Cell Phone Safety or listen more, talk less

Now, I am a person who doesn't use a cell phone very much, because

1. I forget to charge it and
2. no one calls me

but hubby and I are in the process of renewing our phone contract which has expired and it got me thinking about the latest information on the safety of these things.

I found a great article on The Daily Green on just this subject and thought I would share it here.

1. Use a headset or a speaker

Now speakers I get- keep that phone away from my head sounds smart- but headsets??

It turns out headsets emit much less radiation than phones. Experts are split on whether wired or wireless headsets are safer. Some wireless headsets emit continuous low-level radiation, so take yours off when you're not on a call. Using your phone in speaker mode also reduces radiation to the head.

EWG guide to headsets here.

2. Talk less, listen more (sounds like a life lesson here)

Your phone emits radiation when you talk or text but not when you're receiving messages.

3. Text

Phones use less power (which means less radiation) to send text instead of voice. And texting keeps the phone away from your head.

4. Hold phone at arm's length

(this is actually kind of empowering, I felt rather exotic swinging my phone out and about as I chatted yesterday, plus people were staring at my wrist which helped publicize the Polarity locket bracelet I was wearing)

Hold the phone away from your torso not against your ear, in a pocket, or on your belt, where soft body tissues absorb radiation.

5. Buy a low radiation phone

Some phones are better than others. Look up your phone on EWG's buyer's guide (your phone's model number may be printed under your battery).

Be sure to recycle your old phone.

6. Stay off the phone when there is a weak signal

Fewer signal bars mean the phone has to step up its emissions to contact the tower - not good for us.

7. Skip the radiation shield

Radiation shields such as antenna caps or keypad covers reduce the connection quality and force the phone to transmit at a higher power with higher radiation.

8. Limit children's cell phone use to emergencies only

Young children's brains absorb twice as much cell phone radiation as adults. We need to teach our kids cell phone safety.

I hope someone else finds this info and these links helpful. No need to panic and ditch your phone, but if you are a cell phone addict you may want to rethink some of your actions for your long term health - in case some agency finally gets the balls to announce that cell phone radiation is dangerous.

Flea Market Finds Today - Hope everyone is having a nice weekend!

“One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach; one can collect only a few and they are more beautiful if they are few” Anne Morrow Lindbergh ...

Friday Finds - Inspiration is Everywhere

Forbes and Lomax invisible switch plates are inspired by 1930's glass plates, but with a modern twist- they give the illusion that the wallpaper (or paint) runs seamlessly behind the plate!

I love these!

Is there a part of our own work that would be improved with a modern and seamless innovation?



I love the amazing Korefe branding for this line of products Stop the Water While Using Me!

How can we create authentic packaging for our own brand that creates a memorable experience and a bit of branding with a purpose?






The Reisenthal Mother-Child Bag promotes safe shopping in a brand new way!

Maybe the same kid who balks at holding your hand can be convinced to hold onto the bag - worth a try.

How can we add something to our own work to differentiate it and give it an entirely new niche?



The frame napkin at SPRGA allows the buyer to create and frame their own work of art.

This truly gets me thinking about all the 'kits' we could be creating in innovative and unique ways for all the crafty buyers who want to have a hand in some way in the creation of their piece.

How could our kit represent this union between our customer and ourselves?

Have an amazing weekend everyone - inspiration is everywhere!

Upcycled DIY Tutorial Golf Ball Keychain!

When I was a kid we were told that something incredibly toxic

(yes, even more toxic than the gazillions of toxins we faced all the time)

and incredibly yucky was at the center of a golf ball.

My sister and I had peeled one or two (dozen) open and gotten to the gigantic rubber band inside the hard outer shell, but never ventured into the "poisonous" golf ball center.

Recently I wanted to make a few golf ball keychains for a neighbor who has a business making golf club grips - just little giveaways he could pass on to some of his customers.

When I mentioned my plan to drill into a golf ball, hubby reminded me to check and see just what is in the center of one of these things.

(I didn't want to cause some kind of nuclear meltdown or chemical explosion with my drill, after all)

Well, it turns out the liquid center of most golf balls today is a not-so-liquid solid core, but the old liquid center balls are still around and preferred by the pros because they give better control and feel.

So, what is that mysteriously hazardous liquid anyway?

Salt water and corn syrup. Just another of those doomsday scenarios created by parents intent on getting us to not destroy our their stuff (it never worked).

what you need:
1. a golf ball
2. a drill
3. keychain slip rings (1 tiny, 1 large - sorry this is about as specific as I will be able to get since I have long ago tossed the packages)
4. eyehook & washer

1. mark your hole - check for front placement of insignia
2. drill your starter hole
3. screw in your eyehook and washer
4. add your slip rings

Totally easy peasy, but could make a great little gift for your favorite golfer!

