Recycling T-shirts

I have found another amazing shop that uses recycled materials to make their amazing items! JDStar uses recycled t-shirts to make coasters, pillow covers, scarves and more!

* Where are you from? Tell us a bit about yourself.
I was born and grew up in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
I come from a middle-class, union-joining down to earth family. I am mostly an introvert that loves being at home and when I’m out, I mostly enjoy listening to others talk. That said, I am a very friendly person and I enjoy talking one on one with people about ideas and making things (anything) better than it already is. I have obsessive spells where I feel the need to make or create. I find that when this happens, it’s best to just go with the flow once I have identified what it is that I want to do. Seeing the colors come together in new patterns is especially satisfying for me which is why I don’t like to recreate or copy previous patterns when I weave.

*How did you decide on your shop name? Why did you start your business?
My shop name is JDStar.Etsy.com. The JD part comes from my name. My first two initials. The Star part just comes from a lifetime obsession with stars. I started my business because I like making things and I was at a loss for what to do with all of the things I made. Starting my business has been a learning experience and I am very glad I did it! I’m still learning and this year I have set my sights WAY high! You know what they say about shooting for the moon. Even if you don’t make it, you’ll land among the stars.

*What got you started in recycling?
I started recycling t-shirts to satisfy my need to group things. I started by collecting t-shirts that fit into a theme and making a blanket out of them. I sold them at craft shows for a while until I was inundated with custom orders. Scarves, bags, coasters and pillow covers later, I’m still recycling to satisfy an urge.

*What’s your supply addiction; is there a specific color or type of supply you just can’t pass up?
I have a hard time turning down anything that could possibly be used as an art or craft supply. Probably my biggest downfall is storage. I have a hard time letting go of boxes. I really want to buy plastic tubs and drawers every time I shop, but I know I’ve got more than I need already. What I really need to do is get rid of some of the supplies I no longer use. Things left over from a one-time experiment in crafting…I think we’ve all got them.

*What motivates or inspires you to create?
Obsessive thoughts sometimes. Sometimes it’s the colors I see in the world, sometimes it’s the way the clothes wave on the clothes line. It almost always feels very compulsive though. I feel like I *NEED* to make something.

*Which item in your shop did you enjoy making the most and why?
Probably the one you see the least of, my silk bracelets. It’s therapeutic for me to pull apart the sweaters, spin two colors together and weave the bands. The fiber is so nice to work with and wear it just makes me happy to work with it. It’s just very time consuming and I don’t feel like they are perfect yet so I don’t put it out there much yet. I’m wearing a silk bracelet daily right now to help me think on it and soon I will figure out what will make it seem right.

*Do you have a blog?
I tried blogging but I’m just not a writer. I switched it over to a web site where I could have some static information on where to find me and how to order custom work.
www.JDStar.net

*What is your favorite shop that uses recycled materials, and/or your favorite blog about recycling?
My favorite shop that uses recycled materials is Saralynnmo.etsy.com Yes, this is my BFF, but I love her recycled robot plushies!

WW - Too Cute!

Recycled Bags!

Don't you love bags? I do! :) Found this amazing shop that makes bags from recycled materials - what could be better?

I am from Seattle and moved to Portland about a year and a half ago. I started my business because I love to work with my hands and create things (I have always been 'crafty') and I thought that this would be a good way to use a business degree. As for the name of my business, I am not certain that I put a tremendous amount of thought into that, I guess that I "just opened my mouth and out it came". I decided on the name about four years ago.

After I moved to Portland, I was struck by the emphasis that people here placed on recycling and sustainability. I think that being in this environment motivated me to start to make my purses from 100% recycled materials (until then I had been making them from some recycled clothing and some fabric that was brand-new)

I have a fetish for pinks, browns, and purples. I find that I put a LOT of these colors into my purses, lol. I guess that they are 'my colors' but I try to use other colors as well for those people who like blues and oranges, and yellow, and red, etc.

I think that creating is just something that I like to do! If I haven't been working with my hands for a few days, I will find myself thinking about a new quilt that I want to make, or something that I like to bake...I do a lot of crafts independently from my purse business, MegExpressions. Also, I enjoy papercraft.

I think that I like the "Nikki Dodd" and "Jo Bean" purses the best. I think that this is because they are very simple yet elegant and functional purses.

