Recycled Books!

I seem to have a fascination with shops that use recycled materials to create amazing items. So to feed my fascination I have decided to feature these shops every Friday until I run out of shops :) If you happen to be such a shop or know of one - please let me know!! So here we go -

Journals were something I just have never understood. I just can't ever seem to figure out what to write in them. But Forrest Concepts has the coolest ones I've seen to date! Makes me want to buy one :) And they happen to have a sale on right now - ends Sunday Night!!
Journals....$15.00 or 2/$25.00
Journals...$.20.00 or 2/$35.00
If you buy a $10.00 and a $15.00 you will be refunded half of the shipping.
ALSO - all stamped Jewelry is 10% off. All Refunds will be through paypal.



*Where are you from?
Grand Rapids, MI. I have lived here all my life, except for a year, where I traveled to different cities for my job.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I am 34 years old. Married to a wonderful woman and we have 2 sons. They are my joy and inspiration for everything I do.

*How did you decide on your shop name?
My Brother-in-Law was our money man. His middle name is Forrest and since it fit with our "green/recycling" theme, it was an easy choice.

Why did you start your business?
For a simple need to provide for my family. I lost my job due to downsizing and needed to do something. It was an easy choice, to be home with my family and still be able to provide for them. What could be better?

*What got you started in recycling?
A few summers ago, we were at a garage sale and this guy had 3 huge boxes of old books with a free sign on them. Really couldn't pass them up. We had gotten a vintage bookshelf and wanted to fill it up. But we knew that we couldn't keep them all, but were sure what do to with them. One day my wife had bought a journal and it came to me that I could do that with the books that weren't in good shape.

*What’s your supply addiction; is there a specific color or type of supply you just can’t pass up?
Books, now I can't pass a yard sale or resale shop without going in to find a new one for a journal. The older the better!

*What motivates or inspires you to create?
Knowing that I am helping the universe in my small way.

*Which item in your shop did you enjoy making the most and why?
The journals, it is fun to be able to flip through those books picking out which chapters are going to be kept.

*Do you have a blog?
Yes, my wife sorta keeps it up.
www.diemdesigns.blogspot.com

*What is your favorite shop that uses recycled materials, and/or your favorite blog about recycling?
Mine of course!
I really enjoy sjroemer.etsy.com . She uses recycled pop tabs.

"Book Bags" Really!

I've heard of book bags, but never bags made out of books! A Spoonful of Chocolate Hope has the most amazing purses made from BOOKS! Michelle is actually offering a D.I.Y PDF Tutorial in her shop now - so you can make your own purses from your favorite book. Amazing.

How did you decide on your shop name? Why did you start your business?
Well, funny story actually... When I first decided to open a business I started with selling Chocolate Spoons. Something I failed to think of however, was that I had no way of shipping the spoons during the hot Arizona summers! I created my business to help my parents out because they are about to loose thier house, so I tried to think of different things I could make. My parents situation is really what motivated me to re-open my shop. I have been proudly sending them 100% of the profits since January of 2009.

How did you come up with the idea to make bags out of books?
I actually found a tutorial on how to make a clutch from a book, and changed it up a bit by adding handles and extra material to make it sturdier. I Love to make them! Each one is so different and just as exciting as the first one to make.

Where do you craft?
I actually have taken over the guest room and the living room. I would send you a picture, but there isn't much to look at. The living room is quite embarrassing actually- I have books scattered around the house. My boyfriend says I need to stop going to the bookstore and get to working on the ones I already have. :) I'm going to invest in a bigger bookshelf tomorrow...

What would you love to add to your crafting space?
I would LOVE to have one large room that has a TV so I can watch while I'm sewing. (The entire reason why all the books are currently scattered around the living room). Somewhere that can hold a big cutting table as well as a bookshelf that wraps around the entire room. Maybe one day... A girl can dream. :)

What’s your supply addiction; is there a specific color or type of supply you just can’t pass up?
Books. I go to the store looking for a particular book for a custom order (something I get a lot of) and I'm not kidding you- I come out with about 10 extra books.

Which item in your shop did you enjoy making the most and why?
Hmm.. that's a hard one. I usually fall in Love with all of them at one point. I would that my favorites are a toss up between this one:
Shakespeare Ten Great Plays Book Handbag
and this one:
Jane Austen Book handbag

Where are you from?
I was born and raised in Larkspur, Colorado and moved out to Phoenix after I graduated from the University I went to in Charleston, South Carolina.

New Blogs/Sites I've Found

Do you sell on the internet? Need a wonderful affordable place to advertise your shop/store? Here it is:




Do you love to read but can't afford to buy all those books? Here is a site I just found out about where you can swap your old read books for something new!
Book Mooch.

