Saving the Planet by Trusting Ourselves and creating a wish garden that may get you uninvited to the annual block party

Some days the news is so bleak I can't watch it.

My hubby was getting nosebleeds during the early weeks of the Japan nuclear crisis and we reached a point where we turned it all off.

I felt guilty over this because I do not want to be one of those people who turn from things I do not want to look at - the kind of person who steps over the homeless, avoids looking at the scarred and pushes her own stuff down so deeply that neither years of therapy or a two ton John Deere can unearth it.

(we were thinking - "I just can't go there. It is too hard to look at this stuff. It is too hard to feel this stuff." We put the brakes on.)

These are challenging times (and I am talking about things other than Japan here and many of us are feeling it) - times maybe we will be telling our grandkids about if we are lucky enough to have any. I think we are all here for a purpose, meant to be right where we are, right now.

None of us know what is going to happen. We believe things will get better, but suspect that maybe things will get worse first.

So maybe the greatest, most powerful thing we can do is to simply say, "What the hell, I will go there. I will look. I will feel what I need to feel. I sur­render."

Maybe we don't have to worry about being centered while we are in this place at this time.

If we intend to always be in control we are out of luck. Control is like a box that will never allow us the range of movement that is needed to knock down boundaries and belief systems anyway. Control has always been highly overrated.

My Hindu guru artist friend says to me, "Is the world really collapsing around us? Or is it lift­ing itself around us while everything that stays the same just feels like it is falling?"

Maybe we will know exactly what we need to do, exactly when we need to do it. Maybe we just need to not be afraid to look. Maybe we just need to not be afraid to feel. Maybe we just need to trust ourselves.

I am writing this post on Earth Day after a neighbor asked me what I am doing about my 'dandelion problem' - I told him I'm not sure and he said to me, "well, I thought knowing you, you were probably growing them on purpose"

*sigh*

I do know we are not about to pour toxic chemicals all over the tiny little piece of the planet's skin that we are the caregivers of right now.

I will never understand how a dandelion is any less beautiful than a daffodil.

Maybe there is some organic remedy I could look into or maybe I should wait until they turn into little puffballs and then erect a little fence around my dandelion patch with a sign that reads - blow me.

:)

*never trust a blonde print by franticmeerkat
*dandelion print by briole

GIVEAWAY - Days of the Week Corkboards with Pushpins by Uncorked for Mother's Day CLOSED

WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED THIS WEEK!

Moms need to be organized - and these babies can help, I promise.

As a special Mother's Day giveaway I am giving away something from my cork line Uncorked - 7 little corkboards with 7 gigantic days-of-the-week pushpins - perfect for moms needing a little more organization.

(or people with moms needing a little more organization)

Cork is the bark of the cork oak tree. I get most of my cork (other than the recycled wine corks) from Portugal - where the cork is carefully harvested by hand without chemicals; the process allows the bark to grow back in a few years! Cork is an amazingly eco-friendly wood.

WHAT YOU GET:

One lucky winner will receive these 7 corkboards and 7 days of the week pushpins!

HOW TO WIN:

It's easy, peasy - just leave your contact information below!

For additional entries:

(5) Twitter this post
(5) Blog about this contest; linking to this post
(5) Follow my blog
(5) Facebook this post

Let me know if you have done these things so I can give you additional entries. This contest is open to everyone.

DRAWING:
Enter by midnight, Sunday, May 1st! Good Luck!

The Mother's Day Giveaway winner is (chosen by random.org) :

True Random Number Generator

Min: 1
Max: 462
Result:
60

Tracey3!

Happy Earth Day 2011

In celebration of Earth Day

(which coincides with Good Friday and Passover week this year - Happy Easter and Happy Passover everyone!)

this is a special ONE DAY giveaway for your choice of a recycled wine cork test tube terrarium - leave a comment below with your favorite theme and also let me know if you would like a magnetic terrarium or one that stands in a little wood cube :

1. seashell 2. bird 3. alice rabbit 4. victorian 5. seahorse 6. garden 7. sewing

I will use random.org to draw a winner at 8pm EST tonight! CLOSED

Happy Holidays everyone!

UPDATE- my wine cork dog leash did not make it onto the big screen - or I should say small screen :( although this may be a good thing since Kathie Lee and Hoda were mean girls and made fun of all the eco-tastic goodies that did make it on ... not sure I could have controlled Olive if her leash had been the butt of their jokes - I mean especially since she's off-leash now and I've been smashed from the wine I've had to drink to gather the corks to make another one ... this was a long week

10% discount in both my shops - Uncorked and Polarity with the coupon code earthday2011 through the end of the month!


