Harmonious Produce Bag FREEBIE!!!!

How about a freebie?? Harmony is coming to visit Nashville, can't wait! In her honor, we are giving away SEVEN sets of 3 produce bags. Yup, you read it right, SEVEN people will win some great produce bags (sizes vary) to cut down on plastic use even more!

You can also make some produce bags for friends and family from the pattern HERE. They are so very simple, I hope you do! I changed these a bit and put small hair binders on them for closure instead of the ribbon the pattern calls for. I found the tiny binders at Target, but I'm sure you can find them elsewhere.

Anyone is eligible to enter the freebie, even if you have won in a previous freebie. ALSO, if you do not have a shopping bag from us yet, leave some kind words for Bagette Dad in your comment & he will send one to you! :)

To enter:

•LEAVE A COMMENT, IN THE COMMENT LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN THIS FORMAT: name(at)something(dot)com it is important to spell out dot and at so you don't get spam, if you DO NOT leave an email address, we will not hunt you down to send you a freebie, thanks. We promise not to share your email with anyone. Ever.

•DEADLINE TO LEAVE A COMMENT FOR THE FREEBIE IS MIDNIGHT (CST) Monday, November 1, 2010.

SEVEN winners will be drawn at random. Good luck!  Teresa

POSTING IS CLOSED.

Vacuum!

Back in June, I posted about Electrolux making a vacuum from beach plastic.

Well, guess what? I just got a comment from Grace telling me about this:

Isn't she pretty? And made all from beach plastic! Yay!

Read all about the vacuum HERE and even more HERE and watch this great video:

Heard any great green news lately? Please share and I'll post! Teresa

Louisiana Bag!

Dear Teresa:  The attached photo (taken late Sept. 2010) is a picture of myself and my niece, Olivia, at a soccer game in Worthington, Ohio.

I am carrying my green lady bag #12301; my niece is carrying her mom's (my sister) bag #11794.  

I use my bag all the time and have told your story to many people here in SW LA.  

Best wishes and thank you!  Juliet Emerson, Lake Charles, LA

Greenwashing. . .

Heard of it?

Software to Hold “Greenwashers” Accountable

By: Hunter Richards

Accounting Market Analyst, Software Advice
on 10/25/2010

Greenwash (verb, \ˈgrēn-wȯsh\) – to market a product or service by promoting a deceptive or misleading perception of environmental responsibility.

It’s no secret that “going green” has become the next big thing in the corporate world. Riding the wave of consumers’ growing interest in environmental sustainability, companies are launching major ad campaigns to tout their green credentials. But many of their claims are misleading or downright false. The ads are compelling, but how are we to know who’s telling the truth? “Greenwashing” is eroding the credibility of well-intentioned green businesses and turning would-be green consumers into skeptics.

Read the rest of the blog entry HERE. Leave a comment and let Hunter know your opinion.

Less than 6 minutes

I'm worried about this. . .

Seafood Crisis

Time for a Sea Change

Too many hooks in the water. That’s the problem with today’s fisheries. Working from small pole-and-line boats to giant industrial trawlers, fishermen remove more than 170 billion pounds of wildlife a year from the seas. A new study suggests that our current appetite could soon lead to a worldwide fisheries collapse.

By Paul Greenberg

Photograph by Jonathan Clay

Just before dawn a seafood summit convenes near Honolulu Harbor. As two dozen or so buyers enter the United Fishing Agency warehouse, they don winter parkas over their aloha shirts to blunt the chill of the refrigeration. They flip open their cell phones, dial their clients in Tokyo, Los Angeles, Honolulu—wherever expensive fish are eaten—and wait.


To continue reading this story from National Geographic, click here.

Bright Idea!

Bottle So Beautiful And Full Of Light!

Bottle Light: the concept is simple, instead of trashing an empty PET Bottle, squish it properly and screw it onto the modular aluminum LED enclosure! Normally we just end up discarding the bottle, but using it in this manner; we can get vivid shapes and refracted colors for lights. I know this idea will click in theme restaurants that are eco-centric. Not much costs involved since you need to invest only in a couple of those LED lights and holders.

The Bottle Light won a Liteon Award this year!

Designers: YaRan Chang, Hsin Chou Liao, Chung en Lee & Simon Shih

via Yanko Design

and Sunday. . .

Somehow, I didn't manage to get my camera out today, but I got to see the following Bagettes: Dad, Kathleen, Connie, Leyla, Ann, April and Barbara. Yay! I love these people so very much. They keep this whole project going. It would be NOWHERE without them. Really. I would have stopped long ago as I would not have been able to keep up. Thanks for a fun day everyone. Teresa

P.S. Stay tuned for a freebie this week! I'll post as soon as I have photos!

