Marketplace: New Tote and Messenger Bags

October 16, 2025 Bernadette

Three designs, two new styles of tote and messenger bags.

I found some new tote bag styles and had to print some up right away! Regular tote bags quit selling and I still have some I made three and four years ago. So I quit making the smaller simple bag but along with Bella! I had other designs I really wanted to share and bags were the best medium for that, including…Basil!

Basil's Ailurobibliophile design! — Basil’s Ailurobibliophile design!

Three Designs, Two New Bag Styles

I went back to my supplier for blank materials and found they had two new styles of bags that were not just for show, they were larger, more useful and more comfortable. One is a messenger bag style 10” x 12” x 4” with an adjustable strap and a flap closing over the front of the bag, and the other is an extra large heavy canvas tote 14″ x 17″ x 4″ with a wide strap with a pocket on the front. The images would fit purrfectly on both the flap and the pocket.

Ailurobibliophile on oversized tote.

Bella! on a messenger bag.

And most exciting of all—for me at least—is that you can pet the fuzzy kitty in the designs! I’m not kidding. When I experimented with heat transfer vinyl last year I discovered flocked HTV which, like any flocked fabric or other material, has a velour-type surface. Here is a closeup so you can see the surface and the slight shadow around the raised flocked HTV.

Closeup of Basil so you can see the surface and dimension of the heat transfer vinyl.

Bella! and Ailurobibliophile are imprinted with the flocked vinyl, but I also have a new design that works better with a flat material—Black and Light.

The New Design: Black and Light

This was originally a scratchboard of Giuseppe and Mr. Sunshine napping on the white drafting table in my studio so the design has some very fine areas of solid and open to indicate the highlights on their fur which creates the image. I have been visualizing this design on the bottom left corner of a tote bag for years and by the time I was ready to make them, eh, tote bags weren’t so popular any more so I held off. I’m glad I did because they can be even larger and better positioned on these bags.

I had all three bags at the last Carnegie Farmers Market and at Woofstock, a dog event but shoppers were glad to find gifts for their family and friends with cats, and all three bags were popular in style and design. The Bella! design has always been a show stopper and especially since she’s larger on these bags she stole the Farmers Market crowd. Apparently there are several cat-loving people who also love books out there because Basil’s Ailurobibliophile stole the show at Woofstock.

Here’s a little bit about each of the designs…

As always, all my designs are based on real cats, about 99% of them cats I rescued and/or fostered and a few whose portraits I’ve painted. No free art or AI here!

Black and Light

scratchboard of two black cats — “Black and Light”, scratchboard, 6.5″ x 6″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Brothers Giuseppe and Mr. Sunshine were cuddling on my drafting table, the sun streaming in the window onto the white surface, and I decided right then that the figures silhouetted against the table, and Mr. Sunshine’s features, furs and whiskers alight against Giuseppe’s black fur, would be my first scratchboard subject. I could see it as I looked at them. I took a reference photo and prepared to do the sketch.

Ailurobibliophile

About that word, “Ailurobibliophile”. Yes, I made it up. It popped up in my design consciousness over a decade ago when I was photographing my cats in the cat book library, on the books, in the books, napping, bathing, posing, and I held it there until I had such time to really work it out. Finally, I can let the world know about “ailurobibliophiles”!

What does it mean? Just what it says. My initial idea was just “lover of cats and books”.

Then I photographed Basil in August 2017…

Basil will be reading.

…and knew the time had come.

As with all my designs, this one is based on a real cat, a cat you know, a cat just being a cat.

Bella!

I print the design using a variety of methods, screen printing and heat transfer vinyl the most typical, then I hand-stitch her button eyes into place with reinforced thread.

If you had any doubt that the real Bella’s eyes were as big and round and pale green as buttons, she is here to prove to you that yes, they really are.

She was the inspiration for this design, and when I created this design I got as close to the real thing as I possibly could. It’s based on one of my daily sketches, from September 2014, shortly after Bella arrived here as a foster.

painting of black cat — “Bella”, watercolor, 8″ x 6″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

And don’t miss—scroll all the way down to see yet another handmade item with Bella!

Where to find the tote and messenger bags

If you click the design photos above you’ll find that each is linked directly to the product page for that design or you can find them on the Hand printed Art, Housewares and Apparel page on Portraits of Animals.

Are You Ready for Meow-lo-ween?

Bella! Votive Lamps in White, Pink or Purple!

The ever-popular design of Bella’s round green eyes on an upcycled jar! The jar gets a finish of purple or pink-hued glass paint or plain etched, Bella is added in permanent vinyl. The final touch is lime green transparent glass paint for her eyes. All votive lamps come with a string of LED lights with a six-hour timer. They are $20.00 each, no discount because of shipping cost.

Find them on the Votives page.

Also…Meow-lo-ween Greeting Cards!

I have one full dozen of this design plus a bunch of singles…

halloween design featuring four black cats

“Happy Meow-lo-ween from The Four Housecats of the Apocalypse!”

Card-Halloween-Meowloween-back

…as well as my other Halloween designs. Find them all on Feline Seasonal and Holiday Greeting Cards.

And, of course, Meow-lo-ween Flags and the Garden Flag Special

Happy Meow-lo-ween and Only Good Luck Black Cats garden flags.

Is it autumn already? Yes, and time for a new season of garden flags! Mimi loved to model the garden flags, especially the ones she’s in, so I’m going to let her keep modeling them in perpetuity! Below Mimi models all the autumn flags and “Only Good Luck Black Cats” which could be for Meow-lo-ween but customers have purchased it for any time of year.

Autumn Garden Flags!

Mimi models the new garden flag.

About the flags

All my flags are 11″ x 15″ including the foldover for the pocket, printed on one side, with a small hem at the bottom to keep them from curling. They are printed on cotton duck canvas with a commercial quality fabric transfer. The professional-quality transfer is intended for light fabric so covers the fabric without the feeling of vinyl and holds the art well.

Flags are $20.00 each with shipping, handling and taxes, but you can buy two flags, any two, mix or match for only $30.00 with coupon code 2GARDENFLAGS30 through October 31, 2025. You must have two garden flags in your cart for the coupon to work.

And if you’re local and want to pick them up you can save the $5.00 shipping fee with coupon code LOCALPICKUP.

Below are all the flags I make. You’ll see on the Garden Flags page some are listed as out of stock.

display of garden flags — Garden flags on display.

Where to find the garden flags

You can find these and all my designs on the Garden Flags page in my Handmade Gift Gallery.

Marketplace

Sienna makes it fun!

Take a look at other new merchandise and featured artwork.

Marketplace is a feature on The Creative Cat to share the latest coming out of my studio with my readers. Once a week on Thursday I feature something new in my “shop”.

Read about creating custom items

Find out more about creating custom items for your own home using the images you see here. Visit the “Ordering Custom Art” page to see samples and read bout how to order.

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Find out about events and festivals where you can find me and my work.

It’s all done under the close and careful supervision of my studio cats!

Copyright

All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.