DIY City Mag’s New Orleans issue came out this week. It’s so amazing to see all of these local artists represented in one place! I was already either familiar with or I’m friends with a lot of them, but some of the NOLA artists featured were new to me too.

I wrote a couple of pieces for it. If you’ve ever wanted to know EVEN MORE about all the amazing things that New Orleans has to offer, check it out. I’m so proud to call this city home and share it with so many incredible people.

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Have you seen or heard Al Gore’s speech from yesterday yet? If not, I HIGHLY recommend it. I listened to the whole thing on NPR yesterday, and found myself nodding along, but there is also footage on YouTube.

If you agree with Gore’s challenge to America, like I do, please add your voice at We Can Solve It and take action. Help spread the word, write a letter to your editor, call your elected officials, contact your utility company, etc.

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I recently did an interview with Danielle of Collective Elements and the {New New} York Etsy Street Team. It was posted to their team’s blog yesterday - go check it out!

The {New New} Etsy Street Team is a diverse group of crafters from the greater New York City area. They participate in events all over NYC, share resources and mentor new members.

As for the lovely Danielle, she loves creating pretty things out of paper, like this handmade card found in her shop Collective Elements.

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Beklina, an amazing online shop dedicated to sustainable fashion has offered MissMalaprop.com readers an exclusive discount code!

Get 35% off all full priced women’s clothing through the end of this month. Just enter the code July35m into the notes box at checkout and once the order is received they’ll email you a confirmation of the refunded discount amount.

Beklina stocks brands like Stewart+Brown, Del Forte, Linda Loudermilk, and EDUN. I love this handmade organic cotton swimsuit by Mociun, and I REALLY love this gorgeous Linda Loudermilk dress made from 100% organic cotton lightweight denim. It’s so strange and beautiful!

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Trashy Diva, my absolute favorite store for over 10 years now, and a company I have had the pleasure of working for in the past, has just been ripped off by one of their wholesale clients. The entire incident makes me absolutely livid. I get so upset seeing indie designers ripped off by big corporations, but when it’s one small business ripping off another, to me that seems even worse. Who raises these people, really?

You can read the full story on Trashy Diva’s Myspace or see the post I wrote about it for Styledash. Please help spread the word, particularly if you have a fashion or design related blog. This is an issue that affects all independent designers. I’ve heard of indies ripping off other indies on Etsy, and I just heard about this screwed up incident right after I got the word of the Trashy Diva rip-off. The whole thing just makes me sick.

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Organic Stereo is a new line of eco-conscious clothing based in Brighton, UK. Fashion designer Marie Rendina just launched her website last month, and it features some really cute clothing made from organic cotton and printed with non-toxic dyes.

I’m really in love with this sailor inspired tunic. The detail on the sleeves is adorable, and the precious anchor buttons on the left shoulder are even made from 70% recycled paper, using a new technology developed in Italy. I’ve never even heard of recycled paper buttons before, but I think they’re really cool!

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Never Ender is an awesome indie boutique that has been operating out of Reno, Nevada for over three years now. It was founded with the goal of selling art-based clothing and accessories for guys and girls by emerging artists and designers, and it features a gallery of artwork as well.

Never Ender recently made the switch from a brick-and-mortar boutique to an even more diverse online store. In addition to a wide array of handmade items, Never Ender also specializes in selling eco-friendly items and they use recycled packaging and paper as much as possible.

I love these adorable hand printed seahorse patches made from recycled fabric by Hearth and Forge. So cute!

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Kling is a line of super-chic vegan clutches and mini handbags. I love the modern stylized designs on these. They’re updated versions of what designer Natasha Kimling Kwan started out making using duct tape a few years back. Her line has evolved from the DIY duct tape aesthetic to something totally wearable and modern.

Check out her about page, where Natasha talks about her choice to use a super soft polyurethane based fabric instead of leather or vinyl. It was an eye-opening experience for her, and while I knew a lot of the information she mentions, some of it was new to me.

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I know I’ve talked about Handmade Nation, the indie craft documentary by director Faythe Levine, here before.

Well, the feature length film is currently on schedule to premier at a 2009 film festival (which festival is still to be determined). The other big news is that Handmade Nation, the book, is scheduled to be out in bookstores this November, but it’s already available for pre-order at Amazon.com. I’m so excited… can’t wait to get my hands on the book or see the full length documentary!

