Shutter Sisters

Handmade For the Holidays

By

Fabric handmade by Pippi Joe.  Shooting bag custom-made by Tracy Joy.

One of the great things about the holiday season is that I get to partake of one of my favorite guilty pleasures–without the usual amount of guilt.  I’m not referring to mere shopping (which I’m not really fond of).  I’m talking about shopping on Etsy.  I could probably spend every moment of my natural waking life browsing through all the amazing Etsy artists and never get bored.  For me, the appeal is not just the seemingly endless supply of beautiful handmade items or the idea of supporting the DIY ethos.  What really gets me excited is the ever-increasing number of people creating and sharing their art and handiwork.  I take this as a sign of hope for the future of humanity.

I’ve often marveled at the multi-faceted talent beyond photography that abounds amongst our Shutter Sisters community. Whether it’s wordsmithing, or whipping up whimsy, or brewing beauty that’s functional (or not), or making music, it’s impossible NOT to be inspired when you’re surrounded by so much creativity. I dare say that keeping such company lends itself to embarking on artistic endeavors you’ve never attempted before. And again, I take this as a sign of hope for the future of humanity

For today’s giveaway, Tracy Joy–mom/wife/photographer/entrepreneur/bag-designer-extraordinaire–is offering up a Kristine Shooting and/or Diaper Bag in the winner’s choice of color and flap design.  Tracy’s bags are made with interchangeable flaps so you can change the design without changing the entire bag.  Perfect for the budget-minded accesorizer!  Be sure to comment on this post to be entered in the drawing.

Congratulations to Wayfaring Wanderer for being the winner of the Superhero Joy necklace. Sweet stuff!

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Edited to add: Please note that this giveaway is for a shooting bag (lightly padded for easy access to gear while on a shoot without a heavy bag).  Tracy Joy’s fully padded camera bag is the Reese bag.

Also, Tracy is offering a discount to the Shutter Sisters community through December 31st.  Get 10% off your entire purchase by using the code SHUTTER.  With free shipping to U.S. addresses for December, it’s a good deal!

Comments

  2. I, too, am loving this Handmade Holiday season. And I just might have drooled a bit over the bag. Maybe.

  4. I try to make at least some of my gifts. If nothing else, each present gets at least one bar of home made soap.

  7. I just love to see other people’s creative work. It is inspiring. I am hoping to make some of my gifts this year. I still have time, right?

  8. OhMyGoodness! What gorgeous and inspiring bags! I think I would be more inspired to take my camera with me on more adventures if I had one of her bags to cradle my DSLR baby in.

  9. I am trying to have a half handmade Christmas. Next year I hope it to be a whole handmade Christmas. I left it a little too late this year! Being pregnant and chasing after a toddler is my excuse! hehe
    Kylie

  10. Wow, what a bag! You know what’s crazy, there are so many comments on each post, but this community is close enough that I recognize almost every winner. It’s so much fun to have an entire month of cheering for each other :O)

  19. I love Etsy!!! And Tracy Joy!! I was just looking at her bags the other day. Oh how I would love one!!!!

  21. Etsy is a wonderful place for cool handmade stuff, and I would love to win that bag for my sister for Christmas.

  24. i rarely win, but i covet these bags so i too, would love my name to be in the drawing. thank you shutter sisters, for being so generous this holiday with giveaways! xo

  27. I love ebay. I got my Tamrac bag there for 1/3 of the cost of a brand new one when someone was selling off their gear. I’ve also purchased curriculum for my guys since I homeschool. Tracy Joy’s bags are absolutely wonderful!! I’ve already passed her website along to my nephew’s wife and her friends because I know she’ll love it. I’m in love with the Boho Orchid fabric!! Pink, floral and it fits my other blogging persona Bohemian Hippie. I haven’t been this excited about something since I found ToeGoz custom flip flops.

  28. in the last few months, i have definitely become etsy obsessed. it can be to addicting, but it is also inspiring. i have discovered a love for hand-making my own gifts.

