Every year Trusted Mentors www.trustedmentors.org holds a call for handbag designers entitled “Bags2Riches”. This unique handmade handbag competition is dedicated to stabilizing lives, preventing homelessness and near homelessness in the Indianapolis community. Trusted Mentors Inc is an adult mentoring program which helps adults rebuild their lives and break the cycle of poverty. It is sponsored by IndySwank and Aesthetic Design Style with the grand prize award of $500.

I decided to create a one of a kind handbag with really no intention of entering the contest to win but to help play a part in this valuable mentoring program by generating bids as a donation. I gave a great deal of thought to my creation but nothing would come to mind, at least nothing that pleased me. People were inquiring daily regarding what I was creating. I would just smile and tell them it was a surprise. No one had a clue how much of a surprise it would be, especially to me, as my imagination felt like a empty box filled with fog. I decided to be proactive and meditate on it. Nothing.

I listened to music and…. Nothing. Sigh. I browsed websites, looked through books, magazines (help!) and I was quickly coming to the conclusion that perhaps, just maybe, this one time it wasn’t going to be my calling. Late one evening I went for a barefoot run. I love the way the ground dances underneath my feet, the energy that vibrates upward making my steps light and my heart and imagination soar. With the wind brushing my face and the last of summer’s warm ribbons of light caressing my skin I all but drifted home. I took my bath without washing away the earth’s energy and fell into bed.

Only to be torn from my sleep at 4:00am with my handbag idea so vividly imprinted in my imagination that I leapt from my bed, darted down to my studio, flipped on the lights, powered up the sewing machine and began the mad madness of an artist possessed. I cut off a pair of my old jeans to represent recycling. On the bottom I added black pom-pom trim to represent dirt, added a layer of moss green lace to represent grass, lined the inside with a white bandana to act as the clouds, attached to an old skirt waistband with bold flowers to represent flora and fauna. But the pièce de résistance was in finding little nickel size glass beaded bees to represent renewed birth. I hand stitched five bees in random places on the flowered waistband.

I then added bamboo handles as a renewable resource. After three months of eluding me, in less than two hours I had created my entry handbag.
I know this was inspired by my earlier run. I decided to entitle it “From the Ground Up”.

I hauled it off to Trusted Mentors, paid my $10 submission fee and came home to wait. After three weeks I was informed out of several hundred, my handbag made the top ten finalist list. The judging would begin a few weeks later.

I attended the event and watched my purse being carried around by volunteer models. Guests were invited to bid in a silent auction on the finalist handbag. My wonderful friend bid on my creation and in the end won! My handbag placed but did not win. I was not disheartened, as the satisfaction came in knowing that all of our efforts went towards helping others help themselves. Perhaps in some small way I inspired one of the (near) homeless to believe in their dreams and create, if not a handbag, something from their heart for others to appreciate.