NEW SITE!!

Please visit my new site - www.megjamesdesign.com

The site has an online store up and running (just in time for holiday shopping!) and all future blog entries will be posted there. Thanks for your support!

More Baby Pillows!

C for Carter

L for Landon

R for Reece

Candy's Birthday

My sister Kit decided to give her friend Candy an MJD (Meg James Design - I think I'll start using initials since it saves about 2.6 seconds. Just think of what I can do with that found 2.6 seconds!!). Candy and I worked together to determine a color palatte that went with her wardobe which is, of course, absolutely pertinent. The base is a super sturdy and soft refined wool, and the lining and front panel are bright graphic patterns.

Feeling very settled these days!

A few more recent house photos I figured I'd post...

An Artist's Accessory

I was recently contacted by a woman named Kelley who lives in St. Louis and has gotten to know my good friend Sarah. Sarah carries a Meg James Design bag, and when Kelley saw it, she wondered if she could get one of her own. Of course you can, Kelley! :)
Kelley is an artist, so it's important that she is able to carry her journal and art supplies with her at all times, along with all the other standard goodies you would find in most people's purses. We also decided that a messenger style bag would be best because it would allow for more hand/arm freedom than a shoulder bag can offer. This way she can sketch and write and not have to worry about holding her purse. Journal away, Kelley! I hope you love your Meg James Design!

Some recent purses...

My sewing had to be placed on the back burner a bit while moving and all that goes with it was in progress. I still managed to complete a couple of projects that were in the works, however, so here's a little montage of recent pretties:

A bit further along...

Our main focus as we got started decorating was the main living area consisting of the front room, the kitchen and the living room. All three rooms are open to one another, so I really wanted our design scheme to be continuous.


We decided the light and creamy paint color you saw in so many of the "before" photos was perfect to keep in the kitchen as long as we brought some color and some darker accents into the other two rooms. It was really exciting to start with such a blank slate and know that I could take it in any direction I chose.

I didn't struggle for long with where to take it, though, because this BEAUTIFUL chair fell into my lap and became the inspiration for the whole house (and yard!). It was a housewarming gift from my kind-as-kind-can-be and generous-as-generous-can-be mother-in-law. It resides in the front room and brings a smile to my face every morning when I come around the corner!

While "the whimsy chair" (as Brian dubbed it) offers a splash of much-needed color in the front room, we went for a super neutral fabric for the new couch so it would hopefully last the test of time and accomodate many paint colors over the years. Here it is in the living toom the day it got delivered:

Once the couch was in the house, I felt better about committing to a paint color for this room. I wanted it to have some color but not be overwhelming. I also knew it needed to be dark because every other thing in the entire room was not. There are a ton of evergreen trees in our yard and in our neighborhood, and I drew some inspiration from the pines when picking out the paint. This isn't the greatest picture of it, but here's the room while the paint is drying. Hi Moose!

I also was eager to get a move on the front yard, because as you saw in the "before" photos, there wasn't a lot going on (unless you count dandelions). We figured that if we could find a way to disguise the well head that was strageically placed smack in the middle of the lawn all by itself, then we would help make the lawn a little prettier. Thus began the largest landscaping project I have ever undertaken on my own.

On day 1, I scribed out the border with a shovel and sprayed gas killer on everything within it. A few days later, much of the grass was gone and I began the horrible task of getting rid of all the sod. That was day 2, and it was a loooong day 2. I was out there sweating from 9:00am to 5:30pm clearing that stuff out. Wwwhhheeeew- makes me tired just thinking about it! Anyway, I stared at the cleared out space for a couple days while I decided what to plant there. I already had a couple of nice plants that I knew I would incorporate (some hostas and irises from the South Haven farmers market!), so I placed them in their pots here and there to help get the creative juices flowing. Here's the plot sometime after day 2 but before day 3.

My parents came to visit right after the weekend of the above mentioned work, so we went to Lowe's together, and they helped me pick out some really good stuff to plant. They also treated us to all the plants as a housewarming gift, so the plot is now affectionately called "The In-Law's Garden." Thanks Mom and Dad!! More to photos to come on this!

I mentioned that we have access to a lake in our neighborhood. Here's an image of the beach - so peaceful since it's a park on three sides.

There's one more GREAT thing I must let you know about our new place. No words necessary.

New cool project alert!

While I was excited to embark upon this Michigan adventure, I was also terribly sad to leave my Schott Design family. We are a close-knit crew, and I wanted to come up with a special way to thank them all for being so fantastic. While perusing a book full of handmade projects from my mom, I found a neato idea that I could put my own twist on and customize for each individual. I bought Moleskine notebooks (I picked the craft paper ones because I liked how they let the fabric be the star of the show), took scraps of modern and vintage fabrics, fused them to interfacing, then sewed them to the notebook covers in various layouts. Each notebook gained its own personality as I went and it was so fun to see them take shape. I then sewed a label onto each one, wrapped them in twine and attached a card addressed to the recipient to the top. You could do this with lots of different notebook colors and sizes...the possibilities are endless! If you'd like more detail on the how-to part, just let me know - it's easy! :)

We've Moved!

