Photo of the Week...Autumn Harvest

I'm in love with this pastel by Susan Ogilvie...

Craft of the Week...Smudge Note Cards

I have to give credit to my daughter for this idea. She took plain stationery and made them into sweet little note cards. All you need is blank note cards, a Sharpie fine point pen, q-tips and the sponge type stamp pads in different colors.
Just draw a cute little picture with the fine line pen. Then, using the q-tips, dab the stamp pad to coat the tips and then smudge the color over the drawing. Yep, it's that easy.

Warhol...Kate

I've Just Discovered cosa verde

What’s cosa verde? In a nutshell, it’s a new online marketplace for buying and selling eco-friendly handmade goods. Cosa verde translates to green thing in spanish. It's run by a husband and wife team who practice what they preach. They say it much better than I, so here is an excerpt from their "About Us" section.

First, who we're not. We're not radicals. We're not preachy. We don't always seek out organic products, and we (gasp!) still have a few non-CFL bulbs at home and drive our fossil-fuel burning (high mpg, but still...) cars to work each day. But, when it comes right down to it, we're two kids who like the Earth. We think it's a nice place. We'd like it to be a nice place for our (future) kids. And we believe that while big changes happen slowly, it's the small changes that pave the way.

We created cosa verde to help those small changes along. We wanted to make it easy to find great green goods for your neo-hippie niece, your grandpa who doesn't believe in global-warming, and everyone in-between. So that maybe, when we remember to value the products we buy for how they're manufactured, as well as for their style or uniqueness, some bigger changes will happen in the way that we think about consuming. And we said we weren't preachy.

For those of you crafters and artisans out there who use organic, repurposed, reusable, recyclable, conflict-free or cruelty-free materials, you should check it out. I'm just getting started, but I love their message.

Bonus...

O

Change Purses for Change

Thanks to Linda of alamodestuff for the nice shout out on The Girl Indie blog today.
Check out our team shop for some really cool change purses.

Photo of the Week

This will be a new feature on my blog for Wednesdays. Have you been to bing.com yet? They have an incredible vault of beautiful images. I found this one in a search for "Autumn".

Collage...Favorite Colors

1. Houndstooth Big Tote by bungaloe
2. Lampwork Glass Bracelet by leahsawyer
3. Autumn Watercolor by lauratrevey
4. Coral Lotus Bowl by yogagoat
5. Red Bouquet by SalvageAndRedesign

New Feature...Craft of the Week

I'm starting a new feature. Craft of the Week will be coming to you every Sunday. I will give you my source, the materials needed and pictures of my version. That's right, I'm committed to making one new craft a week. This should be lots of fun.

This week I've chosen to highlight a craft from the most awesome book by Mark Montano called "The Big Ass Book of Crafts". Mark is part of the design team for While You Were Out and host of TLC's 10 Years Younger, as well as cohost of the Style Network's My Celebrity Home and We's She's Moving In.


Today's craft is made from rolled magazine pages and can be found on page 281 of the book. The book gives several items you can make including a basket or bowl. I think you can use the technique to make much more. I chose to make wall art.

The materials you will need are: old magazines, hot glue gun and glue sticks, Elmer's glue, scissors, Krylon Color Creations Crystal Clear Top Coat and a pencil. You simply roll 3" wide strips of magazine pages into long tubes placing a dab of Elmer's glue to hold the shape. Flatten the tubes and wrap them around a pencil to create little discs. Put another dab of glue at the end to hold the shape. Then, using your glue gun, glue the discs together. Spray with a coat of Krylon and voila! They suggest using a bowl or trash can as a base to help you form your items. My project was flat, and much easier to deal with. It's a great use for old magazines and very green.




What do you think of the finished product? I'd love to see your attempts at this one.

A Weekend of Entertainment...It's all in the family

Forgive me for a moment while I brag about my talented children. This weekend we are going to see our daughter playing the role of Mollie Ralston in Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap". We are also going to see our son's band "Big Foot Wallace". They are opening for a band called "Root Hog" who are releasing their first CD. It should be a great weekend.

Collage...Decor for Kate's Room

1. Dandelion Pillow by eightboutique
2. Little Hearts 3D by sarahandbendrix
3. Illuminated by bethnadler
4. Charmed I'm Sure Lap Quilt by SFOQuilter
5. Tweed Berry Pillow by Mogwaii
6. Sundance by studiolyon
7. Old Fashioned Elegance Trinket Box by funwallart

Bedroom Makeover

I know I have been missing in action lately, but I have a good excuse. I've been redecorating my daughter's bedroom. She found a beautiful comforter set and that was our inspiration piece. Here are some pictures of our progress. My talented husband painted the flowers on the wall. We're still working on it, so I'll post more pictures later.

Collage...Some Favorites

1. Japanese Star Moss Boatneck by Xenotees
2. Azure Seas Paintings by AmyGiacomelli
3. Handspun Wool Yarn by wearablesok
4. Pine Tree Hand Embroidered by HAREandDRUM
5. Wake Up Soap by tgurleybathandbody

It's time for our second Etsy CABTeam shop challenge. This one is called "Change Purses for Change". To participate our team members had to design a change purse, wallet or pouch suitable for holding money. The submissions could be made out of any material, in any color, any size.

The team will be donating the proceeds from this challenge to Women for Women International. To identify the listings for this charity, there will be a Women for Women logo in the listing. We already have 12 submissions in the shop for this challenge, so check them out. It's all for a great cause. Here are just a few of the submissions...







Since it’s creation, Women for Women International has empowered over 153,000 women survivors of war to move toward economic self-sufficiency with it's year-long program of direct aid, rights education, job skills training, and small business development. They have distributed $42 million in direct aid, microcredit loans, and other program services. Since 1993, Women for Women International has mobilized more than 125,000 women and men in 105 countries worldwide to reach out and support women survivors of war – one woman at a time.


In October we'll host a giveaway on our team blog. Readers will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite change purse. More details on the giveaway later.