And the winner is (I gave 1 entry per person)

True Random Number Generator

Min: 1
Max: 11
Result:
5
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

RESOLUTE TWIG!
Congrats!

Back on Friday for Earth Day!

Taking a mini spring blog break to catch up on orders and get my house cleaned (what a mess) -

I'll be back on Friday with a special Earth Day giveaway!

*gone fishin' screenprint by dmeyerdesigns

Wrapping Up This Week - when a week ends with April 15th you know for sure next week will be better

So, last Saturday I hit my favorite local flea market and I should say that flea markets in New Jersey are not like those massive markets in other places

(we hold onto our junk here and only sell things when we are desperate for cash for really important things that are pretty much unaffordable like college tuition and gasoline)

it's a real hit or miss place.

I did find these 3 pieces though -

1. a baby scale -

no, I don't have a baby and cannot imagine that at one time actual real-live babies were placed on this thing and I already have a vintage kitchen scale and a vintage postal scale and there are not alot of reasons I would need a vintage baby scale

except for the really cute baby on the front that made this thing irresistable ...

2. an old farm sink -

I have no clear idea what I will do with this and I know you are probably thinking PARTY and imagining it filled with ice and brewskis - but I have no friends remember so that will probably not work for me and I won't be planting anything in this bad boy because that would be a little too expected - I will have to think about this ... but I just couldn't pass it up - it is HUGE

3. an old grocery scale

(I am really not obsessed with scales ... really ... although now that I think of it maybe this is getting a little scary since I own a kitchen scale, a postal scale, a baby scale and a grocery scale - my only prerequisite to any kind of scale purchase is that I cannot be able to actually weigh myself with it ... that would be really scary)


The winner of last week's giveaway (drumroll please) for Studio724's amazing bag is (chosen by random.org):

True Random Number Generator

Min: 1
Max: 416
Result:
251
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Claybouquetshop!

Note - I had a couple people this week email me to let me know that most blog giveaways require the entrants to visit the giveaway shop and that maybe I should require that, too, so I just thought I would clear up why I sometimes do that and sometimes don't in case people are wondering.

Most of my giveaways are my creative tithes- giving part of what I make online back to the creative community so I usually buy the giveaway item or I trade for it and in those cases I do not require an entrant to visit the shop although I certainly hope they do and I try to find cool stuff that they will really want to check out! If I require the entrant to visit the shop it is because the item was donated by the shop and the shopkeeper wants a visit for their donation (and they should!) - I hope this clears that up!

Have an amazing weekend everyone - my taxes are still sitting on TurboTax's server waiting for my trigger finger to hit SEND - I keep thinking I will suddenly remember a deduction I have forgotten - I hope yours are done and you are getting a great big refund!

Also a heads up that my cork dog leash may be on Kathie Lee and Hoda next week as part of The Art of Reuse Project - I had to overnight it to them - fingers crossed!

(Olive is a bit pissed to part with it though)

Upcycled Wine Cork Heart Tutorial - wear your heart on the wall not on your sleeve

I probably should be making this in the shape of an Easter egg this week, but I felt the need for another stab at making a heart

(some of you may remember my rubberband heart fiasco)

Now you could make this on a piece of wood or heavy cardboard cut into a heart shape or matboard inside a frame, but I have a clipboard fixation so we will make this with a clipboard.

If you have an old metal one this would be even more amazing with magnets on the back of your corks.

You will need: wine corks, chalk or paint, glue (I like gorilla glue because it is strong and you have some maneuvering time before it dries, but any good wood glue will do), clipboard, paper and scissors

1. weigh out about a lb of corks (just kidding) 2. fold a piece of paper and cut out a heart the way we did for valentines when we were kids 3. use this heart as a template and lightly trace your heart onto your clipboard - or whatever surface you are using 4. randomly chalk a few cork edges and then distress with black chalk (make sure to leave the most flat edge of the cork for the back and check your hands this stuff is messy) 5. lay out your heart edge 6. glue in place 7. fill in the middle glueing as you go

Just grab some thumbtacks and hang all your important notes or not so important notes!

If you decide to make one of these and use a Staples clipboard (like I did) and need a little magnet to cover the Staples logo hit the let's chat link on the right and let me know your address and I will pop something in the mail to you.

Note - I later gave the cork edges a quick spray of a sealer - a good idea if you use chalk!

if not now .... when

just askin' ...

(and no, that thing you did last night with your lip and a clothespin doesn't count)

*print by the studio alcantara