Is there a sweatshop in your home?

IS THERE A SWEATSHOP IN YOUR HOME? HUNDREDS OF EVENTS PLANNED NATIONWIDE TO ENCOURAGE AMERICANS TO “FAIR TRADE YOUR HOME”

Events to Provide Simple But Effective Tips For Creating a Fair Trade Home; Common Household Sweatshop Items That Can be Fairly Traded are Clothing, Home Goods and Chocolate.

WASHINGTON, D.C.//April 29, 2010//Is there a sweatshop in your home? For millions of Americans, the answer is an unwitting yes. Americans across the country can find out how to replace goods made in sweatshops with fair trade products at hundreds of events taking place across the U.S. over the course of the next two weeks to mark World Fair Trade Day on May 8th (http://www.fairtraderesource.org/wftd-10/). They can also win great fair trade prizes by submitting pictures of fairly traded goods in their homes (http://www.fairtraderesource.org/wftd-10/fair-trade-my-home-contests/).

Most Americans would be appalled to learn of the extent to which the everyday items that they use in their homes are produced in sweatshops or even by slave labor. Widely used household items that fall into this category are all forms of clothing – from t-shirts to dress clothes to jewelry, home goods – including furniture and decorative items, and foods – including chocolate, coffee, sugar and spices. World Fair Trade Day organizers are calling on Americans to get those sweatshop items out of their home and to instead “Fair Trade your home” to support farmers and artisans worldwide.

World Fair Trade Day national campaign coordinator, and Executive Director, Fair Trade Resource Network Jeff Goldman, said: “There are lots of reasons to celebrate Fair Trade as we bring dignity and justice to millions of vulnerable farmers and artisans around the world. By committing to use Fair Trade goods at home, we can enjoy high quality and take action to improve our world.

The Fair Trade system helps producers and suppliers earn a living wage and take steps to protect the environment. It also serves to empower individuals and communities, support women’s and children’s rights, promote dignity and respect, and connect developing nations with developed nations and markets.

World Fair Trade Day is the largest Fair Trade event in North America, with over 65,000 people having participated in 2009. In the U.S., small businesses, high schools, universities, churches, groups and individuals will be raising awareness about the benefits of buying Fair Trade products. The theme of this year’s events is “Fair Trade My Home”. Events across the country include: scavenger hunts, coffee tastings, dinner parties, arts and crafts festivals, and so much more.

Major co-sponsors of World Fair Trade Day include nonprofit and faith-based organizations, such as Green America, Catholic Relief Services, Fair Trade Towns and Fair for Life, as well as retail companies, such as Ben and Jerry’s, Wholesome Sweeteners, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, and Anti-Body.

5 TIPS TO “FAIR TRADE YOUR HOME”

Some of the best ways to get rid of sweatshop items in your home and to go Fair Trade are as follows:

* Purchase Fair Trade Coffee, Tea, Sugar, and Cocoa: When conventionally purchased, these popular food items are often grown in “sweatshops in the fields.” Buying them Fair Trade Certified™ means that farmers are being paid a fair wage and communities are being supported.

* Purchase Fair Trade clothes – from t-shirts, to shoes to dresses, there is beautiful Fair Trade clothing from all over the world made by artisans who are paid a living wage.

* Buy Fair Trade Home goods – plates, tablecloths, and even furniture can be purchased Fair Trade.

* Buy Fair Trade handicrafts – from vases to sculptures to rugs – Fair Trade artisans produce beautiful crafts. And, when you purchase them from Fair Trade organizations, you know that no child labor or sweatshops were involved.

* Gift Fair Trade – You can purchase Fair Trade toys for kids, sculptures for adults, and chocolate for everyone on your list. When you gift Fair Trade, you are giving a high quality product and introducing someone to the value of purchasing Fair Trade every day.

ABOUT WORLD FAIR TRADE DAY

On and around May 8th, people in 80 countries worldwide will hold events to mark World Fair Trade Day in order to highlight the importance and benefits of Fair Trade. Across North America, participants are entering “Fair Trade My Home” contests. Both individuals, as well as organizations, will win Fair Trade prizes for bringing Fair Trade, or deepening Fair Trade, in their homes. Fair Trade supporters will host hundreds of events to encourage the public to take home many Fair Trade items, and enter the contests. Events such as festivals, fashion shows, speeches, food and drink tastings, film showings, sports games, neighborhood crawls, and concerts are being planned to help celebrate the day from May 1-15.

Last week For April Giveaway of Mystery Monday

Ok, today's picture is the last one for April so make sure to get your guesses in by May 2nd. I will draw and announce the winner on May 3rd.


Directions on how to enter can be found in this post.

Last weeks Photo can be seen here.

Have fun guessing!

Happy Earth DAY!

Today is the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. People around the world are celebrating in many different ways. http://www.earthday.net/earthday2010

I have been trying to make my life and my business more earth friendly for years now. I guess I've always done some kind of recycling or re-purposing in one way or another. Not wanting to throw anything out 'just in case' I can find a reuse for it or make a decorative art piece or 'new' piece of clothing out of it.

For my business I rarely buy packaging, instead I reuse packaging that has been sent to me, unless it's too torn or dirty. I buy a few manila envelopes to ship in but the inside container most likely uses recycled components. But I've also been making my own shipping envelopes from old magazines. Some even contain recycled bubble wrap for extra protection. I want to cut down on the resources of the earth that I use as well as to make sure my products arrive in perfect shape for my customer. At times I've used recycled clear Cassette tape boxes to hold and protect my beads. I tape a business card on the inside lid, wrap my beads up individually in fresh tissue and close the lid. Then I have a strong, solid container to pop into one of my handmade envelopes to ship.

