Hello, dear friends! Thank you for joining us on our blog today and allow us to share a little bit of our world with you. The big world we live in is a scary and uncertain place right now, so the little worlds that we create around us are the bubbles that will keep us happy, inspired and hopeful. We hope you follow us into our tiny bubble and discover with us the beauty that is still around us if we want to see it, the colors that are still shiny and vibrant in our lives, the inspiration that still nurtures our hearts if we let it. As we stay safe at home, let your imaginations fly and enter a place of beauty, our MEL blog, to find the happiness in the little things that are sure to make your world brighter.
In this post, you can read about:
1- Golden Hour, the new MEL bag that we are introducing today.
2- Bauble Stockings and the timeless, little treasures created in Atlanta.
3- Blowy in the Wind and the stunning botanical prints coming to us from Northern Ireland.
4- Parisian Moments, an enchanting blog that will make you fall in love with Paris all over again.
We at MEL Barcelona, are proud to start sharing our new Fall/Winter collection. Some of our newest bags are already available on our website, and we hope you will love the new fabrics, the new bag handles, the new colors, the new designs, and above all, the new dreams and memories you will create with our new bags. We love hearing the stories shared by our dear customers...stories of special moments lived with our bags in their hands, stories of dreamy dates, joyful dinners with family, or lovely lunches with friends...while holding a bold MEL bag, the little accessory that becomes a big fashion statement.
Our Big Fashion Statement!
Each month on our blog we will highlight a MEL bag from our latest collection.
We are thrilled to share with you today a new bag from our latest collection! Introducing Golden Hour, handmade and designed exclusively by MEL Barcelona!
A vibrant color. A daring design. A bold fabric. A touch of vintage. A lot of style. Golden Hour brings to you all this and more! This Holiday Season add a dash of daring to your look with this little golden dream that will shine against your little black dress, add a pop of color, let it tell a story of elegance and beauty, of exquisite and unique style.
Golden Hour features whimsical, bold geometric shapes and it comes with two different types of handles: a small removable handle in matching yellow (shown in the pictures) and a removable shoulder strap chain. You get both with each bag, so you can change them up and make the MEL bag even more unique each time you wear it.
A little thing of beauty just for you. Or a unique gift for that special someone in your life. We hope that you enjoy our new MEL bag this Holiday Season!
What's in my MEL today?
Each month we will highlight the faces and stories behind the products we are proud to carry in our bag.
Christmas found its way to our MEL bag today! Tiny treasures that link traditions with memories turned our MEL into a special Christmas bag, and filled it up with magic and love. Stitch by stitch, memory by memory, the beauty of Christmas past caught up with us as we start new traditions, bring about new smiles, and keep filling our bags with little pieces of art that ensure our MEL bag is just as beautiful inside as it is on the outside.
So...what's in my MEL today? Come closer and you will see a little bit of Christmas shining through, coming to us in the shape of the precious tiny pieces of art created by Bauble Stockings.
Christmas traditions, shared with family and loved ones, are a big part of who we are. We at MEL Barcelona, believe in passing on the traditions that make us unique, and discovering new ones that bring a sense of surprise to the holidays. So we are pleased to bring to you Bauble Stockings and its founder, Kate Stice Stewart, who will inspire you to, maybe, start a new beautiful tradition with your family and make new memories each year. "Growing up, my family had a tradition that my mom always received the final gift of Christmas as a "thank you" for all she'd done that year, and we hid it, or a clue to it, in her needlepoint stocking ornament that hung on our tree", Kate tells us. Her dad called it her "Bauble Stocking" because on a good year, it was a "bauble," which is a piece of jewelry. Kate loved saving the best gift, the gift to her mom hidden in her needlepoint stocking that hung on their tree, for last.
"I thought every woman had one until I got engaged and asked when I would receive my Bauble Stocking, to which my then-fiance replied "Your what?!", Kate recalls. Soon, she decided to share her family's tradition with the world and create Bauble Stockings. "I found a team of needlepointers in Haiti who worked for fair trade and once I visited them I knew we'd found the perfect match", she tells us. "Each stocking is 100% hand stitched needlepoint. We create the art here, working with many artists and then putting it into a stitching software that shows which stitch goes where (4000 stitches total!). Our team in Haiti then stitches the designs by sight, using printouts from the stitching software as their guide and counting stitches", Kate explains. The little stockings that hold the best gifts, the grand finale to any festivity, are created to be heirloom products, and to stand the test of time both with how they are made and their designs.
"We want everyone to love their Bauble Stocking in their own way, whether it's from a personal love of Santa or a curated Christmas tree of colors, we want it to be uniquely yours," Kate says. "I simply want stockings that make you feel joy in your heart, and I hope our collection does that she adds. The tiny stockings are making our MEL bag merry and festive today!
Bauble Stockings
Website: baublestockings.com
Instagram: @baublestockings
MEL and Our Friends Around the World!
Each month we will introduce you to the beauty created by artists and designers around the fabulous world we live in.
What is beauty? Is the idea of beauty the same in Barcelona than in Denver? MEL Barcelona was born in between these two cities, and aims to bridge cultures, countries, and the different visions that artists around the world offer us. Join us in this blog, as we celebrate the beauty that artists and designers are creating, sometimes from the safety of their homes and gardens, to bring a little color and light into our lives. The world is a scary place right now, our routines have been altered and, as we try to stay safe at home, we find ourselves turning to art to find beauty, inspiration, and a way to come together even if we admire these things of beauty from miles apart.
