I always think it’s amazing when people throw all their passion and philosophy into their work. It lends their work a certain vibrance and always makes you feel good to support the cause. And it helps that the items are cute, too:

All the items above are the work of Jen at Never Felt Better. Jen is a fellow Sacramento resident and IndieSacramento vendor! She is also a vegan who uses no animal-derived materials in any of her products. Many of the bags and scarves and wallets in her shop are made from acrylic (man-made) yarn, and she doesn’t use wool or silk or leather.

She also uses recycled vintage scraps of fabric for other items, such as the soldered pendants and the appliques on the bags.

Her passion is a bit infectious and Jen hopes to spread that good feeling around. In Jen’s words:

never felt better is more than a catchy phrase! it is a recipe for happiness: a combination of my love for all things vintage*cute*wearable, a pinch of compassionate living, one cup of my decade plus of retail and resale experience, stirred until blended. throw in a dash of silliness and you have all things never felt better!

Well, maybe you’ll feel good (maybe even better) all around shopping from here. Good stuff!

We all need bags, don’t we? Bags to carry the things we deem precious: cash, cell phones, maybe some makeup, a good book to read, that set of keys you always can’t seem to find amongst your stuff?

If you’re going to carry a bag around, you’ve got to at least make it cute, and you probably won’t go wrong with any of these choices:

This one is probably my favorite. It has a hand-embroidered message that reads, “Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.” Neat!

The bags are the work of Jenny Karlsson, who hails all the way from Sweden! There are lots of cute bags in the shop, all hand made using no patterns, and all individually numbered (the number is embroidered on the inside of the bag).

Everything has a nice, organic feel, and I love the fabrics Jenny uses. There’s just something about them that seem so fresh and make me think of the great outdoors and sunny days. And, they’re cute to boot.

Sometimes you just need a place to put all your important things. You know, like money, keys, cell phone, makeup, mirror, etc. Otherwise, everything just kind of lays around and then you leave the house and you forget something really important!

If you’re in the market for a cute container for said important things, you may want to check a couple of these out:

Unfortunately, the bottom pouch has already ben snapped up and reserved by someone, but you can still check out the rest of the felty goodness at Black Mustard.

Joline is the gal behind Black Mustard. She knits, then fulls (or felts, if you’re more familiar with that term) her pouches. Then, she meticulously needle felts the motifs on her pouches.

Each piece is one of a kind, and while she can re-create a piece, it of course won’t look exactly the same. She does take custom orders, too!

I have extolled the virtues of needle, thread, fabric and felt before, and these fun items only reinforce my love of that combo:

These super-cute accessories can be found at fabulous fabulous!.

The main draw is all the brightly colored sewn goodies in the store. They range from the totally functional — iPod cozies, laptop cozies, patterned totes and even some stockings you can stock up on for next Christmas — to the plain ol’ fun — plush toys, mini monsters, even a wee non-pointy cactus.

You’ll also find crocheted hats and lots of felt-embellished tees and onesies.

Or maybe you just want that awesome-looking owl pillow above, which must have taken all kinds of time to cut those multiple pieces. The craftsmanship looks pretty sweet.

Normally, spiders are these icky, scary things. And some of them are deadly, even.

But can you resist this spider?

It’s a wristlet/purse! Seriously! It’s probably one of the most creative-looking bags I’ve ever seen. And with eyes like that, it’s gotta be the most harmless-looking black widow spider you will ever encounter. It’s a useful spider, at that (and not just because spiders get rid of nasty other insects, you know).

This bag is from Felt at Home, based in the UK. It’s two sisters churning out some amazing-looking stuff.

Almost everything in the shop is a bag made out of felt, but all these bags are intricate and totally unique. They have other animals (take this skinny cow, for instance) and people too (like this mermaid.

It’s a lot of stuff that you never thought could be made into a bag!

This girl I know, Amy? She’s a smart and crafty one indeed.

She is president of the Sacramento Craft Mafia.

She’s a fellow computer whiz.

She also makes all sorts of stuff and sells it in her shop, Peptogirl Industries.

What might you find? Well, for starters:

The Blue Skies necklace (and that’s a fused glass pendant, handcrafted by Amy).

The I Heart Cupcakes Yoga Bag (though I assume you can stuff other things besides yoga gear into it).

I placed an order at Gerbera Designs a little while ago, and ordered this XL Messenger Bag:

Let me tell you, it’s pretty awesome. Such a lovely print too!

I really needed a wicked large bag because I carry a lot of stuff around. Folders, books, something to knit, the world’s fattest wallet (full of receipts — not cash!) and five billion other things. Sometimes a backpack is too unwieldy, you know? And I love messenger bags. So this fit the bill.

And yes, it is roomy:

There will be more stuff in this bag as time goes on.

Thanks, Vanessa!