Capturing Nature’s Essence with Intention
August 14, 2026
What started with Michelle Handren gifting Sharon Shachar a Groupon for an art class morphed into a two-woman team designing unique handcrafted leather art.
Philadelphia-based business, Xroads Creations, a regular at Rose Squared Art Shows, combines leather with mixed media. No two designs are identical, from wallets to belts and buckles to eyeglass cases to their innovative handbags.
Eight years ago, Michelle thought Sharon would enjoy an art class at the Chicago School of Shoemaking and Leatherworks.
“You’re not going with me?” Sharon asked. She hadn’t done anything artistic since high school.
Michelle passed, encouraging Sharon to have fun.
One class in, Sharon had advanced past the beginner belts and was at work on a crossbody bag. She signed up for additional classes, a creative outlet from her job as a tax attorney.
Michelle watched her thrive until she paired with her in business. Their house is as much studio as home. The laundry room doubles as leather storage. The two bedrooms are for dying, gluing, sewing and finishing.
“At times, the kitchen table comes into play,” Michelle said.
Michelle credits Sharon as the catalyst, but her background in ceramics and printmaking is a plus. She enjoys stamping, which requires precision and patience similar to printmaking.
“There’s keeping things in order and measuring – all the things I love,” Michelle said.
Every single detail matters in their design process.
Handbag straps are hand-stamped and hand-dyed in a color combination that matches the bag. The liner isn’t overlooked, either.
“I want the liner to be cool and part of the bag,” Sharon said. “It’s very intimate. It’s just for you.”
The bags range in size, featuring hip, bum, and slings, along with crossbodies, shoulder bags, and totes. Sharon percolates with ideas and handles the tooling and sewing. She uses traditional tools such as swivel knives and bevelers as well as a “tattooling” machine.
“Michelle is a lot more into the process, and she’s methodical,” said Sharon, who compares herself to the nutty professor. “Sometimes she grounds me.”
Every bag is given a name to match its personality. The Audrey, for example, combines black Italian leather with a painted peacock named Beautiful. It’s hand-tooled and hand-painted with antique bronze hardware and Austrian rhinestones. The fringe is hand-cut.
By contrast, the Fuzzy Dorothy, a mid-size crossbody bag, incorporates Mongolian sheepskin with a soft Italian pebbled leather back.
The Sophia bag was designed so the strap is the showstopper in some bags and the front and the rear panel in others. That way, two options showcase the art of tooling.
“She spent probably a year figuring out the right drop for the strap, how wide to make it, what the inside should hold and look like, how to construct it to make it hold its shape and then what to tool on the straps and panels,” Michelle said. “Many designers use other people’s patterns, but Sharon’s named bags are her own designs.”
The tooled images are mashups of Japanese and Americana tattoo influences along with Sharon’s passion for flowers and mystical and powerful animals.
Michelle is a perfectionist when finishing the edges and doesn’t mind the labor-intensive process needed to perfect a piece. She also handles the business aspects, having worked in retail before her current job as a strength and conditioning coach.
“I’m the negotiator, the closer and the picker-upper,” said Michelle, who is on a new quest to find cowboy boots that can be transformed into a bag. Their “Rewrite Your Story Collection” turns worn-out cowboy boots into one-of-a-kind functional art.
When you buy something from Xroads Creations, “You can really feel good knowing you’re not going to see it anywhere else,” Sharon said.
Look for Xroads Creations (Crossroads Creations) at these Rose Squared Art Shows in 2026: Fall Rittenhouse Square (Oct. 9-11), Fall Brookdale Park (Oct. 17-18) and Crafts at the Cathedral (Dec. 4-6).
