…& a heart for our earth

oops! did you buy the wrong size coffee filters for your coffee maker? NOT TO WORRY! use these little paper filters to clean your windows and mirrors! they don’t leave streaks and you aren’t wasting your paper towel! OR you can utilize the little guys with your favorite eco-friendly furnititure polish…

double up your filters and use them as coasters for your sweating summer drinks!

reuse water leftover after common household uses to water plants instead of pouring it down the drain [i.e. from a double boiler, washing produce, steaming vegetables, cooking pasta, soaking frozen meat in its packaging, etc...]. transfer leftover water to a watering can for later use. make sure water is cool before using it to water plants.

soak labels off glass jars & reuse the jars around the house to organize loose items.

we’re almost done with bags number 2 & 3 from our newest collection, HOME GROWN. i thought that i would share some quick shots of the bags as a work in progress.

tami has been hard at work all day working on bag number 2, for the HOME GROWN collection. this ELIZABETH bag is made from second-hand upholstery & donated denim, making it “100%”. the bag features printed horses, with a home made belt created from various recycled materials.

close up of the home made belt.

tami soon began cutting out the body for bag 3, a hobo styled bag. it has a cow hide print & tanned leather bottom, with a leather strap. not even an hour later, she had the outside body of the bag finished.

it’s been a busy day. hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful we had today! :]

p.s.- don’t forget our 30% off all bags & FREE shipping we have going on right now, on our website.

turn the faucet on at a fraction of full volume for things like washing hands & rinsing dishes to save considerable water.

home grown is our new, country themed line of bags that we are making for a new client. yesterday i told you how excited tami was so excited to make the first bag, & shortly after i finished our last post, she had finished it. i thought it would be nice to share some pictures of it.

this is a medium sized bag made from recycled upholstery & denim, as well as a recycled leather strap. tell us what you think about it by leaving a comment or let us know on facebook! we’d love you hear from you! :]

what a beautiful saturday we had today! the sun came out, & so did tami & i. we took our day of business out, where we not only enjoyed the sunshine, but we found some good deals for J&S! speaking of good deals, did you see that we’re having a sale? yeah 30% off all bags & free shipping on everything!

we went & got 22 rolls of new upholstery to work with, this afternoon. we are so excited about all the new fabric- & there’s some great finds in there! tami was so excited that not too long after we got home, she couldn’t wait to  start picking out fabric & cutting it up for future orders.

recently we partnered with this country feed store in highland, who will be carrying some J&S bags soon! tami couldn’t wait to start the first bag for them.

we pulled out some other fabrics for this new, country themed collection, which we named “home grown”.

not only did we score with some new fabric, but we hit up an estate sale on the way home & found an antique singer sewing machine from 1929! she folds up nicely into this little table when you are done sewing.

hope everyone enjoyed this nice day as much as we did! :]

we love to work on special projects for our customers, & this past holiday was no exception. J&S customer, elizabeth h. donated a dress that her grandmother had made for her back in the 70s. elizabeth wanted us to make special bags for her & her family that incorporated the fabric from the dress. we were happy to make elizabeth 3 bags, that all went together &  had a special, personal touch.

elizabeth was kind enough to send us a photo to share of her, with her sister & niece, & their J&S bags!

looking back at 2009, we had quite a busy & prosperous year! we threw a fashionable party for the launch of our autumn collection; had our bags on display, as part of an art installation that we created; started a website & blog for our customers to follow us & buy our bags; & our handbags are now featured in two area boutiques: clarkston flower shoppe & after the rain [milford]. in addition to all of that, we took the brand to the next level with new marketing, & saw our product evolve from jeans & t-shirts to beautiful, detailed bags made from upholstery & other recycled materials. this year, we also introduced 100% bags, all made from recycled & donated materials, & containing no unnatural dyes. as the year came to a close, we can confidently say that we ended 2009 on a good note, as we completed about 25 bags for the holiday season & finally moved our self into a real office!

so what’s new for 2010? a lot! we hope to reach out to new customers & create more environmental awareness through our product. we hope that you, our fans, will spread the word about who we are & what we do, to more friends & family. this year, we look forward to creating new bags that more people will fall in love with. in addition, we’re excited to take on projects that will help our customers’ vision for the “right bag”, become a reality.

we have some special new projects that we are currently working on right now, so check back with us to see how these custom orders unfold!

so happy new year friends! we look forward to meeting & working with new people. may 2010 bring all of you good fortune & happiness!

peace & love…

stina diane & tami elizabeth