A Few Holiday Handmade Gift Tags for the Holidays!

A few new handmade gift tags coming soon to Lova Handmade - handmade from card stock and vintage illustrations!

Hankering for a pretty purse? - venuszine.com

Katie Henry, aka madebyhank, is sure to please

By Lonnie K
Published: October 11th, 2008 | 10:15pm

Don't let the name confuse you. Madebyhank is the pseudonym for one very talented girl, Katie Henry. Five years ago, Henry lived with a friend who inherited her grandma's old Singer, and they both began to sew. They thrifted old lady dresses by the bag full, cut them up, and re-worked the material. She's been sewing every day since, and presently designs and makes purses and totes as well as some sewn drawings.

Completely self-taught with no formal art or design training, and relatively new to the "Internet world," she now is happy to be able to make her livelihood selling her work online. She is the curator of an Etsy shop and a website that showcase her purses. "I have accidentally started a business," she says. " Sometimes people ask me about my design background, but they have the wrong idea about me. I'm simply obsessed with sewing."

If you find yourself perusing the madebyhank Web site, you'll see that Henry's gorgeous purses fall into categories such as "bigger," "smaller," "squarish," and "zippered." She likes to mix patterns and textures together. One popular style among customers (and a favorite of Henry's as well) is the "Tough Ruffles" purse, which she describes as "pretty and tough." Often using two tones of the same color in this design, she uses a technique that "builds up texture," sewing a scrunched-up piece of fabric onto the purse and then stitching over it extensively to add even more texture. "I love stitching to no end," Henry says exuberantly. “I also like this technique because it's very durable.” Some of her purses are adorned with hand-sewn designs (the rabbit is a popular one), many have vintage leather belts as handles, and all are lovingly finished with the freehand stitched "madebyhank" logo.

Committed to using as little new materials as possible, she crafts her purses mostly from vintage materials and re-purposed clothing, mixed with canvas and heavy cottons. Durability is a big priority: she uses a "secret layer" of interfacing to add strength and padding. The handles are stitched and re-stitched to ensure that nothing will come undone. Piping excites her lately, and she recently learned how to make her own. She likes how nicely it finishes a purse, and often uses it on her "squarish" design. She feels that it's these important little touches that make all the difference.

Henry's story is a perfect example of a girl who loves what she does, and does it well. She is a bit giddy from all of the good fortune that has come her way. "I'm very grateful for my success so far," she says. "Someday I'd like to have a store front with a little studio in back. But for now, I'm very happy with the way things are and I'd just like to be able to find enough hours in the day to maintain what I'm doing."

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You can see Henry's purses at Madebyhank on Etsy.com and at her Web site, madebyhank.net.

Shop like a pro: Some tips for saving on everything - canadianpress.google.com

NEW YORK — Paying full price for something? Not in these tough economic times.

Here are some tips to finding the best bargains, whether it's groceries, clothes or a pair of boots:

FOR THE MALL RAT:

-Buy off-season.

Purchase things like swimsuits and air conditioners in winter, and skis and winter coats in the summer, Helen Malani, online shopping expert for Shopzilla, said in an email.

-Limit errand running.

Not only does it save gas, by making fewer stops you're less likely to be tempted by impulse purchases, said Kim Danger, family savings expert for Coupons.com.

-Ask about discounts.

Many retailers have special discounts for working professionals, seniors and people who belong to certain organizations, said Ellen Davis, spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation. Ask at the register.

-Keep the receipt.

If you go back and see an item you recently purchased on sale, you may be able to get a price adjustment, said Danger.

-Consider layaway.

It's a great way to shop early and avoid charging purchases, said Davis.

-Sign up for rebates and rewards programs.

For free or at a minimal cost, you can get things like special discounts and cash back after spending a certain amount, said Danger.

FOR THE CLOTHES HORSE:

-Clean out the closet.

There's nothing like purchasing something and realizing three months later you have the same item, said shopping expert Amy Blankenship Sewell.

-Shop full price, but buy on sale.

When you're considering purchasing something on sale, ask yourself if you would buy the item if it was full price, said Sewell. If the answer is no, consider passing.

-Negotiate.

In upscale stores, a sale means the store wants to get rid of the item, said Jim Camp, author of "NO: The Only Negotiation System You Need for Work and Home." See if you can negotiate another markdown, said Camp.

-Give clearance a chance.

You may have to dig, but some items the store is practically giving away, said Karen Hoxmeier, founder and owner of MyBargainBuddy.com.

-Beware of the plastic.

You may save 10 per cent when you sign up, but Sewell warns that studies show people buy more from a store when they have the retailer's credit card.

-Shop secondhand.

You can find items for up to 90 per cent off the original retail price.

FOR THE HUNGRY FAMILY

-Check the web.

Go to store websites to see in-store specials. Online coupons tend to have a higher value than those you find in the paper, said Danger.

-Consider the little guy.

Some of the best deals are at smaller markets, such as local vegetable stores and farmers markets, said Camp.

-Ask the butcher.

Large supermarkets need to move their highly perishable meat and fish and will generally give you large quantities at a deep discount, said Camp. Freeze what you don't need immediately.

-Clip coupons.

