SuperCute!

Today on the radio I happened to catch a snippet of someone talking about the Slow Food movement, in which they were criticizing the concept as elitist. I hear this an awful lot when people talk about organics, the 100-mile diet, ethically-produced animal products and the slow food movement, and I have to admit that it both bothers and puzzles me. The speaker, who’s name I was unable to catch, was bringing up as an example the fact that when politicians want to appeal to the common man, they often position themselves in some fast food chain restaurant, probably with a Whopper and plate of fries in front of them. Fast food, prepared food, factory farmed meat and potatoes, standardized foods… those are the foods of the “True American”. What happened to the “Victory Garden”, and how crazy is it that in just a couple generations we’ve gone from patriotism = self sufficiency to patriotism = buy everything you need from some corporation!?!
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Embarrassing as it is to admit, I started gardening during the sick years, when I had no income, but a lot of time and land galore. We were beyond broke and had so many dinners centered around figs, blackberries and tomatoes that my husband is still suspicious of anything in a canning jar. To hear that growing and eating your own is considered elitist just leaves me speechless.

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There is a lot more I want to say on this subject, but it will have to wait for another post. I need a day or two to collect my thoughts on this matter, right now I’m having a hard time reconciling the happy meal with true happiness.

xoxo,
Lori

About once a month I realize that my shopping list includes items from 4 different chain stores (we have a serious lack of mom and pop stores around here), which will require driving across town in two different directions. When this happens, I usually grudgingly go to the Walmart that sits within scootering distance from my house. It saves gas and time, but I always walk out feeling guilty for giving my money to the Devil.

I mean, WalMart is pretty evil. We all know that. This is just the latest example of their heinous lack of decency. Of course they’re supposedly working on that image and have started carrying locally grown produce, organics and fair trade coffee, but those things I can happily get in other places, so I’m not even tempted to change my habits.

But what happens when they sell things I CAN’T get in another local store? I’ve hunted all over town in the past for recycled shipping products, to no avail. Yet there was a whole line of them sitting proudly in the office supplies aisle at WalMart.

I was further thrown for a loop when I saw they carry planters made from recycled plastic. It’s even #5, which is really hard to recycle here, so in my head they’re getting bonus points for creating a market for the recycling. Hmmm…

So I definitely had to do some thinking on this problem. On the one hand, I was certainly pleased to see these things, but at the same time confused and slightly annoyed that WalMart was the one to be carrying them.

I guess the moral of this story is that nothing is ever simple, and even in the most unlikely places you might stumble onto something great.

xo,

Lori

One of SuperCute’s favorite bloggers has published a really lovely list of 40 steps you can take to start yourself down a greener path. It’s a good read for newbies AND people who’ve already started down the road. Thanks NoImpactMan for such a fabulous list!

40 Steps to a Greener Life

xoxo,

Lori

Check out this post over at GreenUpgrader.com where they use old newspapers to spin a fairly durable yarn, suitable for mats, cushions, all sorts of really cool things! I imagine this would take an awful lot of patience, but how cool?!?!

xo,
Lori

Saw this on Instructables, making presentable gift boxes from old cereal boxes! We make a lot of stuff from our food boxes, but a lot still wind up in the recycle bin. I think I’ll be trying this soon!

xo
Lori

Tonight, our pal Davis is playing a masquerade ball! Obviously, this meant we got together with some friends and made masks for the occasion!

To make the masks, we drew the shapes we wanted with marker onto two pieces of cardboard. You could really use just one piece, but gluing the two pieces together makes for a sturdier finished product. The one pictured above is made from a frozen dinner box. The feather is a single piece of cardboard that’s sandwiched between the two mask pieces. We used glue sticks to decoupage salvaged book pages on top, then added embellishments. I decided my mask would be the shiniest and did a layer of blue glitter glue (of course!) and a layer of glitter mod podge! Christy brought over a basket of ribbon and ric rac, and Lori had a tray of rhinestones and feathers and other sparkly things for us to use!

I took this picture because it makes me laugh a lot. This is me getting back to my crafty roots, after applying all that sparkliness to my mask!

<3,
Becky

Woo! Part two of the Atlanta Indie City Guide is up! This part is all east side, baby!

<3

Hurrah!

SuperCute! will be setting up at the East Atlanta Village Strut on September 20th! I’ll post again closer to the date, but I’m really excited about this show! The Strut is a great neighborhood festival. They always have a wonderful mix of vendors, and the show is in the heart of the Village, which means good food and coffee options are right there, too! See you there!

<3

We’ve hinted over the last couple of weeks about a top secret project, and now we can spill! SuperCute! submitted an Atlanta Indie City Guide to Indie Fixx, and the first installment was posted today! Woo! this was so much fun to put together!

<3,
Becky