Don’t miss out…

December 12th from 8 am to 7 pm the Kennedy Club in the SLO MultiPlex is having a fun event, Snow Daze, which includes a ton of snow for the children to play in, a holiday marketplace, and a silent auction benefiting the SLO Children’s Museum. Also, my SIL will be there with her hats, so if you missed her last weekend, you still have a chance to score some hats before the holiday.

Here is how her hats can make you feel:

(Not sure if this event if for members only! Contact 781-3488 ext 20 for more information.)

Ok, it is time for me to get on the reusable grocery bag wagon, and there are so many choices!

I already have a head start because my friend over at Stuff-O-Rama gave me a hand decorated black canvas shopping tote. You can get one just like it here.

It is very big and roomy, not to mention fabulous!

There is also the bright Baggu. These are nylon reusable shopping bags in luscious colors such as fuschia, olive, red and teal.

Then, I saw Envirosax in the Oprah magazine, and their prints and colors wowed me. You can buy prints such as Flora, Retro or Amazonia separately or as sets. They are made from polyester and hail from Australia. You can read more about the company here.

Lastly, I found Skeeda, which are also canvas totes, and are made in the USA. These are available in dots, stripes or solids with fun colors like citrus, olive, and watermelon. Yum!

What do you think? Which do you prefer?

I am reading a fun book I thought I’d share called Apartment Therapy.

It is written by the guy from the New York Apartment Therapy blog and it encourages you to clear out and fix up your apartment (or small house).

I am already on week 2! Week one involves easy steps such as buying flowers and putting them in a vase, and tossing 1 thing.

Week 2 is a bit more involved. This week you must start asking yourself about your things - Do I use it? Do I love it? Does my apartment or house really need it? It also includes setting up a spot for your giveaways, cooking one nice dinner, and fixing one thing that needs to be repaired.

I am finding the whole process very freeing! Toss the bad (or really, give away or recycle) and fix the good!

Try it! You can buy the book here. Or order it from your library. You can also read the SF, LA and Chicago versions of the Apartment Therapy blog, and you can read the book blog and follow the 8 week cure yourself.

Here is another Etsy designer making something fabulous! Absoluut makes pillow covers out of vintage material that give your living room zing! She is from Amsterdam and yet her prices and shipping are very reasonable. The fabrics and vintage, yet seem modern and fresh. I’d say Absoluut has a great eye for marvelous patterns.

Imagine your couch with Apple Jelly

or Nairobi sunrise

or Yams in space

Pillows are 20 x 20 and are available with or without the pillow form inside. Shipping from Amsterdam is only $5.00.

These pillows are “absoluutely” fabulous! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

Here are some really fun and lovely zippered pouches and bags by Etsy designer jpatpurses.

Uptown Olive Clutch $7 Sakura Blooms Pouch $16 Retro Aqua Coin Purse $8

She is a mom of 2 teenage daughters and was inspired to try her hand at sewing purses for her daughters.  She got so many compliments, she started jpatpurses. There are more lovely photos of her purses on her blog here.

Katie Jump Rope Clutch $7 Pink Bloom Clutch $7 Katie Jump Wristlet $18

See…. they are Fun and Functional! What more could you want? P.S. She also does customer orders!

I got a nice email from Amy at Armato Design in Minneapolis. She was happy to have her cards in a winning poster and she blogged about it here. She says it made her day!

Amy is a graphic designer whose true love is hand illustrated and letterpress printed stationary. Each card is a work of art and is unique because it is printed on a 100 year old printing press which is hand fed, one piece of paper at a time, one color at a time. Imagine the time and effort that goes into these.

Here are some of her terrific cards~

-Hello Tree 6 pack for $12- - Rosy Birthday single card $4- - Thank You 6 pack for $12-

Thank you Amy!

What better way to celebrate summer than rubbing lemon sugar all over your body and smelling like a lemon drink!

Lemon Sugar Scrub, $14, SugarLips

The product description says, “The texture of this sugar scrub is unique as the granules are finer than in most and the oil doesn’t separate from the sugar. It is more of a paste, really.”

This Etsy shop, SugarLips, features body sugars, lotions, toners and decadent body butters. The products are created by a skin care specialist and sound good enough to eat. Try the Coffee Bean Sugar Scrub, the Brown Sugar and Fig Vegan Body Butter, or the Grapefruit Facial Tonic. SugarLips says these products are as safe, effective and as gentle as possible, and you can contact her for more information about the ingredients.

Fresh!

Nutraj is a fine collection of jewelry on etsy. Made by a mom who is a student and an avid tennis player, in Chapel Hill. I love these lemon quartz earrings- they are so juicy- and they are only $13.

This necklace is called Crush and it has a light pink briolette bead of Chalcedony on an oxidized chain. (Very reasonable at $18.)

I would like to start with lemon yellow crafts. This is a lovely set of 5 letterpress cards available in the Etsy shop Pressure Letterpress. These are made on a vintage Chandler & Price Pilot Press. Don’t you adore letterpress stationary?