Blog Action and Blogiversary

Today is my two year anniversary for this here blog. Has it really been two years? I love coming to this place I call Creative Kismet, a space all my own. I can’t imagine life without it. It’s become so much a part of everything I do. I do it for the kick in the butt it provides to get me creating on a regular basis. But also for the inspiration, the shared creative vision, and the hearts and hands of everyone that allows me to peek into their daily creative lives. Thank you to those who have hung around to see what I’m up to and for the millions of tons of inspiration that you provide to keep me going. Amazing isn’t it, the creativity, friendship and generosity of this blogland community of crafters and artist? I am forever grateful!

Bloggers Unite - Blog Action Day

Today is also Blog Action Day. Fifteen thousand bloggers around the web have joined together to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind – the environment.

Now, if you knew me in person, you’d know how important this is to me. I’ve tried, several times, to convey this in my blog and I do what i can on a daily basis. I am in no way saying that I am perfect in this aspect. I just choose to be concerned and try to make conscious choices. Here are some of the things I do to try and make a difference.

***Buy thrifted and handmade. Make my own clothing and refashion what I already have.
***Stay away from disposable utensils, plates and napkins. We no longer buy paper towel or napkins. Cloth napkins has been working out great for us.

***No plastic bottles of anything! Especially water. It seems to me, one of the biggest waste of energy and materials. Plus, water right out of the tap, can be just as good or better, and it cost nothing. I love my stainless steel water bottles. We each have one and use them all the time! With water bottle carriers, they are perfect for carrying around everywhere!
***We still drive our grease car. It saves us having to buy gas and it’s better for the environment. We use our other car as little as possible.
***We save energy by using CFL’s and turning things off and unplugging when not in use. All of our appliances are Energy star.
***We recycle everything that we can. Hopefully we will start composting soon.
***Paper or plastic? Neither. We try to only use reusable bags. Occasionally we forget to bring our bags, but I’m collecting those plastics and am making one of these.

We do more, but this is it in a nutshell. I hope this will inspire you to do at least one thing for the environment. To help you out a bit, and in honor of my 2 year blogiversary, I’m going to give away 2 grocery totes made from thrifted pillow cases. Just leave a comment and tell me what you do or would like to do for the environment. I’ll pick two names on Friday.

They are double layered for strength and have mismatched straps. Almost all of the pillow case was used, just a small handful of fabric bits remain.

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32 Responses to Blog Action and Blogiversary

  1. vania says:

    Happy Blog-aversary! I love that you used vintage pillow cases for these bags and would love to be one of the recipients! Trying to help out Mother Earth is important to me – I also use cloth bags for shopping, and i use my bike to get around the city, so i totally dig your contibution too!

  2. melissa oat says:

    I just found your blog and love it! Just wanted to thank you for reminding me of a few resolutions- the ones about buying handmade/thrift.

    What I said on my blog was I will walk to more places or bike. I am taking the plunge and moving towards veganism and I’m going to continue to pick up litter. Best wishes and happy blogaversary!

  3. linda p says:

    those are cute totes. i don’t need one (already have so many reuseable bags) but just wanted to applaud you on the giveaway. i love being friendly to the environment- cloth napkins, cloth pads, reusable bags, and hardcore recycling.

  4. Gail says:

    Your blog is fab.
    ; )

    Environmentally speaking, I am teaching my three year old grandson to sort recycling with me, and I am working VERY hard to remember to use up all my scrap paper for notes instead of buying new notepads and throwing away paper that is only used on one side.

    xo
    Gail

  5. Wow blogging for two years! Very cool:)

    I posted about what I do to try to help a little awhile back, but like you we take reusuable bags to the store, we drive a car that is fairly fuel efficient (it isn’t a hybrid or a grease car like yours but it is a little hyundai that gets 40miles to the gallon in town:) and we try not to drive if it isn’t necessary, we don’t buy water in plastic bottles & instead have reusuable water bottles, we use cfl bulbs in all our lights (although our pretty silly city doesn’t have any way to recycle cfl bulbs… which frustrates me a bit..). I actually have been planning on making cloth napkins too. That was on the list of crafting for tomorrow actually:)

    Such a great post! I am going to have to visit it a few times to see what others say in the comments:)

  6. Michelle says:

    Love the bags, Regina, and I love your philosophies (why does that word look weird?). I try to stay away from paper and plastic bags as well, and plan to make everyone in my family a cloth, crocheted or knit grocery bag for Christmas. I try to be very conscious of the materials I use for Rebecca’s school lunches as well, no plastic throwaway sandwich bags, only reusable containers and no juice boxes, we use a Thermos with a flip top lid (pink, of course!). There are many more changes I need to make, but we’re definitely working on it. Happy two years, my friend!