Brian and I enjoyed the great adventure of moving this spring! We relocated from our hometown of Indianapolis to Commerce Township, Michigan in early May. Brian's work brought us here, and we are slowly but surely getting settled in our new house, new neighborhood, new state!

We knew the house we purchased was going to be the one immediately. We didn't even visit it twice before making an offer. It was clean, bright, updated, perfectly sized - everything we were looking for and more! It also has lake access to a lake that's part of a state recreation area which has been so much fun already (for us AND Moose!).

Here are a few photos from our first visit:

So now you've seen some pictures of before...up next will be after! Or maybe more like during since everything is a work in progress. :) Stay tuned!

Springtime Beauties!

Feast your eyes on a pair of creations custom made for Erin Humphreys to give to her mom and stepmom! Erin is the wonderful/spunky/smart/fun/ambitious/kind entrepreneur/mom/business owner/friend who owns Enroute Spa at the airport and engineered the Hip & Handmade in Indy project. I've told you all about her before.....so I'll leave it at that! :) These two bags were made from some Amy Butler fabric, some Joel Dewberry fabric, and some vintage pieces mixed in.

Nicholas & his pillow...

Which is cuter???? I don't know!!! Ok, for real - Nicholas is waaay cuter. As a matter of fact, he's quite possibly one of the cutest babies I've ever seen. This little man belongs to a friend of my sister, Kit, and she gave it to them as a baby gift when Nicholas was born. Oh yeah, and I made the pillow. :)

Awesomeness for Alisha

I haven't officially announced it through this medium yet - so here it is! Brian and I (and Moose too, of course) are moving to Michigan! Brian got a promotion at work, and off we go! It has been an adventure already, and we're not even gone yet! One fortunate consequence of our move is my new friendship with Alisha. She was hired at Schott Design as my replacement, and I know she will be great! She ordered a bag for herself to kick off the spring season and requested "neutral with some pops of color." Luckily, she's a color-loving interior designer so royal purple is neutral enough!

A little outside of the box... or bag, rather.

I wanted to share a couple of custom pieces that I made around Christmas time (better late than never, right?). A friend of mine (Brenna, who recently ordered a bag for herself) requested these for a couple of people on her gift list that were tough to buy for.

The first is a pouch that she wanted to give to a family member's new girlfriend that she hadn't yet had the chance to get to know very well. Brenna knew that she really liked horses, so we decided to incorporate a horse into the design. I first explored horse fabrics, but I was extremely underwhelmed by the options I found. So, I decided to take matters into my own creative hands and made the silhouette of a horse out fabric and then appliqued it to the front of a handmade pouch. Here's the result. Apologies for the not-so-great pics; I took them with my iPhone. :)

And this one was for the 6 year old daughter of one of Brenna's good friends. Her name is Olivia, she loves everything pink and loves carrying purses. Thus, the pink purse that says OLIVIA on it! I put a zipper on it so she could be rough with it and not lose anything out of the inside. The handles are a re-purposed pink belt.

Noble Centers of Indiana

A very nice lady from Noble Centers of Indiana recently saw my line in Enroute Spa at the airport. She contacted me about donating a bag for the silent auction at their upcoming fundraiser, so I did! What a great way to get exposure and help out a good cause at the same time! I used this crazy vintage print that I found at Midland for the lining and an ultra-modern turquoise material with a wood-grain look on the outside. Turned out pretty cute, but I didn't get a picture of it so you'll have to use your imagination! :)

Barb's Birthday Bag

I made this one as a gift for my mother-in-law on her birthday. Great colors and super fun polka dots! Who doesn't love polka dots???

Mandy's Baby Bag

Mandy Garzolini was my very first boss - we worked together at BCH (an advertising agency in Indianapolis) right after I graduated from school. When I met her, she didn't have any kids, and now she has 3 of them!! We recently reconnected (thanks to facebook) and have enjoyed catching up on stuff.

I found out she was pregnant with her third, and she found out that I make bags, and we decided I had better make her a baby bag right away!!! The baby, Mia, was born this winter. Since she is their only girl, it was clear that we needed to break out the pink. I put together a combination of pinks and grays at Mandy's request. The bag has 4 pockets on the outside, 4 pockets on the inside and a sturdy braided strap to be worn over-the-shoulder.

All the better to see you with, my dear!

My mom had an old glasses case that she carried around in her purse all the time that looked like this:

It was worn out and used up, so we thought it would be fun to try to replicate the design with two padded pockets, but using fun new fabrics! Here's what I came up with:

So my mom replaced the old one with this one and now her glasses have a happy new home. :)