FINALLY!!!!

So some wonderful, wonderful news--- I AM FINALLY GRADUATING!!! It's been a long time coming and well overdue!

I've been so wrapped up in my senior year the past few months (oh, and having a baby in January) that the poor online store has been put on hold until I had some free time. I have some amazing ideas and products coming soon. I'm going to start listing some new things tomorrow. Next product to come-- a wristlet with a shoulder strap!!!

The Flower Patch Clutch

So what is behind the design of the new flower patch clutch? Actually, my mother in law gave me the idea for this bag. She was going through magazines one day and came across a handbag with flowers all over the bag (check out bigbuddha bags... but I took the clipping home and thought it over. How can I make this bag more like something I would carry? It's a clean cut bag and is really nice with about anything. But I wanted something a tad more urban with a touch of artsy. It seems as though the new in thing is flowers on bags... so thank goodness we've been doing the flower thing since early 2008! The result? The flower patch wristlet with crazy white thread accents... I hope to be doing more of these and maybe even turn it into one of my fold-over clutches. I think for the next round of wristlets this style... I'll add the silver studs to it.

New Items

New Leather Has Arrived!

So the much anticipated wait is FINALLY over. The remaining new leather colors have finally arrived. And I love them. These are in addition to the really bright colors that came in last week (the lime green, aqua, pink, and orange).

I have one more wholesale order to finish up before I can finally move on to making some new products. I absolutely cannot wait. I really want to dig in right now... but I must have patience.

Also- don't forget that the Bloomington Handmade market is coming up this Saturday. Visit www.bloomingtonhandmademarket.blogspot.com for more details.

Happy Monday.

PS) oh! and we got into the Indieana Handicraft Exchange in June. Can't wait!!!

I hearts Anthropologie.

I found this bag at Anthropologie and HAD to have it (brown bag). I love it. It has flowers on it, and as you know from our line, we love flowers on our bags. So I bought it and brought it home.

I immediately noticed a problem after I started using it--- the strap was too short for me. It still didn't bother me enough to not to use it. However.... this bag inspired me to make my own version (parchment bag). Check it out. There will be more to come... in lots of colors and sizes. Maybe one day Anthropologie will carry my bags. One can hope! :)

Have a great weekend.

We are back... yet again

Hello world.

We are finally back in the studio. And we are ready. Ready in a big bad way to knock your socks off. We have awesome new leather coming in. I mean awesome. We have two sets that we are working with-- bright colors and pastel colors. I am excited. You should be too.

Here is a preview of the bright colors. Love it. Did I mention that it's environmentally friendly leather? Yes... yes it is. Who knew there was such a thing? And of course, it's Italian leather. The styles for spring are still in our line of urban chic. We have a new handbag that has lots of poppies on it that was inspired by a bag from Anthropologie. Stay tuned.

Mini Handicraft Exchange Show....

Please come. Support your local artists.

Other happenings: Joel and I have been so so busy with the holiday season already. It seems as though everyone is doing their shopping early this year... or maybe it's just really busy and we'll keep on getting bombarded with orders up until the very last minute! :o) Whatever the case, you have been keeping Joel and I very busy! We are hard at work at the studio every night working on getting new things in the shop and getting your gifts together. We are also working on creating a new wallet (yes, a wallet!) that will hopefully be debuting right after the holidays.

Because you have so good to us... we are extending our sale. To show our thanks, through December 15th, take 15% off of our website prices. If you come to the Indieana Exchange, we'll honor it there too. To get this discount... type in XMAS upon checkout. This is good for only our website!

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Happy December!

Love, SU

ONLINE BLACK FRIDAY SALE!!!

One day only!  Save 15% off your purchase at Sakura Urban!

REMINDER-- THIS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY!!

Remember, that this Friday and Saturday there are two major art shows going on that we will be participating in--

Friday--- come see us at the Stutz Holiday Show in the Stutz Building in downtown Indy.  There will be live music, refreshments, entertainment, and artwork to buy!  Show runs from 5-9pm.  