Yes, I have a blog...www.megxpressions.blogspot.com

I really enjoy the blog www.myyearwithoutspending.blogspot.com, about Angela who has decided to go for one year without spending money on items other than the basic necessities, and then has blogged about her experiences.

MMM

1) Do you drink tea? I don't as a rule - but I have caught a cold from all the sniveling, coughing, sneezing children on my bus. I think I'm going to put a sign up at the front that says something like:

If you are sick - STAY HOME!!

I'm sure the kids would be happy - but probably not the parents :)

Oh - back to the tea!
When I have a cold I like to drink tea. Picking a tea used to be easy! There was only one kind. Now when I went to the grocery store it took me almost 10 minutes to decide which ones I would like to take home! My goodness!!! I picked these two:

I really like them both. Might have to become a tea drinker, instead of coffee, so I can try all the other ones too. I know - there is flavored coffee - but I don't like it. Coffee should be black!

2) Blog of the week:
I just found this amazing blog yesterday! LOVE her banner and the variety of posts that she has. Definitely adding this to the sidebar :)


3) Well - the snow has melted in the garden, but I still have about 2 months to wait till I can plant anything. We have some of the seeds with more in the mail. My flower boxes are looking pretty bare, but hopefully I can plant those a little earlier. The deck has sun most of the day, so as long as we don't have frost at night it might be safe. Usually I purchase flowers at the green house, but this year I'm planting seeds. Might have to invest in some fertilizer though.
What are you planting this year?


4) Have all the paint stripped of the wall in my craft room and all the paint chips vacuumed up. What a mess!! But I'm glad that's done. There are some really stubborn spots where the paint just won't come off - so it's staying. Hopefully today or tomorrow we can start working on fixing cracks and holes so that I can paint by the end of the week. I hadn't planned on showing pictures of the room at it's worst (2 posts down), but figured if I didn't - you wouldn't know how much better is was once it was done :) Still need to find light fixtures and paneling.


That's it for today! We have spring break this week, so it's going to be a busy one. Hoping to get a lot done in the craft room and we are also putting in poles and fencing for a dog run for the kennel.
Hope you all have an amazing week!

Hershey Better Basket Blog Hop

I had decided that I would have an "Award Free" blog. But I just couldn't say no to this one. Read how it works and you will understand why! If you know someone who deserves this award - please take it and pass it on!

This Easter season, Hershey is celebrating it’s new Easter products sold exclusively at Walmart and their legacy of making a difference and Hershey’s will donate up to a total of $5,000 to the Children’s Miracle Network together with bloggers.



Thank you to Pam at Country Mouse City Mouse and also to Virginia at Lady V dSign for passing this along to me. I think it is a great idea and brings attention to a great cause.

HERSHEY’S BETTER BASKET BLOG HOP RULES

* Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.
* Create a blog post giving a virtual Easter Basket to another blogger – you can give as many Virtual Baskets as you want.
* Link back to person who gave you an Easter Basket.
* Let each person you are giving a Virtual Easter Basket know you have given them a Basket.
* Leave your link at BetterBasket.info/BlogHop comment section. You can also find the official rules of this #betterbasket blog hop, and more information about Better Basket with Hershey’s there.
* Hershey’s is donating $10 per each blog participating to the Better Basket Blog Hop to Children’s Miracle Network (up to total of $5,000 by blog posts written by April 4th, 2010).
* Please note that only one blog post by each blog url will count towards the donation.

I am passing it on to:













Please pass it on!

The Good Old Day!

Received this in an email, but how true it is :)

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning....Uphill... Barefoot.... in snow or good weather....BOTH ways… yadda, yadda, yadda....

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a Utopia! And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet and couldn't "google" it. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library (by bus) and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen, on paper! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our a**! Nowhere was safe! And, if you got one down the street, there was another one waiting on you when you made it home!

There were no MP3's or downloading any tune ever recorded for free or iTunes and put like 5,000 songs on your iPod, or Zune! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike or ride your bike or take a bus to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Only the bravest of the brave stole music because it was very hard hiding an album the size of a turkey platter under your jacket....

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car.. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then sometimes the tape would come undone winding itself around the innards of the tape player rendering the tape useless. Cause, hey.... that's how we rolled, baby! ....Dig?

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOSH !!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

There were no such places as Second Cup, Seattle's Best Coffee or Starbucks where you order up a Caramel Macchiato made from amazing coffee beans from all around the world fixed up with nonfat milk, sugar-free vanilla syrup topped off with caramel drizzle. Our parents bought cheap off-brand, generic coffee that tasted of burnt molasses.

