New Bracelets and Upcycled Gift Boxes

I've been trying to create up-cycled gift boxes to ship my bracelets in when they are ordered. This one is from a strawberry container......will look great with a rafia ribbon.

This is a hand soap box.....
This is a band-aide box...perfect for my bold 2" bangles..
New bangle. To be directed to my Etsy store where you can buy it click on the images below.


another new bangle.

Being Green is Okay BUT only if it's cool

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091118/us_nm/us_usa_laundry

More and more I am seeing how it's more important to appear green, than to actually be green. Living in NW DC I see tons of people righteously toting around their canvas bags full of groceries. When I go shopping I myself always get plastic for I use them as trash bags and therefore also being green, because I never buy trash bags, EVER. I don't even buy foil, saran wrap or paper towels EVER. Naturally, when I see these people, I often wonder if they buy plastic trash bags for their trash.

On that note, I just read this article about how more and more families are drying their clothes outdoors to either save money or to be green. The article recounts a situation where one woman who hangs he laundry outdoors has gotten 2 anonymous notes from neighbors telling her they do not wish to see her "unmentionables flapping about". So these canvas bags being carried around by everyone (who most likely purchase everything from plastic trash bags, to tins foil to saran wrap) is okay and looks cool, yet when an energy saving practice that could really make a difference comes about it does not pass the test simply because it does not look cool. Is not the solution here to learn to not see it that way?

Obsessed with Fiskars Punchers

          It began with a curious new art toy I bought myself online.  I cannot even recall what was going through my mind when I bought it. Once I began using these Fiskars Punchers I was hooked. Oddly enough, I have a very hard time figuring out why I like them so much. It might be the million possibilities I come up with when I work with them or the fact that each perfect circle is similar to strange planets. I start each work with a vague idea of a pattern, a rule. I create boxes and circles based on my basic plan. I then paint the entire canvas either black, red or white. You can view or buy them at my etsy sites http://www.miriamsart.etsy.com OR http://www.mm72873.etsy.com. I am slowly moving toward ideas around paper mosaic on wooded furniture that has been previously painted black.  I have 4 chairs I found at a thrift store and will get started on them as soon as I decide whether to use recycled paper colors or buy paper in the colors I need.