  7. Andrea Q says:

    Happy Blogiversary!

    I make and sell handmade grocery totes on Etsy. I use these bags 95 percent of the time for grocery shopping. I refuse plastic bags whenever possible…either by bringing my own or tucking small purchases into my purse or diaper bag. We recycle everything our city allows. I recycle packing material/envelopes/boxes for my business. We try to do a lot more (including cloth napkins), but especially breastfeeding!

  8. charli says:

    I’ve been thinking all day about my post for this very special day (its my two year blogging anniversary as well- not on my current blog, but blogging all together) and pondering what to write about my efforts to lessen my family’s negative effect on the environment.

    We’ve been converting to those nifty light bulbs as well- we bought a large pack at Sams. I keep my thermostat set at 80 during the day- which is really saying something here in Texas! Our home is an EnergyStar home: double paned windows, great gas appliances, etc.

    But I know I am not doing enough. So I am going to start using reusable bags as well- hopefully one of yours! And I am going to start recycling.

    I feel REALLY good about this!

  9. Heidi says:

    Congrats on the two years! And good for you for all your eco-friendly habits. I do several of those too!

  10. Melanie says:

    Happy Blogiversary!

    At first I tried really hard to think of what I do that’s unique, and realized there’s a lot of little things everyday that add up.

    * I recycle.
    * I bring my lunch in reusable containers in a lunchbag.
    * I use The Keeper and am in the midst of looking for cloth menstrual pads.
    * I try to eat more local, organic foods than I used to.
    * I bring cloth bags to stores, and turn down extra plastic bags when I can carry something in my purse.
    * I use a water filter for tap water.

    I know that none of these things is a huge lifestyle change when implemented on its own, but by slowly adding these one by one, I feel I’m contributing to the life of Earth.

  11. I recycle bottles/cans/newspapers. I take my lunch everyday in an insulated bag. I turn off the water when brushing my teeth instead of keeping it running.

  12. Sarah H. says:

    I really like your blog! Thanks for putting yourself (and your creations) out there!

    I help the environment by carpooling/walking when I need to go places (that includes work and the grocery store), recycling, shopping almost entirely thrift (books, clothes, homeware), and being conscientious of the mark we leave when we go places (picking up litter and low-impact camping). In high school I used to be really into being “granola/earthy” and thankfully some good habits stuck!

  13. raesha says:

    What great ideas!!! I’ll share a few of mine (don’t enter me in the giveaway though cause I already received a FAB package from you:))
    -I recycle and have inspired at least one other family on the block to recyle too.
    -I use recycled paper for printing stuff at home – paper from work where one side is used but one side is still blank
    -I buy used whenever I can – the thrift store is my mecca:)
    -I am working on making lots of reusable bags – enough so that I can use them for gifts too instead of throw away wrapping.
    My most important tip is to be MINDFUL of your impact on the earth and to think of those small things that you can change. Don’t get bogged down by thinking that you have to make huge changes in the beginning…it’s the small and simple things that will add up to be huge in the end.

  14. cindy says:

    Great and inspiring post.It is such a responsibility and I am just sad when I think about what kind of world our kids, and their kids will be living in. I could list 100 things that I could, should and will do…but I won’t. First and foremost is teaching our kids about the environment and leading by example. They know I faulter all the time, but they know the importance. Looking for a great craft to use those plastic grocery bags. Good suggestion, but my bags aren’t that pretty. I’m thinking filler for beanbags? We’ll see.

  15. Mymsie says:

    Gorgeous totes! I’m giving away a handmade reusable fabric bucket on my blog & participating in a Step It Up rally on 11/3/07.

  16. nichola says:

    First of all i’d like to say ‘Happy Blogiversary’! Second, i LOVE your car, we don’t own a car but when we do need to have one we’ll be going the same route as you.