I love looking at all the different tutorials on the net. This blog updates with new ones on a very regular basis. It's one of the "must read" blogs on my list:




Burnt Mill is having a give away on their blog! I have some soap samples from this shop - I LOVE THEM!! Their soap is really nice, lasts a long time (even the 1 oz. sample sizes) and it looks amazing!They are giving away 3 bars of soap - and you can pick the scent!!




I love this blog!! Henrietta has give aways, fun posts, recipes (you can never have to many!) and updates almost daily!



Another blog I love to read. Kim makes me laugh with each post she writes!!




Do you have favorite blogs? I would love to know which ones you love to read, always looking for new ones.

Random Tuesday

~ Please enter this give away. Just click on the picture and it will take you there!! While your there - check out all the great give aways on the sidebar!

~A few weeks ago I did a feature on Jennifer Labella Art and her wonderful new book. Well, Jennifer happens to live 1.5 hours north of me, and in the same city and Luke (my oldest son). After contacting Jennifer about her book I found out she was going to be selling it at a show and so sent Luke to get me two books - one for me and one for my nephew for his birthday. Luke brought them home 2 weekends ago. I love this book!! The illustrations are amazing, the story is wonderful. Jennifer has much better pictures in her shop - but I thought I'd show you a few that I took.

~ My new favorite drink!!

Suntanned Malibu Surfer
2 oz. Malibu Coconut Rum
fill with Pineapple Juice
1 splash Coca-Cola
Pour above listed ingredients into a rocks/old-fashioned glass filled with ice, and serve.
YUM!!


~While entering give aways I came across this amazing shop! Made in the Hudson Valley. I love metal candle holders. Someone could buy me this if they feel so inclined:

~I purchases some soap and lip balm Mum Mum's Crafts. I love them all!! The lip balm is wonderful, love the coconut scent! The soap feels so nice and smells great! I've used the Orange Spice one.



~Last week tuesday, I told you about this Pepperment Foot Butter I had purchased. Well - I have really really rough feet and heels. I've been using this Foot Butter almost daily since I got it one week ago. Forgot a few days, so I put it by the computer, then when I'm sitting here "doing nothing" I'll put it on my heels. IT'S AMAZING!! It only took a couple of days till my heels were nice and smooth. I highly recommend this foot butter!! Here's the link again:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26793907

Jennifer Labella Art

Jennifer Labella Art is an amazing shop on Etsy. Jennifer is from Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, only 1.5 hours north of me!! She has the most wonderful book that she has had published and actually won an award in NY!!


" I am very pleased to announce that my book, A Polar Bear Night of Stars and Light, has won a silver medal in the category: Children's Picture Book (all ages), in the 2009 Independent Publisher Book (IPPY) Awards. There were over 4,000 books entered in this competition, and my book's category had one of the largest number of entries! The awards were presented on May 29, 2009 in New York City during Book Expo America. "

She has made prints and cards from some of the illustrations in the book, and is selling them in her shop. May have to get this book for my nephew for his b-day in Oct. He loves to read and this book looks amazing!!

1. How did you decide on your shop name?

I wanted to use my name because as an artist, that is how people know me.

2. When did you start crafting?

I have been painting and drawing all my life- as long as I can remember.

3. Are there other crafts you would like to try?

At the moment, working on getting better at watercolor techniques keeps me pretty busy!

4. What or who inspires you?

All other artists inspire me, including crafters and I marvel at all their unique abilities.

5. Do you have a day job?

Being an artist is my day job, as well as landscape designing which is more seasonal work.

6. What is the item in your shop you enjoyed making the most and why?

My children's picture book, A Polar Bear Night of Stars and Light. Writing the story, doing the illustrations and putting it all together took me close to a year. And the icing on the cake is finding out yesterday that it won a silver medal in a big international book awards competition (The IPPY Awards)in the children's picture book, all ages category.

Random 10 Tuesday

1) My new favorite quote:

A postive attitude may not solve all your problems. But it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright

2) Love this lip balm - not to soft, not to hard - just right!! It can be found at Bubble Tub

3) Hope everyone in the US had a wonderful Monday off!! Got to love long weekends.

4) Going camping and riding (ATV's) this weekend!!! WOOHOO! Here's a picture from last year. Going to the same place.

5) Please check out the etsy mini's on the side bars. All the ones on the left side are brand new shops!!




6) This is a really great book! 7) You really need to read this blog post Different Drug Problem. The whole blog is wonderful, but this post is soooo true!!

8) Got four soap samples from AK Photo n Crafts.

I've tried the Honey Almond and really like it.

9) It rained all day yesterday. The farmer's aren't to happy - but I don't have to water my garden!

