#leatherhandbag

Meet The Milan. Our hand / shoulder bag puts a modern casual-stylish twist on a vintage-inspired shape, adding style and function to your everyday life. Made of supple high-quality Italian leather, which only gets better and more beautiful over time with use and wear.

A must-have for any woman who knows what she wants.

It's Friday and the sun is shining here in West Yorkshire and that really does make me feel a lot more energised. Winter is such a dark and difficult season to get through both mentally and physically so the lighter nights and the milder temperatures are VERY welcome right now! I'll soon be back upto full production and making ALL the amazing things to tempt you again :)

I'm happy to report that the green elven bag is soon to be on its way to its forever home in the USA! I'm so glad someone loved it as much as me, I was beginning to lose hope there! The moral of the story is PATIENCE...which brings me onto today's Friday Ramble...

Making sure you get joy in your life is right up there on top of the list of requirements in life. We need to work to live but the ultimate goal is to do something which makes you want to live to work. I remember sitting there in my photography studio about 11 years ago thinking that I wasn't getting any joy from it anymore and dreaming of setting up a business where I could work from home and make things to sell online. I had no idea what I was going to do but I knew I needed things to change. Lucky for me I can put my hands to pretty much any craft and it wasn't long before I was making books and my new direction was set. Fast forward 10 years and I'm still making my living from doing something I really enjoy which is amazing. Life has twists and turns and it's inevitable that your passion for your craft ebbs and flows as it becomes your full time job. The trick is to tweak your processes and direction when the enthusiasm goes a bit flat and re-energise yourself, regaining your love for what you do best.

So, back to patience....I don't have a lot of it! I tend to want instant gratification from everything. I want to make something and for it to find a new home straight away. I want my passion for what I've made to translate to a customer who loves it and wants to give it a forever home. I think a big part of that comes from the amount I invest into every piece I make. I don't just churn out products on a production line, when I take on a project, be-it a custom order or an idea I have in my own mind, I put my all into making it the best it can possibly be. I'm deeply connected to everything that leaves my workshop.

I believe we should always strive to improve in all areas of our lives and this year I want to learn more patience. I want to accept that it may take time for the piece I've made to find its forever home and that it's not a bad thing at all. There's someone out there who will love every little thing I make, it may just take some time for the universe to slip in under their noses and give them a push. I need to be more prolific and more diverse in the things I make. I need to let the creativity flow out of my mind, into my hands and into the project in front of me and to be able to do that, to be the best I can be, I need focus, which brings me onto my final point.

To get the most out of life, I need to feel the freedom to create. I look at artists who bare their souls onto canvas or into sculpture without boundaries, without anyone telling them what to do and I want to be like that. So, my main goal for this next year is to go full steam into making all the amazing things I have in my head so that the universe can do its thing and allow me to make my living purely from things that bring me joy.

@chrisdacanha