  17. melissa says:

    happy 2 years of blogging, regina! i always gets a sense of calm and positivity from visiting you here.
    thank you for the reminder about blog action day for the environment. we have two big compost bins in our garden, for recycling food and garden waste, and i like to think i was the greatest advocate for cloth nappies when my two kids were babies.
    your shopping bags are wonderful- how cool that you managed to recycled so many pillowcases!

  18. Jessica Hood says:

    recycling is definitely the thing i am able to accomplish most regularly.

  19. Henna says:

    I just found your site and I am excited to read up on everything. I posted about the things we do to help on my blog.

    Thanks for the contest!

  20. Linda says:

    Happy Blogbirthday, Regina.
    I find your blog so inspiring, especially the refashions and recycled art!
    For the environment, we
    1) Use nontoxic cleaners and laundry detergent
    2)Use CFLs
    3)Buy local, organic food whenever possible–even the dog eats organic!
    4)Recycle
    5)Reduce when we can (for example, when I shop, I won’t let them wrap it in tissue, etc)
    6)Try to buy gifts from known local artists.
    7)Teach our daughter to respect the earth and look for the wild where we live in Suburbia. It’s there, if you look.
    8)No pesticides in the garden — be careful of lawn fertilizers!
    9) I just read in Ode magazine, I work for one of the greenest hospitals (in terms of plastics and disposal, cleaning agents) in the US, Kaiser Permanente.
    10)Last but not least, pray for the animals and envirnment.

  21. Rebecca says:

    Boo!

    Been thinking about you! Great post :o)

  22. LauraJ says:

    Found your blog through flickr! Love your bags…they are very sweet! And I love anything that has been repurposed!!

  23. Crystal says:

    I do a lot of the same things you do. We recycle everything we can, I mend all clothes for my kids until they just can’t wear them anymore. my husband and I carpool to work (we work a few blocks apart).

  24. carla says:

    You are such an inspiration, Regina! I hate all the plastic involved in drinking water, and I’d love to know where you got those stainless water bottles. I would really prefer to use those!

  25. Nancy says:

    I love your blog and stop by daily for inspiration.

    The biggest thing I did for the environment is to give up the long polluting commute to D.C up 1-95 in favor of a job right across the street. The kids ride the bus to school. Although the pay is less, we are down to one car which we use only on the weekends.

  26. Leticia says:

    Hi Regina! Scott and I recently replaced all of the lightbulbs in our house with CFL’s. A small contribution in our pretty wasteful lives, but I’m trying to get better!! =)

  27. My family is pretty green – funny thing is we were doing a pretty wasteful thing all along…….. our addiction to water bottles. We had a family meeting last night – our new mission “NO BUYING WATER!!!” Also – awesome for your family!! I absolutely love the totes – are they easy to make?

  28. Alexis says:

    Great looking totes Regina! Let’s see, we’ve been making some eco-friendly changes around our house for the last couple of years, so many more to go, but here’s the short list: changing to CFLs, no more toxic house cleaners, sewn cloth napkins, no more gas lawn mower (I use a push mower), no water bottles (we use Klean Kanteens), no more grocery bags, no waste packed lunches, composting, shopping at the farmer’s market weekly, and finally we installed solar power almost two years ago. On my list to do is make holiday gift bags to reuse year after year… probably won’t get to it this year, but soon…

  29. Kelli says:

    Beyootiful bags. Lovely ideas too! We cannot talk about this enough.

  30. LauraJ says:

    I forgot to add what I do for the environment: I repurpose, recycle and I made my own napkins this week! No more paper towels in this home!!

  31. Sarah says:

    Let me see, we:

    1. Recycle everything our city allows. We get the children involved, and they know automatically what goes into the recycling bins.

    2. We read the newspaper online.

    3. We recently bought a water filter to reduce the amount of bottled water that we buy.

    4. We use a push powered mower rather than a gass lawn mower.

    5. We try to choose indigenous plants to conserve water.

    6. We thrift.

    7. We donate what we do not need to charity.

    We are planning to:
    Purchase small travel snack containers for field trips so we do not need sandwich bags. I am very concerned though about many of the available ones made of plastic, that were made in China. I will probably buy some on reusablebags.com which is where we purchased other lead free items.

    I also plan to make or buy reusable grocery bags. We have a few totes we use now, but we need to have more so we do not have to rely on the plastic ones. I reuse the ones we do have as much as possible.

    Thanks for the post! My kids have similar SIGG bottles!

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