Boodlebags in DailyCandy!!

Hey everyone, check out our product review in DailyCandy Kids! They featured our "Baby Boodle" changing kit - very cool!

In other news, we participated in our first big arts/craft show, LiveARTS Bothell. It was a very good show - the weather was lovely, and customer response and sales were great! Our booth was close to the outdoor amphitheater so we were able to see as well as hear the live music, most of which was outstanding. We even got to see a karate demonstration by Evergreen Karate, the dojo that both of our sons attend - fun! There were lots of other high-quality artist, and we were pleased to be a part of it. We hope to participate next year, too.

June & July Shows

June and July are shaping up to be very busy months for boodlebags! This week (6/26-28) we have shows Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Friday finds us at our last Bothell Farmer's Market until September (or possibly late August). Located at the charming Country Village in Bothell, this is a fun, low-key market featuring lots of great crafters, local produce, and oh! the flowers! Saturday and Sunday will be the LiveARTS Bothell festival located at Bothell Landing, a delightful park along the Sammamish River. In addition to this large arts festival, the park offers walking/biking trails, a children's play structure, and an outdoor amphitheatre. We hope to see some of our friends and fans out there!

We're taking a couple of weeks off in July to rest and prepare for the Mill Creek Festival (7/18, 19) which should be tons of fun! This is truly a family event - there's even a special section just for pets! There is always live music and plenty to see, do, and eat. Come out and say hi!

They like us, they really like us!

We got mentioned in a celebrity teen blog : check it out...http://celebrityteenblog.com/?p=358
Kinda cool, huh? Angela has been working with a PR company in LA to get our wristlets into the hands of teen celebrities. It seems to be paying off...

Great Etsy Show

We had a great time at the EtsyRain show this weekend in Seattle. Our changing pads were our best seller. Its always great to get first hand reactions to our bags, we love the feedback and compliments! We only have a few weeks until we start our summer farmers market sales. We are still working on building our inventory but we are selling them almost as quickly as we make them. That's awesome!

I'm off to get more fabric cut...listening to Elvis Costello...

EtsyRain show this weekend!

Please stop by our booth tomorrow at the EtsyRain craft show. We have lots of fun bags to check out. Hope to see you there!

busy, busy, busy

Things are moving right along! Our wristlets seem to be our best seller, they are selling like crazy! I have 20 more ready for sewing.
Our website is up and going strong. We would love your comments and suggestions on how to make it better. Tell us your thoughts...

Tax Day!

Happy Tax Day! AND Happy Birthday Marion! Our good friend from Kangashop. Check out her designs at www.kangashop.etsy.com . She makes awesome, quality kid clothes.

Our website is having a Mothers' Day Sale from now until Sunday, May 10th. We will take 15% off of your order at www.boodlebags.com . Just enter the promo code: iheartmom Our wristlets are the perfect gift for the special women in your life (mom, grandmom, & aunt)

English Toffee Latte and chocolate bunny

Life doesn't get any better than this! I am waiting on the eggs to cool off before we dye them. I am playing catch-up on work stuff. I just got back from a family vacation to Lake Chelan, it was awesome. I was out of work with bronchitis the week before so I have lots of stuff to catch up on. I plan to be a fabric cutting machine the next few days. Our inventory is growing nicely and we can't wait until we have our regular craft shows this summer!

Spring is here!

Well, look who finally decided to show up - the sun! After the winter we've had and this delayed start to spring, I don't feel guilty about playing hooky for the next couple of days. Renee is on a much-needed vacation with her boys, and the timing couldn't be better. I did my first show solo yesterday - I Heart Rummage at Chop Suey on Capital Hill. All I can say is I hope we do better next time! At least we paid for the booth. On the plus side, I had lots of time to sketch, and hope to be previewing a couple of new designs at our next show! I'll be optimistic and speculate that it was due to the glorious weather that the denizens of the Hill opted to be outside rather than inside a dark, smelly night club... Nobody else did well, either, but regular vendors say that the venue is usually a good one, so we'll try again next month. Hope to see you all out there in May!