My local post office has two ladies who when my husband shows up with my shipping have to stop and look over each one. They are fascinated with my packaging and ingenuity. They have never given a problem with it as I've heard some Postal workers do. I even have recycled little labels my husband brought home from the office where they used only a portion of a sheet of printer labels and were throwing the rest away. These make handy stickers I can write anything I want on. I usually use them for labels such as: 'Handle with Care', 'Fragile', 'Please', or use them for directions for the postal worker to know where I want the postage put and where I'd like the customs slip placed. One time I did not include these and the poor woman didn't know what to do. She didn't want to ruin my beautiful art envelope and lamented to my husband, 'She didn't put the stickers where to put the postage and customs tag!". :) I make sure to do that from now on. :)

I hope you enjoy your Earth Day, in the following weeks I will be introducing you to some great new Earth friendly products I've been discovering. So stay tuned and go out and enjoy the Earth today! 611

What's new Wednesday?

I wish I had some more OWOH finished pieces to show you but alas, I have been spending too much time enjoying the beautiful Spring weather. I have made some progress though.

I also joined a related swap called 'Share the Love' from Linda and Heidi at Natural Suburbia.



Today I received my gift from my Swap partner (I need to get hers out to her too!) and it is this lovely felted heart ring. I have seen many felted items especially since becoming a member of Etsy almost two years ago but this is my first felted piece! It is very lightweight and soft. And Roseann of Cute Little Thing at etsy makes some of the cutest felted items I've seen. Like these teeny birds nests......................shown resting on her fingers. She makes larger ones too!

And these adorable Bunnies in the Cabbage patch, love their little Cottontails, or woolly tails!

I love my new heart ring and more than that the love that went into it by this sharing and caring person. Roseann, your gift will be out to you shortly! I promise!. :)


I also wanted to share a little on the OWOH event which is still sharing love around the world. I showed you last week the things I had sent off to 2 of my winners. The Swinging on a Breeze necklace went to Jennifer Vanier of Adventures in Mixed Media. She was so thrilled that she sent to me, (hat she called a 'little' box), of some beads and findings she had collected over the years. She is not a jewelry maker and gathered these things together to gift me with. I expected a small box with a few dozen assorted beads and such but what arrived at my doorstep overwhelmed me to say the least! It took me hours to sort all through it, admiring each bead, finding and treasure. Here is a picture of the beads once I got them all sorted out. Click to enlarge so you can see all the wonderful beady goodness!

There are Glass beads, metal beads, coral, stone, semi-precious, shells, ceramic, hand made glass beads and more! And these are just the beads! There was also beading wire, focal beads and bags of findings. Is that a wonderful gift of sharing love? This is what I love about these swaps, the good will keeps going and with these beads I shall continue that, either with swaps, or gifts, such as I have in mind for the postal ladies that go ga-ga over my handmade envelopes and packages everytime my husband takes them to the PO. I know they take special care with my packages so they reach my customers, friends and new friends from swap meets, in good condition, so I will start with them first..................but before that even, a BIG THANK YOU to the generous lady, Jennifer! I am blessed to have meet you through the OWOH event!

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Honestly, Have you heard? More Treasurys than ever! (and tips for PC artists)

Honesty Photo by HazyDaisy.etsy.com

Have you heard the news at Etsy? They have made their newest Treasury making application in Beta version live now called Treasury East. You can read all about it here. (See below for how to use this newest feature as an artists color inspiration tool. )

Being part of a Treasury Team (our website) at Etsy Called Team T International (our blog) one of our main activities is of course, making Treasuries!

It was always difficult to remember to look and see when they would open, and then remember when that was and I forgot and missed way too many times! If you too have been frustrated by this, Treasury East is for you! You don't have to worry about being at your computer when it opens, and hope to get one of the 'prized slots'. You instead can go here 24/7 and start your Treasury. AND now ALL 16 slots show up in your treasury, no alternates!

Also these don't have an expiration date and you can change them around all you like. There are some hints when you fill them out on the side but there's a couple I did not know about until I experienced it a few times doing my first one and I'd like to share with you to save you some time and trouble.

When you do a Treasury Main or Treasury West you have to wait to get the Make your treasury screen open up. If you get your title in and click to make your treasury, it is made and saved in the system. You don't have to fill it in right away and you can come back and find it easily. It is different with Treasury East. You click to make a new treasury from a different way but even though you put in a title and start adding your items it is not saved! If you hit the back button, you loose it all. So, be aware of that when going back and forth getting the listings you want to add to your treasury. Frequently save (at the bottom of the page you will see the SAVE button) your item additions. And also there is no OK button. Once you enter your listing number in the slot under the picture frame you have to hit your 'Enter' button, then the item will appear. I suggest to save what you have for each row. That way you won't have to go back and redo it three times like I did! ;)

Here is my first, give it a visit please, even if you don't click on anything, just so I can see how that works. Also you don't have a count of how many clicks on each individual item like before, but a total from all 16 selections on the right side bar.


To make one, go here , then click on the button on the right hand side that says " +New Treasury". You can make as many as you want! On that front page to the left of that link you will also see another link "Your Treasuries" which will take you to a page that has all the Treasury Easts you have made. Have fun!

For those of you that are Polymer Clay artists and have read Maggie Maggios and Lindly Haunani's book 'Color Inspirations' and follow Maggie's blog Maggie Maggio - Smashing Color then you are familiar with her Collages. This is a great opportunity to use this technique without having to go through many magazines and cut out all those pictures. You can use The Explore Feature on etsy 'Color' and make your treasury/collages that way. Give it a try and see how your artwork improves!

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