Adbusters, and Activists

If you want to read something more than Hollywood drama, and if you aren't already familiar with AdBusters, check it out: http://www.adbusters.org/.

It's an in your face look at our culture, world conflict, advertising, and life as we know it. It asks questions, and shares answers. It's about art, expression, and honesty.

It isn't always pretty or uplifting- but it's sure to educate, and stir your brain pot.

Progress forward, educate yourself.

What's in a name?

http://www.etsy.com/shop/adornandconquer

More love to come...

Create and Donate

a double rainbow at burning man...yyaaaayyy

During an unexpected overnight stay in Denver, CO flying home from Burning Man, I decided to grab a bottle of wine and unwind at the pool before returning to the 'reality' of everyday life.

A nearby liquor store carried a nice selection, and my choice was between a Dog House Zinfandel, who donates 50 cents for every bottle sold to a seeing eye dog foundation called Guard Dogs for the Blind, or a Tin Roof Cabernet Sauvignon. I was more in the mood for a Cab, not to mention the label was dreamy so Tin Roof would be my drink of choice for the evening.

I'm happy to report that the TR Cab. is a lusciously sweeter red, at an affordable price. This wine would be an excellent choice for those who prefer a white, but want to switch things up- or as a gift but are unsure of preference.

As I relaxed in the hot tub, recollecting my thoughts from my newest adventure of Black Rock City, I kept thinking about Dog House Wines. Had I made the right choice; did I pass on donating to a great cause because I wanted to be seduced by a label? Right or wrong choice the Tin Roof was definitely right...

Already a conscious shopper, living in New Orleans and experiencing the effects of Katrina and now the Gulf BP oil spill encouraged me to be an even more conscious human being. With my new 'Save the Gulf' series, raising money for the clean up efforts, and the overflow of other local artists contributing just the same-you become aware of the power of community, and activism.

like this shirt made by my good friend Phil at inexplicable confetti , I have this shirt and I love it
"$5 from each sale goes to benefit the Audubon Society and they efforts to save the coast."

So it dawned on me soaking in a hot tub at a Denver hotel alone on a Tuesday night, reflecting on life with a delicious glass of Tin Roof Cabernet in hand. Create and donate.

Imagine the world we could create, if everyone who makes something could donate even just a little to a cause they believe in. Or ALOT like Paul Newman, really and who doesn't love Newman's Own ?

So the next time you're faced with a decision don't just be seduced by the romantic label, although an occasional seduction is always fun, but make an important deciding factor that of contribution and community support. Consider Dog House Wine's next time you grab a bottle of wine for a gathering, gift, or quiet night at home. Enjoy & contribute- they're labels pretty cute too.

UPDATE: I pleased the contribution Gods just days later with an abita's SOS (donations to gulf restortation) while enjoying Lake Pontchartrain, good sushi, and great company...
SOS is super delicious...

Jewelry with a cause: SAVE THE GULF

I've been struggling with making jewelry just for jewelry-sake because I prefer to make works of art for the body that has meaning.
This is where i flourish as an artist. So I recently launched Adorn & Conquer, a line of jewelry with a message. It's activism through adornment.

My new work is a body of work called 'SAVE THE GULF', every sale will donation $5-$10 (depending on piece) to the National Audubon Society, to help with the gulf spill oiled animal cleaning.


This is my life, this is my activism, and this is my jewelry for people who want more than just jewelry. You are my people.

Gulf Oil Update

The American people need to see this, can we please demand solar and wind energy now?
Get involved, somehow....




http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.html

Volunteer efforts for Gulf Oil Spill Clean Up!

I'm DYING, my gulf is DYING!

Check out this site- Information provided for Volunteer efforts.

http://www.crcl.org/coalitionprograms/oilspillrecovery.html

Mardi Gras and Krewe Do Craft

It's that time of year again NOLA! Come watch the Box of Wine Parade this Sunday, February 14, 2010 at 3 pm at the corner of Washington and St Charles. We will end at The Big Top on Clio St.
My Throw! A handmade Peewee Crazy street sign POT HOLDER!

Who is Krewe 'Do' Craft?

We are a small group of artisans and craftsmen who first paraded in 2008 in Box of Wine. Founded by local artists, we are a walking krewe featuring special, handmade throws as an alternative to the mass-produced plastic beads that litter the streets and trees during Mardi Gras. Our throws are unique, handcrafted, and made with love! They are also very collectible, and people truly feel as though they have received something special.

Our vision is to do our part in keeping Mardi Gras local, by offering locally made throws and supporting the vibrant arts community that is such a part of New Orleans. Krewe do Craft's throws have been featured online and in the Times-Picayune.

more pictures on our Flickr Site. or our facebook page.

Saints are goin' to the Super Bowl!

WHO DAT?!

Going to Florida for the big day? Grab yourself one of these treasures!



www.yabettasupadont.etsy.com

available 'domed' as well...

