First of all, this Hang on Outlet makes so much sense! I'm not sure how it helps save energy...maybe because you'd be inspired to unplug your stuff? [via productdose]


This would actually live in my purse. I'd never use take out cutlery again! [via econscious market]


Aaand this can't live in my house until I have a baby. But when I do they'll have a rad nursery- hopefully from Dwell Studio [via Design Public]


*sigh* if only it wasn't $3,000. Beautiful Bamboo Stagger Shelf [also via Design Public]


Okay, perhaps this Stink Tree Coffee Table shouldn't live in my house... well not unless it had a glass top because I'd probably spill my coffee on it. But I heart it anyways. [via 3rings]

Posted by Jen at 8:05 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Green Living, Love for Others

So my aunt is opening a fabric and yarn store next week and I've been doing her design work. Here's the sign and her business cards. Website will be up when her store opens and I've done some other bits and pieces. She likes the design and so do I!

Posted by Hanna at 10:19 PM 1 comments  

Labels: Our Projects

I'm not usually a poet kinda girl, but this one really inspires me.



To Be of Use

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

Marge Piercy


The picture is from our travels in Bolivia. I love the shot.

Posted by Jen at 4:45 PM 0 comments  

This is a website I designed the graphics for and Karl coded. Final Stitches is a long arm quilting service, so if you have the urge to make a nice big quilt, do up the top and they can quilt it for you!

Posted by Hanna at 7:39 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Love for Others, Our Projects

1)Adorable ceramics at Pepe and Friends, I love how these are cute and whimsical, but not too precious. This is Rif and Raf, the salt and pepper set. (via the kitchn)



2)Pin Strip Set by Shim and Sons. So this is a fabric covered pin board with four covered tacks, very cute, my office wants it :P



3)Cuuuute Products by artist Shinzi Katoh (via Oh Joy). She even has fabric!



4)Have I blogged about how much I love j.m.aranez's peg bears? Also this one is in fabric by Lara Cameron who I adore.


5) My life is a constant battle between knowing that giftwrap is wasteful but really really loving it. A lot. Heidi's is soooo pretty. (via HWTM)

Posted by Hanna at 12:01 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Friday Five

This post has been inspired from Apartment Therapy Re-Nest's post on Kill Your Plumbing. (And yes, I borrowed their photo too!)

I always turn off the tap while brushing my teeth, washing my hands, etc. And I've recently started filling a mason jar with water while I'm waiting for it to get warm enough to wash my face, and then use that water on my plants. But I can do more!

Here in Victoria, we pipe all of our grey and black water out to the ocean. All grey and black water means is the water that's from your sinks (grey) and from your toilet (black). I won't even get into the ecological consequences of having everything we put down our drain going into the ocean - that's for another day. (If you want to know more, check out POOP: People Opposed to Outfall Polution for some good info). But just the sheer fact that water going down the drain has (a) not being touched by anything (ie, waiting for warm water to come) or (b) has been used to wash hands or dishes (using biodegradable soap, of course!). Those hardly justify -in my mind- the idea that this water is useless now.

So my question is why are we wasting this water? There are severe water shortages happening globally, but here in Canada we feel so disconnected from those issues. I suppose it's because we hold an estimated 20% of the fresh, accessible water in the world. Which means we should take action now and use our water more wisely!

How?

I want to put in a Guerrilla Greywater system in my home -- they have a specific page for renters too. There's a woman I know who's disconnected her kitchen and bathroom plumbing so the water drains into a bucket that she uses to water her plants and lawn. Providing you're not washing anything toxic, plants and soil naturally breakdown the chemicals in that water. Regardless, it's Reducing and Reusing!

And that my friends, is something we all need to get better at doing.

Posted by Jen at 1:29 PM 0 comments  

Yaarrr! I think I should wear an eye patch when landing on Discovery Island- if I were a pirate I'd hide my loot there. (Psst, random fact: did you know pirates wear an eye patch so they can go inside without needing time for their eye to adjust to the dark- they just switch the patch to the other eye! True Fact - Mythbusters said so!)

Anywhoo. Discovery Island. It was swell. I brought out all my readings and notebook for this course I'm taking...and forgot a pen. And no one else had one. I'm taking an intensive course on Community Research Methods. It's 13 weeks of material crammed into one loooong week. Me? Stressed...just a little.... I spent 12 hours at the school yesterday. Ugh.

Back to Discovery. I love it there. We go every year with a rad friend who has a tinnnny tin boat. It takes a couple of trips to get us all there.

Joel was having fun playing with his new lens I bought him for a late birthday present. (I spilt water on my new camera at Sam's wedding, the optical lens is shot.)

I really feel like I'm having a string of bad luck. Bad luck comes in 3's right? 1. Jewelry tools confiscated 2. Broke camera 3. Stressed? Does that count? Am I waiting for one more?