You can catch a sneak preview of the film, check out the blog for updates or shop the Etsy store to help show your support for this amazing project!

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Jessica of La Patisserie Jolie Bath Products contacted me recently and offered to send me some samples of her products to try out. When I received them in the mail, I could smell their delicious goodness before I even opened the package.

Patisserie Jolie began several months ago when Jessica decided to combine her love of baking with her love of bath products. This is a lady with a sweet tooth, so she knew she wanted to focus on sweet, dessert themed soaps. All of her products are vegan and are not tested in animals, and every single one of them looks good enough to eat! I’ve got to admit, just looking at her Etsy shop reminds me of my sister, who is a pastry chef.

I got to sniff and try out the yummy goodness of the oh-so-pretty Chocolate Serendipity Wedding Cake soap, Grapefruit Dreamsicle soap, Creme de cassis soap, and Cherimoya Sorbet soap (this last one was my personal fave out of the bunch). If you love sweet treats and dessert like scents, these are the perfect bath goodies for you!

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The Worn Again Fashion Show was Friday night, and it was a blast! Worn Again Jr. featured kids ages 8-15 strutting their stuff in their own recycled fashions that they made themselves. The main event included more than 50 models and all sorts of recycled fashion - everything from totally wearable stuff that looked like it could have come from a chic department store to amazing costumes to totally avant garde fashion!

The picture here is me on stage in my recycled outfit. I received a bag of clothes and fabric that included this puffy winter vest and some white mattress batting. This is what I transformed it into… You can’t see the detail very well in this picture, but there was a LOT of handsewing and tiny detail that went into this. I had a lot of fun, but I’m so glad it’s over now!

The thrift store art edit was really cool as well… I got this horse drawing that I transformed into something even more utterly ridiculous. (Anyone remember Lisa Frank? That’s what it reminds me of.)

My boyfriend also did an incredible job on his thrift store art piece. I don’t have a picture of the original, but it was this scary clown poster that he turned into an amazing light box with curtains (he sewed them himself on my machine!) and three dimensional hands and bingo balls. It’s Ronny Numbers from The New Orleans Bingo! Show!

You can check out more pictures from this year’s show, as well as a few from last year’s, on my Flickr page.

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I’ve been sewing like mad the last couple of weeks, trying to finish my outfit for the Worn Again Fashion Show and fundraiser for Recycle for the Arts. If you’re in the New Orleans area, be sure to check it out next Friday, June 27th at the Republic. It’s going to be a blast!

Recent notable Etsy purchases include this awesome CD case made from a recycled license plate by OldRedBarn (I got this for my Little Sister’s birthday and included some mixed CDs I made for her) and a sample pack of mineral eyeshadows from PureMineralsSource. The shimmery June Bug shade is absolutely stunning!

I’d also like to direct your attention to my friend Raven’s brand new Etsy shop. Raven is an amazing artist and she’s trying to focus on her art full-time now, particularly doing custom portraits, which she is brilliant at! I encouraged her to set up an Etsy shop as another venue for her work, so go check it out.

Also of note: my friend Autumn over at Strange Folk wanted me to let everyone know that vendor applications for the 3rd annual Strange Folk Festival are being accepted now through July 6th! The 2008 show will be September 27th and 28th, Saturday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. This event is juried, and 120 vendors will be chosen to participate. There is no fee to apply. The vendor fee will be $65, and vendors will have the option of renting a table or bringing their own tent. Last year, Strange Folk hosted 100 indie artists and crafters from across the country in a one day event that attracted over 5,000 attendees from the St. Louis area.

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A week or so ago I was in a doctor’s waiting room back at home in Gulfport, Mississippi and I spotted the most amazing handmade mirrors hanging on the wall near the receptionist. It took me a minute to figure out what the designs around the mirrors were made of… then it dawned on me that these were small squares cut from old soda cans and nailed together to form these beautiful patterns. I fell in love immediately. They would have been beautiful either way, but the fact that they were made from recycled cans made me love them even more. Luckily, there was a business card for the artist on the receptionist’s desk and I picked it up and checked out the artist’s Etsy shop when I got home.

Kathy Taylor Gray creates jewelry from rusty keys and other recycled components in addition to her beautiful mirrors. There is only one mirror currently in her Etsy shop, but I asked her to send me some images of more of her mirrors so I could show them off to you guys. She does such great work, I just had to share!

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