One? Women are buying as many as five at a time. The handbags are being worn on the arms of women at the Warner Theater and at fund-raisers and parties in Great Falls and McLean. They've already been seen on a few select arms in Hollywood and on at least one golf course in Georgia. And there's one set aside for Laura Bush, the first lady. If you haven't heard by now, they're Little Birdy Bags and they're designed and handmade by Roberta Roberts inside her home studio in Great Falls.

Each purse carries a "Little Birdy" card with a pink flamingo on it and says, "Roberta Roberts is a former bank executive who had a dream one day to spread fabrics instead of financial statements." Roberts began designing purses four years ago "just for fun," she said, while pursuing a professional career in real estate lending. When she decided to leave banking after 10 years, Roberts said she wondered, "What can I do? I know numbers. I'm in finance." Roberts had shown an eye for successful design during the years she served as a model home judge in the Finest for Family Living awards for the Northern Virginia Builders Association.

Now home full time with Sophie, 5, and Dan, 8, and with the full support of husband, Mark, a commercial real estate executive, Roberts said she "always had a vision to create something with a twist" that she hoped "would make someone feel special and add a little beauty to the world." Thus having decided on handbags as her creative outlet, Roberts went to work, and Roberts, the businesswoman, came out from hiding. Raised in Boston and the daughter of an accountant, Roberts began with two goals: in her words, to "create things that make people happy" and to "put Great Falls on the map."

Toward her first goal, she knew she wanted to decorate basic black purses with quality fabrics and the finest accent pieces. That meant Battenburg lace, crystal beads from the Czech Republic, vintage glass cameos from West Germany and carved cherry-colored glass from Japan (it once took her two months to find 10 pieces). For fabric to cover the bags Roberts turned to The Washington Design Center at 300 D St. S.W. in Washington, D.C., a wholesale market that carries only one-of-a-kind furnishings and fabrics. Center manager Alahana Grundy recalled when Roberts approached her with a prototype of her purse and Grundy invited her to the center's spring trunk show. Grundy told Roberts to display her design and "sit down and watch the reaction." "It was like history," Grundy said. Interest in Roberts' bags "skyrocketed," she added, with 200 orders placed that day. Asked if she owns a Little Birdy Bag, Grundy said, "I think everyone has two--or three or four." To this day, Roberts' bags are on permanent display at the design center, from where its designers incorporate them into home interior projects. Little Birdy Bags can also be found at The Silk Purse boutique in Great Falls and soon at a new branch store in McLean. Unsure initially of the type of response she would get from her designs, Roberts said, "Art is such a funny thing. It's so personal. Like someone calling your baby ugly. I didn't know if I was ready for that." To which Mark Roberts added, "We're fortunate [the designs] are really taking off. We've not had to confront what might not have worked out. It's been a success from the start." Increasing orders--115 in five hours, and 120 in two hours--prompted Roberts, armed with an economics degree from the University of Maryland, to realize that she needed to track "who is carrying what" and "who doesn't like blue." "I put all my purses on spreadsheets," she said. "That's the banker coming out," she added.

Local charities are benefiting, too, from Roberts' designs. She hinted of mild embarrassment in recalling "a bidding war" over one of her bags at a Growing Hope Foundation benefit. And Hollywood discovered Roberts at the Tysons Corner Ritz-Carlton in April at "A Day of Beauty," a celebrity luncheon to raise money for multiple sclerosis. Guest celebrity makeup artist Matthew Van Leeuwen from In Style magazine was so taken with a Roberts bag that adorned supermodel Maggie Rizer that he bought one for a client. Expressing delight in meeting other creative women raising young families, Roberts generously credits many Great Falls residents for inspiring her. Patricia Paterno, a former Time-Life Inc. video and TV producer, met Roberts through their volunteer work at Great Falls Elementary and the Village Day School. Now a corporate event planner, Paterno writes press releases for Roberts' appearances at private corporate showings, insisting, "You don't have to be from New York to be creative."

Roberts credits Heather Femia, a former buyer for Nordstrom, for "taking me under her wing." And although Roberts cites professional photographer and freelance writer Cristina Goettsch-Mittermeier as a continual source of artistic inspiration, Goettsch-Mittermeier in turn credits Roberts "for her business savvy." The two are discussing starting a women's investment club. Working in her downstairs studio where Paterno said Roberts lives "like a mole," Roberts continues to design and manufacture custom bags. Dani Lane, of Danielle Lane Interiors in Alexandria, proclaimed, "It's absolutely perfect," when she saw her bag last week, which will be worn at a wedding in Dublin, Ireland. Dr. Jacqueline Griffiths, a laser eye surgeon in Reston and Roberts' next-door neighbor, bought three on the spot.

And the biggest source of pride besides her family and Floyd, her beloved French bulldog? The tag inside all the purses. "Not Rome, Paris, London or LA, but 'Great Falls, Virginia,'" Mark Roberts proudly boasted.