Rickshaw Bags Design Contest ~ Works in Progress

Our collaborative contest with Rickshaw Bags is coming up to deadline this Saturday, September 15th. There's still time to participate and have your design made into a custom Rickshaw messenger bag! All the details are here.  All entries will be voted on via Facebook and shown at the celebration event:

WINNER ANNOUNCED DURING THE

SF ETSY EVENT @ RICKSHAW BAGS

SEPTEMBER 25th @6pm
904 22nd Street – San Francisco, CA

Right next to 22nd Street Cal Train Station

So, what are we making?  I asked our team to share their designs in progress and here's two ideas.  Feel free to share yours in the comments below or email me at evenhoward @ gmail.com and I'll add your photos too!

Sarah Friedman of Birdbags

"The design is sketched roughly, in chalk.  Lately, I have been missing home (New York) and have decided to make this flap in honor of our new home in Northern California, by celebrating all that the landscape has to offer.

Sarah's work in progress Rickshaw Bag Flap design drawn with inspiration photo.

My flap design is based on a photo that I took in Sonoma County, when we first moved here.  I will be using the colors and the design elements in the landscape to create an abstract version of the image on a piece of Turquoise "Vegan Leather" (Vinyl).  I will be machine embroidering the elements to create a "drawing" in thread.

Sarah's new Nightingale Handbag ~ check out her machine embroidery!

I've been experimenting with embroidery on vinyl to give an extra dimension to the fabric.  I'm having a lot of fun with it, so I am excited to push the limits in a more literal, pictorial way with this design."

Jen Johnson of Mama's Magic Studio

"Lately I’ve been playing with a “Bluebirds – Happiness” theme for collage quilts, and I continued the idea for my bag flap. I’m attaching a pic of the submission finished so far and a pic of my wall hanging quilt that started the series. I’m trying to decide if I want to include a heart above the two birds similar to the one in the wall hanging quilt. Leaning towards no, but still deciding and would love opinions!

Jen's Rickshaw Bag Flap Design ~ entirely made from FabMo fabrics. 

Oh, and one more thing that might be of interest – my submission was created entirely from upcycled designer fabric remnants obtained through the recent SF Etsy fabric distribution at FabMo!"

Jen Johnson's Birds of Happiness quilted panel~her bag inspiration!

Jen's "Mother Bird Nest Pendant" from her Etsy Shop

I'm working on a colorful thread crochet flap; I hope with a graphic black and white element. Betsy is using Spoonflower to print her own fabric.  The possiblities are endless!  Looking forward to seeing more of what our team creates!  Questions about the bag contest can be directed to our fearless Captain Katy.

~Even

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!

Treasury Team Presents: Getting to Know You!

I was so inspired by the SF Etsy Team Gallery Show at Studio today!  Of course our team wowed with art, craft, and baked treats of all kinds, and was what newly enjoyable for me was hearing more about the daily lives of our team members.  The stories of how we manage life in the Bay Area, balance day jobs and families, and keep our own creative sparks burning was truly awesome.

In this spirit, I'd love to launch our next Treasury Team Challenge with a Getting to Know You theme.  Please create a treasury with a few SF Etsy team members (search for the tag "sfetsy") and curate your own visual art show sharing an element of your own life balance.  It can be the celebration of a hobby, a place you love to go for inspiration, honoring family support, a timeline of how you got here... imagine it's a virtual cocktail party and we all have a chance for a lively chat.  Please tag your treasury with "SFEtsy Treasury Team" so others can find you, give a link back to the blog, and describe your treasury a bit (you can do this in the comments if there is not room in the description area).  You can share your treasury everywhere you like, including the comments section of this post!

I'd also like to honor the lovely Sarah Friedman of Birdbags as she is a second time winner of our Treasury Team Challenge~ having gained the most views, comments, and favorites in our last set of treasuries.  Check out her adorable iphone cases (also at Studio Gallery)!

envelope style iphone case from Sarah Friedman aka Birdbags as seen in the Studio Gallery Show!

Here's an example from my getting to know treasury, it's about a summer project dream that I finally got to complete with some help from my grandparents and a long lasting summer in Montana...

'I built a boat; I wore a dress.' by nadene

Last summer I built a mahogany boat, a wineglass wherry. As part of our San Francisco Etsy Treasury Team Getting to Know You series, I give you this illustrated snippet of my creative life!

suziesvintage $89.00	MimiHammer $46.00	Crafterall $40.00
JewelryByMaeBe... $18.00	Marewo $33.00	woolicious $25.00
lindadonohue $265.00	yankeegirl $15.00	cabininthehear... $25.00
marissavogl $47.00	katyatchison $50.00	Thrush $89.00
TickledFancies $50.00	ItalianGirlinG... $30.00

Looking forward to getting to know more of our team! Let's have two weeks of entries, a 'winner' with the most views, favorites, and comments will have their shop and treasury featured in the next blog post.  Questions?  Email me @ evenhoward@gmail.com.

~Even

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!