Shopping blog featuring products made by people not factories.
Kids a little unimpressed with their mittens and gloves? Try these monsters from Boysenberry Lane. Part sock puppet and part armwarmer, they make staying warm seem a lot more fun. They also give new meaning to the phrase, “Talk to the hand!”
Purchase multiple pairs and you can mix and match your monsters for way more fun and furious debates between ‘ol righty and lefty.
Re-Bound: Creating Handmade Books from Recycled and Repurposed Materials
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Sarah Clemens Clothing: I am a stay at home mom, homeschooling my 3 young kids by day and sewing by night. I love flowers and fabric and sewing, so i decided to put them all together and sell my creations!
Clothing has always been a love of mine, but nothing out there was different enough or fun enough. I’d daydream about the things I would wear if I could, and then spend hours drawing them. My mom and grandmother taught me about sewing at a young age, and over the years I taught myself everything else I know by just trying things out…
Linen is mainly what fabric I use, the way it drapes and rumples and wrinkles and all it’s little nubs and the way the dye is always just a bit muted… there is no comparison!!!
I hope my clothing makes you smile, every outfit is made with lotsa love!
I’m loving this reuse of old bottles for a couple of reasons.
1. It looks so fun when you get to break them!
2. The light the lamps cast is gorgeous.
3. Did I mention it looks like a whole lot of fun?
I’m so excited to introduce the latest Try Handmade columnist: Liz Grotyohann.
You may already know her as a co-founder of cosa verde, but I know her as our new Going Green columnist!
Please welcome her to Try Handmade, and let her know what concerns you have about leading a greener life. Are there issues you hope she addresses? Speak up in the comments.
[hLiz]We’ve all heard how bad plastic bags are for the environment. As many as 500 billion to one trillion bags are used worldwide each year. Some cities have outlawed them. Many people have switched to carrying their own bags to the store—an easy way to do something good for the environment. Every major chain now has stands of “eco-friendly” totes available—cheap!—so that you can do your part.
But, while carrying your own bag is definitely better than using new plastic, those bags at the store aren’t as “eco-friendly” as they claim to be. Many of those bags are made from virgin materials. Studies have been done that say that those reusable bags need to be used 100-300 times before they make up for the impact of their own production. So, why carry a bag emblazoned with a store logo—do you really want to advertise for them?—when you can buy a responsibly-produced, stylish, low-impact handmade bag from an independent artist? There are so many options out there made from organic cotton, sustainable fibers like bamboo or hemp, or vintage or recycled fabric.
Shown above is a bag made from old sailcloth by reiter8, a recycled canvas tote by forestbound, and a hemp market tote from olivebrown.
Or go for an organic cotton bag like this one from moop, or a bag made from repurposed or vintage fabrics like these two from VOLK and bananasaurus rex.
And remember the plastic bags that you use at the store aren’t just the ones at the checkout counter. There are more and more options available now for lightweight, durable handmade bags to carry your produce and dry bulk goods.
Kootsac offers inexpensive, lightweight produce bags in a number of sizes and fun colors. Little Green Pea has cotton bulk food bags, and adorable reusable sandwich bags. And wonderthunder sells these adorable screenprinted vegetable bags that are so much more fun (and green!) than plastic.