Products

Kickstarter

Kickstarter first entered my vocabulary about two years ago when an acquaintance at a birthday party was telling me about her latest project and how she intended to fund it. Kickstarter is a website where entrepreneurs and artists list details about a project plan and investors have the opportunity to fund it. Everyone can pledge to get an innovative new product or a creative arts project on its feet. You can start your own project or search for new and creative ideas that inventors are hoping to launch. Kickstarter states on it’s website:

Kickstarter is the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world. Every week, tens of thousands of amazing people pledge millions of dollars to projects from the worlds of music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative fields.

It’s a great concept and it’s truly amazing to scan through the creative vision of so many talented, pragmatic and smart people. It really helps highlight what the world is thinking, planning and developing for the new, next thing. The interesting twist is that you must post your budget, then a countdown begins. You have a limited period of time in which to capture the attention and wallets of benefactors. If you don’t reach your funding goal then no money exchanges hands and the project is canceled.

Why is Kickstarter funding all-or-nothing?

On Kickstarter, a project must reach its funding goal before time runs out or no money changes hands. Why? It protects everyone involved. This way, no one is expected to develop a project with an insufficient budget, which sucks. Remember you set your own funding goal, so aim to raise the minimum amount you’ll need to create your vision. Projects can always raise more than their goal, and often do.

In addition, the developers often offer bonuses of everything from promotional materials like free tshirts or the product itself signed by the inventor or other enticements to those who are willing to support their dreams.

I particularly love that you can search by region to help support local artists and artisans. You can also search by project type (fashion, music, theater, etc) or even recommended, popular or recently launched. It gives consumers the power to vote with their wallets before a project even gets off the ground and that seems like a very good idea indeed. I’ll be searching and pledging my support to great designers who focus on recycled goods because that’s where my passion lies. Who or what will you find to kickstart? Leave your thoughts in the comments below including links to any really cool projects that you’d like to recommend.

 

 

ikcdesign: Original (re)Design

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62006649/upcycled-checkbook-cover-made-from

I’ve run out of checks again so it’s time to order a new set. After wading through screens of puppies and fairies and Christmas designs, I finally decided to just reorder the argyle that I’m already using. I know; boring. I still can’t figure out what kind of person wants to have Christmas themed checks all year long, but I digress… As I was about to checkout the page suggested that I buy a matching leather checkbook cover. “Ooh…pretty”, I thought, but then I realized that it’s new and it’s leather. Neither of which are particularly environmentally-friendly, so I popped over to Etsy to see what I could find in the upcycled/recycled categories. In college I studied Japanese language and East Asian studies and have retained my love of all things Asian. I was so excited to find checkbook covers made from recycled book pages about Japan. There were so many interesting choices. One seller in particular had some very creatively recycled pages that I thought would make for a very stylish checkbook cover. They also recycled the tops from trophies and old album covers. The seller named ikc (original redesign) has a very catchy tagline “Old is the new New”. I love it! Here are few other really cool recycled homegoods by ikcdesign:

Stuff I Love: Paper Made from Poo!

Yes, you did read that correctly. I am referencing paper recyled from excrement. Ewwww…. Well, The Great Elephant Poo Poo Paper Company has a cute little slogan that reads, “We take the OO out of Poo”. This paper has been crafted from the undigested plant fibers left behind by elephants. It’s allowed to dry, cleaned and then made into paper. According to their website, they can make 25 large sheets of paper from a single elephant dropping. In addition, their website gives great elephant facts, including this one:

Did You Know? – Surprising Facts About Elephants

~ Elephants eat 300 – 600 lb (130 – 270 kg) of food per day – 60% of that food leaves the elephant’s body undigested.

 I love this product because it’s unique, sustainable and helps endangered elephants while creating a useful and attractive final product. The line of safari and sea life paper products are adorable! The best thing is that by developing the recycled poo paper industry they are contritubting to the welfare of elephants:

Products With a Purpose

Our purpose is to successfully sell our goods in order to complete a truly creative sustainable cycle:

where raw materials with little other use are utilized to make a useful and functional product all the while providing jobs and opportunity along the way and ultimately selling our goods at a profit from which a portion changeis directed to a worthwhile cause: elephant welfare and conservation.

