boyfriend, were pretty shocked that I would go on the air as someone who went through foreclosure and bare these personal financial details. Here in Las Vegas, there are THOUSANDS of people who like me, took the red pill ... for whatever reason. I felt my story and my questions were ones that a many of the listeners would find all to familiar and probably wanted the same answers.

Foreclosure or bankruptcy used to be a big scarlet letter, but living in Las Vegas right now .... it's so common as to have lost a lot of the stigma and shame once associated with it. People who work at banks are trying to work through all these loans, meanwhile they themselves are being foreclosed upon. It has hit every income and every demographic and it's face is your neighbor. I really feel that the REAL financial crisis is not trouble on wall street or failures in the big three automakers ... it is this huge loss in housing values that is forcing people out of their homes. The widespread impact on local communities will be devasting as neighborhoods fall into disrepair and property values stay far below "real" vlaues.

I'm glad I did it, even though I learned some things that make my situation better and some that make it much worse. The most important thing is that these problems do NOT GO AWAY and you need to proactively deal with your bank or with a credit counselor or lawyer.

Listening to the audio on the web while I am typing this, I learned that my voice recorded sounds much different now then it did a few years ago .... and I sound like my grandmother Kay and my Aunts.

My sister, who owns Overallbeauty.com, requested two reuseable shopping bags with her logo on them for her birthday. I found this great print from Robert Kaufman with all over roses that matches her branding perfectly and these pink butterflys that matched the color. She loves butterflys, which is where that comes from.

The logo was printed out of Photoshop onto June Tailor color fast inkjet fusible fabric and appliqued with a tight zigzag stitch. You need to use interfacing just behind the applique so it doesn't pucker. The bags are lined and have box bottoms with double fold-over fabric handles for strength. They are very easy to make. Both of them took about an hour - start to finish.

To make your own bag:

#1 Fold fabric in half with the fold at the bottom. Cut a two big rectangles taller than they are wide wide. (Fold at the short end) Your dimensions are up to you on how big you want the bag to be. Try 24" wide by 28" tall. Any appliques should be added at this point.

#2 Cut out two 4-5" wide x how ever long you want the handles strips. If you have to piece these, it's fine. Take each strip and fold in half, right sides out. Iron and open out. Now fold the edges to the center crease and iron. Fold in half again. You'll end up with a 2-2.5" wide double thick strip. Edge stitch down both sides. Repeat for other handle.

#3 Back to the big doubled-over rectangles. With short side facing your body, fold in half. Now think about how wide you want the bottom of the bag. For about a 4" wide bottom, cut a small rectangle notch at the base of the folded rectangle, nearest to your body. The notch should be 2" wide by 1.5" high (adjust as you need for whatever width you decide on). Both big rectangles should look like this when unfolded.

#4 Fold the rectangles in half again (short side at the bottom) with right sides together. On the outside bag retangle, sew up both side seams and square off the bag bottoms by folding the fish-mouthes flat and sewing them closed. See Step four of this tutorial if you don't know how to square off the bag bottoms.

#5 On the inside rectangle, do the same thing but leave a 5" gap in the middle of one side seam to turn the bag.

#6 Turn the outer bag inside out. Turn the inner bag inside out and place it rightsides together inside the outer bag. Position the handles so they line up on both sides of the bag They should be INSIDE the two bags between the inner and outer bags (make sure they aren't twisted) with just about 1/2" hanging out over the top seam on each end. Sew the top seam around the top of the bag, back stitching over each of the four handles ends twice for strength. Turn the bag through the hole. Iron and sew up the hole in the lining. Edge stitch around the top of the bag at 1/4" for a nice finished look.

You can make this even easier if you recycle a pillow case. Just cut the handle strips off the top, hem the top and square the bottom (don't cut notches ... just leave the flaps in the bottom of the bag.) Fold the stitched strips for the handles over 1" at each end and attach to outside of bag with a stitched box at each end.

If you want to make bags that zip into their own clever pocket, go see Heart of Mary's tutorial.

Get some awesome on for Dad (Father's day is around the corner!) with these stylish recycled sail cloth wallets and bags from Carried Away Team Mates, mother and daughter Susan and Meredith of Ragged Edge Gear in Clearwater, FL.



Each bag or wallet is constructed of rescued sail cloth, some containing carbon fiber for extreme wear and durability.

All of our items are made from some type of sailcloth. We originally got started on this project because we sail, and we got the idea to make ourselves bags out of old sails. And then everyone else started askin' us for some!

Sailcloth is a very unique material. Most of what we use is waterproof, all of it is quick drying and easy to clean, its lightweight, doesn't show dirt and doesn't absorb smells. Some of our own original bags are 10 years old and still kicking!!

Every time we go out to our studio workroom we look around at the all the color and get excited about the possibilities for new bags & new projects... It's a never ending whirlwind of fun and creativity!

We are a mother and daughter team that has decided to turn their creativity and their passion into their livelihood. RAGGEDedge started out as one of Susan’s wild hairs; one more way for her to use her sewing & design skills for an exciting new project. We started to sail, and she started to make bags for us out of used sails. By request, and by word of mouth, RAGGEDedge gained a following of people who wanted unique, colorful, one-of-a-kind gear. That “project” outgrew a closet, to take up half a room along with additional materials and products stored in the garage. Then there was the exciting purchase of RAGGEDedge’s first official industrial sewing machine. With that, the half a room became a whole room, and then a bigger room. We moved whole rooms around in the house to accommodate RAGGEDedge. As I write this, we are now working on RAGGEDedge full time (having quit our day jobs to speak) with an oversized two-car garage as a dedicated workroom. We delight in our smallness. To us, small means that we get to make what we want to, how we want to. New designs, new colors, and new projects are the lifeblood that we thrive on.

Wholesale inquiries welcome

Check out our always evolving website at raggededgegear.com and for further fun and entertainment, we have a wordpress blog as well, raggededgegear.wordpress.com