Happy Earth Day!

It's that time of year again, and while we try to be eco-conscious all year, today is a great day to make a few changes. We've started "greening" our bathroom recently and are still looking for a few earth friendly items (please leave suggestions if you have them). So far, I'm loving the shampoo bars from Lush. They come with no packaging what so ever, are handmade, have no preservatives, and last a long time. My personal favorite is Squeaky Green. Give it a try and you'll never go back to bottled shampoo :)
While we're celebrating, grab this growing tree widget to help spread awareness. Yeah, we know it's an auto advertisement, but hey- a good cause is a good cause. Chevy is partnering with The Nature Conservancy to plant real trees as part of the campaign. When you click the "grab this" button, just click on the myspace icon for the embed code. It will still work.

Reusable Produce Bags Are Awesome

In the great words of Homestar Runner: Seriously. We recently purchased some of these greener than green bags from ReMarket, an eco-friendly shop on Etsy and they are fantastic. No longer do we have to feel guilty about each individual plastic bag that one piece of produce goes into. I've even tried putting all of my produce into one plastic bag only to have the cashier glare at me and separate them into individual bags at the register. These lovely mesh bags come in 4 sizes- S, M, L, XL and and can be purchased individually or in sets. We recommend getting 2 sets since we always wish we had at least one more. Not only do they make it easy to see what is inside of them, but unlike plastic, they allow the produce to breath rather than trapping moisture inside. One word of caution- I did accidentally put my fingernail through one, so do be careful. I can't stress enough that this was my silliness, not an issue with the bag's structure. They are quite sturdy if you don't hold them with your thumbnail while dropping heavy items into them. Overall- a great product that we will probably be ordering more of soon. Keep your eyes open for more to be in stock. Apparently business has been booming and cleared out a lot of the shop's inventory. Check them out in the ReMarket shop here.

Staying Motivated

A long time ago, my dad cut out a comic strip for me from Baby Blues. The little girl (Zoe) in the comic was trying to paint. When her father assumed what the painting was of, she went into a tantrum and tore it to shreds. I kept it on my wall throughout college to remind me to try not to be like Zoe. Sometimes you just get frustrated when things don't turn out how you imagined them in your head. Sometimes, it helps to just take a breather for a while and let the frustration settle, and sometimes it's better to push through it lest you never return to the piece. I tend to be the anxious type when it comes to art. I'm constantly afraid of that fatal error- that slip of the wrist. Before you know it, you're sucking in a deep breath as you watch ink smear across the page. I've just been having some trouble getting things finished lately. A piece might get ruined, or we can't find the right size frame, or the right supplies. It's a never ending battle that just leaves me tired and unimaginative. How do you stay motivated? If you have any tips for me and other readers, please leave them in the comments. :)

I guess I've just been in an artsy funk lately. We were so ready for some warm happy weather that we bought a ton of new plants for the balcony. Today, it started sleeting, so they are all camping out in the living room. Hopefully some Spring cleaning will sweep some of the cob webs and clutter out of my head and out of this house and encourage some warmth and cheer.

On the up side, we had a VERY successful day at the antique shops and found two incomplete sets of bone dominoes! We have a deep respect for antiques and people who appreciate them, so we won't break up a complete set. I also found some letterpress type to add to my collection, and some vintage bottle caps. Not too shabby. :) I hope everyone is well. Sorry for my little vent fest. I'll be more bubbly soon, I promise.

Flamengo Kisses: Another Blot

This is an ink blot that is residing on our wall now. We might give him up someday, but for now, he'll stay. I like all of the movement in this one and the feeling of teetering. I hope everyone is having a good week. We're working on a side project right now, so the shop has been kind of slow. I can't say what the project is because it's a present :). Hopefully we'll have some pictures up next week.
Peace out!