  35. I am trying to use what I already have for gifts…i even made our stockings this year out of fabric I already had!

    that bag of yours is so awesome!

    and i agree…i’m etsy obsessed right now too!

    xx

  39. It’s gorgeous! I’ve only heard one complaint about Tracy Joy which is that they were a bit low on padding? I haven’t seen one myself, but I am still tempted to get one – the padding might be low for someone else but fine for my uses… I love the patterns!

    Speaking of handmade (and perhaps someone on Shutter Sisters will want to make a new post about this?) – have you guys seen the new legislation that is going to ruin the handmade toy market? I’m so worried about it. 🙁 http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/Home

  47. Oh, how I love Etsy. I’ve ordered 75% of my Christmas gifts from there this year.
    These bags are awesome!!!

  57. it is inspiring to see all of what people can do themselves.
    and then put it out there for us.
    when i go to etsy i have just the hardest time trying to decide what i love want the most.

  58. yes, etsy inspires me in the same way! and scatters hope & creativity & the satisfaction of consuming less and creating more. tracy joy is full of talents (and seems to have the best last name ever). i love love the fabric of your bag. once again, thank you, ladies for hosting all these. (i’m enjoying the links you included.)

  59. wow. first of all thank you so much for the link love. you don’t know what that word ‘wordsmith’ means, a word my brother used once a long time ago. i love it and the image in conjurs up for me 🙂

    and the bags! oh joy the synchronicity! the other day river asked from the backseat of the car "momma, what do YOU want for christmas?" and i fell quiet in the realization that no one had asked me that yet this season. i thought long and hard and said "i think i want a new camera bag" and he laughed, "but that’s not a toy!" and we had a great discussion about how grownups have toys too, and my camera is like my most very favorite toy!

    so thank you for tracy joy’s link too! cause momma’s getting a new bag!

  63. Beautiful Bags!! I was actually just creating my own camera bag .. now I’m thinkging this might be a nice alternative!

  64. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity. I am an etsyfile and a new photographer, so this would be perfect!

    I’m also a fan of SS! Etsy and SS– a perfect match!

  66. I love Etsy, I tell everyone about it. My goal this year is to buy all my presents from there, and yes that does mean I’m not finished shopping for Christmas.:)

  78. I have discovered a whole new area of art since I found Shutter Sisters. We can’t all be born into the same family, just have to find each other somehow.
    Gorgeous bag!

  80. I love etsy, as well. So many great ideas and creativity in one place. I have a few gifts that are in process for Christmas. I wish I had more time to make more.

  81. I love this fabric. I have favorite photo I took similar to this…birds on wire. I’m dreaming of a new SLR for Christmas. And a new photo bag to carry it in!

  85. Awesome! What a cool bag.

    Living down here in quail hunting territory, I can see the odd looks when I respond to someone’s what-is-that-question. "Oh, it’s my shooting bag." …Raised eyebrows and silence. Then, I’d say "Have a great day." as I pull out my camera and proceed down the park trail to get some awesome riverside shots. 🙂 lol

  92. I so agree – I have discovered Etsy this shopping season in a big way – and have done almost all my shopping from it. I love it so much…..

  95. Hee. When I read "shooting bag" the first thought that sprang to mind was that it was for going to the shooting range. I know, I know, it makes no sense on a photography website, but us Canadians are always told how much those south of the border love their guns. Sorry for the momentary lapse of sanity.

  98. Wow! I love these bags. It would be so awesome to win this. Thanks for being so generous this holiday season.

    Melissa

  99. Shutter Sisters is the first place I go when I turn on my computer, just to be inspired before starting my day.

  101. LOVE that bag! Love your post, too! There are so many multi-talented people in this Shutter Sister community and I think that’s awesome!

  107. Yay for this post supporting handmade supporting handmade supporting handmade. And CELEBRATING the hope that comes with it. I am all into this now. I changed my whole way of thinking about life in the last years, maybe since my girl was born. I see much clearer now, about the earth and taking care of it, the politics, the social matters (always concerned about them, but I am more involved now), and that includes me making my art at home and sending it to the world. And also buying handmade, and making crafty meetings and networks.
    I believe in change. I am a childish idealist also. Completely. But still believe in it.
    Let’s make it.
    PS: that bag is beyond cuteness, I think.

