Why Wait?

The BIG sale starts TODAY! Many items have reduced prices and any order that has at least 1 set of lunchbox napkins in it ships for FREE*!

*this will be refunded to you via paypal. international shipping will be at reduced rates.

Black Friday preview

I'm working out the details of what I want to do, but there WILL be sales in my shop starting Thanksgiving and running thru Cyber Monday. I will be listing the exact totals of colors and fabrics that are available to make shopping easier.

Please remember to shop handmade for the Holidays!

Friday - again

Oops....It's Friday again and I have not posted anything all week. Sorry. Between having my husband away most of the week to dealing with interesting metal objects in the washing machine (that got it to stop working with a full load of laundry, water, and 4 more loads patiently waiting their turn!)... just not much time or energy to write.

I couldn't decide on a pic this week. My first thought was to share with you the quilt my daughter made - her first project on *my* baby, um, sewing machine. But that's listed in my shop. Well, then I remember that the actual baby doll quilt she made is NOT for sale - I'll happily make more if someone purchases the listing. And I'm really, really proud of her for piecing and sewing her quilt. Not trying to spam but.... So.... I'll give you 2 pics. The first is this baby doll quilt my 7 yr old made with little help from me. Apparently she's been paying lots of attention all of these years!!! The second is a beautiful circle I found in my boxes of vintage upcycled fabric. Gah, I love finds like these!!! A few pieced stars will be for sale soon in my shop but this one.... nope. My fabric-loving daughter has claimed it!

Happy weekend!

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{this moment} a friday ritual. a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. a simple, special, extraordinary mome

nt. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

- Amanda Blake, SouleMama.com

{this moment} a friday ritual. a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. a simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

- Amanda Blake, SouleMama.com

Not as much vibrant Fall color here as where we used to live...but these bushes at our house are beautiful!

Greener Holidays

Are you thinking about the holidays yet? Wondering how you can add more sustainable practices and also help others make positive changes? Here are a few ideas...

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The Green Grocery Bag Challenge: A Holiday Sewing Project Benefiting Mother Earth

Fact 1: US consumers generate 4 million tons of wrapping paper and shopping bag waste during the holiday season alone.

Fact 2: The US goes through 100 billion single-use plastic grocery bags every year.

Fact 3: This year, you can make a difference! How?

The challenge is this: Wrap your holiday gifts in reusable cloth grocery bags.

(SewMamaSew.com)

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The cool thing is that you don't have to be able to sew to use them. There are many ways to wrap gifts in reusables. Before you use reusable grocery bags, though, make sure the recipient needs another one. Some of us are overflowing with them! If they are like me and already have their own abundant stash, get creative. Consider a drawstring bag like those in my shop (btw, I'm always up for custom orders of these!) After they have received their gift, they can use this bag in sooooo many ways. My kids love the little ones I keep in my purse because they know I always have some interesting toys hidden in them. The larger ones make great knitting project bags, lunch sacks, shoe bags.....Another one of my favorite ideas is to use reusable sandwich baggies as gift bags! This cute bunch have handmade biscotti inside. These are available in my Etsy shop in assorted colored ripstop nylon (the material is made in USA!) and also in upcycled cotton prints and organic cotton solids.Or consider wrapping a gift in a reusable produce bag. Many people already have cloth grocery bags - help them totally ditch single-use plastics at the grocery store while also reducing your wrapping paper use! I think these would be beautiful tied with a BIG fat ribbon.There's also the amazing Japanese art of furoshiki, wrapping things in fabric. Use a scarf and it's 2 gifts! Here's a website with a great instructional pic of many of the basic techniques... http://xorsyst.com/japan/how-to-tie-furoshiki/

Happy wrapping!

Featured on a GREAT blog!

Check out FakePlasticFish.com!!! Not only is it VERY informative about kicking the plastic habit, but there's a great giveaway going on right now including my upcycled cotton sandwich baggies!

{this moment} a friday ritual. a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. a simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

- Amanda Blake, SouleMama.com

My 7 year old daughter took this pic. Not only do I adore her perspective, but I think she might have an eye for it!

CONTEST WINNERS!

You all had some great ideas! I loved reading them and I hope you did too! Drumroll please... And the winner is....

JAIMEZEE!

You get 10 extra entries. I've added them to the end, #s 10-19.

Now for the random number generator for the prizes....(I use random.org)

3

Jaimezee...that's you too! Wow, your FB post won. I'll be in contact with you so you can choose your napkins and send me your address. Thank you to all who entered.

I will post pics soon of some ways I've already begun to use the containers. I put a dry bean mix into a small hot coco mix container for my 3 year old son's creative, sensory and fine motor play. The large coffee containers will be decorated by my kids and used as gift-giving containers!