Sustainable fruit and wegetable grosery bags

More and more cities (San Francisco, LA, Modbury in Devon England,...) have banned plastic bags from super markets and shopping malls. Still waiting for your hometown to follow suit? Do your part by implementing your own personal bag ban: Stock up on reusable shopping bags (hit up Envirosax to purchase a well-designed set of five, or go the DIY route and sew your own). Avoid leaving stores with new bags at all costs, and find a way to re-use the ones that have made their way into your home. One method of keeping them out of the landfill: Crocheting another plastic — but reuseable — bag yourself.

Taking your own tote shopper with you gives you something to carry your shopping home, but what to do with those small vegetable and fruit bags? You have to pack your veggies somewhere to weigh them! A few Etsy sellers have an exellent alternative - tulle fruitbags. The see-through material means the cashier can read the produce number/barcode, and the bags can easily be washed and reused. A few dollars gets you a variety of sizes and colors from fabrik.etsy.com and ficklefaerie.etsy.com.

Handpainted flapper mannequins by Nostalgic Corner at Etsy

I´ve been talking about presentation a lot in my posts on selling your goods online. I just found something that will instantly boost your sales - the 20´s flapper mannequin torso. Put anything on this doll (jewelry, hats...) and it just looks stunning. Maybe not the best thing for Nurave lego-jewelry, but excellent for all that pretty, classic beadwork and millinery. It´s rare to find this styled mannequins from thrift stores and fleamarkets because the finder usually keeps them for their own displays, but I found a crafter from Etsy that makes and handpaints them! Her shop is at Nostalgiccorner.etsy.com. I want (need) one for my birthday...

Not so BoringSidney

Meet Belle, the fab milliner from Etsy known as BoringSidney. She makes hats with that have that special wow-effect. With a BA in Apparel Design and a Minor in Costume Design, Belle has had the opportunity to design costumes for some 25 plays or musicals over the last 18 years, several ballets, independent film, and a magic show. It was in the theatre that she learned the art of millinery. With a love for the bizarre and quirky, a solid sense of humor, and a driving need to create, that she started Boring Sidney/Belle Millinery label 9 years ago.

Hats millinery; hand blocking, creating hat blocks, steaming and building buckram frames is almost a lost art, having apprenticed under a master milliner in the theatre she learned old world millinery techniques and acquire vintage hat blocks, trims, and fabrics. Her shop carries 20´s art deco, 40´s pin-up styled hats, headwraps and feather decorated pieces with haircomb fastenings that will transform any dress to movie star status.



I´m so happy Etsy finally featured her on their Featured Seller column since she is one of my favorite Etsy-crafters. Read the full interview HERE. You can find Belle´s shop from BoringSidney.etsy.com. Her designs were featured also in the Spring 2008 issue of Elle Accessories Magazine. Congrats girl!


I love the shape of this pink hat so much that I´m going to tr to do this from neckties.

Fida avaa oman Outlet-myymälän Roihupeltoon

Fida lähetystorien uusi Outlet-myymälä avautuu Helsingissä 29.4.!

Outlet-myymälässä kaikki vaatteet maksavat vain euron. Uusi Fida outlet-myymälä Itä-Helsingin Roihupellossa juhlii avajaisia vapputunnelmissa tiistaina 29.4. Myymälässä myydään Fida lähetystoreilta poistettuja hyväkuntoisia käytettyjä vaatteita. Fida lähetystorien lajittelukeskuksessa outlet-myymälän yhteydessä toimii myös tukkumyynti. Tukkumyynti palvelee ammattilaisostajia asiantuntevasti.
"Tukkumyynti eroaa outlet-myynnistä siten, että tukkupuolella myydään vaatteita kilohintaan ja suurissa erissä, kuvailee tukkumyynnistä vastaava Satu Koivisto. "Tukkumyynnistä voi löytää myymälätasoisia tekstiilejä ja kenkiä, erittäin edullista kakkoslaatua tai vaikkapa puoli-ilmaista materiaalia tuunaukseen energiajakeesta. Tukkumyyntiin Roihupeltoon ovat tervetulleita sekä yritykset että yhteisöt, kuten teatterit ja käsityöyrittäjät.(Teksti Fidan kotisivuilta.)