 

Basically, our sustainable cycle works like this: as with all creatures on our planet, elephants need a clean environment and a good diet. With these needs met, an elephant produces a lot of dung, which we collect and use to make our products. We work with various conservation parks (and mahouts) to gather the dung poo (which is full of fibrous material and makes great paper). We then process the dung into paper sheets from which our productsproductsare made. The more we sell to customers like you and to stores across the country and around the world world…the more we can contribute as a portion of the profits from each item you buy is contributed to elephant welfare and conservation programs!

What a great cause! They also offer fundraising for clubs, associations and environmental groups. So, embrace the poo, it may just be the paper of the future.

Vinegar and Duct Tape!

Well, my husband is smart. Or at least kind of a smart alec. So, imagine my surprise when I excitedly bounced up behind him on the steps and said, “Guess what?” and unapologetic he replied, “Vinegar or Duct Tape?” Wow. That really took the wind out of my sails and gave me a darn good nasal snorty chortle. Ok, so at the end of the world it will likely be me attempting to build a shelter out of duct tape and stockpiling vinegar, but I’m sorta ok with that. But, I digress….here is my latest use for apple cider vinegar, my favorite natural health care tonic. You may recall my previous post where I used apple cider vinegar (ACV) to relieve perioral dermatitis. Well, I’ve done it again! This time, when my dandruff/seborrheic dermatitis became totally unmanageable, I turned to the vinegar. My daughter and I both suffer with it and it’s itchy, burning and embarrassing. My former stylist had recommended a dandruff shampoo to keep it under control and for a few years, it did a pretty good job. However, I had to use the shampoo religiously or risk looking like a snow globe. Eventually though, my daughter began to notice that her hair was getting more and more oily and the flakes were getting worse. I had the opposite experience. My scalp was getting drier and more itchy and the flakes were getting larger. I had burning red patches at my temples that were causing my hair to thin and I constantly had disgusting scalpy bits all over my shoulders and occasionally even stuck in my hair. It was awful… I tried tea tree oil shampoo and just straight tea tree oil, but no luck. The, while researching I red somewhere that it runs in families and people with acne were prone to have it, but that also, someone once again thought it might be yeast. Just like my perioral dermatitis (POD)! What?!? Apple Cider Vinegar to the rescue! I whipped out an old shampoo bottle and filled it with ACV and kept it in the shower. Then, I doused my head in the smelly stuff and let it soak. I gave my scalp a good massage and let it just sort of hang out while I did the rest of my washing up. After about five minutes and some tingling/burning I gave it a good rinse, then used my normal shampoo and conditioner and styled my hair. No flakes! Not a single one. In fact, my head felt refreshed, less itchy and my hair was soft and full of body. Since I used my strongly scented coconut conditioner, I didn’t  notice any after smells. My ears continued to have some itchy peely bits though in the top inside flap and at the back of my ear so the very next day I carefully gave my ears a good wash while I let the vinegar set. I’m down to using the vinegar two or three days a week now (on the mornings that I work out actually) and I’ve noticed a complete improvement. The best part is that previously I was paying about $20 for little bottle of fancy dandruff shampoo, but I can get an entire jug of apple cider vinegar for just a few bucks. So, in the end I have to say that it works spectacular, it’s inexpensive and all natural. I think that just maybe, vinegar and duct tape can save the world.