I'm a bad blogger, but here's a site I love!

I came across One Angry Girl when I was doing research for a piece of art 6 years ago. I was happy to find another sister keepin' it real...

Please click with care. Some information may not be suitable for all readers, or may cause discomfort.


http://www.oneangrygirl.net/index.html

HANDMADE Custom Pet Tag Sale

I woke up Sunday to a very ill kitty pawing at my belly.
She needs a surgery that is out of my price range so I decided to do some DIY fund raising ASAP!

***CUSTOM PET TAG SALE!***
All my handmade tags are 20% off!!

The tags are made from hand cut 18g aluminum, and finished with silver ball rivets. They're made to size (sm/med/lg) for your pet, and stamped with your pets name (front, occasionally back) and number (back).

Check out my website at yabettasupadont.etsy.com
for more tag selection. Custom orders are welcome!

Thanks for the support!

I want to start a feminist website...

(I took this pic from the site, don't sue me)

Here's one reason why...

I love the show Weeds. http://www.sho.com/site/weeds/home.do Not only is is funny, eyebrow raising, and interesting, it's well written, well filmed, and written by a woman. I've tolorated and accepted the minimal nudity for these reasons. There's so much crap television/film with nudity it's a heated topic for me, because our culture is becoming nothing but cheap mainstream pornography. Weeds is intelligent so I can respect it.

I have mixed feelings about the video I'm posting.

Mary-Louise Parker (star of Weeds) has reported that she regrets the nude scenes she's filmed for the show. Not only does she regret it, she had to fight with the director about it.

I've been contimplating starting a feminist website, and this confirms it for me.

When a woman doesn't want to share her body with an international audience, she shouldn't have to fight, beg, LOOSE the battle about HER body. I'm happy Mary-Louise is SO awesome for fighting it, and speaking out about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17ayb5uPT-I

I'm pissed.

Pickin' Blackberries and makin' cobbler

When I was a kid my mom would take us blackberry pickin' around town...we'd find 'the good spots' along fences, by road sides, or at the park. We'd pick until our hands were tinted pink of juice and our bowls were full of fruit. So this weekend my mom and I decided to go pickin' in her secret berry spot she found in my home town. There were a ton of berries, and more to come in the following weeks. We made an awesome cobbler we used to make sometimes, so I've attached some photos and the recipe. enjoy!

Funny Fruit Cobbler:

1 C. Sugar

1 C. flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 C. milk

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons butter

4 C fruit
(choice seasoning: lemon, nutmeg, or cinnamon- if you like)

preheat oven to 375degrees.

Mix all ingredients, except butter and fruit. Blend well.

Use butter to grease a 2-quart pyrex dish, and pour in batter.

Add fruit, press into batter.

(Season if desired)

Bake at 375degrees for 45 mins!

Sustainable living: Earthship Biotecture

Look at this beautiful place...you could call it home!

walls made of TIRES! Fantastic!

Nuzzled somewhere outside Taos, New Mexico is a community successfully living sustainably, and green. They live day to day from solar panels, natural venting, windmills, and other energy saving options. The houses are made from recycled tires, glass and aluminum containers, dirt and straw, it's truly amazing.

The structures use rain water, and can sustain a family in areas where only 7 inches of rain fall annually. That's incredible! Not to mention the water is recycled to feed your indoor garden, and then is used as toilet water. You use water 3 TIMES before it's filtered out of your home, into an outside garden.

Earthship was 1st started in 1989 by a super cool dude named Michael Reynolds. Look at his sweet site posted below. Watch the videos, look at pics, read about the intern program. Even rent an Earthship for a special occasion for as low as $100. (That's my plan!)

http://www.earthship.net/index.php

From one bedroom/one bath to custom designs, the options seem pretty flexible with houses ranging from $150,000 and up. So you get to reconnect with nature, and live in a super cool looking house, AND live green. Totally worth it!

I hope to see these popping up around my hood soon. Inspiring, and hopeful! I love it.

Easter Parade in New Orleans

Yesterday I marched with Krewe Do Craft: http://www.krewedocraft.com/ ,for the second annual Good Children Carnival Club: www.myspace.com/goodchildrencarnivalclub Easter Parade up St. Claude in the Marginy here in New Orleans. The parade was awesome of course, full of wonderful costumes, colorful umbrellas, music, and unforgettable handmade throws. This parade is a treasure and I'm sure will become more so in the following years!

**Coming together, rebuilding our city, and letting our spirit grow!**

Check out my Flickr for other pics as well.

refinishing furniture

What can I say, I'm like my mother!

I dropped of my biannual donation at salvation army and decided to pop in for a minute just to see if there were any must haves. As soon as I walked in the door I noticed a upholstered topped chest in mustard paint, and was pleased to discover it was cedar. I love chests and am on a mission to have a collection of them in my life.

I decided with the wheels, and the condition it was in, it was a must buy, of course, but needed to be refinished.

