We live in an area that gets VERY cold during the winter....and snow will linger. One year, it snowed on Memorial Day weekend!!! I was down....I looked thru my fabrics and found enough bright colored fabrics to make a tote bag. WOW! Yip -- from then on when anyone commented on it I said it was my HAPPY bag!! So, though I know there's patterns out there that may help, I'm with others and think bright colors will help!