.tomate d'épingles.: 2008.12

24.12.08

Happy Holidays! Joyeuses Fêtes!

We would like to wish you

Happy Holidays! Joyeuses Fêtes!

We will be here during the Holidays, but taking things slow... and so will Canada Post!

haha

So dont forget that shipping for items will be delayed during the Holidays... but we will be shipping!

buckscountyframes

Nous serons ici durant les Fêtes, mais nous prendrons quelques congés... tout comme Poste Canada!

:o)

Alors n'oubliez pas que la livraison des paquets sera retardée durant les Fêtes... mais nous ne fermons pas nos portes!

23.12.08

.tomate d'épingles. in the Etsy Gift Guides!

We made it to the gift guides!

We where chosen for the Seasonal Fashion Guide!

They loved our recycled leather feather necklace! So do we!

22.12.08

.tomate d'épingles. 2008 Holiday Gift Guide -- my wish list

This is the very last .tomate d'épingles. Holiday Gift Guide for 2008!
I'll end things with my very own wish list.
It's the short version ;o)

knit necklace by oMARITo

repurposed leather purse by hoakonhelga

t-shirt by beta

bracelets by bullfinchbarbury

Mr. Hilby and his Dwelling by PetiteHouse

rings by Meetalls

bird by abigailbrown

posts by manicmetals

wallet by feralgirl

21.12.08

we found : vintage watch parts!

"new vintage"!
it's vintage watch parts, that have never been used

i wanted the vials more than anything, but i will try to find something to do with the parts as well :o)

20.12.08

Meet Dave, the Man Who Never Takes Out the Trash

By Bryan Walsh
Time Magazine

David Chameides is not your average American. For one thing, the TV cameraman owns two Emmy awards — how many do you have? But more importantly, while the average American throws out around 1,700 lbs. of trash annually, for the past year Chameides has thrown out absolutely nothing. A deep green by nature — he also runs a website called Sustainable Dave — beginning in December Chameides decides he would keep all the garbage he created, at home and on the road, in his house. "We have the concept of throwing something away, but in reality, we're just tossing it over our shoulder and forgetting about it," says Chameides. "It wouldn't be so funny if it was really just in your backyard."

Essentially, that's what Chameides has been doing. All of his trash — including recyclables and organic waste like food — is stacked neatly in the basement of his Los Angeles house. He uses a tin box to hold bags of waste paper, and cans of garbage to hold the rest. For organic waste, he put in a worm composter that breaks down leftover food. Beyond that, he didn't create a master plan for his year of no trash. "I didn't really think this through — which is probably for the best," says Chameides. His wife and kids are exempted from the challenge, but not from the neighbors' scoffs. "My wife's friends do make fun of me."

Not only does Chameides carefully pack away any waste he creates at home, he also lugs back trash he may have produced outside the home. Sometimes far outside: On a recent vacation to Mexico with his wife, Chameides dutifully tagged and bagged all the things he would have thrown out, and brought them back with him to the U.S. When he encountered security officials at the airport in Mexico, they were understandably confused. "The woman in the security line opened up my bag and saw all the trash," says Chameides. "She said, 'Que esto?' [What is this?] I told her, 'Basura' — garbage. They just laughed and zipped up the bag."

It didn't take long for Chameides to figure out that the best way to reduce the amount of trash he wasn't throwing away was to simply cut back on the amount of stuff he consumed in the first place. Given that his nickname is Sustainable Dave, that wasn't too hard. "I'm a non-consumer to begin with," says Chameides. "After a month or two I became aware of just how little I was consuming." Through about eight months, Chameides reckons he's kept a little more than 30 lbs. of trash — most of which dates back to the first couple months of the year, before he got the hang of not taking out the trash. The average American, by contrast, would have passed 1,000 lbs by now. (You can keep track of the trash that Chameides is not throwing out on his blog.)

When the year is up, Chameides says he'll probably have to send his collected waste to the landfill and the recycling center, but the simple act of keeping his garbage has reduced it. "It turned out that it's not that hard," he says. "I'm a pretty normal guy — I just keep my garbage in my basement."

It's easy to mock Chameides's earnest habits, but his quest does highlight an environmental threat that rarely gets attention. Most Americans have now come to believe that littering on the street is wrong, but as Chameides says, just because you throw something out in a proper trashcan doesn't mean it simply disappears. Though America's landfills are in no danger of filling up any time soon, taking out the trash is increasingly costly, with major cities like New York now having to truck their garbage hundreds of miles to reach an open dumping space. That means energy and carbon emissions. Chameides decided to begin his year of no trash after he visited his community's landfill. "It's nearly 40 miles away, and they have 13,000 tons of trash coming in every day," he says. "It's going to close in seven years, and then they'll have to ship the trash all the way to Arizona."

Government and industry can play their part in reducing the trash stream by cutting back on unnecessary waste — especially packaging, which makes up a surprising amount of our garbage. That's a symptom of the sort of culture we've become, one that's disposable, that runs on unthinking convenience. Chameides shows that what we really need to do is simply slow down and think about the waste we're creating, and the easy ways to reduce it, before we end up knee deep in our own garbage. "People ask me, 'Why are you doing this?'" he says. "It's because I want to know more about what my waste footprint is. I don't want to be part of the problem, but part of the solution." That's a sentiment that even average Americans should be able to agree with.

