Marketplace: Tote and Messenger Bags

April 2, 2026 Bernadette

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

I’m really pleased with how these bags turned out, and while I’m working up a few new ideas for this year I’m still stocking up on these three designs.

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

The two new styles of bags are larger than the small bags I used to make, more useful because of their size and shape, and more comfortable because both styles have a wider, adjustable strap.

Messenger Style Bag

The messenger bag style is 10” high x 12” wide but with a 4” deep gusset it can expand to hold books, groceries, cat food or even a few kitties! It has a flap folding down over the front of the bag that is 10″ x 10″ so the flap becomes the front of the bag, plus a wide strap that’s adjustable for length. The images fit purrfectly on the bag’s flap.

Oversize Tote with Pocket

The extra large heavy canvas tote is 14″ high x 17″ wide x 4″ gusset and a wide strap. The design is on the 12″ x 12″ pocket on the front.

Closeup of the heat transfer vinyl. — Ailurobibliophile on oversized tote.

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 on the dishtowel, flocked heat transfer vinyl on the tote bag, 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.

Marketplace

Sienna wondering where the tortie towels are.

Sienna wants to know when I’ll have a towel that looks like her.

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.