Woman makes hand-made bag for Facebook stranger after theft

FOUNTAIN, Colo. (KRDO) - A Fountain resident spent hours crafting a bag for another woman who posted on Facebook saying someone stole her hand-made bag from her car.

"Being new to our community, that's just not how I wanted her to feel," said Tori Seibert, who made the bag for Tricia Waltman to replace the one taken from her less than three months after she moved to Colorado Springs.

Waltman said her mom made the stolen bag for her 15 years ago, and she was heartbroken after losing it.

In response, Seibert said she messaged multiple bag makers to track down the fabric and elements used in Waltman's bag to make it as close to the original as possible.

"I was flabbergasted because I thought it was just her and I," Waltman said. "She did something so nice for me, that I didn't know there was 100 other people that were also working on the same thing."

In a little bit of irony, Tricia's stolen bag carried her hand-made "gratitude journals." They're journals intended for people to write down what they're grateful for.

"I knew something good would come out of it, and this is crazy!" Waltman said.

With her new bag and new friend, she has plenty to write down in her remaining journals after the theft.

Seibert is in the process of opening her own custom bag business, "Patchwork Poodle Studio," while Tricia was working on growing her own custom journal business when her bag was stolen.