I interviewed Becky O’Neil of Becky OH! for this week’s Indie Artist Fixx because I have a serious love affair with her bags. Becky’s eye for using fabrics in breathtaking combinations and her architecturally reminiscent styles are among some of the most unique independently designed and created bags around. Her one-of-a-kind creations are just stunning and her new winter line is the best yet.

Becky came on the scene in 2004 and has been steadily making waves with her seemingly endless creativity. I really expect big, big things to come from this talented bag lady.

Here’s Becky in her own words.

1. What’s the name of your business and what do create and sell?

Becky OH! fabulous custom handbags, I design, sew and sell unique fabric handbags.

2. How and why did you get your start?

My children were at the age where I could think about re-entering the work force. I took some great lessons from my husband about the discipline of working at home and ventured out with a small line of bags and a big smile.

3. Is there anything you can share with other indie business owners who are just taking the plunge with their own business?

Trust yourself and just do it! Be friendly, open and listen a lot.

Also, make sure you love what you do - because you will be doing it 24/7.

The best is I get to play with color and fabric and I put a smile on peoples faces when they see my work. The worst is working until 3am to meet a deadline.

5. Tell us one funny/goofy/silly thing about yourself.

Well, I still love the Muppets and my one of my favorite Christmas albums is the Muppet Christmas with John Denver. I better go listen to the Dead Kennedy’s to offset that now…

6. Do you have any future plans for your business that you would like to share?

I am always designing new styles, and new fabric is everywhere. You will just have to keep watching to see what will come next… when the time is right I would love to have my own fabric line.

7. What blogs and mags do you read and what shops do you shop at? List as many as you want.

I love design blogs like Apartment Therapy, Print & pattern, and Kirin Notebook.

As far as style, I love the sartorialist . He takes fabulous pictures of everyone and has a really good eye for everyone’s style. I also visit Dress-A-Day everyday for the great writing and well, the dresses!

I love to shop from other Independent designers and I love to surf blogs to see what people around the world are designing. Great places like Indie finds take the work out of finding talented artists : )

8. Were you an artsy craftsy kid? If so, what kinds of things did you do?

As a child I was always drawing, even while in the car or watching T.V. I ended up getting my degree in fine arts and sculpture, but I drew and painted and experimented all the way.

9. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Just one? I’m a gemini, so my two favorite are Ben & Jerry’s Mango sorbet and coffee, coffee, buzz, buzz.

10. What does indie mean to you? You can give a literal definition, choose to be a little esoteric or a combination of both.

It means I am not beholden to anyone. I am responsible for all the failures and successes. It means independent thought and a structure that is open to change and innovation.

11. What are your inspirations?

The fabric itself inspires me, but I am always seeing and looking at everything around me. I love curvy shapes!

12. What you are doing new that you want everyone to know about?

I am just launching my Winter line. I have some really luxurious fabrics from NY and Japan coming waiting to be cut.

These are just so adorable. I don’t really collect ’small things’ but I think I need to start now and buy up all of these Needle Felted Birds by Lauren Alane.

I really like the unique handle design on these Wendyloo purses. They are made with father & daughter collaboration…Wendy Luker of Wendyloo designed the handles and her dad makes them. That’s not the end of Wendy’s collaboration either. While Wendy designs each and every bag style, her bags are actually made at the MCIF Center, a women’s collective in Brooklyn, NY. The MCIF Center’s goal is to help women strengthen themselves, their families, and their communities through education & financial empowerment. In addition to helping MCIF women with skill development, Wendyloo, Inc. donates ten percent of the sale of select bags to the MCIF Center.

So, you can look good and make be a conscientious shopper with Wendyloo.

Cruising Etsy earlier this summer, I found these cute little EmotiCUPS from One Square Tree and bookmarked them in my rainy day folder. Looking through that folder today, I realized I never posted about those EmotiCUPS. I went to check them out and wouldn’t ya know they already sold out, but I looked around One Square Tree’s shop and realized that they make all sorts of cute stuff. I especially like their adorable prints…they are a bit Kurt Halsey, but are still completely original.