Another great review!

We are excited that our bags are making a name for themselves. We just got another great review from AListBaby check it out: http://alistbaby.net/2009/03/alistbaby-find-boodlebags/

Back in the groove

At last! I am feeling better. I had been sick most of the week and now have lots to catch up on. Our website is doing great! Orders are coming in thanks to an article at NWsource. A great write up by Sheryl Wiser. Angela and I are working hard on building our momentum. We have lots of ideas and goals, can't wait to get there...Our next show is Sunday, April 5th at the I heart rummage sale at Chop Suey in Seattle, we hope to see you there!

Boodlebags is in the news! Check out our press debut here: boodlebags article
We've had a busy month getting "ready for our close-up, Mr. DeMille", and today was a mad scramble! Poor Renee is sick and miserable, but she still had to put up with constant bugging from me all day long, AND we had to place 3 new orders for supplies. Did I mention we were busy? Chris and our web designer, Joseph, have been working all day putting the final polish on the website, and I've been looking over their shoulders and jabbing my finger at the screen saying, "no, no - put THIS thingy over THERE!" I'm sure they appreciated my input... For my own part, I've had to cut the new changing kits for our seamstresses, who are starting to make great headway! I think we'll introduce them soon. Anyway, my hands are swollen from all the cutting, and I'm wiped out!

This is my first post to our blog; Renee usually does it, and she's much better at it than I am, BUT I just couldn't leave her "i've got the ickies" post as the first thing that new people would see when they came over from the article and website! :-)

I've got the ickies!

I have managed to catch whatever has been going around and have not been very productive. I am getting some supply orders placed and finishing up our first newsletter. I am trying to muster up as much energy as possible to pick Caid up from school and head to the grocery store. Tonight will be another night of going to bed at 8!

Check out our facebook fan page by clicking boodlebags facebook fan page We would love to have you!

getting things in order

I am taking it easy today while working on a boodlebag newletter to send to previous customers. Chris (our business manager) is busting his booty getting our fabric swatches scanned and put in a PDF format for the website. We hope to have that up by Friday. Our calendar of events is filling up quickly, I heart rummage, Mill Creek Festival , Bothell Farmers Market and hopefully Live Arts Bothell. Exciting stuff on the way...

Excitement in the air...

Things are coming along quite nicely! Our wristlet production has begun and we can't wait until we actually have inventory! We are working with local seamstresses to make it possible. Angela is working on a new exterior pocket for the diaper bags, once that is complete we will start production on those.

Our Boodlebags fan page is now up on facebook. We would love to see you there!

Our photos are here!

We got our pics from the photographer today and they look great! This is one of our new fabrics. Tell us what you think. I love the color combination on this one.

Our facebook fan page is up, we will be removing the boodlebag group page soon so be sure the switch over to the new page.

Old Pics

I have been scanning old pics for my facebook page and came across this great photo. It was my first sewing machine. I got it when I was 6.

Awesome!

oh no! Snow!

Here we go again with the snow. Oh Pickles! A snowy dreary Monday...but the weekend was great. Angela completed a prototype of a new bag style and the exterior pockets are awesome. The website is up but very bare bones, we need to add more pics and wording. Same with Etsy. We are gathering testimonials so if you have one of our bags, we would love your testimonial for our website. Better get busy sewing....tata!

up to my ears!

I have been working on wristlets this week, trying to get them prepped for the seamstresses. This is the first time that we have tried to make them in a "production" style. It will feel great to finally get inventory built. Next week I will start on changing pads. I am trying to free up Angela so she can focus on a couple of custom designs and patterns for a client.

i am excited about heading to the fabric show tomorrow. I am hoping that they have a better selection of eco-friendly fabrics than the last time. It will be more of a fact-finding trip than a shopping trip. Angela just ordered more fabrics and we really need to use up our giant fabric stashes.

kick butt parking job

Angela has excellent parallel parking skills. I just need to take a picture to document it for the world to see. Pretty impressive huh?