Fat Trackin’ Apps: Lose It! VS Tracknburn

Spring has sprung and it’s time to prep for swimsuit season (kill.me.now.) Also, after coming off of a foot injury I’ve been getting my buns back into gear. It’s darn near racing season and I’m in no shape to take on the challenge of the Gravity East Series. So, to get motivated and track my progress I purchased a new scale Escali High-Capacity Bathroom Scale with Body Fat/Body Water Monitoring (440lb / 200kg) and a few apps for my iPhone. I purchased the scale because it measures more than just my weight. It also measures my body fat percentage (most important) and my body water percentage. These are important because while I want to reduce my weight, I want to do it by reducing my body fat percentage, not my muscle or water. I’ve been working out on average 3 days per week doing a video in my workout space. The two that I use most frequently are Jillian Michaels – 30 Day Shred and Personal Training With Jackie: Xtreme Timesaver Training. I used two apps for about 2 weeks to compare and then selected the one that I found the most convenient and easy to use. Lose It! is a free app that I had downloaded last year, but never used. I purchased Tracknburn in the iTunes App store and tried that one out too. Each day I diligently tracked every calorie that passed over my lips and every exercise session that I completed. The apps varied significantly in what I should be able to eat each day and what I burned doing the exercises. As an example, Tracknburn says that in order to reach my goal weight using my current weight, age and mostly sedentary lifestyle, I can only eat 1,282 calories a day without working out, while Lose It! says that I can have 1,507 and still lose 1/2 lb. a week. A 225 calorie difference is prety significant. To give you perspective to how that relates to my current diet, that’s more calories than I typically eat for my entire breakfast. However, this is compounded further when you look at how the exercise measures up.  According to Lose It! 25 minutes of circuit training (what I’m using to log my video workouts) only burns 175 calories, but Tracknburn says I burned 200.  So Lose It! says that I can eat more, but gives me fewer calories credits for my exercise while Tracknburn restricts my diet more, but gives me more calories back into my budget  for working out. After using it here’s a comparison on the good points of each from my perspective:

In the end, while they both have great features and a few minor drawbacks I finally stopped using tracknburn and moved exclusively to Lose It! because it allowed me to review charts and track my progress easily on line or on my phone, connect with friends and quickly and easily log my activities. After a month of use I am also happy to report that while I haven’t really lost any weight (it fluctuates within 2lbs on any given day), I have lost a full % of body fat down to today’s 23.2%. Having to track my calories is often enough of a deterrent to keep me from overindulging and helps me to really gauge how much time I devote to working out. While I may not ever look like a Victoria’s secret model, I know that I am healthy, happy and fit. If you are concerned about getting into shape and staying there I highly recommend tracking your progress and the Lose It! iPhone app is a wonderful, free and easy way to do that.

Here’s a sample of the online reports availabe on Lose It!

Safeway is Heading Back to Nature

Fortunately I live in an urban area that borders on the suburban so I have tons of access to healthy, natural foods. However, many are not so lucky. As an example, when I go to visit my father who lives in a more rural area, it’s much more challenging to find vegan/vegetarian meat alternatives or healhty organic foods at the grocery store. Even in my daily life, while I do have access to Wegman’s and Whole Foods, they are considerably more expensive than my local Safeway, so I have to be far more selective with my food purchases than I would like. Luckily, Safeway wants your business and is looking to appease those of us who want healthy, natural foods, but don’t want to spend our whole paycheck. They have several brands including their own store label “O” which focuses on organic food products. These have been available for many years, but now Safeway appears to be adding a new natural foods brand called “Open Nature“. According to the website, “Open Nature” is “Food thoughtfully prepared and shared with care“. I love, love, love this concept. So many times I have wanted to be able to pick up a quick, inexpensive meal to go for my family and have left with just a salad or veggies to grill. Even more often when we’ve had friends over for a cookout, party or pot-luck I’ve been saddled with making a tough choice between buying inexpensive foods that run against my moral grain (I’m strictly opposed to factory farming and the heavy handed use of unhealthy preservatives, sweeteners and far too much fat in most prepared foods). While I may not choose to eat meat myself, I can still purchase and make good food for my friends and family and now I have even more options. The new Open Nature product line boasts that it is minimally processed, with no artificial ingredients and it’s 100% natural. How exciting!  Read about the new products, including natural meat and poulty products, their plans to expand to other product offerings like bread, pasta, yogurt and more. Finally, you can read more about why Safeway is moving to natural ingredients and humanely raised animals.

From the website FAQ:

What is OPEN NATURE™ Beef?

Under the OPEN NATURE™ brand, you will find premium quality beef that is graded USDA Choice. Additional product claims include:

  • 100% Natural
  • 100% Angus Cattle
  • Raised without Antibiotics
  • No Added Hormones
  • All-Vegetarian Fed
  • Guaranteed Tender
  • Product of U.S.A.
  • Certified Humane

What are the benefits of barnraised hogs?

