That's my Flat Bag under my arm and it doubles as a purse, diaper bag or laptop carry case. It looks good enough that I wanted to do this whole post for a Wordless Wednesday, as the pictures are review enough (in my mind) but there is so much to this neat, little creation that I wanted to "Dish" about it with you a bit!

Flat Bags are the brain child of Shannon Hames, an avid mountain biker from British Columbia, Canada, who made the first purse using old inner tubes and splash pants in 1996. At least something worthwhile came from horrible 90s fashion mistakes, I suppose you could say- Sorry Shannon! :P
The company is now responsible for making fantastic, environmentally friendly fashion statements out of over 16 000 feet of inner tubes to date. They have also graduated beyond raingear to this lovely, leather-like, white creation that you see before you.
The picture features the Large Favourite in Pearl, which has two inner pockets and a zippered pocket on the back. The back compartment actually has enough room that it can store the smaller purse shown below, or as part of my outfit in the Echo Verde review I posted earlier, as well as on my site www.mydomesticdish.com. Having a lot of space is great for me, as I carry a full sized hairbrush for out of control locks, have more keys than makes sense, I need to bring things to amuse my boys or else they'll kill one another, I'm Peanut's Little People mule, we have a ton of baby items in tow at all times, I need food about every two hours because I am a huge pig and I carry a honkin', old lady wallet- so bonus!
The purse fastens closed by two magnetic snaps, which I found very fun to use, and the shoulder strap is similar to a seatbelt so it's far more comfortable than what a typical bag would offer. I hate those straps that dig into my traps when I'm toting all that I do but this one is wide enough that it doesn't- plus, it has an additional pad included for my shoulder as an added comfort feature.

Of course, Peanut got straight into the parcel as soon as I opened it and she took a liking to the larger of the two purses. As it looked ridiculous (and made me a bit jealous) I gave her the little one to sport around. Hopefully she will tote her own Little People but, as of right now, her purse includes one of my chapsticks, a box of Smarties, a Cinderella necklace that belongs to her sister, a crumpled picture of herself, a fridge magnet, a play syringe from her doctor kit and one Oreo. I'm not sure if this is really cute or if I should be concerned that my daughter may turn out to be a drug addict, narcissist, kleptomaniac, thief or a diabetic. In any case, she's very pleased with her purse and it's contents.

Check out the fall colours too- they are perfect for the season. More colour options are available on the Flat Bags Etsy page so you will want to check there, or their Facebook, if you are looking for this purse. I love the Zippity Doo Da in Tamale- it's such a statement piece!

This specific purse is not featured in this pattern on their website but, if you want to check out more of the fancy, fantastic Flat Bag fun visit the site at www.flat-bags.com.

The small one is a simple, single pocket with the same magnetic closures as the larger option. I think it is perfect for those ladies would would prefer to carry only a wallet but, like I do, have the nasty habit of sitting it down while shopping in stores and walking away from it. This way you can do the same thing but have it attached to your shoulder at all times. It would comfortably fit keys, sunglasses, a comb, a couple of make up basics, money and identification. Presently ours is housing an Oreo but, hey, a girl's gotta eat.