Biodegradable Dishware by Wasara

This makes me smile. Via Re-Nest.

Earth Day Art Project

This morning I was Ms. Emilyn to a room full of first graders. Today is Earth Day so I stopped by my sister-in-law's classroom to help make sculptures using recycled materials brought in by the students. These sculptures will adorn their organic garden for the week.My group of 6 assembled a brilliant tree house complete with ladder and slide. The bottle and basket on the side there are part of the rollercoaster, so fun!

Another group built a robot and another below is a sea garden. I forgot to photograph the fourth one that included solar panels that one little boy was so precisely able to explain as the sun making energy.

I was so impressed, mainly because these kids have serious imaginations! We could have kept building past the one hour time frame. The lesson - creative reuse, because we don't always need new things :)

Box Inversion Video

Box Inversion: giving a second life to used boxes
By: Emilyn Eto, Supercozy
Music: Samba De Una Nota (One Note Samba) by Stan Getz

Creek Restoration

This is Earth Month so we volunteered for Heal the Bay's creek restoration at Malibu Creek State Park. The goal is simply to rid select areas of invasive plants and replace them with native ones.
We spent 4 hours of the morning digging tall invasive grass and weeds out. Important to take it out from the root or else they will quickly grow back. There were about 80 of us out there. Great to see enthusiastic young people - including ourselves :)
This was our pile two thirds of the way through. It was nice to be outdoors, do some good, be a little meditative, and catch up with our friend Sabine.
It was our first time at the park, so after lunch we took a short hike to see the hills and the creek. The tv series M.A.S.H. was filmed here. These tubes are protecting newly planted trees.
Heal the Bay's truck full of our gloves, pitch forks and shovels. Next time, we will probably do the beach clean up and call on more friends to catch up on!

more reclaimed furniture

More really great examples of reclaimed furniture done right... front desk at the Dream Inn, reclaimed glass jar chandelier from Cisco Home, and reclaimed wine bottle chandelier from the Bonney Doon tasting room.

reclaimed cabinets

It's all about reclaiming. The wood for these cabinets were once a wall in the neighbor's garage!! The color, texture, the concept, and even the simplicity of the cabinets - brilliant! From photographer Leo Ribbens's house in this month's issue of Elle Decoration.

succulents in vintage vase

Succulents in a vintage vase I just love, from a shop in Santa Cruz.

Virginia Johnson at Beklina

Beklina is selling these summery tunics by Virginia Johnson. I want!

Recycled Paper and Wood Necklace

Love this recycled paper and wood necklace at Undesigned. I've made these paper beads before from old magazines, but have never seen it executed so well.
photo: Undesigned

blue sweater

Another quick revival this time of an old cyan colored sweater from my mother-in-law when she was young. I love the color so much that I still wore the sweater even though it had 4 missing buttons! Now we're complete. I wanted to use the red buttons, but they were too big. I used the shell ones and mixed them in with the pearly buttons that were still in tact.

I love the brand's inside label - yoko.

Buttons

Hand carved buttons from Earth Hues in Seattle. I think they're from India made from nuts, wood, shell, and even bone. I revived an old coat with three bone buttons last night...

shower timer

My new shower timer -- been doing good with 4 minutes.
A four minute shower uses about 20 - 40 gallons of water.

Egg Carton Flowers

Some egg carton flowers I've been playing around with... I love the matte grey of egg cartons especially without the branding! The original project used a string of lights to make a holiday garland.

Modern Earth Originals

I found my new pair of glasses! I bought them at Society of the Spectacle located down the street in Highland Park from the coolest local owner, Amy. They are by Modern Earth Originals made locally (super!) in Orange County, use recycled aluminum (wow!!) in the front part of the frame, and found out that the owner moved the location of his company closer to his employees when he found out that the majority of them were commuting. SO AWESOME.

Most importantly, I found a style that fit me perfectly - Saucey!! Hooray!!

