Canned Goodness

While I wouldn't self identify as a hippie, pm may beg to differ. Instead of hippie, I'd call myself a global-concernist. (Yes, I may have just made that term up. If it makes it big, you can contact me for all royalties).

We've only got one earth and I like to look out for it. I recycle whenever possible, whatever possible. I've done this since I was in pre-school. In fact, I remember bringing home my sandwich baggies every day to wash for reuse. My mom had to inform me multiple times that this was not necessary and that it was okay (and more sanitary) to use a new bag daily. Eventually I conformed.

I'm getting long winded before I get to the point of this post -- Canned Goodness. Canning and preserving food has always fascinated me. I've tried once before and while I wouldn't say it was unsuccessful, it did not yield the results I would have hoped for. I believe my fascination with canning stemmed from my love of the Laura Ingalls Wilder series. Read all those books cover to cover more than one back in the day. I consider canning to be a very earth-friendly activity as it reduces food waste.

Anyway, last night, despite extreme temperatures in the kitchen, we made peach preserves. We bought loads of peaches (can you guess where?!) with the desire to try our hand at canning. It is a time consuming process and I hope that it pays off. I am still waiting for the preserves to set a little better. If they don't I'll use the contents as pie filling. Always have to be resourceful.

New collection.

It seems like it has been awhile since we posted photos of our creative endeavors. Don't be deceived - we still have been using our creative powers to make things; we just haven't been very good about sharing them.

I have been humming away at my sewing machine a lot lately. I've been making all sorts of envelopes (mostly black like in this past post). I've used various different thread colors and have also been experimenting with different sizes.

I am still undecided if I will actually try to sell any of these envelopes, since it takes me a good 20-25 minutes to make one. (That's if my sewing machine behaves!) Not sure I could price them in such a way that someone would actually want to buy one. Maybe they will pop up on our Etsy page soon, so stay tuned.

Anyway. I needed a solution to a problem I know many of us suffer from. Too many bags! I am always trying to use reusable bags when we go out shopping. I do this partly because we have more than enough plastic bags to use for the garbage for the rest of the year and I think it is a huge waste to always need a *new* bag. The area for "bag storage" under our sink was getting a little overwhelming. That is when I decided to make some envelopes out of brown paper bags.

These envelopes are surprisingly durable. I like how some of the bag graphics peak out of the top (like in the photo on the right from a Trader Joe's bag). I am working right now on a design to match for stationary. Once that is complete I will get more photos up.

This has been a good solution to an excess of bags. It's also been a fun recycling / up-cycling project. Sometimes you have to think outside of the box and sometimes you need to think outside of the bag.

the blues.

This photo has some real sentimental pull for me. First off, this was one of the few times I can remember not being afraid of what others were going to think of me when I took this shot. I got right up to the table and to the hostesses to get this shot. I felt like it was the "must take" shot for Beale Street on Memphis. I thought it was a very interesting way of reusing / up-cycling the neck of a guitar.

The real sentimental value in this photo though are the words. BLUES. I recently made a trip to the Twin Cities to visit family. While my grandfather has been gone for a little over a year, I always feel like I am waiting for him to sit down in his chair, pull out his atlas and start talking. He had all sorts of "grandpaisms," and I have to chuckle now when I find myself using some of his phrases. One of the many we were guaranteed to hear on any given visit was "You got the blues." He said it with such a sing-song manner, if you had the blues you couldn't help but to smile. Hence, when I saw this photo, I was reminded of him.

It's a great photo for the week because rainy, overcast weather seems to give so many of us the blues. It sure is amazing just how much a little sunshine can lighten the mood. I hope we will see some of that before the week's end.