First:  Thank you for all the kitchen love!!

Second:  Happy Earth Day!!! One of my favorite days of the year and I had to work.  Ah well, as my Super-E says, “it’s earth day every day!”  My little earth guys are so smart!

Right now, the weather here in Southern AZ has been incredible. We’ve been trying to spend as much time outside as possible, before it gets too hot.    Hiking, bird watching & desert exploring has been on the top of the list.

Ocotillo plants are hands down my most favorite desert plant.  They are in full bloom this time of year and the Sonoran desert is spotted throughout with bright bursts of orange.

 You can see where much of my color inspiration for my home decor comes from.

I hope you had a beautiful Earth Day!!!

It keeps getting better and better every week.  Week two was almost the same as week one, but with added spinach and bok choy.  This week we got some spinach, kale, bok choy, braising greens, spring mix, fava beans and baby purple onions.  We’ve been doing really well with eating everything we get.  We still have some arugula from last week, but it still looks fresh and yummy.

Now, I’ve never had fava beans before.  We’ve been munching on them right out of the pod, but have no clue what else to do with them.  Any ideas?  I’ve got 2 lbs of them!

Today was our first pick up from our local CSA. We got ourselves some arugula, kale, spring mix, braising greens, petite lettuce head, garlic tops and radishes.

I am so pleased to be able to participate in this wonderful experience.  We are buying organic, fresh and beautiful produce from a farm only 4o minutes away. We met the founder of our local csa and the farm owner of Agua Linda Farms.  I just can’t express how good it feels to support these wonderful people.

What is even better, is that our kids get to experience this too.  It was so exciting for them (we built it up quite a bit) that when we got home with our produce, they were very eager to try it all.  It made my heart swell to see my little guys munch on radishes(!!) and fresh lettuce leaves.

We had an excellent dinner too.  Potatoes with kale, harvest grains (from Trader Joe’s) and mixed greens with balsamic vinegar/oil dressing.  It was delicious! Everything tastes better when you know exactly where it comes from. We will be visiting the Aqua Linda Farm on Saturday to see farming in action.

Check this out! I’m in the Tucson Green Magazine!

I interviewed for this article over a week ago, but had no idea when it would be published.

The first sentence reads, “The T-shirt peaking out of her sweater says it all: “Craft or Die”. This is a woman who takes her hobby seriously.” (This is the t-shirt)

Well, the article discusses the things I’ve been trying to do to be green. For example; thrifting for craft material, buying handmade and refashioning. I made sure to mention Wardrobe Refashion and the Buy Handmade Pledge, two very worthy green efforts.

I just have to share this last little bit of the article:

“There’s something pretty powerful in these small creative acts. Not only are Lord and people like her making their corners of the globe more beautiful, artful places to exist, they’re connecting with similarly inclined green crafters, sharing ideas and values, spreading the simple code of recycling into every aspect of modern life.

“For the first time in my life I am meeting people like me—crafters with my same values,” she says, smiling and feeling good that, however solitary the crafting life is, there are thousands more like her out there doing the same thing, and most of those thousands, like her, are mothers and wives and friends. . . Isn’t that how revolutions get started?

Could “Craft or Die” become the rallying cry for a new movement of green crafters, who will one day single-handedly bring down this wasteful consumer culture that has all of us on an exhausting, soul-crushing treadmill of credit cards, traffic jams, and cheap imports filled with poison? Let’s hope so.”

In the Tucson Green Magazine — Article and Photo by Tim Hull

I guess January is my publicity month. Last year it was HGTV, this year it’s all about being green! I’ve been working on recycled craft items to put in my shop. I’d better put a rush on my update!

And while we are on the subject of being green, if you haven’t already seen this, please take 20 minutes to check it out. I think it’s a pretty good eye-opener.

Click on the image to check it out! You can find this on my side bar as well.

