And the Winners Are...

Thank you so much to all who entered our CABTeam Challenge giveaway. All winners will be contacted by the sponsor of the prize. Here are the winners:
Grand Prize $25 gift certificate to our team leader's shop Sol Sisters. Sol Sisters will also contribute $25 to our charity in your name.
#27 is Lanky


First Prize-$20 Gift Certificate to The Puddle People
#39 is Joyful Girl Naturals


Second Prize-$15 Gift Certificate to Bags and Buds
#30 is jerzycat99


Third Prize-$15 Gift Certificate to Spirit Designs
#48 is fashionfrugality


Fourth Prize-Handmade Gift by Taylor Made Bags
#53 is Lacey Loves Pink


Fifth Prize-Handmade Gift by Apiary Designs
#40 is noella


Sixth Prize-Handmade Gift by Soutern Sweet Ts
#44 is handbags*n*pigtails

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Weaving in a new member

Please welcome Andy Lyle of Andy's Treasures. Andy creates handwoven bags and other items on a metal toy potholder loom. She also weaves on full size looms. Andy's family are all longtime crafters. Andy joins us from Richmond, Kentucky.

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Six quick holiday seller tips

Here's a few quick things you can do to get your etsy/artfire shop holiday ready.

1) Make sure you are set up with Paypal to accept credit card payments from those who do not have or do not wish to have a paypal account.

2) Review your item titles. Titles should be packed with every key word a buyer might use to find your items. This is also how Google indexes your items so make those titles count! You should also be using every tag you can.

3) Review your prices & shiping fees. You may need to raise or lower slightly. Do you have a good range of items and prices? Do you have a few things in the impulse buy range of $20 and below? What could you add to fill this need? Is your shipping fair and correct for each item?

4) Update your blog/facebook/twitter with any holiday specials you are offering. If you have a mailing list, now is a good time to send an early holiday special out to your customers.

5) If you have facebook, install the Artfire Kiosk or Sellit app.

6) Create a facebook fan page for your business and add lots of pictures. Once you get 100 fans, you can change the URL.

Any tips you'd like to share with other sellers?

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Three New Members

Welcome to Grace of WhimsyLoft. Check out her handmade treasures.



Welcome to Susan of HottieHandbags. Sue makes handmade purses with an attitude.



Welcome Christy of Hu.made. Christy makes friendly bags and accessories. Check out her banner for the definition of hu.made.



Welcome, welcome, welcome! We're glad to have you on the team.

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Change Purses for Change Giveaway

As promised, this is our Carried Away Team Giveaway. Posted in our team shop are all of these wonderful change purses. The proceeds from the sale of any of these purses goes to support our charity Women for Women International. An organization that supports women in war-torn regions with financial and emotional aid, job-skills training, rights education and small business assistance so they can rebuild their lives.
To enter the giveaway, simply check out the 22 purses below and comment about your favorite one. To get another entry, twitter about the giveaway and post the link here. And, for 2 more entries, purchase something from our team shop. So, you can get up to four chances to win. The giveaway ends on October 31st and winners will be posted here on November 1st. We will choose winners using random.org.
Now, for the prizes...
Grand Prize $25 gift certificate to our team leader's shop Sol Sisters
Sol Sisters will also contribute $25 to our charity in your name.
Other Prizes include:
$20 Gift Certificate to The Puddle People
$15 Gift Certificate to Bags and Buds
$15 Gift Certificate to Spirit Designs
Handmade Gift by Taylor Made Bags
Handmade Gift by Apiary Designs
Handmade Gift by Soutern Sweet Ts


