Updating an Old Post - Eco-Vending and My 'Choice' Smoothie Set-Up!

Hello again, another Earth Day!  I'd like to announce I'm really doing this!  I don't quite have the 'dream set-up' (see left), but I'll be vending smoothies from a bike cart this summer.  You can find me (I hope) at St. John's Farmer's Market on Saturdays from 10am - 2 pm, blending up my sort-of 'famous' secret love spell smoothie recipes and vending them from a bike cart!  During research for a streamlined set-up, I learned a little about expectations, our planet, and the people we 'live with'.  A very cool guy, Nick, taught me a thing or two.  He offers poverty a solution - not a hand-out.  He gives free pdf plans (online) to make a bamboo bike trailer with simple tools.

I downloaded the directions and found that Nick didn't write, "U-clip - buy one at Home Depot." but rather he explained how to create a U-clip from a plain sheet of metal, or tin.  He showed his trailers being used in a remote area of Nepal (no Home Depot there!), and he explains how even if a brand new metal cart was parachuted in, there'd be no where to repair the cart - maybe not even the hardware hitchers available that most of us take for granted when running out to get parts for our projects.

Great going, Nick!  I hope to make you proud this summer.  I've hybrided Nick's plans with an umbrella'ed lemonade stand.  If you're in St. John's look for my cart and fall in love with my S-Move-Es by bike - first customers get a free umbrella in their drinks!  I have sooo much to do!  If you're looking to make a bike cart, here are two great sites I found:
BikeHacks
CarryFreedom

Couch Modeling!

Une Fleur de la Ballet, Kara Skye

As an artist, I sell prints in various sizes.  I ended up 'trying' some various sizes and prints 'out' with a couch photo.  It's rather silly, however, the impact of each in the room is so different, I liked the one I thought I wouldn't - best!  Couch modeling can help us, simple home decorators, avoid costly mistakes.  It also opens the minds of art critics to accept something new!

Blue Sky Reflection, Kara Skye, photo print

Which one did you think looks best?  I didn't think I'd like the Great Blue Heron, but it updates the room and looks sophisticated.  I thought I'd like the Sky Reflection photograph best, yet it looked too big in this size.  Like the prints you see here for your rooms?  Find them @  karaskyeart.blogspot.com.

The Winner!  More modern, I thought.
GBH Portrait, Kara Skye, artist

11 Nutritional Improvements Can Make Morning Coffee Taste Delicious!

Lately, I've returned to an old-fashioned kitchen tip that makes my morning coffee a treat - I add 1/2 tsp. cinnamon powder to the coffee grounds before brewing and I found 11 reasons that new research agrees with the old fashioned research methods - taste and smell!
Adding just this amount of cinnamon per day:

Lowers bad LDL cholesteral

Reduces candidas, increasing antifungal  properties in the blood stream

Helps eliminate headache and migraines

Reduces risk of E. coli in fresh, unpasturized juice

Aroma increases brain function and boosts the memory's abilities

Acts as a natural food preservative

Can reduce lymphoma cancer cell production

Helps Type II Diabetics by lowering blood sugar levels and increases insulin production

These great facts were found at Organic Authority. 

Audoban Style Eggs for Easter

These little masterpieces were created by adhering temporary tattoos on to boiled Easter eggs.  Another transfer method is wax paper.  Tape an 8.5 x 11 sheet to a firm piece of cardstock to be printed on the waxy side.  Place onto the egg and burnish the back.  Any dying should have already been done, and the egg allowed to dry off, first.

For more creative ideas about egg dying, check out the Country Living Magazine website.  The article suggest decalpaper and a favorite website, here, at KindredFortress - the GraphicsFairy.blogspot.com - for creating your diy temporary tatoos.

Easy Sewing Projects

Basically, if you can hem, you can sew these simple, yet stylish additions to your closet.

First, sew a spring apron to accentuate a little flirty, spring fever.

Purchase 1 yard of the (somewhat) new pre-ruffled fabric at the fabric store, and 1/2 yard same type of fabric (cotton) in a contrasting, similar, or same color for the band.
Cut the ruffled piece to fit from hip bones to mid-thigh in a quadrilateral (think back!) polygon.  In other words, a rectangle that is wider at the bottom, say 6 inches (3 per edge) for a skirt-ish apron.
Cut band twice the desired width, adding 1 inch for seam allowance.  Fold, press, sew length plus one side, turn inside out and hand stitch the remaining side.
Pin to ruffled apron skirt at sewn edge.  Sew length, fold out, and press.
Hem apron's raw edges.
Now wear (and flirt!).

From Sloppy to Toppy

Next, transform a regular T-shirt

Upcycling - For the Sunny Side of the Shed

It might be early but spring is just around the corner, so, here's a new found, pinterest tip!

Try this easy, eco-style gardening idea for those bare walls in the yard - sometimes they have the best sun exposure and the warmth and protection keep sun lovers going and growing green.

Reclaimed wood, metal clips, and mason jars!  More mason jar upcycling can be found at: Upcycle This!

Stick Pins in Your Love Letters!

Love inspired postcards transferred onto canvas make sweet pincushions.  A cute shower favor to make with a group.  Decorate with felt roses, old pins, and ribbon.

Here's my Postcards for Pincushions fabric design or use a couple approved love letter as the backing.  Transfer onto fabric with one of the many transfer methods available these days, like inkjet, omni gel, or wax paper transfer.  Also works for satchets.

Postcards for Pincushions by Kara Skye

A Salvage Yard DIYer

Fabricate a potting bench or outdoor eating area 'sideboard' with salvaged finds:
An old door
Butcher block, empty cabinet, work bench, or pallets
Shelf, towel bar, or old picture rail

The possiblities are infinite and so is the cost.  Salvage yards can be pricey, lately, with many found objects already fashioned into re-fabricated items with lots of vintage appeal; however, if you're building on a budget, check the dollar doors section and the salvaged wood areas.  The same item could cost only $7, or buy one with the work all done and support a local artist with an eco approach.

Looking to become a salvage artisan yourself?  Here's a great book to take a look at first, Salvage Style.  Authors Joe Rhatigan and Dana Irwin define 45 step-by-step reusable building supply projects for home and yard furnishings.

Leave comment (and photo) here to "Wow" us with your salvage style!