The key benefits are animal health and meat quality. Because they are raised in a barn, the animals are not exposed to the extreme temperatures of the Midwest. It also allows our farmers to monitor their diet. Our hogs eat a controlled, 100% vegetarian diet and drink clean water that hasn’t been exposed to pesticides and herbicides. A healthy animal is a happy animal, and provides the best product quality for you and your family.

What types of feed are chickens fed and what is a vegetable diet?

We strongly believe that the flavor of the chickens comes from the feed that they eat. Our feed is made from high quality, nutritionally balanced ingredients. It is composed of approximately 70% corn and corn gluten meal and 15-18% soybean meal, with the balance of the diet made up of salt, vitamins, and minerals. The diet is called a vegetable diet because the protein and energy sources, corn and soybean meal, are all vegetable in origin. NO animal by-products or animal fat are used in the chicken feed.

While, personally I would rather everyone eat less meat so that we can raise cage-free, free range, healthy animals everywhere, I feel like this is still a step in the right direction. While I may choose not to eat meat for personal reason, I have many friends and family members who still enjoy a good meatatarian cookout and this will help me feed them responsibly. Thanks to Safeway for continuing to offer new varieties of healthier foods.

Etsy Shop Feature: Sweet and Dirty’s Emporium of Good Stuff

This next shop feature is special because we are both members of the same Team on Etsy: The Etsy Recycler’s Guild Team. However, I noticed and marked a few of their items as favorites before I even realized that they we were teamies. So, without further ado, it has been my pleasure to interview Sweet and Dirty’s Emporium of Good Stuff.

ICouldSewDoThat (Serendipit): First, let me thank you for taking the time out of your busy designer schedule for this interview. Second, let me say that I love your stuff. I’m so inspired by it every time that I browse your shop. In fact, the rowdy girls bag is on my wish list right now; I love it!

What is your inspiration for these wonderfully unique items?

SweetandDirty: I was always encouraged by family to make sure that I love what I do,  and I really think just knowing that I get to do that everyday.. wake up, be with my kids, and sew… that is all the inspiration i need to keep on keeping on. Of course coming across some good vintage fabric is pretty motivational too :)

ICouldSewDoThat (SerendipiT): Wow, that is so cool that you had so much support from your family and you get to really enjoy what you do; congrats! I love vintage fabric too, for many reasons. I typically use vintage fabric because it’s eco-friendly. Do you consider yourself “green”?

SweetandDirty: Very much. My entire shop is made from vintage/recycled/repurposed materials… it’s so nice to give new life to something instead of discarding it. It all carries over into my home life too – compost pile, garden growing (soon to be canning this summer), crazy recyclers.. it’s true, my husband has been known to go get and give recycling bins to those we know who don’t! 

ICouldSewDoThat (SerendipiT): So, now we know that you are an eco-friendly artisan, who enjoys crafting with your family, tell us a little more about yourself.

SweetandDirty: My name is Logan and I live in the wonderful mountains of Tennessee. I am a stay at home mom to two sweet babes (Harvey and Ruby) and wife to a super encouraging husband.  I went to college and got a BFA in painting, worked a silly retail job for way too long, then decided to take what I was doing for my loved ones and try to sell it to a larger audience… so far so good. It’s amazing to be doing what you love. In my ‘free time’ i can usually be found putting on impromptu dance parties and concerts with ruby, she’s two.. Harvey is only 5months so he hasn’t joined in just yet.  I also love to cook!

ICouldSewDoThat (Serendipit): Wow! Well you sound like one very well-rounded and equally busy lady who really lives life to the fullest; good for you! I always find talkign with other artisans who have taken their craft full-time to be so encouraging. I hope that one day I can too. There are so many great artisans on Etsy who really focus on the quality and good design; I find a new shop that I love every day. Do you have any favorites?