  114. What a lovely bag – and I agree, the creativity I see inspires more in me, and the handmade creative gifts are a large portion of my holiday browsing this year…

  116. Wow! I just got lost in our Sisters’ creativity… amazing. They make it seem so do-able. 🙂 Thanks for giving them all this much-deserved shout-out!!
    jag xox

  123. i can’t sing. i can’t sew. i can’t knit. i can take pictures. i can cook. i can listen to music. nice bag. and hooray for our friend wayfaring wanderer for winning the prize yesterday. she takes beautiful photos.

  128. I too spend many hours (too many) marveling and being inspired by the talent of etsy artisans. So inspired infact that I
    am making many of my gifts this year, the ones that i am not buying on etsy that is…

  131. I always have good intentions every year, but I do make all my Christmas cards and gift tags. Next year…there is always next year.

  133. What a beautiful camera bag. When I go on shoots, the one I have is always in the way and I’ve been looking for something just like this!

  135. oOOooo WW congrats girl!!!
    I love Etsy to Death. I bought some really gorgeous jewerly a few weeks ago for my DIL. Let me take a pic or two then I’ll upload with the link.

    You’re right. I could spend all day there. I’ve been smitted by quite a few things which sit in my favs there now just waiting for me to buy them lol.

  137. Wow. What a lucky person to receive a bag. Truthfully? I hope it is me. 🙂

    Thanks for such fantastic giveaways!

    Rebecca F.

  139. Beautiful bags. I’ve got a one year old and am continually finding creative ways to carry all my diaper stuff as well as my camera. It’s an interesting mix! Esty is great – thankyou for showcasing the wonderful talents!

  142. I definitely need a new camera bag, and this one is just fantastic. So much more personality than my ultra-blah-boring black one.

  147. Just found your amazing website!! SO happy I somehow found my way here. The bag is adorable. Like so many others who have posted, I’m lovin’ the new wave of homemade gifts. There are so many creative women out there! Have never been on the Etsy website..guess that will be my next stop. 🙂

  148. beautiful! i especially love the bird-on-a-wire fabric. the only bag i have made thus far was a simple tote–but it was so easy and is so handy that EVERYONE is getting one for christmas this year! found the tutorial on sew mama sew blog.

  155. I confess I heart etsy and spend way to much time there also, I love Tracy Joy bags, cool giveaway:)

  156. What a fabulous bag. The bag that I currently use to carry my camera and baby gear when we go out is just not doing the job. I’ve been looking for a new one. This one would fit the bill.

  157. What a great bag. So right for a woman but without making that overt statement. I would LOVE to be able to pull my camera and lenses out of this bag. How inspiring!

  160. I have been feeling very creative lately. All of this eye candy you provided only makes me want to make more stuff!

  162. this is so fun, and the joy and generosity is affecting my mood – and consequently the moods of all those around me. you folks are brilliant! and that bag is dreamy.

  170. I just bought gifts for everyone in my bookclub on etsy. Personally picked by me and handmade by someone with talent I wish I had!

  184. I have to limit the time I spend on Etsy – my bank account can’t afford it!!
    Tracy’s work is gorgeous! I need a camera bag, and will keep this in mind!

  186. Etsy AND Shutter Sisters provides me with much inspiration. And Etsy has also provided me with quite a few Christmas gifts for others. Wonderful sites!

  187. Etsy AND Shutter Sisters provides me with much inspiration. And Etsy has also provided me with quite a few Christmas gifts for others. Wonderful sites!

  203. I agree, etsy is pretty cool like that. so is a lot of today’s online communities. now.. if only my real life in person communities were so strong…

    the bags look fantastic!

  206. Oh – what a beautiful bag, I’m thinking of a mama I know who might like one for the holidays!

  209. oh! i’ve been looking for a shooting bag. and you see, i have this obsession with birds. sitting on a wire. whhich is why i can’t find said bag. because i didn’t think it existed. but it does. and you have it… and i really want it 🙂

  217. I love the bag!! and one could lose track of countless hours browsing through Etsy…. it’s amazing what kind of talent there is! What a wonderful community, too!

  218. pippi joe’s fabric is amazing! thank you for sharing…
    i love etsy too and have had so much fun buying christmas presents there this year. 🙂