See this is what happens when I don't post for a week. I have too many random thoughts when I do post.

Pictures - Enjoy!

Posted by Jen at 5:29 PM 2 comments  

Posted by Hanna at 2:42 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Sketches

Sorry about the absence, which on my part has to do with busyness laziness and distraction :P. Can't speak for Jen but I think she was camping.

So I've been reading The Hand Sculpted House by Ianto Evans, well my mom took it out from the library and I hijacked it. Anyway it's good times. I'm very interested in cob building for a few reasons:

- They are cool looking in a hippie way. Which makes me think they could be cool in a Hanna way as well.

- You can design and build them yourself. No machines, no contractor. I mean it might take a while, but people do it.

- They are wonderfully energy efficient.

- Did I mention I would design it myself? Hello window seats in every room!

- Cheap like dirt. Ahahahaha. Well except the the dirt part. By which I mean land.

- They are well suited to our climate of snow and rainness in BC, which many other natural methods of building are not.

Anyway, it's catching on in BC (because we're a bunch of hippies out here) and you can actually attend a weeklong workshop on Mayne Island and learn how to do it. Which would be helpful. Also people in BC have managed to get building permits. As opposed to the advice in the book which is to build in the woods so THE MAN can't find you. Erm, no thanks.

Here's some Cobby inspiration for all of you who think I'm nuts and need convincing:

- A cob house on Mayne Island:


- A house on Cortes Island:


- Photos of this house near Victoria being built:

-And here's some cottages done by Cobworks, the company in Mayne through their workshops:

Posted by Hanna at 4:26 PM 1 comments  

Labels: Green Living

Birdies!






I drew them up on the computer, printed them onto cotton and presto! I kind of love them a lot. But I'm willing to part with a few, you can buy them on my Etsy Shop as well as my magnetic paper dolls and some prints. More prints to come!

I'm also still working on the sketch I showed you last week as well as refinishing some furniture. Fun times!

Posted by Hanna at 3:13 PM 2 comments  

Labels: Our Projects

Photo from Flickr

I had a delightful weekend...and I too, got sunburned. Gosh Hanna, when will we learn?! I have a nice v-shaped burn on my back and some (more) pink on my chest. I now have a mini bottle of sunscreen that I'm keeping in my purse.

My friend, Megan & I went strawberry picking at Dan's Farm , which about 25 mins from Victoria. Whew- that was a good workout for the legs! I picked a flat of berries, which took about an hour and was only $35! Then we drove around to other farms in the area (there are tons! See Island Farms Fresh if you're coming over to Vancouver Island). I also picked up some plants that will (hopefully) survive in my dungeon of a basement suite, some Wildflower Babes Honey, and a lavender bunch for my bathroom. Mmmmm. Then another friend, Heather & I, washed, sliced and froze the strawberries on waxed paper trays Sunday night.

With my strawberries I'm now making shakes every morning. I decided that drinking two (large) cups of coffee pre-food every morning wasn't doing much for my metabolism. So for the past 2 mornings I've made Joel (hubby) and I shakes using:
* 2c. strawberries
* 1 frozen banana
* 2c. natural yogurt
* 1c. tofu
* 1t. honey

I put it in my coffee mug and drink it when I get to work (45 minute commute) and it's still cold and delicious!

I can't wait for raspberries and blueberries to start in the next couple of weeks!

Posted by Jen at 9:17 AM 0 comments  

So I spent yesterday at a local organic farm and greenhouse. The Painted Turtle, our local art gallery/shop organized an event. Pretty much artists were to come out, do some art, sell some work, and in the end donate the piece we finished to a silent auction to support the art's community in Creston. Only about 6 of us showed up, but we had a good time and I got an excellent sunburn on my leg. Just one leg. And just one part of the leg, but man it hurts.

So I set up my table:


Started off in the shade but the sun chased after me. Eventually a couple of the ladies dragged me (happily) over to their tent where I had some shade and company. We got more people through than I had feared (no one came for the first hour or so) and in the end I sold two magnetic paper dolls, a mini print and two bird toys. Toys shaped like birds. Not toys for birds. I had to clarify that. More on the birds later.

I donated and owl toy and an owl print to the auction, but here's what I was working on out there:



My paints are in storage for the summer and oils take too long anyway, so I went for embroidery. I sketched it out and then stitched freehand while looking at the sketch. I'm pretty pleased with it as it's my first real embroidery project. Now I just need to learn some stitches...

Any suggestions as to what I should do with it?

Oh, aaand I sold my first Etsy item yesterday, hooray!

Posted by Hanna at 9:46 PM 1 comments  

Labels: Our Projects

Sam's wedding was all blue. Blue dresses, necklaces, and of course candy!