Saturday at the Loveless. . .

Then on Saturday, my dear friend Brittany got married at the Loveless Cafe. Lovely ceremony, handsome couple, a fun night with my sweetie. . .yay! Teresa

Friday at Cheekwood. . .

I'm behind on posting (mother-in-law in town) so I will start to catch up. Friday Little Girl's class went to Cheekwood to see the Chihuly exhibit. Oh MY! I was stunned, I can't wait to see it at night LIT UP! If you live here in Nashville, or within a few hours, it is well worth the TRIP!!! If you are not familiar with Chihuly and his glass creations, go here. Teresa

California Bag!

Hello Teresa,

Here is a silly pic of me at the farmers market with my beautiful bag. Again many thanks!!!!

Cheers,

Holly

Ship-2-Shore Education Program Coordinator
Algalita Marine Research Foundation
http://algalita.org/

From Mother Nature Network. . .Go STAPLES!

Staples buys electric delivery trucks (That was easy)

Staples just ordered 41 Smith Electric Vehicles trucks to deliver office supplies. Smith is on a roll, with 176 trucks awaiting delivery to Frito-Lay. The company is sold out until mid-2011.

Wed, Oct 20 2010 at 11:41 AM EST

By Jim Motavalli

SPECIAL DELIVERY: The Smith truck in Staples livery. (Photo: Smith Electric Vehicles)

 

Office supply giant Staples just became the latest customer of the enterprising Smith Electric Vehicles, which has already placed its battery-powered delivery trucks in fleets run by Frito-Lay, Coca-Cola, PG&E and AT&T. Smith's British parent company is currently delivering a fleet to Iceland.

Read the entire story HERE.

South Africa Bag!

Teresa
As promised, a photo of my green bag "12316" with its own carry bag I made to keep it handy when shopping. The first use was for yummy goodies I needed for a birthday party! It is my favourite bag to take with.

Thank you again.
Greetings from our sunny South Africa.
Mariana Boshoff

Yay Stoneyfield!

Multipack cups are now made from plants.

All of the Stoneyfield multipack cups (yogurt 4-pack and 6-pack cups) are now 93% made from a plant-based plastic. Previously, multipack cups were made from polystyrene PS #6 plastic.

This one move—from traditional petroleum-based plastic to plant-based plastic—reduces the multipacks' climate-change impact by nearly half. Over its life cycle, plant-based plastic uses less energy and emits 48% less greenhouse gases than polystyrene.

To find out more about the new multipack cups made from plants, read FAQs and watch the videos at Stonyfield.com/madefromplants.

Dear Mother Earth. . .

Dear Mother Earth--

Bats are amazing. Here are 13 reasons why:

1. only mammal that can fly
2. a single brown bat can catch around 1200 mosquitos per hour
3. they don't suck blood
4. high metabolism, they can digest fruit in 20 minutes
5. fewer than 10 people in the last 50 years have contracted rabies from them
6. echolocation, how cool is that?
7. bats make up 1/4 of all mammals (wow)
8. many are endangered
9. their wings are insulating
10. scientists studying bat saliva to help human blood flow
11. only one baby per year
12. can live up to 30 years
13. very clean

As amazing as they are, I still don't want them flying in my house. Thanks Bagette Dad for getting the bat out of my closet last night. (Yup, you are seeing correctly, Bagette Dad wears a "nerd pack" his term, not mine.)

Love--Teresa

Ohio Bag!

Hi Teresa!

Thank you so much for Bag Number 11170! The heavy plastic bag I got as part of a 5K race information packet and used for longer than anticipated for frozen food finally bit the dust. My sewing machine and serger were in the repair shop for a long time on life support. Of course the family still clamored for food, which meant I still had to shop. The Green Bag Lady Bag came at just the right moment!

I'm including a photo of me breaking in Bag #11170. My husband and I went to Target and we bought an impromptu Halloween decoration as well as our planned items. Everything fit in the bag nicely! Quite possibly a little too nicely. I put the bag on the belt ahead of the items I wanted to buy so the woman at the cash register would have it to bag my items. She kept looking for a price tag and didn't' realize it was my own!

Thank you so much!

Sincerely,
Lisa Nelsen-Woods

Tuesday Tidbits. . .

Another blog that I read occasionally does "Tuesday Tidbits" so I thought maybe I would give it go. . .