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in this little contest. It was really a joy to read that others are trying to make a difference in their own special way. A whopping 20,000 people blogged about the environment on Monday with an estimated 14 million readers. That is flipping AMAZING! See more HERE. Looks like they are planning to do it again next year too.Here is a complied list of the really great things you guys are doing:

*Using cloth bags
*Biking or walking instead of driving, or carpooling
*Buying handmade and thrifted
*Picking up litter when you see it
*Adding vegetarian and vegan meals to your diet
*Buying thrifted and handmade
*Using cloth napkins, pads and diapers
*Hardcore recycling
*Teaching children, setting an example
*Using scrap paper for notes instead of buying notepads
*Living closer to your job to lessen the commute
*Using reusable water bottles, drinking tap water or using a water filter
*Replacing incandescent bulbs with CFLs
*Using reusable containers for packing food instead buying food packaged as single servings.
*Breastfeeding
*Keeping the thermostat set at 80
*Eating local and organic produce
*Turning off the water when brushing your teeth
*Composting
*Using nontoxic cleaners and laundry detergent, eliminating pesticides in the garden
*Mending, making and refashioning clothing
*Using a push mower instead of gas, buying indigenous plants for your yard to save water
*Investing in solar power
*Reading the newspaper on-line
*Donating what you do not need to charity

Wow! Great stuff! It was really really hard deciding between all the great comments so I am picking 3 instead of 2 people. Here they are…..

1. Linda (yiffersgirl)
   
2. Sarah (princabessa)
   
3. Melanie(gemstonegoddess)

Please email me (see sidebar) with your address and leave a comment with your first and second choice of bag on this post. (see bag link for choices)

Thanks again for all of the great support and comments. If anyone is interested, I could do a tutorial for these pillowcase bags. They are really easy and fun to make.

Here are my favorite blogs with a good eco-friendly vibe. Check ‘em out:

Greeen as a thistle : Eco Mom Challenge : Sew Green : Simply Green : Great Green Goods : Niki-Shell : Simple Acts of Green : The Worsted Witch

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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!

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.

We’ve had a great weekend celebrating Mother Earth. To me, Earth Day is something that should happen on a daily basis. Little things can be done every day to help.

Replacing regular lightbulbs with CFL’s (Compact flourescent light) is one very easy thing we can all do. I pledge to have all of the lights (18) in my home changed to CFL’s by the years end. Right now half have been switched over. Thanks to a post on TreeHugger, I got a free CFL at Home Depot today. They weren’t exactly handing them out, or even advertising this. I had to go to the customer service counter and ask for one. Still, easy enough.

Being Earth Day and all, I thought now would be a good time to introduce my family’s new earth friendly vehicle. She is a 1983 Mercedes wagon- turbo diesel, which means she can run on biodiesel. What is even more impressive about her is that she has been converted to run on used vegetable oil (from restaurants). We managed to make a deal with a restaurant owner- He saves all his used oil and we pick it up on a weekly basis. It’s free to us and saves him having to pay someone else to dispose of it. Besides being labor intensive for my wonderful husband (getting, filtering and storing), it really feels great driving around petrol free! So what if we smell a little like chinese food as we drive down the road. A whole heck of a lot better than the smell of diesel or gasoline.

There is so much more that I do on a daily basis, like recycling, conserving water and energy where I can, eating vegan, buying thrifted etc. I just want to do what I can to tread as lightly as possible on this beautiful green earth. I do it for myself and for my very precious children, ALL children really, because they are our future and what a great way to really let them know we care.

P.S. I love this post and these(yum)!

Another year has flown by and the holidays are over, I am officially ready to start the new year. Every year I make a list of things I want to accomplish and every year most of them get lost in the wash. This year I thought I’d skip the list, but I love making lists! Then I saw Krista’s list and the groovy way she categorized it. Before you know it, I’m listing and categorizing. I also wanted this list to be comprised of things that would make me a better and happier person — enriched.

Personal

* Make more time for my friends. With no family in town, I’ve been realizing how important having friends can be. People to hang out with - kick back and have fun. I tend to become hermit-like on my days off, not wanting to leave the house or even pick up the phone.
* Call my sisters more often - they make me laugh.

Family

* Make weekly hikes with my family a priority. We love spending time outdoors together enjoying all of nature’s goodness.
* Organize easy and healthy recipes for Daddy to use on the days that I work. Ones that don’t rely entirely on the convenient frozen vegetarian items he loves so much.

Creative

* Sew clothes for myself.
* Open up shop to sell my goodies (really, this is the year!)
* Complete a collection of maternal/child themed paintings.

Environmental

* Teach my children the importance of water and energy conservation by setting good examples as parents. Show them we care about the environment.
* Consume less. Really become more aware of what I buy and ask myself, “Do I really, really need this?” Buy environmentally friendly items, support handmade and buy thrifted!

Professional

* Become a certified lactation consultant at my hospital to promote and support breastfeeding among the post-partum patients. More importantly, educate my fellow co-workers so they may be more supportive of breastfeeding.
* Learn Spanish so that I may communicate more effectively with my Spanish-speaking patients.