28 November 2007

Practical Hints for the Household

Excerpts from Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine
August, 1886


"We so frequently hear the remark from women that household duties are distasteful, and uninteresting; upon consideration, most necessary occupations in this world inevitably bore us, if we do not endeavor to take some sort of interest in them.
...
Under most circumstances at the best of times housekeeping is a disagreeable occupation, but, as it is impossible to evade it during some period of one's life, the best plan must be to extract from it every atom of interest which it is capable of yielding.
...
It is surely quite possible for any woman, possessing an average intelligence, to become, after the experience of a few months, a perfectly capable housekeeper without being "born" so; and moreover, a score of reasons could be given, if space permitted, to show why household affairs should not be devoid of interest to a clever woman.
...
A woman should not, however, only consider herself in the matter, but remember that the whole comfort of the home depends upon her cheerful performance of the duties devolving upon her. If the husband, father or brother does his duty in supplying the necessary wherewithal to supply the needs of the household, her duty and pleasure should be to add by every means in her power to the comfort of all beneath its roof."


"The average girl at marriage is well instructed in sewing. To take her place at the head of a family without a fair knowledge of this useful household art would be to disgrace her mother and herself in the minds of all their acquaintances."


(Thanks, Kelly.)

26 November 2007

Trashion Sale



As you may or may not know, I am a member of the Etsy Trashion Street Team. "What the heck does that mean?" you ask. It's basically a group of people who:
1. Sell things on Etsy
2. Incorporate recycled materials into their items (hence the "trash" part)

Well, we're having a sale! You can find out all about it here and here. (Yep, there I am! 20% off everything next Sunday, December 2nd!) Also, shopping guides!

So, as I mentioned before, buying handmade for the holidays is good. But buying handmade and recycled is even better! Check out the Trashion shops. There's some pretty neat stuff.

17 November 2007

Three Things

One:
A nice lady wrote a nice blog entry about me and Chaos Into Art.


Two:
Shout out to my mom! We make a great team.



Three:
Apparently along with the Writers, the Writers' office chairs are also on strike.

14 November 2007

Buy Nothing?

I've been hard at work (yes, still) getting ready for what I hope will be a busy holiday buying season. I had my home show last Friday (a smashing success -- thank you to everyone who showed up to support me!), and I have a booth at a craft show in a week and a half.

And because the holiday shopping season is upon us, whether we like it or not, buzz has started up again about "Buy Nothing Day". You can read all about it at the link, but the basic gist is -- don't buy anything on the day after Thanksgiving. This day was chosen because it's usually the biggest shopping day of the year, and people get up at the crack of dawn and trample each other trying to get to the bargain big screen TVs and mp3 players.

Now, while I am certainly against 1.) getting up at the crack of dawn, 2.) trampling people, and 3.) measuring your love for another human being by how much Christmas credit card debt you rack up in their name, I really can't get behind Buy Nothing Day. One day, and then you can get back to swiping those credit cards to your heart's content? Eh... It makes a great press release, but isn't there a more consistent idea out there?

Now here's something I can get behind: The Handmade Pledge. "I pledge to buy handmade this holiday season, and request that others do the same for me." You know you're going to give people gifts around Christmas. It happens. And it's fun! And by buying (or making!) handmade gifts, you can participate in all the good ideas behind Buy Nothing Day in a productive way.

Handmade gifts mean thought, care, and individualism. Buying handmade will support someone who works at what they love. Buying recycled handmade helps rescue stuff from the dump (literally or figuratively), and assures you a one-of-a-kind gift.

Here are some links to get you started:
Etsy
another handmade shopping website
Craftster (ideas and tutorials for making your own gifts)
Martha Stewart (gift and decoration ideas)
Wists.com (make an online wish list with links to any web page)


(Am I just saying all this so you'll come to my show that happens to be the day after Thanksgiving and buy stuff? No. Do I care about this because I make handmade gifts for a living? Yes. Is that the only reason I care? No.)