Saturday--- a fun, artsy show in Bloomington at the Bloomington Handmade Market at the Waldron Arts Center.  This show will feature over 40 artists in various handmade mediums including jewelry, handbags, soaps, prints, cards, candles, etc... Come shop early for the holiday and get your loved ones the most unique gifts this season!

WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!!

Our Sales Reps....

We are very excited to welcome back Erin Cullen....
You may have met Erin when the store was still open on Massachusetts Avenue...she was our partner and store manager extrodinare. She has decided to come back and take on the ever growing position of Sales Rep. Besides managing wholesale accounts Erin will help in organizing handbag parties and events for you!

If you would like to contact Erin you can drop her an email at erin@sakuraurban.com.

Events, events and more events....

Our November (and December too) calendar is filling up. A perfect opportunity for you Sakura Urban-lovers to stop by and pick from our assorted "pre-made" items. As always, we will also gladly accept your custom order. Be sure to get it in soon for delivery by Christmas!

Here is a list of upcoming November events:

November 15th Mango Bay Salon, more info @
mangobayspa.com


November 20th Stutz Holiday Show, more info @ http://www.stutzartists.com/events.html













November 21st Bloomington Holiday Mart.


OH and a new one just added for December....

We just got booked for the Indieana Handicraft Exchange event on Mass. Ave in conjunction with First Friday Holiday Hoopla on Dec. 4th. If you haven't been to the Mass. Ave area for this event it is a MUST SEE - it will get even the most reluctant scrooge in the holiday mood! For additional info @ www.indieanahandicraftexchange.com

Moving to a New Studio!!!

We are moving to a new studio location--- even if it is only just down the hall! We are downsizing our space a bit and a great new space is opening up at the end of next month that is a little smaller than ours (around 150 sq. ft. smaller). It seems as though we've become pack rats lately and have sooo much stuff that we don't need or use so we figured moving into a smaller space will force us to clean up and get organized!!!

Did I mention the new space has a fantastic view of downtown Indy??
Pictures to come soon. :o)

What's Next??

Well, I am happy to say that the Hoosier Holiday Boutique was a great success. Thank you to Amber of Blue Scarab and Megan of Spice of Life Designs for coordinating and putting this event together for everyone.

I got to meet a lot of great artists at this event and even made a few trades along the way... which included trading up for a cool stuffed cat-ipillar and some illustrations by the Cordial Kitten.

So what's next on the agenda besides filling the wholesale orders that keep piling in for the holiday? The Bloomington Handmade Market!!! The market is November 21st in the Waldron Auditorium. Be sure to come by and get that special holiday gift before it's too late!!

Hope to see you there!

New Website Coming soon!!!!

I have been working on this and have finally gotten to a point to where I might actually put it live by the end of the week! Here is a sneak peek.... This website will allow you to buy directly from the website (finally!!) and check out our newest products.

Hoosier Holiday Boutique

Be sure to stop by Oakhill Mansion in Carmel, IN on Saturday from October 17 from 10:00am to 3:30pm. Sakura Urban will be there selling our handmade goods that we know you all miss!!! : )

Press Release:

Indiana’s premier team of artisans announce the first annual Hoosier Artisan Holiday Boutique taking place Saturday October 17 2009 at the Mansion at Oak Hill at 5801 E 116th St. in Carmel Indiana. Over 45 Hoosier artisans will offer their unique, one-of-a-kind handcrafted wares at the Mansion from 10am until 3:30pm.
“The event is being organized by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers,” states co-organizer Amber Bryce. “Our hope is to raise awareness in the importance of supporting organizations such as March of Dimes in addition to showing our support for a fellow team member and her family.” Vendors have donated items for the raffle and others will be donating a portion of their sales to help the INCrowdteam meet their $1,000 goal. Admission is free to the public; there will be complementary hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar available to our patrons.

Artists spanning the state of Indiana will be presenting almost every medium of fine art and craft. “This will be a fabulous opportunity to knock out your holiday shopping, all while supporting a great cause and the local economy!” Bryce states. Items that will be available include handcrafted children's clothing, artisanal bath and body products, handbags and purses, original paintings, photography and illustrations, hand turned wood items, knit and crocheted fiber art, boutique quality jewelry, hand-bound books, ceramics, lamp-worked glass, stationary and home decor items.