10) Nathalie at Recuperation Nathalie is giving away this wonderful tea holder!! This is another uncycling shop and blog that I found. Please click on the link and enter the give away - it ends on the 30th!!

Fantastic Finds

Seven more MUST SEE shops!! These are all really great shops!! Please visit them!! Each picture links to the shop.


Art and Book Shop





J Lynn Creations





Live Laugh Love Soap





Miss Knits





New Creationz





Virsaq

Theresa J

Sunday Update

It's amazing how dependent we are on electricity. When I was pregnant with our youngest (17 years ago) the hydro was out for about 36 hours. Back then we had a wood stove in the livingroom and could heat part of the house with that. Actually heated up soup and made hotdogs on the stove too!

This time however we didn't have a wood stove but do have a very nice BBQ! We put it in the garage out of the wind, rain & snow and managed to have warm meals. Didn't realize how often in a day I would use the microwave to heat up my coffee till I couldn't do it anymore! Can you say "withdrawl"?

We do have a small generator so we did have a few lights, could watch T.V. and run a small heater. Kept the kitchen/diningroom/livingroom area at about 15C (59F), the rest of the house got down to 11C (52F).

Since I couldn't be on the computer or do laundry or vacuum (bummer LOL) and school was cancelled for those two days - I got some cards made. I need to put something in the middle of these yet.

I read two books and started a third.

1) Not to bad. Took a little while to get into, but it picked up about 1/4 of the way through.

2) I'm quite enjoying this series. It has some suspense, dead people, tiny bit of sex (or implied), and can be quite funny at times. Will definitely finish the series.

3) Almost finished this book. This is the first book I've read by Kay Hooper. Luckily I picked the first one in a trilogy! Usually I'll pick a middle one by accident. It's really good! Features a FBI unit with psychic abilities. Already have the next two at home. Should finish this one tomorrow while hubby sleeps through the nascar race, and get another one started!!

What did you do for excitement during the week? We have spring break this week - YIPEE!! We were planning on going to Fargo ND for 3 days - but they are worried about flooding this week - so I'm not sure what we'll do.

Updates

Don't have anything specific to post about today. So I thought I'd update on some other posts that I've done.

GARDENING:

This is a pick of what my garden looks like today. I have my seeds - the asparagus roots are apparently coming closer to planting time. Will try and take pics of the garden as the summer progresses and post them.

The snow needs to melt, though it's been quite warm the last few days. (+6C tues.) Today's high is supposed to be -4C. It's still freezing at night - which is a good thing - don't want the snow to melt too fast and have flooding. Manitoba gets a lot of water from North Dakota and they have a lot of snow!! We have a creek that runs past the west side of our yard. This is what it looks like today.

The water should be on the lower part of the yard in a day or two. In 1997 we had to sand bag the house to keep the basement from flooding, hopefully that won't happen this year.

BOOKS

A few people suggested reading the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, when I did my post on books. So I went to the local library. The happened to have it in - so I read it. The book was actually quite good and now I'm waiting for book 2, "Two for the Dough" , book three came in tues., "Three to get Deadly". If they are as good as book one - I'll probably read the whole series in the next few months.

I'm almost done "Into the Fire" by Suzanne Brockmann. This is part of her "Trouble Shooter" series. I've read all the others and found out there are 2 more coming out this year!! WOOHOO! Can't wait!

BIRTHDAY

My birthday is in April. There will be two give aways on my other blog - but I'm thinking of doing something on this blog too. Something just for my followers. What would you like to see? Something I've made or a gift certificate for my shop? Any ideas? All ideas are welcome!

What Are You Reading?

Thank goodness for the local library! I would have spent thousnads of dollars on books over the last years (or not read anything) if it wasn't for the library. We have a relatively small one but have joined up with two other libraries in neighboring towns. This allows us access to more books. WOOHOO!!

I used to read Romance Novels by authors like Debbie Macomber, Nora Roberts, Fern Michaels & Sandra Brown. Hubby & boys started teasing me about all the "mushy" stuff in the books. So I swetched to murder mysteries, legal thrillers & espionage. They hadn't noticed I'd switched for a few months. One day hubby sarcastically asked if it was a good book I was reading. My reply "Yes! I'm only a quarter of the way through, and there are 4 dead people already!" The look on his face was priceless. They don't bug me any more.

Some of my favorite authors are Rachel Butler, Suzanne Brockmann, Kate Wilhelm, Robert Ludlum & Iris Johanson.

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

Just starting a book by Lisa Jackson called "Lost Souls". The prologue was "interesting" - we'll see how far I get.

What are you reading? Who are your favorite authors? I need some new reading material.