Green Options » purses

The Feel Good Gift of the Season: Recycled Plastic Purses

Terri Bly — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:44:33 +0000

In case you haven’t noticed, I try to avoid writing only about things going on in the world of cosmetics and beauty products. In particular, I try to avoid blatently promoting my business, The Nature of Beauty. This is because I am passionate about all things eco-friendly, or I wouldn’t have started the business in the first place.

However, today I am making an exception because I really want to share with you our exclusive holiday offering. And it’s not even really about The NOB. It’s about my other passion: helping women in third-world countries establish businesses.

From Kim White: A Handbag Named Desire

Terri Bly — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:17:14 +0000

I try to make it a perennial resolution not to spend much of my mental energy coveting other people’s talents. But then I read about women like Kim White, and I turn (a distasteful shade of) green with envy.

Once upon a time, as the story goes, White just happened to stumble upon a warehouse full of unused vintage fabrics originally manufactured to upholster cars from the ’70’s and ’80’s. Unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately), they never got their day in the sun due to the collective American realization that gaudily upholstered car seats were ugly. Whereas I might have looked at that pile and said, “Huh, interesting. Now where did I see that Dunkin’ Donuts,” White realized that what might have made for an ugly car seat could instead be transformed into a showroom full of gorgeous handbags, and so she purchased the entire lot. And made a bunch of gorgeous handbags. I, on the other hand, made no gorgeous handbags and gained 5 lbs from eating all those donuts. Life is so unfair!!

Rather than whine at length about my lack of artistic vision, I will share a link to Kim’s site so you can look at her craftswomanship yourself. I have seen and touched these works of art at Eco-tique in St. Paul, MN. They truly are awe-inspiring. Warning: If you are a purse-purchasing addict in recovery due to the economic downturn, do NOT click the following link to read the rest of this entry.

No Limit Hold’em: Make a Playing Card Bag

Autumn Wiggins — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:11:14 +0000

Every time I play Monopoly with my husband, he mercilessly beats me, and proceeds to rub it in my face for a solid 12 hours.

Well friends, revenge is mine. His precious Park Avenue will someday soon find itself permanently affixed to the bottom of a mod looking purse. To add insult to injury, I also get to steal his duct tape.

EBay UK Now Has a Fairer Side

Brady Swenson — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 17:00:50 +0000

EBay UK is getting on board the Fair Trade bus. The company just launched a portal that allows shoppers to easily find Fair Trade certified goods on the site. The interface is Flash-based, rather nifty and easy to use.

Browsing around, you can find information in the dozen or so Fair Trade sellers listed on the portal now (many of the UK's pioneering Fair Trade brands are there) as well as information about Fair Trade broken down by region. Each region highlights a Fair Trade artisan cooperative with its story and photographs. A couple of clicks in and your taken to the familiar eBay product listing where you'll be able to easily stay in the Fair Trade realm of eBay UK with quick links to all certified sellers as well as category links.

It's great to see one of the Internet's shopping giants embrace Fair Trade in this manner. It makes business sense that eBay is trying this out in the UK first as Fair Trade is much more established there than it is in the US. However, it would be nice to see this feature appear for US-based Fair Trade retailers. You can contact eBay (you can proceed as a 'Guest' at the Login prompt) telling them how much you'd like to see a similar portal for the US.