Hello dearest friends!
As you can see, I haven't tended to this space since May! Goodness gracious. But, it's been a wonderful break to just live my life in real time...I'm rarely on the computer or phone these days- a nice change:)
But I did want to pop on and wish you all a wonderful Christmas season, and share with you about a really fun and exciting project I've been working on with my husband and sister-in-law. Let me introduce you to Lottie Leather...
As most of you know, Kevin and I lived in Nepal in 2013, where we helped set up an aftercare home for girls rescued out of abusive situations. Living in Nepal changed my life, it was one of the best years ever.
The last 3 years, Kevin's sister Kristi and her husband (and 3 kids) have lived in Nepal, while her husband worked on his PhD dissertation. We all noticed how many amazing resources there are in Nepal, but how little industry is present because of the economic situation as well as infrastructure. For years, electricity has been sparse, and when there's not electricity, business cannot happen as usual, making it almost impossible for it to become a place of booming industry.
25% of the country's GDP is remittance, meaning money being sent back into Nepal from Nepalese workers in countries abroad. So many families cannot support themselves with jobs in Nepal, so generally the men decide to go to countries in the Middle East or Korea to find jobs and then send money home to families. The means thousands of families are growing up without their father's present. It breaks my heart.
We all put out heads together, and decided it would be really neat if we could start supporting local craftsman in their trade to make beautiful leather purses and bags, as well as other products we found.
Almost a year later, we are finally getting Lottie Leather off the ground. Right now we offer 4 different bag styles with two different types of Leather (cow and buffalo)
We also are selling some really fun felt garlands, a leaf garland and a start garland (which comes in a set of 2). You can see below how adorable they look as Christmas decor:)
We'd love for you to take a look at our website! Right now, we are selling genuine leather bags at a very afforadable price, as this is our initial batch of bags and we want to keep the price point low to see the interest! Cow Leather bags are $55 and Buffalo Leather bags are $45.
Purchasing a bag means creating more jobs for Nepali craftsman, and the more jobs provided in Nepal, the more families get to stay together. And we are all about that:)
I would LOVE to hear your feedback. We hope to design some new bags soon, so please send me ideas of what you'd like to see!! Can't wait to hear:)
Much love friends!! Merry Christmas!