I loved it. She placed little dishes of blue candy on every table. It sucked setting it out...because too much of it made it to my belly. Yum Yum.

The favours were homemade fudge with blue hearts tied on.

So cute.

Posted by Jen at 11:29 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Love for Others

You can download these adorable bookplates by Emily Martin (The Black Apple) for free at CraftSanity. You can enjoy the podcast while you print them onto sticker paper and then? Cuter books for all!

Posted by Hanna at 10:29 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Love for Others

Domestic Bliss - a work in progress

Posted by Hanna at 8:31 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Sketches

My desk is going to look pretty bare for the next bit. While coming back from Calgary I was late getting to my plane, it left at 6:20- I got to the airport at 6:05. So all my luggage that was suppose to be checked because it has 'dangerous goods' had to come on board. That means all my cosmetics were confiscated (because we all know that Giovanni Organic Shampoo & Conditioner might actually be a bomb!) Besides my pretty-products they took all my jewelry tools. All of them. Needlenose, flatnose, cutters, wire straightener, crimper, roundnose... gone. And it'll cost me over $200 to replace everything. I got a great deal on them since I was working at Beadworld when I bought them, but now I don't and will have to pay full price.

I know they're 'just things' that can be replaced, but I sure can't afford to replace them anytime soon.

Calgary's Airport stole my creativity.

Posted by Jen at 11:36 AM 1 comments  

I've been MIA for the past week - it was my best friend Sam's wedding on Saturday, in Old's, Alberta. The day was perfect, bright and sunny, a little breeze, and plenty of friends, old and new.

Weddings are sooo emotional for me....but I didn't cry! *Self high five* I was an emotional train wreck at mine, this time I was determined to keep it together. There were some tears when we were dressing, but I kept my composure through the ceremony. I was told I was smiling "too much." Figure that.

The dresses were great, I was nervous about mine, but with a lot of duct tape it (mostly) stayed up. I made the jewelry and had toooonss of compliments on it. *second self high five*.

That's me on the right. We all looked so hot!

Posted by Jen at 1:22 PM 1 comments  

So I've decided to make a little pouch for my little camera. I have a case for it but it's kinda big so I just end up throwing the camera in my purse. My purse is a scary place...no place for a poor defensless camera. I've spent some time looking up tutorials to figure out what I need to do. Tragically I can't find the one tutorial I'm looking for...because I apparently didn't bookmark it. Anyway, because I love to share, here's some good looking tutorials for the sewers (or wannabe sewers like me) among you. I'll keep you posted on my progress!


Lola's Angel Bag Tutorial:




Zippered Wristlet Tutorial from AficanKelli


Easy Change Purse Tutorial by splityarn




Change Purse Tutorial by Viteen




Rather Cheeky Wristlet at U-handbag

Posted by Hanna at 8:37 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Love for Others, Tutorials

For my portfolio:

Posted by Hanna at 12:09 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Art

On the downside I have a cold...but on the plus side it is currently only 26 degrees...which is pretty close to perfect.

1)Yuki by Wunderkind. I am totally stalking this shop now. I want one of these ribbon spools. Okay I want three.





2)Beautiful mushroom cards by Wiley Valentine(via design sponge)



3) Fantastic pottery by Aida Dirse. (via Oh Joy)



4)Send a smile with this little octopus by Isabell's Umbrella.



5)This is Doug, he's Nicole Brinkham's latest pillow monster.

Posted by Hanna at 5:11 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Friday Five

Working on a new character in a bit of a new style. This is Juliet :)

Posted by Hanna at 11:32 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Art, Sketches

So I know this blog is suppose to be more about green living, crafty, DIY fun...but there are exciting big picture solutions out there that I need to share. Big picture solutions are inspiring to me. Solutions using poop. We live in an global world facing unprecedented changes in climate and we need to work together to solve them! And everyone poops. Let's use it.

This is a 25 minute video of a presentation by Stephen Salter, a Professional Engineer, who is a part of the Integrated Resource Recovery Team who prepared a report for the Province of BC using the Capital Regional District (13 municipalities on Southern Vancouver Island) as a case study for resource recovery. It's based off real examples from Sweden.

Oh yea. The background on poop and Victoria? We dump it straight into the ocean. Some see it as a problem. Other not. The fact is that it's a wasted resource.

Video from [here]



After you watch the clip, you'll see it's about more than just poop (but that's the best part). It's about being smarter with how we deal with waste. It takes so much energy to do things like grow food and heat homes. But what if we could take the left over energy from the food, use the compost to create energy, and use that to heat our homes. Kinda makes sense, eh?

OooOh! And on that 'eh?' note: HAPPY CANADA DAY!

Posted by Jen at 12:13 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Green Living