We didn't have any fancy PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had 'Pong' (let's not go there because even describing it would bore you to death) and then later the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination (can you imagine that, I didn't think so)!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever.....! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on TV! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your lazy butt and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh my goodness, what's the world coming to?!?!

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons!

And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! You know, that big metal box in the kitchen with fire on top! Imagine that!

And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no...., no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!

And car seats - oh, paw..lease! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were luckily, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!

See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in the 1980’s or any time before!

Regards,
The Over 40 Crowd

Soap & My Craft Room in Progress

I found a new soap shop on Etsy and was the first person to place an order! Forget Me Not Soap Shop has some really lovely soap scents. I ordered the Pick Any 4 Bars of my Handmade Soap and Pay No Shipping Charge Limited Time Offer listing. It was really hard to pick 4 soaps from the really long list of choices :) But I managed and ordered the Black Raspberry Vanilla, Vanilla Bean Noel Type Scent, Saskatoon Berry (it looks black in the photo but it's really a dark purple) and the Strawberries and Champagne (which doesn't seem to be listed anymore). I've been using the Saskatoon Berry and LOVE it!! This bar will last a long time. Can't wait to use the others too. She also sent me a Saskatoon lip balm which is really lovely, and a small container of Moisturizing Hemp Oil Lotion. Really nice lotion! Hardly any scent, but lovely on the hands. Also received a scrubbie :)

Please check out the shop, I would recommend this soap, lip balm and lotion to anyone. I really like them!

So I've decided to re-do my craft room. I didn't realize how much work this would be :) It took about a week to empty the room, then I had to start scraping peeling paint from some spots on the ceiling and one wall. We couldn't figure out why the paint was flaking off the wall, so I checked with the local hardware store. It seems that when the people who lived here before us painted the room, they must have painted Latex paint over Oil paint without primer. So I was told I would have to try and scrape the whole wall or it would just flake off again. What a horrible job!! Luckily it's only the one wall, though they are 9 ft walls! In this picture the wall is almost 2/3 done. There is still about 2.5 - 3 feet above the lights.


This wall had a window in it that would let the rain in during a storm. We took it out several years ago, but there is just so much damage under the window that we will just panel over it. I really don't feel like taking all the dry wall off and replacing it. It also has wall paper on it that is peeling off in spots too.


We replaced this window a few years ago, but there was quite a bit of damage on this wall too, so it's also getting paneling. Still have to purchase the paneling.


There is one good wall in the whole room!! WOOHOO!


I will post pics as we start painting etc. Looking forward to the day it's finished :)
HAVE A WONDERFUL SATURDAY!!

Friday Follow

Welcome to the Friday Follow celebration hosted by One 2 Try, Hearts Make Families and Midday Escapades! We invite you to join us every Friday to get more blog followers and to follow other interesting blogs. It is all about sharing and having fun.



Check out our Friday Follow Sponsor & Giveaway!

Enter Give Away HERE

Here's how YOU can join the celebration:
--Link up your blog name and URL using the MckLinky below.
Only need to add on one blog to be seen on all the blog hops.

--Follow the Friday Follow hostesses listed in the first 3 slots. We will follow you back.

--Follow as many blogs as you'd like.

--Comment on the blogs telling them you're from Friday Follow.

--Follow back when you get a new follower through Friday Follow.

Leather Works with You

While searching for shops that used recycled materials to feature on my blog, I came across Leather Works With You. I do believe this is the first shop I have seen on Etsy using Leather!

Where are you from? Tell us a bit about yourself.
I was raised on a ranch in Oklahoma where we raised beef, had horses and wheat. I am married, moved and currently live in Western South Dakota just on the edge of the Beautifull Black Hills.

How did you decide on your shop name?
I have always wanted to be a saddle maker, although a tough choice, I chose to work with leather in various forms thus the name leatherworkswithyou , because it does work with me. Very forgiving, smells good, comes in lots of colors, weights and wide variety.

Why did you start your business?
My husband was starting a new business driving a big Black Percheron Team and giving rides, so it just fit to have mine.