Today we travel all the way to an enchanted garden in Northern Ireland, the stunning little world portrayed in the botanical prints created by Blowy in the Wind.
Blowy in the Wind is the home of the whimsical greeting cards and prints, created from photographs that capture the beauty of an artist's garden. Elizabeth, the creative dreamer behind Blowy in the Wind, finds inspiration in the stunning garden by her 300 year old farm in a small village in Northern Ireland. "Blowy in the Wind started a few years ago while I was on maternity leave with my middle child", Elizabeth tells us. "I was at home and craved a creative outlet", she adds. She found it not far from her. In the blossoms that filled her garden.
Elizabeth decided to start photographing the flowers that were bringing her and her family so much joy. She loved the texture of the blooming plants, the abundance of the field, the colors of the blossoms, their patterns, and how it changed through the seasons. "I'm influenced by the seasons and what is growing in my garden. I have become a keen gardener over the last few years picking flowers I like best to grow and add color to our garden", she tells us. "Often I just go out and pick a bunch of flowers and from that I get an idea of what to create. I don't always have a finished picture in mind I just go with what happens on the day". The freedom to create beauty, to tend to stunning flowers, and then photograph them to set them in prints and greeting cards, started as a small project that quickly became Elizabeth's creative outlet. Her connection with nature and the joy she draws from her flowers shines through each and everyone of her prints.
As the cold months approach and the flowers fade, Elizabeth starts the process of pressing them to preserve the vibrant colors and create unique art. "My aim is to spread joy with my pictures," Elizabeth says. "I hope those of you who buy my greeting cards or receive them get to enjoy some color and nature's wonder in your home via them", she adds. The cards created by Blowy in the Wind, dripping with vibrant colors and stunning blossoms, could become the fabric for one of our MEL bags! That's how much we love these prints! A MEL blossom found a best friend in Blowy in the Wind.
Elizabeth is offering a special deal to our readers! Mention the MEL blog in the notes special delivery section when you order her prints, and she will include a surprise free mini print with your order!
Blowy in the Wind
Website: blowyinthewind.com
Instagram: @blowyinthewind
A Blog in the Bag
Each month we will bring to you a special blog that we are sure you will enjoy. We love discovering new blogs so we hope our suggested little gems will bring a smile to your face.
Paris. The city of dreams, of beauty, of love, of style, of memories...If you close your eyes, can you picture yourself in a parisian café, by the steps of the Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre overlooking the city? There's no need to imagine. Today, we will introduce you to a stunning blog that will transport you to Paris in an instant, will make you smell its flowers, feel its vibrancy, hear its music, and taste its little pleasures.
We are thrilled to introduce Parisian Moments to all of you.
Georgianna Lane and David Phillips, husband and wife and business partners, are the team behind Parisian Moments, the two photographers capturing the essence of the city and sharing it through their blog. Georgianna had visited Paris with her mother when she was in her early teens, fell in love with the city and had longed to return ever since. David had a photography assignment in Limoges and Paris years ago and had a few hours to spare in which he wandered around the heart of the city taking photos. It was one of the most enjoyable experiences of his life. "Our first “serious” photographic trip there together was in 2011. We just went crazy photographing Paris," they tells us. "It was like being in heaven! We were so impressed with Paris and the photo opportunities the city presented that it was a natural course of events to set up Parisian Moments", he adds. Georgianna started the blog, combining both of their photos in some stunning posts.
"We want to convey the beauty of classic, timeless Paris, which really is unique," Georgianna and David explain. "We want to bring back fond memories for those people who have visited the city, and rekindle their desire to return. We also hope to put Paris there as an absolutely essential destination for the many people who have dreamed of going there but haven’t yet made it," they add. The couple see Paris changing in many ways. Already photographs that they took over the last ten years have gained a historical value because of some of these changes. "We are trying to make a record of the Paris we have known and loved for future generations to enjoy", they explain. They believe their blog is unique because it is filled with images with a tight focus on showing "the classic, timeless beauty, style, elegance and artistic, architectural and cultural legacy that is the core of Paris today. We only slightly touch on lifestyle. We don’t get into trendy new restaurants and the latest café or try to be a travelogue. We don’t do photojournalism or politics or fashion or sport, and very little food", they tell us.
Georgianna and David have both photographed London, New York, Venice extensively, among many other cities around the world, but they always come back to Paris. They believe that Paris "has been preserved and defended with pride against the onslaught of world wars, modern architecture and the negative aspects of “progress,” and which at every turn presents beautiful vistas, parks, gardens, museums, the river with its bridges, ancient streets which look untouched by time, and a wealth of detail which give it its character today".
Don't imagine Paris any longer. Open your eyes and admire the beauty created by Parisian Moments. Enjoy the overviews of Paris, its cafés, doors, flowers... And when it is safe to travel again, discover this fascinating city with Georgianna and David's books on hand!
Parisian Moments
Website: parisianmoments.com
Instagram: @aparisianmoment
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate! We are thankful for all of you, MEL girls, who love our bags and our blog! We design for you!
With love,
Elena and Isabel