SweetandDirty: oh my goodness there are so many sellers i love, if you take a look at my favorites it justifies that!
a few off the top of my head…
http://www.etsy.com/shop/necessityisthemother
http://www.etsy.com/shop/spinthread ( i have one of her lovely necklaces and wear it all the time, love it)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/chelebert12
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ziazia
http://www.etsy.com/shop/sohomode
http://www.etsy.com/shop/blackbirdtees

 ICouldSewDoThat (SerendipiT): I will definately be checking those shops out; thanks for sharing! So, besides creating and shopping on Etsy, what else do you really love?

SweetandDirty: I love it when my little Ruby gives me random hugs, Harvey smiles my way, I get a date night with my husband, I find “new” fabric, seeing someone happy with something I have made, oh and a good batch of gravy and biscuits works real well too!

ICouldSewDoThat (SerendipiT): Well, you are a woman after my own heart. I lived in Tennessee for a spell myself and I have to agree that it’s the simple pleasures in life that really make each day special, especially time with loved ones and the chance to express yourself through craft. The biscuits always help too.

Well, to close out the interview I always love to get at least one totally random fact about each person that I meet. Can you share an interesting tidbit about yourself?

SweetandDirty: Let’s see… I can’t drive a stick.. I have an unhealthy obsession with sweet tea…I know the words to lots of obnoxious rap songs…and I can weld!

ICouldSewDoThat (SerendipiT): Those are some really fun facts; thanks for sharing!  I’ve always wanted to weld, maybe I can trade you for some lessons in driving a manual. So, now that we know how to find you on Etsy, where else can we keep up with you?

SweetandDirty: I do a lot of local festivals in my area.. the two largest being The Big Crafty in Asheville, NC (it’s in July and December) and Rhythm and Roots in Bristol, TN/VA (it’s in September). I’m looking forward to doing a lot more here this next year though!

Sweet and Dirty on Twitter, Facebook and Blog.

 Thanks again for sharing your story; I really enjoyed learning more about a favorite teammate of mine.

Etsy Shop Feature: Interview with Lola’s Jewels


I enjoy handmade craft for many reasons as you may already know from previous posts. The benefits of purchasing handmade are many, you provide living wages to someone that you can get to know rather than supporting a faceless corporation who may be purchasing from abused workers overseas, you can ensure quality and customer service are a premium and help the economy by ensuring that hard working, creative and entrepreneurial designers can practice the craft of their choice. You can purchase items online, at a craft fair or even your local farmer’s market. However, every so often I would like to take the time to feature and help you get to know some of the handmade artisans who have setup virtual shops on Etsy. This is the first shop feature that I’ll be promoting here and it’s an interview with Lola’s Jewels.

I’ve decided to start with this shop because it’s local to me. Lola’s Jewels hails from my home town, the lovely Charm City, Baltimore, Maryland.

ICouldSewDoThat: First, tell me a little something about yourself.

Lola’s Jewels: I am a mother of three wonderful children. I work full time and love to design jewelry in my “spare time”. This actually relaxes me. I even have my 7 year old daughter making her own jewelry. I love to read and enjoy lots of time with the family.

ICouldSewDoThat: So what inspires you?

Lola’s Jewels: My inspiration definitely comes from my family. I named my shop Lola’s jewels after my daughter and I hope she will design and create jewelry to add to the shop one day. She has a great imagination and an eye for design, so we shall see.

ICouldSewDoThat:As you may know I love eco-friendly design and have been trying to “green” up a bit for a variety of reasons. What about you, do you consider yourself environmentally conscious?

Lola’s Jewels:I am definitely eco-friendly! Waste not want not! My scrabble tile jewelry is made from upcycled game pieces. The shell items in my shop are made form actual sea shells found while on vacation with my family in Florida. There will be more upcycled jewelry coming soon!!

ICouldSewDoThat:Have you found any other shops that you really love to shop in or are inspired by on Etsy?

Lola’s Jewels:I have many favorite Etsy sellers. There are so many talented people on Etsy.

ICouldSewDoThat:“I love it when….”?

Lola’s Jewels:People love my creations! There is no better compliment.

ICouldSewDoThat:For Baltimore locals is there a way where we can shop local and catch you outside of your Etsy store?

Lola’s Jewels:I will be at local craft fairs in the Spring and you never know where else…… keep your eyes open for Lola’s Jewels!