I have always been self motivated, some people say I have a creative mind. I usually work alone, listening to the birds sing or watch the wildlife pass by our deck in the summer. This helps me come up with creative ideas for my jewelry and leather products. It makes me happy to create a piece for a prospective buyer. I never make the same piece of jewelry or leather wear twice, as everything is original. I take my wears to Trade Shows where customers would compliment me on their purchases. This builds confidence that my work will sell. I have been as far away as Minneapolis,Mn., Pocatello, ID., National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nv., Valley City, ND and Wichita, Ks. I have met other vendors who became family and friends. My husband and my two grown sons helped me set up shop and help me sell from time to time.

*What got you started in recycling?
I had recycled as early as 1987, rinsing cans, plastic and tying up newspaper into bundles.

It became more awesome to me when I visited a chapmaker whose large supply of surplus leather seemed endless. Going to large piles of various colors and weights of leather, I could just imagine all the things I could make. Seeing the rough edges or torn holes in the leather would create a flap for a purse. Measuring hunk of leather to see if I could make something fabulous for someone! I use the leftovers, the throw aways, the material the Chapmakers considered junk. I would turn them into beautiful purses,belts or even wallets. I only buy 2 times a year and work on that amount throughout that time. I don't have a leather sewing machine so it is all hand cut, hand punched and hand sewn by me. This makes my product authentic!

*What’s your supply addiction; is there a specific color or type of supply you just can’t pass up?
I like to have a lot on hand so I have much to choose from. Many different colors. Perhaps I rely on more subdued browns, light and dark tans, burgundy's and black. I currently have the leather, color sorted into style,shape and color.

*What motivates or inspires you to create?
I might see someone carry a purse or a cuff or see it in a magazine that I would like to try my hand at.

I have a very special long distance friend I met one year ago on Etsy. We have alot in common, both like to work with leather. She instills in me the knowledge, courage and enthusiasm to continue or to list more items on Etsy. We motivate each other. I attribute my success and enthusiasm to her. http://www.theLeatherArtist.etsy.com

*Which item in your shop did you enjoy making the most and why?
They all are fun and made with enthusiasm! Something that is done in a shorter amount of time is gratifying. I need that shot of Wow! So are the purses that take hours. I feel the best when someone tells me I do good work, so I try to do even better, learning new skills, new methods to improve the look and craftsmanship. I work at keeping the style up to date, watching colors for the season and the current trend.

*Do you have a blog?
I am sorry I haven't set one up as of yet, though I am interested to do so and would invite you to check at my shop front for that at: http://leatherworkswithyou.etsy.com and also http://hcgboottops1111.etsy.com where recycled fabrics are sewn together. Incorporating upcycle leather into some of my jewelry pieces, you can also visit http://jewelryNearringsmj.etsy.com

*What is your favorite shop that uses recycled materials, and/or your favorite blog about recycling?
My chapmakers shop!
My sons give me jeans to patch and after years of doing that, I choose to give them back something that would keep them warm and still look good. I made a California King size and a Twin denim quilt each with Warm N Natural filler, cotton backing or recycled sherpa from Wool rich, all in 3 wks. Watch for denim quilts from time to time in my shops. I also made wool clutch purses (and with recycled leather) out of recycled wool samples.

I am working with lolos in the Chilean Relief Project where 8" sqs will be made and donated by various individuals. I will be sending squares to her to be completed into a blankets(s) by organizers of the project. Portions of the proceeds of my LeatherWorksWithYou sales will provide for postage in sending these sqaures. If you would like to follow along you may convo me or go to lolos link @ Storque,http://www.etsy.com/storque/craftivism/stories-from-the-chilean-earthquake-7320

Recycling material are out there, just need to look for them and imagine the possibilities! Our public is warming up to the idea, too.

I have just read some blogs that remark about recycling. I find it very interesting what is done with various materials, alot of which is in your home. Recycle, upcycle, repurpose!

Wordless Wednesday - Hug anyone?

Garden Vibe

I'm not sure how I found Garden Vibe but I'm so glad I did :) Kristen has some of the most amazing jewelry I've seen on Etsy, and she really has an amazing blog!

*Where are you from? Tell us a bit about yourself.
I live in Land O Lakes, Florida. A more rural area outside of Tampa. I love living here surrounded by nature, the fresh air, beautiful birds, the lakes, even the occasional alligator sunning by the ponds... I love Art in all it's forms, Gardening, Music- especially Smooth Jazz, Cooking/ Baking, Sewing/ Embroidery, taking care of my home. I'm married to my best friend and I have a lovely daughter who is married and works for a video game production company.

