Getting Ready for Holiday Sales

It feels like life should be slowing down a bit now that school has started the the kids are away from home most of the day. I have realized that means life for me is about to get really crazy. I have been focusing on applying for all of my winter shows and creating every chance I get. I have been looking through pictures of my crafts I have taken the last 3 years in order to focus on what I want to make this year. So much work to be done!

Recycled Billboard wallets

Brewery Banner Bags

Vintage Embroidered Ties

Recycled Sweater and Afghan Mittens

Beer Notebooks

Recycled Magazine Gift Bows

Found Paper Wallets

Windsurf Sail Bags

Recycled T-shirt and Wool Flower pillows

Relay for Life- Greenest Team Contest

As you may have been able to tell by reading my blog, I am passionate about recycling. When my husband and I formed a Relay for Life team to raise money for the American Caner Society 5 years ago, I noticed the lack of recycling at the event. This made me want to do something about it, so I asked if I could be part of their recycling committee the following year. Of course I assumed there was such a committee, but learned that I created a new position. Now 4 years later, I am still the chair and only member of the recycling committee.




For the past two years, I have hosted a "Greenest Team Contest" awarded to the team that makes the best sustainable choices leading up to the Relay for Life during their team meetings and fundraising events as well as at the event itself. At the monthly team captain meetings, I do be best to remind the teams of our sustainable focus and give tips on how to be more green at meetings and events such as; email agendas, print on both sides of the paper, shop locally, bring your own water bottle and coffee mugs to the event, etc. The prize package the team wins includes local currency called Riverhours, gift certificate to an organic farm at the local farmers market, ChicoBags, reusable sandwich wraps and bags, windsurf sail bags, home composting system, Fair Trade chocolate, Direct Trade coffee from a local coffee shop, as well as anything else I can find to support our local businesses and promote sustainability.

All our work has been paying off! Have you ever talked in front of a group of people and wondered if anyone was actually listening? At all of the team captain meetings I went to, I kind of felt this way. I was getting a little discouraged going into the event this year wondering if all of my efforts would be for nothing. I had made note of how much waste we generated the year before to compare and chart our progress. We borrowed 10 Clearstream containers from Tri-County Hazardous Waste and Recycling to collect cans and bottles. I also set up a compost station at our lunch site. Finally, I arranged for the Survivor Lunch to use reusable plates, cups and silverware from a grant I received from Tri-County Hazardous Waste and Recycling. Throughout the day, as teams had the job of emptying the trash cans, I has people coming up to me to let me know that the cans weren't anywhere near full, therefore they could not empty the trash! Yay!!! It worked! Teams were making an effort to think about their waste and make better choices than bring and throw away disposable goods. At the end of the event, all of the cans were given to a team whose mission is to collect money from the bottle deposit to donate to the American Cancer Society.

Local Hero of Recycling

Time to toot my own horn. Thanks to a friend nominating me, I am one of the 10 Local Hero of Recycling from Preserve: Gimme 5. I had applied for a grant through Tri-County Hazardous Waste and Recycling for Reusable Party Packs for classrooms in my community to help reduce the amount of waste during class parties. This sparked Tri-County Hazardous Waste and Recycling to do the same for the community by buying and having available reusable plates, cups, silverware for community events. We ordered the supplies through Preserve which makes reusable dinnerware from 100% post consumer plastic. They have started a program to recycle the #5 plastic from items such as yogurt cups and hummus tubs.

Receiving this grant allowed me to purchase enough supplies of 10 classrooms. When I delivered the items, I went into the classes and taught a short lesson on durable vs. disposable goods and facilitated an art project with the classes. Each class made a reusable classroom decoration, a banner that says "celebrate", from recycled materials. I also brought in my serger and made reusable cloth napkins with each of the kids to include in their classroom party pack. After receiving this grant, I was contacted by Preserveware telling me that I was a winner of their Local Hero's of Recycling contest! They sent me a great gift package and I had a great time opening the box and sharing it's contents with my family. Thanks Preserve, Stonyfield, Tom's of Maine, Brita and Seventh Generation.

Now that this dinnerware is available for use, it has been used at the Made for Mosier event as well as the Survivor Lunch at the Columbia Gorge Relay for Life, reducing the amount of waste in our landfill!

Recycled Arts Festival

Vancouver's Recycled Arts Festival is just around the corner, June 25th and 26th. This is one of my favorite events of the year. It is located at Ester Short Park in downtown Vancouver, Washington, adjacent to their thriving Saturday Market. 100 artists will present their creations made from recycled materials.

My tent is conveniently located across from the Tossed and Found tent. All year items that were rescued from the landfill are collected and put on display in the tent. Then on Sunday, raffle tickets are handed out and is your number is drawn, you have won an item from the Tossed and Found tent. Last year my mom walked away with an entire wicker furniture set! It is absolutely amazing what people throw out.

I will be debuting my new bags made from recycled windsurf sails.

For more information about the event, checkout their website

http://recycledartsfestival.com/
Hope to see you there!

Scrappy USA

While I was wasting time on pinterest.com, I came across this project made by fellow blogger at seekatesew.blogspot.com and had to make one of my own.

What a great way to use up fabric scraps and as a former 5th grade teacher and lover of USA maps, this was the perfect project for me.

I misjudged the placement of the continental USA on the piece of fabric I had, so I did not have enough room to include Alaska and Hawaii.

I had fun making this project, but it was time consuming and got a bit tedious. A friend of mine has asked me to make another one to hang in her new house, and I keep telling her that if I ever get inspired to make another one, she will be the first one on my list.

Front Entry DIY

I have finally decided to tackle decorating my front entryway. Since we have moved in I have been looking for a great bench or some sort of shoe storage that was not going to cost me very much money. I have seen many wonderful storage benches and solutions, but have not wanted to fork out a hundred dollars or more to have it.

I recently found about 3 yards of IKEA fabric at Goodwill that were the right colors for my entryway. I decided to make my own upholstered bench to sit on while putting on shoes.

I found everything I would need at my local Re-Build It center and garage sales. Along with a handy husband, some spray paint and a staple gun, my bench was completed for less than $20.

Spray Paint

Spray paint... I never realized what a great invention

that was! I have been finding items to spray paint and give a new life, so now my house if filled with color that has been quick and easy to add. I look for items like frames for pictures and mirrors that have interesting details. Many of the retro plastic frames become a new being with new color. Something that was once boring is now a focal point in a room. Now that garage sale season is in full swing, I look forward to Friday mornings when I can go on the hunt for a new project to spray paint.