1. DS Chic Boutique -Japanese Koi Zippered Pouch Set
2. Sew Artsy-Change Purse Pink Ice Cream
3. Eclectic Armadillo-Cash Shoulder Bag
4. Eclectic Armadillo-Shoulder Bag and Coin Purse Set
5. Taylor Made Bags-Batik Bi-fold Wallet and Mirrored Keychain
6. Midnight Creations-Aqua Swirls Pouch
7. Apiary Designs-Zippered Pouch Duo
8. Alonia Creations-Blue Floral Mini Clutch Change Purse
9. Alonia Creations-Blue and Green Mini Clutch Change Purse
10. Alonia Creations-Pink Floral Mini Clutch Change Purse
11. Sandras Bohemian Bags-Rusty Paisley Swirls Pouch
12. Sandras Bohemian Bags-Plaid Cargo Zipper Pouch
13. Bags and Buds-Stiped Denim and Patterned Cotton Coin Pouch Wristlet
14. Alamodestuff-Womens Seatbelt Wallet-True Blue
15. Satin Doll Handbags-Pocket Purse Lilu Button Pocket
16. Satin Doll Handbags-Pocket Purse YMI Button Pocket
17. Satin Doll Handbags-Pocket Purse with Beaded Handle
18. Miss Pretty Perfect-Reptile Embossed Leather Wallet with Lime and Turquoise Paisley Lining
19. Spirit Designs-Zippered Clutch
20. Allie Analogue-New Wave Change Purse
21. Creations by Nora Marie-Small Coin Purse
22. Allie Analogue-Emmy Pouch

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New folks join the bag crew

The constant style of denim is the focus of these gorgeous upcycled bags from Anita at Made in Tahoe. From her home on the lakeshore, she rescues old jeans and mixes them with new fabrics to make useable art like this Soft Sage Green recycled pocket bag.


Buzz over to Square Bags and visit Kathy in California for this Beez Pleez bag and other whimisical treats. Find out more on her blog.

Summer might be on it's way out, but you can hold onto those cool waters and breezy, seaside afternoons with this Sea Blue Summertime Handbag from Jan of the JMC collection. Jan is new to etsy and joins us from Pennsylvania. Many of Jan's bags feature upcycled fabrics and trims.



Welcome to Alane of MISSALANE-eous out of North Carolina. Alane's well stocked shop is fairly new to etsy, being the result of her company shutting down. Their misfortune has become her joy and her skill is evident as seen in this Large black belt bag.

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Project Linus quilts are coming along

Nicole from Ni-Chern Designs has been busy working on assembling our group quilts for Project Linus. Pictured above is the girl's quilt. The boy's quilt is coming along as well, just waiting for 3 more blocks.

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Welcome 4 New Members to the Team

Welcome to Helen of HMMills . Helen's shop has a collection of handbags, jewelry and beads with a mix of stone, wire, glass and fabric.


Welcome to Anne of Anne4Bags.
Anne loves to hand embroider and often use beads, yarns and chiffon to create her beautiful bags.


Welcome Sandra from Sandrasbohemianbags.
She like deconstructing discarded clothing and reconstructing it into a work-of-art bag.


Welcome to Lena and Vicki of LuVsAccessories. These talented women attribute their love for crafting to the influence of friends and family.

We're glad to have these talented ladies as part of the team.

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Carried Away Team Challenge #2

It's time for our second team challenge. This one is called "Change Purses for Change". To participate you need to design a change purse, wallet or pouch suitable for holding money. Your submission can be made out of any material, in any color, any size. So, the sky's the limit! The deadline to submit a change purse is September 30. For more details visit our Team Ning Page. *** YOU MUST BE A MEMBER OF THE CARRIED AWAY TEAM TO PARTICIPATE ***

We will be donating the proceeds from this challenge to Women for Women International. To identify the listings for this charity, there will be a Women for Women logo in the listing. We already have 4 submissions in the shop for this challenge, so check them out and join in the fun! It's all for a great cause.



Since it’s creation, Women for Women International has empowered over 153,000 women survivors of war to move toward economic self-sufficiency with it's year-long program of direct aid, rights education, job skills training, and small business development. They have distributed $42 million in direct aid, microcredit loans, and other program services. Since 1993, Women for Women International has mobilized more than 125,000 women and men in 105 countries worldwide to reach out and support women survivors of war – one woman at a time.

In October we'll host a giveaway on this blog. Readers will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite change purse. More details on the giveaway later.

Thanks to all who participated in our first team challenge. The "Summer of Freedom" proceeds support Herobox.org. Handbags made for the challenge are listed in our team shop-http://cabteam.etsy.com. Sales of these bags will continue to allow us to send care packages to our adopted marine and her unit. You can identify the Herobox bags from the logo in each listing. Check out older blog posts to see what we've been able to send.

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Quick Wallet Tutorial from Sew Christine

Super cute hook on wallet pattern/tutorial from TM Sew Christine. Not sure if this one is allowed for commercial use, so please check pattern PDF carefully before you sell it.


She also has another version here. More pockets and zippered coin compartment.

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