Now you can be Sustainable and Sauced at the same time . . .

Wine vending machines?  Yes please!  These machines now exist in French grocery stores. Bring  your own reusable bottles, or you can get one at the store. Pick your favorite wine red, white, or rosé and fill it up.

This concept was introduced by Astrid Terzian. She started this plan in fall 2008 to be both eco-conscience and thrifty.  Due to the fact that there is so much less packaging the wine can be shipped much more efficiently.

The first machine was installed in June 2009 at the Cora supermarket in Dunkirk and now they can be found in eight supermarkets in France.

Regulations permitting this will come to the US within a year. Word has it that the wine trade industry is working on this concept for the the US as we speak!

When times get tough, the tough find ways to reduce their cost of living.  One way to avoiding purchasing your daily lunch out at a restaurant is to do-it-yourself and pack a lunch for work or school.  There are other benefits to packing a lunch, such as the health benefits of knowing what is in your food, how it was prepared and where it came from.   Packing a lunch can be a simple operation if you don’t mind lots of PB&J sandwiches, but for the rest of us it’s nice to have other options.  I purchased these containers from Amazon for my son’s lunches, because he’s a huge fan of rice with soy sauce and I wasn’t sure how I was going to pack such a small quantity of liquid in the containers that I already had.  I am not typically a big advocate of simply throwing money at a problem, but when it comes to lunches having the proper equipment for the job is important, plus, come on, these little containers are so darned cute!  Keeping hot things hot and the cold things cold, using reusable, eco-friendly containers and trying to use containers that are BPA-free are all important parts to having a healthy, tasty lunch.

Here is a cool green option for lunch bags.  These lunch bags are made by Becky Striepe of Glue and Glitter. The great thing about Becky’s lunch bags, in addition to the obvious that these bags are stylish and cool, is that they come with silverware, matching cloth wraps to hold the silverware and this nifty eco-friendly, BPA-free container that has 4 removable containers within the container.  I have purchased this exact bag and can tell you that the quality is great.  If you are the crafty type and you want to DIY your own bag check out this book, in which Becky has a featured pattern.  Sewing lunch bags and other sewn accessories is really just one of Becky’s talents.  Another talent, well, really a passion of her’s is writing about green alternatives to everyday life.  You can find her writings at greenUPGRADER and Care 2 make a difference, where she writes about vegan recipes, green living and so much more.

Now I want to leave you with one final note for inspiration . . . a friend of mine, Cathy Pitters, of Bossa Nova Baby and Crafty Wonderland told me about this awesome site that has inspired her to make authentic bento lunches for her son.  It’s called Just Bento and it’s just amazing!  Every few days the author of the site posts different bento ideas.  If you get really inspired there are all sorts of other sites and stores out there with fun bento ideas including all sorts of bento accessories for making and carrying your bentos in.  Tah tah for now, I’m off to make myself lunch.  All this food talk has made me hungry!

by: jen

All local Portlanders know about Scrap, but in case you are not local or you live under a crafty rock let me tell ya.  Scrap is an organization and storefront that takes donations of unwanted and overstock supplies including paper, fabrics, tiles and resells these items at very affordable prices to the community.  Scrap’s focus is on environmental sustainability and community education.  Since they are a non-profit organization they must do annual fundraisers in order to maintain this fabulous business model.

This year their fundraiser is called “Incognito”,  a masquerade ball held at the Oregon Zoo Ballroom.  The night includes a silent auction, dinner, a Junk to Funk fashion show, live auction all with music provided by the Transcendental Brass Band.  This event is scheduled for Thursday, October 28th.

Best of all, Richard and I will be the emcees for the event!  We are really excited to use our crafty personalities for such a great cause.  We totally believe in Scrap and feel that their mission is the type of creative fundraiser that we can get behind.  To learn more about Scrap, their fundraiser, Incognito, or to get tickets, check out our links.  Hope to see you there!

We love a good margarita at DIY Lounge, but making them at home can be such a drag sometimes.  The neon yellow margarita mix you buy at most liquor stores tastes fake and making margaritas from scratch is an awful lot of effort (lime squeezing), which is both messy and time consuming.  This recipe is for those folks who love a margarita, but want it quick with no artificial flavors.

Have you heard of the Freshies line of mixers?  They are all natural cocktail mixers that taste great and are affordable too.  Most liquor stores carry them, but if yours doesn’t you can order their products online.  We’re adding a twist to our margaritas by mixing in some pomegranate juice.  Check out how fast and delicious this is.

Pomegranate Margarita:

1 cup of tequila
2 1/2 cup of Freshies Margarita Mix (add more or less mix depending on your personal taste)
1/2 cup of pomegranate juice

Ice
1 lime
Margarita salt for rim (optional)
Small glass pitcher

Pour first three ingredients into a small glass pitcher and mix.
Cut a lime wedge and rub on the rim of glasses.  Dip glasses in salt (if desired).  Garnish with lime wedge.  Pour yourself a delicious pomegranate margarita!

by: jen

Eight years ago when I decided to start a small creative business there was one regular craft show that happened a couple of times a year.  If you wanted to get your wares into stores through either consigning or wholesale accounts you had to do all the leg work yourself.  First, you researched which stores might be a good fit for your product, pounded the pavement, set up appointments, hoped the store owner was available and best of all, they would want to carry your work.

That is why last night’s I Heart Art Mixer Match was so incredibly cool.  Think speed dating for artists, except instead of trying to get a date the artists were attempting to woo wholesale accounts with local store owners.

Artist (left) receiving feedback from local business owner Nicole Prevost, owner of Union Rose (right).

The event was put on by I Heart Art, which is a group devoted to advocacy, education and support for Portland’s vibrant community of makers.  This is a collaborative group between Etsy, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Museum of Contemporary Craft, and the Portland Etsy Team.

Store owner (left) meeting with Lea of LeaK Arts (right)

One thing that I thought was really interesting about this event was that there was a wide assortment of artists all looking to pitch their products to stores.  There were many new faces and many people who have been making and selling their product in stores for years.

New faces that are unknown to me.

Ordinarily pitching your work to anyone, especially a stranger, is a nerve-wracking experience.  As you can see this was practically a party.  I’m sure there were butterflies in the stomachs of some of the artists and yet this was an incredible opportunity for artists to connect with store owners, practice their pitch and grow their businesses.  This is one of the things I LOVE about Portland’s Crafty/DIY community – unique ideas and collaborations turning potentially painful situations into a good time.

More new faces.  I liked this shot because you can see the frenzy of store owners digging through this artist’s product.

In a perfect world artist walked away from this event with new stores to sell their wares, but in many cases it was just an initial contact.  A great way for stores to see what new locally handmade products are out there and for artist to have the opportunity to receive feedback about their work, their pitch and their overall presentation.

Left to right, Torie and Cathy owners of Crafty Wonderland meeting with the owners of Burdy Fly Away.

Not every artist had product that was a fit for every store owner.  In some cases when the store owner wasn’t interested in the product offered by the artist, so store owners gave constructive criticism with the goal of helping artists land that next wholesale account.  You could think of this as an opportunity for artists to have many informational interviews and brush up on their pitching skills.

Devi (standing) makes necklaces with bread tabs for charms, which are made of gold and silver.

In case you are wondering why the atmosphere is so unbelievably cool at this event, it was held at the Design Within Reach, which has some incredibly cool furniture.

Owner of  Moxie , (left) a local boutique in Portland, meeting with an artist looking to find some wholesale account love.

If you want to read more about this event check out  The Etsy Storque, Handmade in Portland, or The Garden of Leah.

by: Jen