Celebrating International Women's Day

Today, March 8th is Int'l women's day and to celebrate there's a special feature on Dawanda....and two of my items are on it!!! It's true my products are geared towards us ladies, mainly because I love everything feminine and this is reflected in my Dunibagz line. My own site DB Exclusives will have a whole category just for men!

Lavender Dreams, bottom row, second from left

Red evening clutch, middle row, far right

I will be in the big city tomorrow. If the weather's good I might take some pics :)

Little girls love make up bags too!

I feel better today. Thank you, my blog friends, for your well-wishes! I was feeling down because my doctor discovered a weird lump at the base of my throat, and I have a CT scan scheduled for tomorrow. I kind of thought I would be spared having the radioactive agent injected into me yet again. Oh well. Better to find out what that lump is, right? Anyway, a few weeks ago I made some more gifts - for a few pre-teen girls I know, and who always complement my make up bags whenever they visit. They will be getting these for Nikolaus Tag, which is celebrated here on December 6th. Happy Tuesday!

Hip to be square

Here's a new make up bag I just listed in my shop. It's a compact, boxy shape and has a long loop, so that you may hang it up on a hook in your bathroom or on a door handle. It measures approx. 16 x 10 x 8.5 cm (7 x 4 x 3.2 "), is fully lined and softly padded for stability. I am currently testing this bag shape - I received 30 hits on the first day. Most of my visitors come from German-speaking countries, so I don't get a huge amount anyway, plus new items quickly disappear off the front page. We'll see how it goes! Meanwhile, I have started sorting and assembling my fabrics for Autumn. It seems like Autumn is here already - it's been raining all day and temperatures have cooled down considerably. I really, really hope I'm well enough to go on our planned vacation in three weeks, because I desperately need some sunshine!

Postal Service

There is a saying in German "Grün ist die Hoffnung", roughly translated as 'hope is green' (the colour green being associated with spring, growth, a new leaf etc). Hope is something that I definitely need right now. Since the beginning of this year I've been searching for an alternative solution to the German postal service who have gone beserk with their international shipping prices! They have increased the charge from Euro 8,- to Euro 12,- for the smallest parcel - the one that I frequently use to ship my make up bags. The Euro/US$ rate stands at 1 = 1.3 at the moment. Someone suggested I should flatten my bags like pancakes and stick them in padded envelopes...That's a definite no-no for me. All my bags are wrapped individually and packaged really nicely without loosing their shape, of which I'm particularly proud. Besides, an envelope thicker than 2 cm already costs Euro 12,-, so flattening the bags would defeat the purpose. I have contacted various courier services, however, since mine is a small business and I only ship sporadically I don't qualify to utilize their service. There is one courier who may work with me, but he only delivers to the EU countries. As more and more people from North America, Canada and Asia make inquiries about my bags I'm getting more and more desperate to find a suitable service. I haven't given up hope of finding one yet. Suggestions most welcome! Oh, and the new window will hopefully arrive next week...at least it has stopped raining.

Trends and the weather

Whenever I'm invited to a party where most people don't yet know me I make sure to take one of my bags and a couple of business cards too. Yesterday was such an occasion. As is typical of this region we've been having horrendous weather lately: wet, cold and windy. I noticed almost everyone was dressed in drab black or brown, so...my bright pink tote bag really stood out! As expected a couple women came up to me to admire my bag and inquire where I bought it (hehehe). When I told them I made it there were quite a few (pleasantly) surprised faces. I handed out business cards immediately - do this before everyone hits the drinks bar. I also use this opportunity to gauge the colour trend. This information is useful to me when selecting fabric. It seems women still prefer bright pinks! I guess if you live in a part of the world where it's raining 70% of the time, it's nice to possess a bag in bright colours.

Fall Sale!

I've reduced the price of these three cute bags! If you buy them via my shop I'll adjust the price for you. Anyway, take a look what's on offer: Punky Aqua NOW ONLY Euro 11.10 (US$ 15.00)  Sorry, Punky Pink SOLD already Orange Dots Mini Bag NOW ONLY Euro 9.50 (US$ 12.10) Make up Bag with Appliqué NOW ONLY Euro 7.00 (US$ 8.90)