I am sharing Sean Morris’ artwork with you today. Sean’s works are created mostly using pen & watercolor and his subject matter runs the gamut from a man vomiting rainbows and another man with shooting rockets from his chest to a little girl playing with her ‘meds’ and two women holding babies with devil horns. There is something about Sean’s dark innocence that speaks to me. On the surface his work seems to be about one thing, but upon closer inspection you realize that’s its meaning is much deeper. Aesthetically, I find his work to be quite pleasing as well.

Take a look at Sean’s work on his website or visit Moose, where some of his prints are available for purchase.

There’s beginning to be the ever so slightest chill to air and the promise of autumn weather is definitely in the air. That means that it is time to do some fall shopping for our new fall wardrobes and those autumn birthdays and other gift giving opportunities. To help you out with your fall shopping, make sure to take a look at the new Indie Fixx Fall Shopping & Gift Guide for fall fashions and other indie products for fall. There’s goods for Back to School, Fall Jewels, Indie Cornucopia, Fall into Indie, Autumn Notes, & Goods to be Thankful for.

Plus, there’s a contest with some donated goodies from Anna Bella Stationary who has donated a winner’s choice double-pack of their beautiful and elegant stationary. To win it, visit the Fall Shopping & Gift Guide, find the listing for Anna Bella Stationary and note the name of the stationary set that is pictured (there are two possible answers) Leave a comment with the name in the comments for this post on Indie Fixx. The contest will end September 24th at 11pm EST. Comments will remain private until after the contest and only correct responses will be eligible. I will pick one random commenter to win.

You will be able to choose from these stationary sets.

Sponsored post

The Renegade Craft Fair is being held today and tomorrow, Sept. 15th & 16th in Chicago. Here’s the details if you want to visit. If you are lucky enough to live in the windy city, I am so jealous. If you are not, then you and I are in the same boat, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do a little Internet shoppin’. Here’s a list of the 2007 Renegade Chicago vendors.

And, here’s some of my favorites from the Renegade vendors.

Wellies by Charlie and Sarah

Lilypad Necklace by Chain Chain Chain

Birds Grocery tote by Craftpaca

45 Insert Ring by Mogo

My Mintd Friday pick this week is the Circle of Life bracelet from 27things. The stretch bracelet is made from turquoise, Tibetan monk carved bone skulls and repurposed rosewood beads.

I just love getting my monthly Sampler…it truly is almost as good as Christmas morning when I was a kid. My favorites this month include a Zombie Escape Plan notebook from re-conceived.com, necklace and pin from Art School Dropout, earrings from Manic Trout, card from Lizard Press, hairpin from Sweet Stella Designs, recipe cards from Allison Biggs Graphic Design, fabric from Sassy Cotton and a hand mirror from Eclectic Elements.

For those of you not familiar with the Sampler (you must living under a rock) each month indie shops send samples into the Sampler and those samples are then divvied up and sent out to the Sampler subscribers and contributors. Some contributors send in as little as 25 samples and others send in 200+, so each each sampler may be completely different from every other Sampler. To give peeps an idea of what is being sent in, the folks over at the Sampler post Sneak Peaks as the samples come in. I always get super excited from checking out the sneak peaks. You can even sign up to receive sneak peeks via the email Samplergram.

Find out more about contributing to the Sampler here and find out more about how to subscribe to receive Sampler goodies here. Just to let you know, every sample contributer does receive a complimentary sampler.

The neato keen Sampler folks are doing something new called the Sampler Select. This September, October, and November, in addition to the Sampler proper, three very special Samplers will be available in the Sampler Shop. Each Sampler Select will have a theme and this month’s theme is stuff for the home and will feature products from My Favorite Mirror with artwork by meganmary.com, Botanical Earth, India*Romeo, Sublime Stitching, Green Chair Press, Little Flower Designs, Bread and Badger, The Small Object, and a special, Sampler Select Exclusive print from The Black Apple!

The September Sampler Select will go on sale September 18th, so don’t miss out, these will sell out fast.

I am sucker for pop-up cards and I really love this Red Blooming Pop-up Card from Crankbunny. I saw this over at Modish and I just had to share.

With the recent high-profile recalls of unsafe toys, parents, grandparents and aunties are realizing that less is more when it comes to what our children play with. High quality artisan-made toys make a wonderful addition to the toy box and in many cases will be around for the next generation. If you are looking for some safe ‘made in America’ toy alternatives, check out the following shops.

