Personal Pet Portraits

We love our pets! According to an article on MSNBC, "Two-thirds of American households (about 71.1 million) have at least one pet. That number was an increase from the 56 percent of households that owned a pet in 1988." I know our family is desperate to add a dog to the mix but the time and costs prove prohibitive right now. Sigh.... Atleast we can continue our cat obsession with portraits of Mookie and Zito. Check out all the personal pet portrait options on Etsy.com.

Heart Mama

Mothers Day is coming up -- May 11. HHmmmnn? ??? ? What would a Mama want? Breakfast in bed with the NY Times is always a winner. Gift certificate at her favorite Spa is also a can't fail option.

As a shameless promoter of all things etsy.com take a look at these gift options...

Modernmama can customize silver jewelry with kids names and dates or whatever else you can think of that might delight Mama. One example is this 'pea in the pod' necklace with names stamped on the sides of the pod.
Check out Forty-Two Roads too. These portrait's are such a nice alternative to the ubiquitous photo option. If you act fast you may be able to commission Ms Forty-Two Roads to make a portrait from your favorite photo. Mama like.
I'm inspired by these handmade flowers from TheRussian too. I think I'll try to make my own version for my Mama and Mama-inlaw. I'll need to treasure hunt for vintage vessels to put them in. Fun.

Yum Yum Vegetable Ivory

Beads are here! Now it's time to deliver my new product, Peace Pact Adornment Kits. Followed by Friendship Adornment Kits and so on....

I'm ironing out the copy for my Etsy.com shop. It should go something like this: Create a Peace Pact Adornment with a special friend or give them as gifts -- anything goes. Each pouch will come with two sets of assorted Vegetable Ivory Beads and two strands of leather cord. Also included are some design ideas and instructions.

In future posts I'll share the Peace Pact Adornments Ella and I made together. The idea is to open up dialogue about what peace means and how to pursue it in our everyday lives. I'll be researching the topic of how to make peace present through simple actions for both kids and adults.

My first post!

I'm cool, right? I'm usually not a joiner but I've been so inspired by the crafters, artists and activists in the blogging world that I've decided to start my own. I'm still not completely comfortable with the visibility blogging, facebook, myspace, youtube etc. gives into people's real lives. I guess this notion gives away my age. My kid's will probably live such a public life online that they can't imagine anything different.

I'm thinking that I'll use this blog to chronicle my efforts to become a more conscious consumer. I'm going to take the slow movement approach to this effort and "coax out the path of least resistance" -- otherwise I'll get overwhelmed with the barage of eco options. I've started by swapping clothes on Swango.com and by giving and selling hand made stuff, including my own. See my shop on etsy.com -- more inventory is on the way. Also, check out this sweet cardboard play kitchen. I bought the plans as a birthday gift for Cy's future wife Elizabeth Cate(insert a picture of Cy and eCat 2 years old).

Thanks to all of you who have and will endure my learning curve with all things related to this effort.