Why wait, I apparently had energy to burn today, so I stripped the trunk and oiled it. I still need to detail inside the patterns.

Maybe my sister will help me out with an upholstered top later. ;o]

B-native Shop-n-Sip in New Orleans, Support local artists!

B-native.com is an amazing website run by a New Orleans native and is dedicated to supporting local artists. The website has a wonderful variety of makers, writers, crafters, and jewelry artists to browse.


This month, every Thursday from 5pm-7pm Bar Uncommon (Located in the Renaissance Pere Marquette Hotel at 817 Common St., 504.525.1111) will be hosting a b-native Shop-n-Sip where the locals can come meet the artists, sip some cocktails, and shop!


Not only will there be different and amazing artists featured every week, there will be drink specials, and free valet parking.


***I'll be showing my work next week, Thursday March 19, and will offer a 15% discount to my customers who mention this Blog post!***


So spread the word to family and friends who love a good cocktail, handmade goods, and of course unforgettable handmade jewelry. Thanks yall!

American Craft Council in Baltimore

This past weekend was the annual ACC show in Baltimore. My sister Allison, also know as tigerlilly from tigerlillyshop.etsy.com was juried into a new area called "AltCraft", where new/up & coming artists are allowed to show their work for the retail portion of the show. This section of the show is only 2 years old.

me and allison at the ACC show

I flew to Baltimore last Tuesday to help my sister for the weekend, which was a great opportunity for us to meet new friends and artists, and get a feel for the show in general. We plan to join forces in the future, both working together to propel our ideas and jewelry/artworks forward. Here are some of the other 'AltCraft' Artists!

Dovetail!

Wonderful people, beautiful ceramics, and our neighbors at the show. This was their 1st market, and I hope to see them in the future.

Rania Hassan
How could you not love these?

Sweet Pepita!

"urban.green.unquestionably hip." reworked vintage clothes for kids!

Little Flower Designs:

Beautiful Ceramics, with hand painted birds, flowers,and leaves.

Jane D'Arensbourg

edgy glass jewelry, that reminds me of cells

Krewe Do Craft and Mardi Gras

Last year a group of us New Orleans crafters decided to start our own Mardi Gras Krewe. Our mission is to bring light to the very obvious issue New Orleans faces every Mardi Gras season: TRASH! After every parade the streets are literally covered with broken bead and trinkets.

The street sweepers have kept up on the clean up the last few years, but the WASTE is just mind boggling. Although most beads are recycled back as throws every year, their destiny is to become trash soon enough. And need I mention where most of the throws come from? China...

Krewe Do Craft is proud to be the 1st marching Krewe to throw about 90% HANDMADE throws! MAGNETS,T-SHIRTS,JEWELRY AND WEARABLES,TOYS,TRINKETS,ETC.

So we'll have less throws, and not everyone will catch something...but our items will be kept and treasured, instead of thrown into a landfill in a few days, or years.

If you're in the city, come check us out this year, and catch some HANDMADE with love throws!

We'll be marching with the Box of Wine Parade, before Bacchus on Sunday Feb. 22, from SECOND St. to CLIO St. This years theme is "Alice in Craftyland", so it'll be hard to miss our whimsical display of costumes!

My throws will consist of bouncy ball rings, magnets, pins, and my Cheshi-smile' stuffed animals.

you know you want one.

New Orleans New Years

For the 1st year the traditional Midcity Bonfire was kept under wraps by the local NOPD.

Anywho, it was fun and we got some super fun pics out of it....more later...

Sponge candy

My family loves this candy, and you can really only get it in Pennsylvania, and maybe the surrounding states. It's a light an airy sponge-like toffee, then dipped in chocolate. So this Christmas, my boyfriend and I made a batch at 2 am, as a Christmas surprise for the fam!

It was so much fun, not to mention pretty quick and easy, so I thought I'd share the recipe and images. It puffed up so fast we were cracking up, this would be a fun candy to make with kids!

Note: The recipe doesn't include the chocolate dipping. I used a double boiler (2 pots, the bottom one with water to boil, the top with chocolate to melt). I used a 50% milk chocolate, 50% dark chocolate mix.

1 c. sugar
1 c. dark corn syrup
1 tbsp. white vinegar
1 tbsp. baking soda


1. Combine sugar, corn syrup, and vinegar in a large saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Cover pan for 1 minute to allow the steam to wash down the sugar crystals that cling to side of pan, or whip down the crystals with a damp cloth.

2. Uncover pan; insert candy thermometer. Cook without stirring until candy thermometer reaches 300 degrees (hard crack stage).

3. Remove from heat; stir in baking soda. Pour into a buttered 9 inch square pan. It's not necessary to spread, as the mixture will bubble and spread itself. Cool in pan on wire rack.

4. Break cooled sponge in pieces. Store 2-3 weeks in a tightly covered container with foil or plastic wrap between layers.

(recipe copied from cooks.com)