Greenjeans

Nico & Zoe

Mahar Dry Goods

The Conscious Child

Batteries Not Required

Aimee from the blog Aimeeroo.com is planning pink themed giveaways on her blog for the month of October. As you know October, is breast cancer awareness month, so Aimee is looking to offer pink prizes all month long to help raise awareness about breast cancer. If you are interested in donating pink prizes, just contact Aimee for more details.

This Thursday’s Reader Fixx ten top indie pixx were sent in by Pam Bauer of destination: unknown. Pam offers really lovely, distinctive, handmade and totally unique travel journals. I have had my eye on Pam’s journals for quite a long time and I know if I actually travel anywhere, I will placing an order. I think these would also make really wonderful gifts for the holidays for those traveling family and friends.

If you want to submit your picks, read how here.

The summer glee handbag by Sew Sweet Bags is perfect size for running errands and such, and the colors say summer fun. I always get compliments!

I have a nightlight and two animal pendants from Happy Owl Glassworks. I love the originality of her fused glass designs!

I met Jacqueline of Wooden Pen Lady at a craft show… her pens are beautiful, elegant and comfortable to hold. I purchased several pens for gifts that day!

Deborah’s Kitchen’s jams and spreads are soooo tasty! My favorite is The Morning After tasting tower sampler, because I can’t choose just one flavor.

The acorn necklace from Twigs and Heather. I love how they cast their jewelry from actual natural objects. When acorns are falling from the oak trees in my yard, I like to wear my own acorn necklace to be part of the autumn fun.

Custom cards from Ze Vin Creations. When I wanted a one-of-a-kind card
to give to friends who had purchased their first house, Maranda made a beautiful card depicting their new house right down to the shutters. See an image of the card here.

Is it possible to be in love with a food? If so, the object of my affection is the salty butterscotch dessert sauce from Shootflying Hill. To. die. for.

It may be made for a dog… but I gave the “King of Farts” to a family member instead, who wears it with pride. By Rachel Sudlow Jewelry.

The “Snart” card from 2 Hounds Design. If you’ve ever had a greyhound (and everyone should) you will totally understand!

Earring of the Month Club from Tilting Swiftly. I received a subscription to the Earring of the Month Club for my birthday—I love Jen’s earrings and can’t wait for another pair to show up in the mail!

I’m sticking with the cuteness theme in this post too. This cuteness is made by enderby and available at My Bonnie and Clyde. You know, cute is the new black this fall.

Tweet, tweet, how sweet. Patches, pins, scarves, prints and other stuff by In My Backyard.

The deadline to enter the drawing to win this necklace is today, Sept. 11th at 11pm EST. Read how to enter here.

Rachel Bone, one of my fellow Craft Mafia sisters (she is in the Charm City Craft Mafia and I am a member of the Wilmington Craft Mafia) is having an art show at the Pentimenti Gallery up in Philly from September 25th - October 27th. The opening is September 28th from 6-8. If you are in the area, you should make sure to attend the opening and check out Rachel’s new collection called “Remedies”. Pictured above are a few of the new works that will be on display.

Rachel also has a shop called Red Prairie Press, which I have featured on Indie Fixx before.

Check out this updated clip for the Indie Craft Documentary, the video project documenting the indie DIY crafting movement. The clip is so amazing that I can’t wait until the video comes out. The video is in production and there is also a potential companion book deal in the works. Head on over to the shop to help show your support for this very kewl project and read more about the project here.

The High Noon Craftacular in Madison, WI is looking for vendors who don’t mind unholstering their knitting needles, jewelry pliers or hot glue guns. The show is to be held November 24th & 25th at the High Noon Saloon, so all you crafting cowgirls/boys in the Madison area make sure and apply by Monday, September 17th. More info on how to apply can be found here.

If you aren’t a crafty vendor, but like to shop indie make sure to write this one in your calendar.

Bedridden and suffering from my snot-addled stupor, I am still on the job bringing you these really lovely bracelets from Bellissima Jewelry Design. I am thinking they are just what the doctor ordered for my fall wardrobe. Plus, everything is 20% off with code summer07 until Tuesday, September 18th.