LADWP

Look what LADWP left on our doorstep this morning! I am so excited to see because the city is being very proactive. Hopefully, people will read it and make changes if they haven't already. Inside:

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (2 of them) - CFL's can last 10 times longer than an incandescent bulb (10,000 hours compared to 750 hours), and will save 400 lbs of coal in energy generation. Only thing is that it's got mercury in it, so we can't forget to dispose of it properly at Hazardous Waste Centers!

Water Consevation Tips Booklet - Having already applied water conservation techniques throughout the house, I am realizing how much water I am really saving...
- Fixed leaky faucets and toilets 20 gallons a day for every leak
- Installed water saving shower heads and faucet aerators saving 500-800 gallons of water a month
- Only running full loads of laundry saves 300-800 gallons a month. I have also been wearing my clothes more times before washing.
- Not using my toilet as a wastebasket saves 400-600 gallons. It takes water and energy to filter that out of our waste water!!
- Using a broom instead of hose to clean the patio saves 150 gallons each time.
- You can also get fined for watering your lawn between the hours of 9am-4pm. According to Natalie at All Shades of Green, the City of Long Beach is the only city in So Cal that is making a dent in our drought situation bringing their water consumption down 10% in 2008 (!) because of their strict enforcement of this rule. She also said that if we don't start acting, forced water rationing may take affect this year, which may be the hottest year on record.

These numbers are kinda shocking for one little household.
The immediate goal for me is to spend less time showering. I've already installed lo flow shower heads that can be turned off while soaping, but I can't seem to keep my shower under 4 minutes. Must find another way to relax!

Drought

Yes, it's true. Despite our 3-4 days of glorious rain, we here in So. Cal. are still in a drought. I was at All Shades of Green getting some replacement filters and had a nice convo with Natalie yesterday. She informed me that the city may finally start enforcing water rations this year. Water rations, wow. I guess Long Beach is the only city in our region making big strides (water demand is down 9% in the last year, another wow) in water conservation by being strict about fining every single home who waters their lawn between 9am-4pm. Fines get higher with multiple violations. Yesterday, Obama talked about retrofitting homes or weatherizing 2 million American homes in order to save home owners money, create jobs, and save our environment. Our energy and water bills have definitely gone down with the adjustments we've made to conserve (will get some numbers...). Right, I wouldn't be surprised if manditory rations really happened.

Homemade Envelopes

Sat through two episodes of American Idol to finish making these homemade envelopes from the paper in my office recycle bin. Got the envelope template kit from Paper Source a few years back and trashed printed paper was from a bag project I was working on last year. This is called creative re-use!

I bought pretty colored adhesive labels from Paper Source to make addresses legible. Not sure if mailing through the post office will be okay, but definitely fun with a blank note card. Will test that out...

starch based filler

Today I received my Muji drawers in this starch based, compostable filler instead of styrofoam. Yay, less guilt from ordering something that needed padding. Included was an insert about it - "it's non toxic, static free, and when exposed to hot water, the material disperses readily, and may be rinsed down the drain only if local regulations permit." They looked cheese puffs and because it's made of starch, they smelled like it too. Almost felt like taking a nibble...

homemade sale sign

Before going to the Julie Vogel Sale in South Pasadena, we grabbed some breakfast on Mission and happen to see all the wonderful handmade signs for the sale up and down the street. Visually, they remind me of colorful granny quilts with touch of the typographical elements (not the heavy message!) in Tracy Emin's work. This one was at the metro stop.

new printed totes

I have 3 new roll up tote bags in the supercozy esty shop! These are the three babies I've been laboring over the past few weeks. Sold them at the Eagle Rock Holiday Fundraiser yesterday afternoon. Also had my stretched fabric, some "star" jars for fun, voile fabric I made into scarves, and little scrap fabric pom pom ornaments... Here's Satoru, my little helper, caught sneaking a cookie!