Fida outlet-myymälä
Tulppatie 14, Helsinki
Myymälä avoinna: ma-pe klo 10-14.00
Fida tukkumyynti, Tulppatie 14, Helsinki

Beyond Retro opening a store in Helsinki??

This is the best news gossip I´ve heard in a looong time! My favorite secondhand departmentstore chain Beyond Retro might be opening a store in Helsinki!! How cool would that be.

Beyond Retro has it all: tens of metres of stylish secondhand clothes accessories (all perfectly organized by style and color!), happy staff, groovy music playing and that lovely vintage smell when you step into the shop. Usually when I go thrift shopping I can just be happy if I find something similar to that I´m looking for (and that one is usually too small to fit me). But from Beyond Retro I have always found at least ten different choises. Plus a mathing leather bag and killer heels. All resonable priced.

I swear will give up normal clothing shops 100% if this store comes into town. It´s just that good.



And if you Beyond Retro happen to read this post: Add more shop-pics to your site so new customers can see how great your stores are!

Unique shopper bags from plastic office file pockets and magazine clippings

These genious shopping bags made from clear plastic office file pockets. They are sewn together with a regular home sewing machine and you can decorate them with some magazine clippings. Etsy sellers note: This is the perfect (and fast!) stylish way to make bags for your DIY goods. Plastic file pockets are available propably from any recycling centre in your area. They will propably give some for free if you ask :) And if they have a company logo on them that you don´t want to be seen, just print a stickker with your details ext. and paste it over the logo. Simple as 1,2,3.

For more creative packing, visit Crafty Packages Group in Flickr.

I cannot remember anymore where on the net I first spotted these images. If you know who has originally made them, please let me know and I will credit you on this post.

Etsy favorites - April: Neon

Summer is coming and neon and other bright colors just look more fresher every day. Etsy has loads of handmade goods for sale in happy neon colors. Here are some of my favorites:

Black/neon pink spats from StraightRazorSlasher. Shop at StraightRazorSlasher.etsy.com



Neon colored jersey-origami tee from ruffeoheartslilsnoty.



Pixel Space Invader keyrings from fused plastic beads. Made by PixelatedCreations.



Neon yellow space lego earings by jewelrrry.



More melted plastic beads and neon colored cuff made from recycled hair curling rols by starsprinklez.

Etsy favorites - February

Since it´s a new year, I´ve decided to start a new "column" in my blog - This months Etsy favorites. The name says it all, I will present you with some of m favorite Etsy shops and items. Support sustainability - buy handmade.

Painted shoes made by ndeurshoes



Groovy LP-cover journals made by Alyssa aka MockTheRock



Music inspired crafts ad jewellry from Wonderful



Reconstructed skirts by tskirts.



Hats couture by BoringSidney



After seeing these... who wants to go to H&M and Gap anymore....?

Eco chic - the savvy shopper´s guide to ethical fashion

I found Matilda Lee´s Eco chic - the savvy shopper´s guide to ethical fashion last weekend from my favorite craft bookstore. I don´t read that many books (with no pictures..) but this blew my mind. I devoured this one in two days.

It is a very good cross section in today´s clothing and fashion business (everything from labour, materials, production, recycling...) and how it effects our precious planet and how to make your wardrobe more eco. I loved that it had a lot of actual numbers and figures but in a readable form plus great easy tips on how to shop greener. I think if one should criticise something they should also give an alternative. And this book did just that. Half of Eco Chic was about the problem and the other half about the solution. I also contained a lot of eco-brand names, organizations and other related info´s that I will check up later.

I thought I had a pretty good idea on how fashion should be consumed and how clothing recycling works, but apparently I had just scratched the surface. It raised so many questions and red flags in my mind about my own cosumption habits. Inspired by this book I have decided to take the Jill Danyelle pledge and attempt to make my wardrobe at least 50% sustainable this year.

If you buy one book this year, buy this. I will write some highlight from it later this week to give you a better idea on why I call this my new "shopping bible". You can buy a copy at Amazon.co.uk or win one from a competition hosted by Fuk.co.uk HERE.