Welcome to ¡Bolsa Bonita!

Hey there! I'm Liz, the creator and maker of all the purses of ¡Bolsa Bonita!. My business started very organically, I never sat down and made a plan to sell fun and crazy bags online. It just happened as a natural result of a lot of work and a lot of fun.

My grandmother Margaret showed me around the sewing machine when I was very young. She taught me how to use patterns, but never stopped me when I decided I wanted to do stuff without an official guide. Being allowed the creative freedom to try things and to do what's fun eventually became the basis for my business as an adult. Making my own patterns is part of the process that is challenging and gratifying for me, and the unconventional approach that I was allowed as a child still carries over into my work.

I went to the University of Texas in Austin and studied photojournalism. I love photography, but it's very hard work to do it for a living. I wanted a career where I could really do exactly what I wanted. Art photography is difficult, and often under-appreciated work and I didn't have the drive to work that hard for it. I was still sewing, and found myself outfitting local musicians in funky outfits, including fur and vinyl hats. Demand eventually sparked an interest in having a little side business for awhile. Hat making was fun, and I gained some very useful experience setting up for festivals, parties, and even dabbling in wholesale. My interest in making hats waned and eventually fizzled out.

For years I was a freelance photographer for the Austin Chronicle, which was great, but I wasn't earning a living wage. Since I knew I wouldn't go into photography for a living, I kept searching to find my niche in the world. I seriously don't remember the first purse I made, or how I suddenly found myself in business again, but it happened. I sewed purses for years before really understanding that it was my "thing" and that perhaps I could make a go at it as a real business.

Early on, I hit local stores like Toy Joy and Flipnotics, whose owners knew me well and seemed to have endless support for my work. After a few years of selling purses in these shops and others, I met Laura Maxwell who was opening Creatures Boutique. She was so supportive of my work that it inspired me to take things more seriously. Her encouragement moved me along and into the position I'm in now. In September 2004, I opened this website and it has become my main venue for selling the bolsas.

I hope you enjoy my designs and fabric selections. I love making these purses and find the ultimate thrill in seeing others love them as much as I do. I want to share my creations with anyone who has a love of great fabrics, fun and kitsch. Thanks for checking out my site! I hope you’ll stop by regularly –even if just to admire or find inspiration from my work. Email me to get on my purse junkie list and receive occasional emails with news of new purse postings!

"... if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be." – Joseph Campbell