Note - if anyone wants to make one, but doesn't want to go out and purchase the individual pieces - contact me through the mail link on the right of this blog or through convo and for $5.00 (includes shipping) I will send you a little kit you can assemble. I'll even pre-drill (while supplies last, I have a few left).

The Gift of Making Something or how to bring more creativity into your life - Part II

"If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it” – Albert Einstein

So last week in Part 1, we talked about our intention to create (and the difference between creating and getting), success in the moment of creation and our subconscious brain (where all our gazillions of experiences are stored).

(this sounds like alot of stuff to talk about and you may have nodded off during some of it and naps are totally allowed and encouraged actually)

This week we are focused on the practices that will get our creativity flowing and work with those blocks.

(I think blocks will always come up - sometimes to test how badly you want to do something, sometimes to get you going in a new direction and sometimes just to give you a break - there is an ebb and flow to all of this creating that is bigger than we are; bigger than any plans we may be busy making)

We are all creative- that is really all we are. There is no one who is not creative.

There are people whose intentions are elsewhere (or nowhere) and people who are blocked from the flow (all of us at one time or another most likely), but we've all got it.

(and we've always had it, to quote Glinda)

You don't have to be able to draw anything to be creative, you just have to know what moves you.

1. Practice authenticity. Now, this has become kind of a meaningless buzzword these days, so let me get specific. This is about practicing creativity in other areas of your life and letting that authentic creativity spill into your work.

And the more creative you are with the rest of your life - the more that same passion has to flow into your work!

Prepare food from scratch. Write a letter by hand. Plant something. Get a pet. Spend time with a child. Have an important conversation. Tell someone how you really feel. Be mindful of what you are eating. Clean up after yourself. Be mindful of how you are spending your money. Don't ask for other people's opinions. You decide.

2. Create change. Small changes can trigger very big things.

Listen to music you have never listened to before- really spend some time with it.

Read a book from a section of the library you never visit. Wear something you would never wear. Try a new food.

Before you do almost any mindless task ask yourself if there is another way to do this - tie your sneakers the double loop way. Put on a sock and a shoe and a sock and a shoe - you get the picture.

3. Create experiences. Remember how your subconscious brain takes all these past experiences that your conscious brain doesn't even remember -

(I am really hoping some part of my brain is remembering something these days)

and uses those experience to generate ideas and solve problems creatively -

so you need to get out and do things.

Go for a walk. Visit a gallery - it is not ok to just check out the website. See a live performance- there is something about the exchange of energy in a live performance that creates a different creative spark than a movie or television.

Try a new craft. Do something you think you will probably not be very good at- this is about creating experiences, not a resume - you are totally allowed (and even encouraged) to stink.

4. Set up the right systems, habits and schedule. Although inspiration and creation needs spontaneity, we can't sit around waiting to “feel like" making something or drawing something or writing something or for an idea to hit us over the head.

(because it probably won't and I guarantee the day a huge idea falls out of the sky and hits me on the head I will have looked skyward for just that one second and this massive idea will probably break my nose and leave me unconscious and unable to recall what happened to me - luckily my unconscious mind will retain this idea so that when someone else has a huge creative breakthrough with it, I can realize it seems slightly familiar)

You need to make time for this stuff. Have a system in place before the practice begins. Make a schedule, make physical room for creativity in your work room. Set up a table just for creative work. Get a timer and play. Start a journal. Make a collage.

You can't phone this stuff in. You just have to do it.

(can you tell I have been working out to Jillian Michaels - by this expression I mean, not by my abs ...)

5. Have fun! We created our lives minute by minute when we were children and we did it by having fun.

We have the choice to ask ourselves if we really believe that everything is falling apart- that things are going nowhere fast, that things are hopeless or do we really believe that we have something different to create? A different way of being in the world -

something that is totally unique to us. The thing that if we don't do it, it "don't get done".

We get to decide whether we want to play small or whether we want to expand - it is always our choice. And sometimes this is a choice that we have to reinforce with ourselves daily when things are not going exactly as we would like.

But, the great thing about being creative, about being a creator, is we get to create another way. We get to embrace change in a really big way.

If we only "get" one life – why not decide to create a freakin' amazing one?

(do what you love print by letterhappy)
There is an amazing post on Kagan's blog expanding on this same theme!