*How did you decide on your shop name? Why did you start your business?
I began my business as a way to keep a promise to myself that someday I would be true to a dream that I let slip away many years ago. I had always regretted not pursuing Art as a career. But now I can say that it is never too late to be true to your yourself and your dreams. GardenVibe is derived from my love of Gardening, and the inspiration that can be derived from nature and the lessons it teaches.

*What types of items do you have? Do you have something new you will be adding?
I currently have jewelry listed. I hope to also include other accessories in the future. I would also like to try my hand at polymer.

*What do you like about being a seller?
I love meeting my fellow artists. If I sold nothing, it wouldn't matter to me. Because I just love sharing my creations with others and being among people who totally 'get' me and appreciate what I create. I love the affirmation. That's enough for me.

*What’s your supply addiction; is there a specific color or type of supply you just can’t pass up?
My addiction is beads.... heaven help me when I enter a craft store....I could be there for hours with the beads and findings. uh, I guess I should say, heaven help my husband.....

*Do you have a blog?
Yes. www.gardenvibe.blogspot.com. I like to talk there about the things that inspire me and my art. And I like to showcase my work and the work of other artists. I have even started a post series on my blog to showcase the wonderful work of our male artists. And I use my blog to promote indie artists and sellers.

*What motivates or inspires you to create?
Nature

*What is your favorite on-line shop?
Collectively speaking, it would have to be Etsy. So many artists, so much creativity! And I also love the vintage shops as well....even though I sometimes see items like I used to own, being called vintage...yikes!!

*Which item in your shop did you enjoy making the most and why?
I love my Winging It, lariat style necklace.... The dragonfly resting on the stone... that's me.... winging it at times, but rock solid underneath the surface! I often feel that way in this economic climate!! That's pretty much what we all need to be these days. I believe we'll make it through the tough times together.

MMM March 22!!

1) The Canada Geese are coming back! This is a sure sign of spring! We heard them for the first time last week, but finally got to see them flying around on Thursday. Saturday morning - they were on the creek which has over flowed it's banks and is on our yard.

2) Brad (hubby) made some new shelves for my pantry! There is a pantry close to my kitchen but the shelves are not set up very well, and I was never quite sure what was in it. Plus I needed more room for things I didn't need every day. Bags on the floor just weren't working for me :)

Aren't the shelves great? Ok - I have way to many boxes of cereal, granola bars and where did all the syrup come from?

3) I found this amazing blog about 2 weeks ago. Have no idea how I found it, but I LOVE it!! There is so much to see and read. The Pioneer Woman has tons of amazing Recipes (can never have too many), her own Cookbook, a section on Homeschooling, and also Home & Garden.

4) I had decided that follower 1000 would get a present sent in the mail. So early last week I noticed that I had 1001 followers. Willa was follower 1000, went to her blog to check it out and in one of her posts she mentioned she had a birthday coming up and it happens to be the same day as mine!! What were the chances of that happening?
Two days later my blog was back to 997 followers, but that's ok - I will still send Willa a present for her birthday. It's actually kinda fun watching the followers go up and down.

There are quite a few blogs that I'm following that I just can't visit very often. Would need about 40 hours a day to visit all those blogs. There is no way I will unfollow them. But I understand if some people do :)

5) Rascal found a nice sheltered sunny spot to sleep on Saturday! Just think how comfortable it will be when the grass is green and lush :) Life is rough!


Have an Awesome Week!!

Need a Reason To Celebrate?

Everyone loves a party - but sometimes there just aren't enough holidays in one year to give us a reason to party :)
Here are some that I found. Which ones have you heard about?

JANUARY
National Soup Month
~ 11-18 is International Thank You Days
~ 12 is National Clean-Off-Your-Desk Day
~ 21 is National Hugging Day

FEBRUARY
National Wild Bird Feeding Month
~ 9-15 is National Random Acts of Kindness Week
~ 12 is Lost Penny Day

MARCH
National Umbrella Month
~ 20-27 is National Spring Fever Week
~ 26 is National Make Up Your Own Holiday Day

APRIL
National Humor Month
~ 4-18 is National Straw Hat Week
~ 7 is National No Housework Day

MAY
National Salsa Month
~ 2-8 National Postcard Week
~ 12 is National Limerick Day

