I met Elaine through ETSY. I'm looking for innovative ideas to be featured in my blog. (Read my blog about "The Art of Innovation" last January). Her ChalkBoard Bag really caught my attention.
So I begin by asking her background and why she chose the material to express her creative ideas. Here's what she has to say...
Each of us has some sort of story to tell - either from our heritage, our name, or even something special we do or believe in. The clothes we wear, the jewelry we choose, or even the Handbag we carry make some sort of statement about who we are – kind of a peek inside our personality!
I love to know the special meaning behind people and things....which is kind of how my shop developed! My first attempt at making a handbag was as a favor to a friend who saw a cute purse and was just sure that together, we could make one just like it. I’m sure that purse is long gone now, but the “bug” bit me and I’ve been designing and sewing purses, bags and totes ever since.
My obsession with a “Purse’s Personality” (aka: A Purse-onality) began a few years ago when my mother gave me a book on how to fold Flower Origami. I was fascinated but quickly frustrated when the paper I was using kept tearing. It eventually dawned on me that fabric, of which I had a huge stash, would be so much more durable. After many attempts I became adept at folding and forming fabric flowers. One flower led to two, and eventually to gardens and even birds and other designs. Since most Origami tells a story, it was only natural that my fabric flowers began to tell their own stories. Thus, Story-Bags were born!
A year later I stumbled (literally) across a bolt of Chalk Board Fabric in a small Midwestern town fabric shop called “The Sewing Basket”. I asked what this big bolt of black stuff was, and was told what it was but that they weren’t sure what anyone would actually use it for. I instantly thought of BAGS and PURSES (it must have been that fall I took when I tripped!) A “Chalk Board Bag”! What better way to hear someone’s story than to see what they have to say on their very own chalk board.
Since conception, I have made Chalk Board Bags themed for children, teens, young adults, Moms and even Grandma’s. The concept has really caught on and in 2007 THREADBANGER, an online video podcast with weekly DIY and how to shows every Friday, listed BAGGAVOND's Chalk Board Bag as #5 in their Top 10 DIY Gifts for the Holidays!
PS: If you have innovative ideas and would like to be featured in my blog, please contact me.
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