*I can't sew with shoes on. In fact, I prefer bare feet. Anyone else?

*I adore dark chocolate but won't touch milk chocolate.

*I am a vegetarian who eats fish on occasion.

*I own 6 sewing machines but have several (8!) more that were donated for the project.

*I drink only water. I tried green tea for a while, didn't stick.

*I watch one TV show per week, any guesses?? Hint: it's on ABC

I hope you are having a good week! Teresa

Russia Bag!

David, i've got bag! Thanks a lot, it's so amazing. Teresa is wonderful woman! I see this bag has golden hands. In Russia if someone good in handmade, for example, sewing, knitting, we call him "golden hands". Your daughter has golden hands, as my bag:) that makes my bag more special for me:) thanks again for your mission, now i'll try to do such bags for my friends due to Teresa tutorial
Regards to your family

Anastacia K.--Perm, PERM KRAI, RUSSIA

ps i attached photo with bag number, so you can see it's reach to Russia:)

Oregon Bag!

hi bagette dad,
any way you could forward this to teresa? i keep forgetting to get her email off the bag and bring it to work with me... where the computer and photos are. wanted to get them there before i forget! :)
thanks! (this is my son packing tomatoes from our csa box into our new green bag lady bag.)
mary beth (newport, oregon bag!)

In case you need labels. . .

Visit www.namemaker.com to save 20% off most web items. Use the coupon code: fall2010 on the summary page when you check out. Make sure you enter it in all lowercase letters and as one word with no spaces.

This coupon can only be used once per customer. This coupon expires October 21, 2010, at midnight EST. Coupon CAN NOT be used retroactively for orders purchased prior to this sale- no exceptions apply. Coupon must be entered on the web at the time your order is placed. We are unable to adjust your order to use the coupon, once the order is processed through.  Coupon is only valid for web orders and can not be used over the phone or by mail. Coupon can not be combined with any other offers & is not valid on sale items. Sale is also not valid on sweet selections gift wrap that is already value priced at $10.95 per roll, wine tags, logo items, custom items or items not available on our website.  All of Name Maker's terms and conditons are available for review online.

Busy Saturday. . .

We had a busy day yesterday. First we went to The Big Stitch at Fifty Forward and gave out bags to fifty people, who were busy knitting and crocheting items for special causes. These causes ranged from blankets for seniors, hats for babies, etc.

Putting the bag to good use right away!

Then, we went to Bob Bernstein's house that is under construction. The cool part is that they are using straw and plaster for insulation. Isn't that great? Many volunteers have helped with this project. We were there giving the workers bags to help thank them for their efforts. Bob is the owner of Bongo Java which is one of our fabulous sponsors! I can't wait to see the finished house! It's just 2 blocks from mine.

Thanks for a fun day everyone! Teresa

Pet Bed!

I get photos of people using their bags all the time (thanks, I would love some more, hint hint) but rarely do I get photos of furry friends using the pet beds made from our scraps. This one comes from Heidi Huerta here in Nashville. Thanks Heidi! Teresa

Tags on the pet beds read:
Scrappy Nappy
Made entirely of scraps from
the Green Bag Lady project
www.greenbaglady.org

9 minutes! Must watch!

From Mother Nature Network

30 things you should never compost or recycle

Though recycling and composting are two of the most important green practices, there are some items that are bad for the environment. Follow these guidelines for best practices.

By Chris Baskind

LIKE OIL AND WATER: These items don't mix with recycling. (Photo: john nolan photography/Flickr)

Remember the good ol' days — back when we only had one bin for trash? In retrospect, those days were actually more wasteful than good. We sent things to the landfill that might have nourished our yards, and buried them side-by-side with materials which should have been reclaimed and put back in the production chainToday, most of us have two bins: one for compost, and another for recycling. They're great for reducing curbside trash, but not everything is suitable for one bin or the other.

 

We've rounded up 30 things people mistakenly try to compost or recycle. In the case of composting, we chose items generally avoided by experienced compost gurus. For recycling, we've picked things prohibited by most municipal sytems, or of limited use to commercial recyclers. Ready? To the bins!

For the complete list click HERE.

Russia Bag!

Hello! Thank you very much for a bag! She arrived just in time for birthday - tomorrow I celebrate 22 years. And the coloring was a pleasant surprise - I really like the blue hues
of color. I am sending you a picture of my son with the bag.


Once again, thank you very much! I will definitely enjoy this wonderful bag, they gave me a very cute!