JUNE
National Iced Tea Month
~ 13-19 is National Hermit Week
~ 19 is World Sauntering Day

JULY
National Hot Dog Month
~ 5-11 is Nude Recreation Week
~ 24 is National Cousin's Day

AUGUST
National Goat Cheese Month
~ 1-7 is National Clown Week
~ 5 is International Beer Day

SEPTEMBER
National Chicken Month
~ 13-17 is Substitute Teacher Appreciation Week
~ 3 is National Lazy Mom's Day

OCTOBER
National Popcorn Poppin' Month
~ 5-10 is Great Books Week
~ 15 is National Grouch Day

NOVEMBER
National Peanut Butter Lover's Month
~ 2-8 National Split Pea Soup Week
~ 15 is Recycle Day

DECEMBER
National Bingo's Birthday Month
~ 21-27 is International Lipstick Week
~ 5 is National Bathtub Party Day

Did you know about any of these interesting holidays? Showed the list to hubby - he thinks I have "National Grouch Day" more than once a year. Well!

Hope you have an amazing Sunday!!

BBQ Rules

I received this in an email the other day - how true is this!!

BBQ RULES

We are about to enter the BBQ season. Therefore it is important to refresh your memory on the etiquette of this sublime outdoor cooking activity . When a man volunteers to do the BBQ the following chain of events are put into motion:

Routine...
(1) The woman buys the food.
(2) The woman makes the salad, prepares the vegetables, and makes dessert.
(3) The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is lounging beside the grill.
(4) The woman remains outside the compulsory three meter exclusion zone where the exuberance of testosterone and other manly bonding activities can take place without the interference of the woman.

Here comes the important part:

(5) THE MAN PLACES THE MEAT ON THE GRILL.

More routine...
(6) The woman goes inside to organize the plates and cutlery.
(7) The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is looking great. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he flips the meat.

Important again:

(8) THE MAN TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL AND HANDS IT TO THE WOMAN.

More routine...
(9) The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins, sauces, and brings them to the table.
(10) After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.

And most important of all:

(11) Everyone PRAISES the MAN and THANKS HIM for his cooking efforts.

(12) The man asks the woman how she enjoyed ' her night off ' and, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there's just no pleasing some women!

Some guys might like these BBQ's:


However - these are more to my liking :)

Do you BBQ a lot in the summer? What is your favorite thing to BBQ? Who does the BBQ'ing at your house?

Friday Follow

Welcome to the Friday Follow celebration hosted by One 2 Try, Hearts Make Families and Midday Escapades! We invite you to join us every Friday to get more blog followers and to follow other interesting blogs. It is all about sharing and having fun.

Check out our Friday Follow Sponsor!

Here's how YOU can join the celebration:
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Recycled from Malaysia!

Found another amazing recycling shop!! This Shop has the most wonderful totes, wallets, t-shirts & more!


*Where are you from? Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Huey, and I work with my boyfriend, Wah on our little business. I was born and raised in Penang, Malaysia, while Wah is from Kelantan, also in Malaysia. We are both living in Penang at the moment. If you didn't know, Penang is a small island in Malaysia, with lots and lots of awesome food.

*How did you decide on your shop name? Why did you start your business?
Well at that time when we wanted to start a business, we had two very messy dogs. Hence the name 'NottyPooch'. Our initial intention of starting a business was quite simple - just wanted to make and sell something that we ourselves are looking for.

*What got you started in recycling?
It wasn't entirely about recycling at first. I wanted to find myself the perfect wallet, but I couldn't get one out there. So I decided to make one myself and started looking for possible materials. The nature of my work at that time had something to do with these unwanted banners so it just came up to us that, well, perhaps we could do something with it.

*What motivates or inspires you to create?
I'm always inspired by witty texts or creative use of typography. Wah, on the other hand, is very much attracted by the details in life. We both (well, especially him) like to create things to make life easier and/or better. That's why we often talk to people around about our products, create prototypes and get feedback from them.

*Which item in your shop did you enjoy making the most and why?
It used to be the sleeve case for MacBook, and lately, the storage bin is a hit. They always look so neat!

*Do you have a blog?
Yes. We talk about our daily adventures and our dogs at www.nottypooch.com/mydogdiary

*What is your favorite shop that uses recycled materials, and/or your favorite blog about recycling?
Definitely the Eco Etsy Street Team blog at http://ecoetsy.blogspot.com/