Busy days!

We went to the sewing expo friday and saw lots of great products and fabrics. It's a bit overwhelming but so much fun to see what others are doing and products available. I had to stop and touch everything. We are going to a fabric show this Friday and are hoping that manufacturers have more eco-friendly fabrics and more home-dec weights available.
I have been cutting out wristlet pieces from fabric scraps and it feels good to not have the scraps wasted. Yeah me! I am looking forward to working on color combinations instead of taxes, show applications and all the other business stuff. I have plans to kick butt this week and check off items on my business to-do list. I better get busy!

goods things on the way!

Things are coming together with the business. We are sending out applications for spring and summer craft fairs and farmers markets. We have 2 field trips coming up, Sewing Expo this week and fabric show next week.

We are interviewing local seamstresses for their help on production so Angela and I can be free to work on new designs. I have a stack of diaper bags cut, primed and ready to go. We have alot of inventory to build before late spring.

I've seen the light!

I have been browsing other websites and blogs this morning trying to see what features and designs I like to incorporate in our upcoming website. I actually feel like the business has a direction, a goal! I had an aha! moment! Angela and I have some meeting scheduled tomorrow but I am hoping for some downtime to discuss it all (over coffee of course).

I love AHA! moments! I get them so seldomly but I love it when I do!

Mid-winter break

It seems like just yesterday that Caid was out of school for winter break and here we are again with another week out of school. I never got that many off days when I was a kid! It is so hard to stay focused on business stuff when he is here. I am taking a break for a couple of days to spend with him and work out in the yard. We actually are getting a bit of sunshine and I love it!

On Friday Angela and I are meeting with a website guru and touring a sewing manufacturer. I am very excited! We are working on writing down our ideas for the website and the features we want. I will let you know how it goes...

Friday the 13th

I love friday the 13th and always have. Most people are expecting the worst on this day but I have always found it to be full of good surprises. Today was no exception. Angela and I went to a meet-up group that we found online for small business coaching and it was awesome! We made new connections AND had great coffee!

We are looking forward to many more! We also have a couple of leads on local sewing shops that we hope to meet with and discuss getting our products made locally. Very exciting!

boodlebag collection

oh yeah! I figured out how to post pics!

Here are some of the bags that we make. Production is slow at the moment as we are working on new bag designs and revisions to our current styles. We are searching for new fabrics in hopes of finding eco-friendly and with colorful designs. It's very hard to find both.

Our goal is to eventually design and produce our own fabrics that would be exclusive to our bags. There are so many things we want to conquer! I easily lose focus with so many things we want for the business. I have been meditating in hopes that it will help but when you are a mom, wife, friend and business owner it is hard to relax.

I love browsing blogs by other mom/ creative business owners. I always find them so inspiring! So many great artists pursuing their dreams. I shall continue to pursue mine after I break for lunch...

design changes

I'm (Renee) taking a break from sewing the newly designed changing pad. We are trying a velcro closure instead of the button closure. I'm not sure if I will love it but I won't know unless I try it. We have also made the wings longer and added more depth to the pocket. I will post a pic when I am done.
After I catch up on these, I am hoping to play around with some handbag patterns to come up with a fun one for myself. The irony is that we make bags but I do not carry one myself. We sell them as fast as we make them which is great. I just need to sew faster so I can have one. :-)

and so it begins...

Hello world!

Welcome to the boodlebags blog! We are 2 mothers that have come together over our love of coffee, bags and all things cute. We are Renee and Angela, stay-home moms and artists that were looking for a creative outlet when the idea of sewing bags came about over coffee. Less than a year into our idea, we are still excited about growing our business. This blog will take you along as we explore new ideas and opportunities, the frustrations that we have and glimpes into our "mommy" lives.

Currently, we are working on getting a website up. I (Renee) thought I could easily set it up with the many webstore applications that are available these days. What was I thinking! I am determined to keep at it and let you know when it is available.

I will keep this short this evening as I have fabric waiting patiently to be cut...

Type to you later!