Artist Profile #3: Tara Stansberry

My name is Tara Stansberry, I am a 33 year-old self-taught artist living in Portland, Oregon. 

Website: Theshadowgirl.com

I specialize in using recycled materials such as vinyl records, cigar boxes, and canvas. 

Giving green is important to me because it's so much more personal. Every piece you buy from an artist has been crafted by their hands and heart. Growing up, we made gifts because we couldn't afford to buy them from a mall. Each green gift you buy supports an artist, and saves our landfills from being filled with more trash.

Artist Profile #2: Half Moon Farms

Artist: Brenda Lee Calvert 
HalfMoon Farm 
Brush Prairie, WA 

Beekeeper & Artist:  
I am a self-taught artist working out of my studio at my flower and produce farm (HalfMoon Farm) in Brush Prairie. 

My work encompasses many recycled materials; glass, metal, clay, wood, and plastics. Working with such diverse materials lets my creativity and imagination soar. Several different lines of artwork have come from this mixed media including functional, garden and decor. My use of texture along with great attention to color and basic shapes add to the design element of my art.
 
Beekeeping:  I and my husband Bob took up beekeeping around 7 years ago and just love it because it fits into our misson for our farm. We grow a lot of heirloom vegetables, herbs and fresh cut flowers. We also run pasture chickens for fresh eggs. We have 15 Bee hives this year and hope to eventually keep 25-30.  All of our honey is sold in glass containers for better recycling and our honey is Raw. (not pasteurized)  Our goal is to be good stewards of our farm and respect it by using organic practices. 

Artist Profile #1 DukeArt and family

This week, I'll be doing a series of artist profiles. These lovely people are some of the many you will meet this weekend at the Check 'Em Off Green event at the Marshall Center.




Name:  Matt, Steph, Kat and Briayne Dukart

Business Name:  DukeArt, Juicy Jewelry, Pikt - DBA Rock Candy Art

Website:  www.rockcandyart.com

Inspiration:  Finding ways to make fun new things out of materials that some others would have discarded.  Starting this hobby/business has shifted my outlook of things--I now look past the current state of the material and try to see its potential.

Giving green gifts:  'Tis the season of joy and waste.  If we can't reduce the waste, perhaps we can turn that waste into something beautiful. 

The Reuser says: I met Matt about 2 years ago and have since met his beautiful family, as well. They sure are a creative bunch! Above, you saw one of the purses Matt creates out of materials that normally would be thrown away (chip bags and frozen food bags.) 

Here, we see some cute little hamburgers hand-crafted by Stephanie. She makes all kinds of neat jewelry, much of it along the lines of food (a girl after my own heart!) Earlier, when I was perusing their site, I noticed that she made Kat (one of their lovely daughters) a hair clip shaped like bacon.  Awesome!

Their two daughters are also very crafty. Kat makes guitar picks from used gift cards and Briayne makes cute hair accesories, like the one pictured here.

Empower Up Wish list (local non-profit)

Empower Up has just put out their most recent wish list. If you can help out by donating any of the following items, contact them!

Good Afternoon!

Shown below is an updated wish list for Empower Up. Donations are tax-deductible as in-kind donations. Please take a minute to review and see if you have any extra items laying about or if you could donate any of the following (we can always use gift cards!):

Wish List

Office Supplies:

• Receipt Tape for Cash Register
• Thermal Tape for Credit Card Machine

• Hanging File Folders
• Three-ring Binders (w/ Dividers, Clear Inserts, etc.)
• Letter-size Notepads / Spiral Bound Notebooks
• Colored Card Stock
• Printer Ink
• Printable Labels
• Florescent Light Bulbs
• Fine Tipped Dry Erase Markers
• Pens, Sharpies, Highlighters, Rubber Bands, Paper Clips, etc.
• Packing Tape, Masking Tape, Scotch Tape
• USB Flash Drives
• Wire-marking Labels

Kitchen Supplies

• Cups/Plates, Dishware, Sponges, Scrubbers, Towels, Trash Bags, etc.

Restroom Supplies

• Soap, Paper Towels, Hand Sanitizer, Kleenex, Toilette Paper, Air Freshener, etc.

Earth Friendly Cleaning Supplies

• Wipes, Sprays, Dish/Hand Soaps, etc.

First Aid Supplies

• Hypoallergenic Latex Free Band-Aids, Packets of Neosporin, etc.

Volunteer Appreciation Items:

• Gift Certificates / Vouchers (Coffee, Dining, Grocery, Fuel, Movies, Bus Passes, etc.)
• Food Items (Snacks, Treats, Hot Drinks, Pizzas, etc.)
• T-Shirts for volunteers and staff (approx $600)

Gift Certificates for Miscellaneous Purchases

• Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples
• Home Depot, Lowes
• Cash and Carry, Fred Meyer, Walmart, Costco, etc.

One Time Items

• Locking Cabinets
• Office Chairs
• Name Tags
• Deco. / Small Art Pieces/Plants
• Clocks
• Multi-pot Coffee Maker
• Rechargeable AA/AAA/C/D Batteries (w/ Charger)
• Electronics Vacuum Cleaner(s)
• Label Maker
• Cork Bulletin Board
• Small Step Ladder
• Storage Totes
• Components to Repair Computers
• Network Tester
• Stripper/Crimper/Tool Set for Networking
• Power Supply Tester
• Shelves

 Thank you!! 

Let someone else #reuse your holiday decorations

As if you didn't already have enough reasons to come to the Check Em Off, Green event, here's one more. If you're sick of your holiday decorations and want a change, but can't bring yourself to go buy brand new stuff, you can swap out your old stuff with others!

There will be a special section at Check 'Em Off, Green for a decoration swap. Bring in your unwanted decorations from Halloween, Solstice, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year's and any other fall/winter holidays. Leave them for others to reuse. If something catches your eye, take it home with you! No money is exchanged, just a straight-up sharing of community resources.

A study in reuse

My coworker found this photo and sent it on to us, figuring I would appreciate the many reuses shown. And, I do! Don't you? You don't often see this many reuses in one picture; "topsy turvy" planters made from all different sorts of plastic containers, compost pile made from old pallets.  So creative!

original photo

Starbucks coffee cups recycling information

Here's a great article I found on the challenges of and state of current technology for recycling those ubiquitous single-use coffee cups. This article also has a mini-slideshow of the recycling process, which is pretty interesting, especially if you've never seen any of it.

And now, for some good news

The other day, I was on my soapbox about waste and the damage we're all doing to our beloved planet and I felt kinda bad for regaling my audience of one with all the doom and gloom. So, I later sent her a couple pieces of good news to try to make up for it.  This was one of them.

What a cool program!

Pool toys and pantyhose as props

I stumbled upon this fun use of pantyhose, pool noodles, twine, etc as props for the show The Producers.

One of my favorite sentences from the post: "The pantyhose technique is actually really great for props and especially masks because it is cheap, pliable and lightweight...a must if you're going to be balancing a four foot sausage on your head"


Indeed!

I welcome our Google overlords

This Grist article makes me love Google even more than I did before, if that was possible. I love that they seem to "get" it and I love at the end of the article how they mention that it also makes good business sense to invest in clean energy