19.12.08

.tomate d'épingles. 2008 Holiday Gift Guide -- geek pride

Here are some gift ideas for the geek in your life.
In my case, that would be me!

Tally Mark Earrings by NinaGibsonDesigns

Book Sculpture by Paperfaerie

Topographical Error silk necktie by toybreaker

Glasses Necklace by TillyBloom

Geek cup and saucer by trixiedelicious

Moustache Pennant by raymondbiesinger

Origami Elephant Purse by Mingus

Knitted Power Cord by KnitKnit

pencil sharpener sculpture by ricochetstudio

The One with Binary Code by JugglingFeats

18.12.08

we found: vintage flash bulbs

17.12.08

Santa?

Are you reading my blog?

This is what I want!

I've been very good this year!

16.12.08

.tomate d'épingles. 2008 Holiday Gift Guide -- i still like to play dress-up

This is my ideal look for the Holiday parties.
I'll have to settle for a little less glam ;o)

dress by lizarietz

hat by RetroReproHandmade

purse by ninu

coat by LittleHouses

bracelets by bullfinchbarbury

flats by HydraHeart

necklace by LemonGrove

earrings by andescruz

15.12.08

Le denim à l'heure du recyclage

Dominique Schroeder
Agence France-Presse

L'esprit «récup» gagne le jean: il se fabrique avec des fibres issues de bouteilles en plastique, et lorsqu'il reste fidèle au traditionnel coton, il peut aussi se réduire en poudre pour devenir papier.

Plusieurs des 64 exposants au salon international Denim by Première Vision, qui vient de se tenir à Saint-Denis, près de Paris, se sont mis au recyclage, affichant des préoccupations écologiques encore discrètes dans l'industrie très polluante du denim.

Chez Hellenic Fabrics, par exemple, Panos Sofianos, chargé de la recherche et du développement, ne veut pas penser simplement bio mais aussi recyclage. «Qu'est-ce qu'on va faire des matériaux qui existent déjà ?» demande-t-il. La société grecque lance donc un denim mélangeant du coton bio et des fibres réalisées à partir de bouteilles d'eau en plastique.

Le coton, cultivé en Grèce, représente 63% des fibres, le polyester, issu de bouteilles collectées notamment en Asie, 37%, indique M. Sofianos. Ce «produit de niche» est vendu «environ 10% plus cher» que les autres denims, précise-t-il.

La société a développé ce tissu non pour des raisons commerciales, mais «100% éthiques», affirme-t-il. «C'est pour l'environnement, pour nos enfants». Ce mélange représente une nouvelle étape pour la société qui avait déjà une ligne bio, explique-t-il.

La société belge Uco Sportswear utilise du «coton recyclé» en invoquant elle aussi «des raisons environnementales».

«Nous récupérons des restes de fils auprès de filatures» en Italie et en Belgique, explique Sibilla Vanderlinden, chargée du développement produit. Mais «c'est moins solide» que les fibres neuves et «pas facile à teindre», explique-telle. La société mélange donc «le vintage avec du polyester» pour plus de solidité et «un effet chiné».

Ce denim, lancé il y a environ deux ans et demi, «n'est pas moins cher» que les autres et représente «moins d'un dixième des ventes», précise Mme Vanderlinden.

De son côté, la société italienne Cadicagroup utilise de vieux jeans, les découpe et les réduit en pâte pour fabriquer des étiquettes.

«Cela fait partie de notre philosophie d'utiliser le plus possible de fibres naturelles et de recycler», explique Paolo Pavarotti, responsable de la communication. Cadicagroup «récupère de vieux jeans auprès des fabricants et revend les étiquettes aux mêmes fabricants».

Le naturel vient aussi se nicher dans des innovations très techniques, comme les «micro-encapsulations», déjà utilisées notamment par les fabricants de bas et collants, et qui gagnent désormais le denim.

Hellenic Fabrics propose ainsi un jean qui fait la peau douce grâce à des actifs contenus dans ses fibres. «Ca fonctionne comme une crème de jour, ça marche comme l'aloe vera», affirme M. Sofianos.

Selon l'étiquette, le produit cosmétique est composé de vitamines et d'huiles essentielles. Il résiste à une dizaine de lavages, précise M. Sofianos.

Le denim lui-même fait peau douce. De nombreux fabricants proposent des tissus «soft touch», c'est-à-dire au toucher très doux obtenu grâce à une enduit. Selon Pascaline Wilhelm, directrice mode de Première Vision, le coton s'associe aussi de plus en plus à des fibres naturelles nobles, comme le cachemire et le lin.

14.12.08

the Indie Fixx holiday card giveaway!

It’s time for you to begin working on your holiday card list… so you can just go ahead & add one more name to your list—-Indie Fixx! Send Indie Fixx a handmade holiday card or postcard and be entered to win a treasure trove of prizes!