ICouldSewDoThat:What’s are some totally random facts about you?

Lola’s Jewels:Dessert is my favorite part of the meal. I see the beauty in everything. I love Sunsets!

ICouldSewDoThat:Thanks so much for taking the time to share a little bit about yourself and your craft.

Be sure to check out the shop and look for Lola’s Jewels locally in Baltimore. You can follow her on Twitter or friend her on Facebook.

Remember to shop local and buy handmade!

It’s Party Time!

That’s right folks, it’s officially party season. From now through New Year’s Eve you will be expected to don your best duds and doll yourself up to spend time with friends, family, coworkers and acquaintances. You can’t be seen wearing the same fancy dress year after year or be caught wearing the same suit and tie in every after party photo can you? What’s a green girl or boy to do? Even worse is the thought of shelling out all of that hard earned dough during this tough economy for a single purpose dress to be worn once and then hung in a fancy bag in the dimmest corner of your closet until you finally give up and donate it. Well, before you do that try refashioning. If you like to sew just grab a dress from a local clothing swap, goodwill or best friend who doesn’t want to wear it anymore. Purchase or make your own pattern and refashion that frock. I realize that this isn’t likely to happen for most of us during this busy holiday season, so I present to you some environmentally-friendly, budget conscious alternatives to grabbing that shiny new outfit from the rack. Check out some of these great recycled and vintage pieces from the crafty sellers on Etsy:

No Trash Wrap Christmas

Now that halloween is behind us, I’m skipping Thanksgiving temporarily and moving right to Christmas. Yes, I agree that it’s annoying when retailers do this and we should all slow down and enjoy the holidays. Ordinarily I would agree whole-heartedly, but this year, as in previous year, I’m making Christmas presents for friends and family again. I’m stepping up my game this year though and putting my newly found skill for knitting and crochet to work and cranking out gifts for the whole family. Some of these gifts are rather ambitious (omg how long will it take me to crochet 4 balls of yarn for one gift?!?) and we’ve only a few crafting weeks left until the big day. So for this reason, I am already 3 balls of yarn down and in the background of every football game you can hear the needles clicking away I’ll try to post up photos of my achievements as I go. 

Unfortunately, all this time spent on gifts means that I can’t spend as much time on my Etsy store. I will however be sure to list some festive christmas gift bags (from recycled fabrics of course) that can be reused and passed among the family members in addition to my recycled paper bows.  I hope to have time to list some other goodies, but I think I’d better focus on one task at a time for now. In order to celebrate the concept of a cleaner, greener holiday I am promoting the no trash wrap holiday tradition, which means don’t use throwaway packaging if you can help it; and if you must be sure it’s at least made from recycled materials.  Here’s the promotion that I’ll be running in my shop through the end of the year.

SerendipiT’s Shop Announcement

Did You Know? In the U.S., an additional 5 million tons of waste is generated during the holidays. Four million tons of this is wrapping paper and shopping bags. Through the end of January 31, 2011 I will include either one (1) free refashioned t-shirt shopping tote bag or three (3) recycled paper bows with every purchase. Please let me know your preference by sending me a convo at checkout.

The individual members of the Fashion:Remix Team are committed to help fight the trash by offering promotional items tagged “notrashwrap”. Search for each of our unique solutions for a greener holiday season.

SerendipiT sources fabrics from previously loved clothing and recycles these textiles into hand-crafted EcoChic fashion. This eco-friendly process reduces our consumption of raw materials and precious resources. Refashioned clothing and accessories are true sustainable fashion that helps you to reduce your environmental impact on the Earth. I will donate 10% of all proceeds to The Conservation Fund, America’s Partner in Conservation. For the past 25 years, The Conservation Fund has been America’s partner in conservation, protecting more than 6.5 million acres. www.conservationfund.org – $15 donated so far in 2010

*Proud Member of the Fashion: Remix Team (tag: fashionremixteam)

*Proud member of the Recyclers Team Guild (tag: wastenot)
Proud Member of the Etsy Recyclers Guild Team
Visit us at http://www.EtsyRecyclersGuild.blogspot.com

 
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