Photo shoot

Per usual, it's been a long time since I've blogged (I promise I'll get better), we've just been so busy with orders for the upcoming holiday that we haven't had a moment to actually sit and write everything we've been doing!

However, we did finally get some time to do a new photo shoot with some new products for fall and winter. We were so pleased with how the pictures turned out that we had to post a few online for you to see. These are not all... nor are they the favorites... it was just a sampling of what we shot with our favorite model, Jessie. It took us half a day to get all the shots and go to various locations, but it was a ton of fun!

Enjoy!

Update

Wow, it's been a REALLY long time since I've posted anything on this blog. We have been extremely busy since the end of May and haven't had a minute to really catch up and give our readers an update on what we've been doing, where we've gone, and what is in our future.

For those of you who don't know, we have closed down our retail location on Mass Ave. As sad as we were to close, it really was in our best interest for the company. Our wholesale business has grown leaps and bounds this past year and keeping up with two businesses was extremely time consuming for me. By the end of September this year, our work will be in over 40 stores both nationally and internationally--- a HUGE success for us! Something had to give and for us, it was our retail store. BUT--- we are adding a cart and doing a website makeover where you will be able to purchase our great bags and accessories online now. Not to mention, you can find us in Indy at Uber Boutique and Marigold. You can also find us at Relish in Bloomington. As always, if you have any special requests, you can send us an email.

In other news... we are expecting another baby! Another thing to keep us on our toes. We will be expecting our second little one this winter.

We have been working out of our studio everyday in the Stutz building. Feel free to stop by if your ever around or if you want a special tour... shoot us an email. If we are here, our door is always open for our customers to see us and to see our creative process. We have LOTS of new items coming out this fall and winter, including a new men's line and new bags made from gorgeous colors of canvas. Stay tuned to check out our website for more information.

Poppies Are Back.

Week full of LOTS of fun stuff!!!

Last week was crazy busy for the staff at Sakura Urban. We were gearing up for our Spring into Spring Fashion show at the Indy Fringe building featuring clothing and accessories. It was a great success thanks to Alexia, our promotions coordinator! Check out some of the fun photos here.....

We also had our Stutz Open House on Friday and Saturday night. It was a huge night for us and lots of fun. We met so many great people--- I also got my juki machine fixed thanks to a wonderful upholstery man who saw that it was threaded incorrectly--- and a photographer from Denver helped me take better pictures with our Nikon D80 camera and showed me some cool tips! Many of our loyal customers came in and even more new ones were made at the show. All in all, it was a fun weekend. Next event= Spring Gallery Walk on May 1st.



(photos from Spring into Spring courtesy of Indy Star)

Handmade: The Market

I know you all have been informed that Sakura Urban will be doing a handmade market at our shop at 425 Mass Ave (across the street from Starbucks and Silver in the City). We are finally ready!!! It took awhile to get the kinks worked out and get some money saved up for the paint job that will be taking place in the next couple of weeks... but we are ready to start taking applications!!!!!

Here are a few details on what we are offering:

For $35--- you get a first friday spot. You will get a "booth" of an
approximate size of 6x6 feet. You will be responsible for supplying
your own tables and doing your own displays. You are in charge of all
your sales and cash flow. For $35, you do it all yourself. We just
provide the spot and some advertising.

For $135 and processing fees--- you have the opportunity to consign
with us for one month. We will give you an approximate size of 6x6
space in our shop. The cost includes a first friday spot and
advertising. We will take care of everything else (sales, cash flow,
etc...)... including displays. Checks will be cut at the end of the month.
The processing fees are for credit cards. It will be a total of 4.5%
of the transaction. The rest is yours to keep.


Please, please, please keep in mind that this is a new event for us. We want to help promote artists and their work. We will be doing flyers and a blog for this market. I'm sure you have questions, so if you do, please email me at theresa@sakuraurban.com. We are so excited about this and think it will be a HUGE success on the avenue. Email me for an application. Hurry and get your applications in as space is limited. This coming May is our Spring Gallery Walk and the Artful Tread! What a great kick off for the market!!!!!!!