Maria Dikova--Dzerzhinsk, NIZHEGORODSKAYA, RUSSIA

Hendrik Kerstens

I am now completely intrigued by artist Hendrik Kerstens because of this photo:

A little about the image:

In his portraits, Hendrik Kerstens's model, daughter Paula, is always depicted as austere and serene, illuminated with a characteristically Dutch light that Vermeer was able to capture so subtly. Kerstens's Bag was conceived in New York, where he noticed the excessive about of plastic bags given away in shops. As a humorous reaction to this environmental problem, he photographed a plastic bag in the style of a seventeenth-century cap.

Thank you to my friend Ling Yen for sending it my way! Teresa

Winners!

Vintage Fabric Freebie winners are:

Tracy Pulley
Sherri Irving
Melanie Lunsford
Hayley

And, anyone who doesn't have a bag will get one too!

You will be hearing from my father, Bagette Dad, shortly. Congrats! Teresa

Famous Friend. . .

Remember THIS POST when I talked about the wedding I went to and they had a Smilebooth there? Well, look at this, my friend Delaney and her hubby are now on Martha Stewart Real Weddings! Isn't that cool? The best thing, all the flowers in the middle of the tables were made from magazine pages. They looked great and can be recycled! Happy day! Teresa

Additional note from Delaney:
Yay, thanks T! We actually recycled a TON of stuff around the wedding... all the glass jars we used on the tables were either cleaned from our homes (like jam jars, etc) or bought at thrift stores. We used the compostable corn cups and spoons for the snowballs and lemonade, as well. The idea of throwing away big bags of garbage after our wedding was just something I wasn't down with! Thanks so much for the shout-out!

xo Dmg.
delaney mae

One more day. . .

to enter the FREEBIE below! Remember, if you don't already have a bag from us, we will send you one just for entering! Teresa

Vintage Fabric FREEBIE!

Don't live in Nashville? Couldn't make it to Threadfest? It's ok, Bagettes April & Kathleen and I went for you! Look at some of the fun things we found. . .

FOUR fun vintage sets. Each set includes VINTAGE FABRIC (yardage varies), notions and thread on WOOD SPOOLS. Want one of the sets? We will pick 4 lucky winners at random to win!

Also, anyone that enters that DOES NOT have a Green Bag Lady bag yet will get one! Double YAY!

Do the following to enter this freebie:

•LEAVE A COMMENT, IN THE COMMENT LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN THIS FORMAT: name(at)something(dot)com it is important to spell out dot and at so you don't get spam, if you DO NOT leave an email address, we will not hunt you down to send you a freebie, thanks.

•DEADLINE TO LEAVE A COMMENT FOR THE FREEBIE IS MIDNIGHT (CST) Wednesday, October 13, 2010.

FOUR winners will be drawn at random. Good luck!  Teresa

Tennessee Bag!

:D

OK I just saw a post about the speediest bag/picture of recipient response, 

I'm likely the s l o w e s t

YES I did (finally) sew the "take one, make one" bag from the May give-away and it actually stayed in the family as we try to live more without plastic.

Here's a pic of Jayne and bag # 9786 at the Chattanooga Sunday Market.  It's one of the Top Ten Markets in Tennessee, so I thought it would be a good idea to sport my TOMO bag there.

Thank you Harmony Art for the fabric and thank you Green Bag Lady for acting on a brilliant idea.  Thank You Bagette Dad for your support as well.

Sincerely,

Jayne Cagle Chattanooga, TN

Grandma to the next generation of MOTO seamstresses, Alli and Laney from Asheville, NC

350 Work Day today!

Green Bag Lady participate in the 350.org 10/10/10 work day! We had a great time and 2 new bagettes showed up today to help. They were adorable and sweet and we are thrilled that they could join us. Thanks for coming Joanne and Doris!

Back row, me, Bagette Carole, (new) Bagette Joanne, (new) Bagette Doris
Front row, Bagette Kathleem (who also showed up with 100, yes, 100 completed bags!!!!) and Bagette Dad

Have a great week everyone, please leave a comment and let us know if you participated in a 350.org event in your area! Teresa

I do make things besides bags. . .

. . .and I can prove it!

Ok, so technically 2 of the above items ARE bags. Can't help myself. Besides, I HAD to use up the extra fabric, didn't I? Here are the details, flower girl dress for a friend's wedding, pattern: Wrights New Look 6309, fabric Echino Ornament in Teal, found here. I'm in love with the fabric. More Echino prints found here. Have a great week, stay tuned, I'm posting a VINTAGE FABRIC freebie SOON! Teresa