Coupon companies issue more coupons at this time of year, so it may even pay to buy two copies of the Sunday paper, said Danger. Combine coupons with in-store sales to maximize savings, she said.

-Keep a price book.

Keep track of the price of the products you buy regularly in a notebook, said Danger. You'll begin to notice that sometimes advertised sales aren't the best bargains and that some stores' everyday prices are lower than sales prices at other stores.

-Consider the drug store.

Sometimes the drug store has cheaper cereal, milk and soda than the larger supermarket, said Sewell.

-Buy fruit that's in season.

Hint: It's the fruit that's on sale.

-Leave the kids at home.

Besides sneaking things into the basket, they can distract you from being patient and figuring out what's the best deal, Sewell said.

-Larger doesn't mean better.

Read the price per kilogram or price per gram, said Danger. A larger quantity may not be the better deal.

FOR THE WEB SURFER:

-Compare prices.

Comparison shopping engines show you the range of prices for what you are purchasing and where to get the item for that price. Some even add shipping and sales tax, so you know the best deal.

-Consider shipping costs.

Some online stores offer free shipping and free returns. If there's a minimum you need to purchase to get free shipping, ask a friend if he or she needs anything, said Malani.

-Look for coupons.

If you have found what you want, type in the name of the store and "online coupons" or "promotion codes" into a search engine, said Malani.

-Try an auction site.

EBay has new items and the option to buy the product now, so you can avoid the bidding process.

-Make sure it's the best deal.

Malani suggests signing up for a price protector site to safeguard you from buying something one day and finding out that it went on sale the next.

- Set a price alert.

PriceGrabber.com will monitor the price of an item for you and send you an email when it hits your target price.

-Read reviews.

Take a look at the merchant's ratings and reviews, said Greg Hintz, general manager of Yahoo! Shopping. You can avert a disaster, such as a retailer that ships the wrong items or is unresponsive.

-Trust your instincts.

"If it sounds like too good of a deal to be true," Hintz said, "it probably is."

Vintage clothing finds new fans -centertownnewsonline.ca

Thursday, 23 October 2008
By Hannah Yakobi

Roxanne Stasyszyn, Centretown News

Brittany Williams rummages through vintage footwear at Ragtime, a vintage store off Bank Street.

Ottawa may not be a fashion capital, but its vintage clothing market is expanding due to the increased interest and demand from the city’s residents.

New vintage aficionados are emerging on top of the existing fan base, which has always been large according to fashion experts.

The Ottawa Vintage Clothing Sale on Nov. 9 is going into its 24th installment. Organizer Penelope Whitmore says the event is always welcomed with open arms and people save their money for it all year.

The single day sale attracts vintage collectors from all over Canada and up to 2,000 visitors.

Fashion experts say the popularity of vintage clothing is on the rise because it allows people to be creative in a city like Ottawa where clothing choice is limited.

“There seems to be a trend going towards the individualist look and fine-tuning your personality in the way you dress,” says image consultant Annette McConnell. “We are also starting to see a surge towards accommodating the needs and wants of the Ottawa population.”

She adds that vintage clothing is certainly part of the trend.

“Vintage clothing is fabulous. It allows people to really create the look that is true to themselves. It’s from eras gone by, yet can be incorporated into an existing wardrobe and have a different spin,” says McConnell.

Sheila Furlong, fashion design co-ordinator at Algonquin College, agrees. She says vintage has never been more popular.

“All of a sudden it just peaked and really came back full-force. It has peaked through, occasionally, in the last 20 years, but not like it has today.”

There are also permanent collections of vintage clothes at local stores and these are refreshed on a regular basis.

Ragtime Vintage Clothing off Bank Street has hundreds of designs from the past, be they from the 1920s, 1960s, the Edwardian era or even medieval times.

“We are really busy,” says owner John Greaves, who has been running the Centretown store with his wife for the last three decades. “There’s always an interest in vintage clothing.”

The variety of items at vintage stores is jaw-dropping. There is something for everybody, such as flapper dresses, bow ties, dome-shaped umbrellas, Victorian-era pendants and 1970s suits à la Saturday Night Fever.

But it’s not all about sales. Greaves says that many people also rent out garments for Halloween or costume balls.

He adds that they often consign their own items too, pointing to the big pile of consignment catalogues.

“A lot of people don’t want to go to the malls because everything is the same, so they come here because it’s different,” he says.

Even boutique stores have recognized this interest and have started to update their existing collections.

The trendy Victoire Boutique on Dalhousie Street has a wide range of vintage accessories that store owners say are very popular. In addition, they host a vintage shoe sale several times a year. These events are conducted with shoe collectors from Montreal, who bring a U-Haul filled with vintage shoes.

Régine Paquette, Victoire’s co-owner, says their store was “jam-packed” during the last sale.

“There is a really high demand, and vintage is definitely gaining a wider audience,” she says. “Even though we are not a vintage store we have a vintage line because it’s part of our customers’ aesthetic.”

Whitmore predicts that vintage will stay in style.

“The love of vintage clothing has always been there, but it has been made more popular by Hollywood stars. It’s one-of-a-kind. You just can’t find the same quality and workmanship in the clothing of today.”

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