Green Eyed Monster Review and Discount!

Have you ever fallen victim to the Green-eyed Monster? Envy can be a terrible thing! But why not be the subject of "Bag" envy by embracing the Green Eyed Monster BYOB {Bring your Own Bag}? What on earth am I talking about? Eco-friendly reuseable bags from the sister team of Ashley and Kimmy and their company Green Eyed Monster. My favourite bag is the Live enviably design. Ashley and Kimmy strive to live enviably and want you to as well!

Each year an estimated 500 million to 1 billion plastic bags are consumed worldwide, about one every minute! Eeeek! The average family consumes 2500 plastic bags a year and must end up in landfills! The Green Eyed Monster provides a unique and socially responsible alternative! These bags are unique because The Green Eyed Monster calls upon artists to create their bag designs through entering online contests.

Are you a designer or artist looking for a new project? Green Eyed Monster is currently holding a bag design competition focused on the ECOnomy! It's a chance to win $500 and to utilize your creativity to help the environment! Checkout the competition details!

The bags designed through Green Eyed Monster's last contest are selling now and were designed in honour of Earth Day 2009. They are limited edition and a portion of the proceeds, as with all their bags, goes to a non-profit environmental organization. Their latest cause is "Tree People", an organization focused on critical water issues!


Each naturally coloured tote is made of 100% post-consumer recycled cotton and recycled plastic bottles. In honour of Earth Day Green Eyed Monster is offering all Northern Mama readers a 10% discount from now until May 8th 2009! When ordering use the discount code: earthmama {in lowercase letters}.


All discount codes are easy to access through my left-hand sidebar Discount Code list!

Long Anticipated Syracuse Cultural Workers -- Review and Giveaway!

As I've posted before Syracuse Cultural Workers is one of my favourite stores and organizations! And now I have a great giveaway from SCW for you!! Syracuse Cultural Workers is a store which provides "Tools For Change"! They have been a Peace and Justice Publisher and Distributor since 1982 and believe strongly in the link between art and activism. They believe that art can act as a catalyst for positive social change! For those of you who have not read my earlier SCW Review {a real "must-read"} it explains SCW's philosophy and their business practices. In my last post I spoke widely of the SCW mission, Syracuse Cultural Workers' social and environmental conscience, and their commitment to building community, honouring diversity, and promoting peace. To avoid being redundant I thought I would this time review Syracuse Cultural Workers with a bit of a twist! This post is called...

"These are a few of my Favourite Things..."

When I peruse a Syracuse Cultural Workers Catalog it is quickly transformed from a smooth, impeccable magazine to a highlighted, dog-eared, penned, and worn periodical! I just can not help finding something of interest on every page. While sitting back and enjoying their online catalogue in preparation for this review I had the perverse temptation to try dog-earring the corner of the computer screen {okay...maybe I haven't completely made the leap into the computer age}! I have several treasured items from Syracuse Cultural Workers but am planning to order again shortly so I thought I might give you a sneak peek at a few of my favourites!

Bookmarks:

::I think one of my favourite bookmarks is the one which states:

"It's too bad the people who really know how to run the country are busy teaching school!"

~Admittedly as a former educator I suppose I am a little biased! But what a great addition to a teacher's gift!

Books:

Books are always my weakness! I did narrow it down to five:

:: "100 Things Guys Need to Know" by Bill Zimmerman ~ This book is for boys ages 9-14 and discusses dealing with issues as bullying, peer pressure, failure, family life and more. I want this for my son!

:: "Thanks And Have Fun Running the Country: Letters to President Obama" ~You know I couldn't resist at least one Obama themed item! This is a compilation of endearing children's letters to president Barack Obama.

:: "365 Ways To Change The World" by Michael Norton ~This book offers ideas on how you can act as a catalyst for change. It's a great starting point for personally addressing issues important to you!

:: "From Outrage to Courage: Taking Action for Health and Justice" by Ann Firth Murray ~I truly try to understand the plights of women all over the world and their fight for their human rights against great odds and social restraints so this book sounds fascinating !

:: "33 Things Every Girl Should Know About Women's History" edited by Tanya Bolden ~ This book is actually for ages 10 and up and focuses on women in US history but I would love to share this with my girls in the coming years!

Buttons:

:: "Coexist" ~You will have to see it to understand why I love this button!

:: "Childhood is a Journey not a Race" ~For my children

Notecards:

~I find it so impossible to decide on SCW gift cards! I love them all! A few I have and enjoy are:

:: "Other Cultures", "Circle Dance", "For Love of the World"

~Others I'd like:

:: "Dissent is Patriotic", "Peace On Earth", "Beloved Community", and "Love Spoken Here"

Stickers:

:: "Create the World you want to see"

:: "Compost Happens"

:: "I think Therefore I'm Dangerous"

Poster:

:: "It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber." ~Again my inner teacher shines through and again another great teacher gift!

T-Shirts:

:: "Homeland Security"

:: "There's no mad tofu disease" ~ For my vegetarian and vegan friends!




Finally, One of the best items Syracuse Cultural Workers offers is the Peace Calendar! This calendar is year's celebration of life, diversity, and history and you can download a fantastic Teacher's Guide from the SCW website! This is fabulous for teachers and would make a Christmas teacher's gift that is unique and a great resource!

In honour of Earth Day 2009 Syracuse Cultural Workers is having a half price sale on all their green posters! And remember if you would like to promote or support SCW be sure to sign up for their Stuff-It

Did I leave anything for you to see at SCW? I certainly did!! My Favourite Things list is just a taste of what you will find. And now you may be the lucky reader to win a $20 {US} gift certificate to purchase your favourite item{s}!

To Enter:

~Visit Syracuse Cultural Workers and come back to comment on a favourite item not listed here already! {This is Required}

~Non-bloggers can also enter just be sure to leave a valid email with your comment.

Extra Entries:

~Become a Follower

~Subscribe to my blog via email

~Grab my Button

~Blog about this contest with a link back here {please leave me the link to your post}

~Tell me exactly what you would buy with your $20 gift certificate

~Join the Stuff it or Catalogue Hawker program at SCW

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents. Giveaway closes April 28th, 2009 10:00pm CT. Please see General Giveaway Rules for details.

Igloo Living

My husband and I moved to the arctic in 1998. I had worked summers in the sub-arctic town of Churchill, Manitoba and studied Canada's indigenous cultures as I pursued my first university degree. After receiving our second degrees, which were in education, and after completing our teaching practicum in the arctic town of Arviat, teaching in the arctic seemed a logical next step! Besides, the pay was good, teaching job sat the time were a bit scarce in the south, and we had student loans to pay! These were the practical reasons but the excitement of immersing ourselves in a different culture is what truly called us to the north!
Of course in 1998 the Inuit no longer lived in the snow houses they are famous for. Snow houses or Iglus {meaning house} as we know them were not just the stuff of history. Today the Inuit continue to keep the Iglu building tradition alive, building them as temporary shelter during winter hunting trips or building them closer to town as part of a heritage or school program. It was through one of these programs that I was first able to venture into an Iglu.

I remember vividly my first time entering an Iglu. It was in Arviat, Nunavut in 1998. I can replay each moment in my memory, scent the feral smell of caribou hide, and feel the chill of the arctic air evaporate with the heat of a stove. I travelled by komatik {a traditional Inuit sled} and skidoo amidst a gaggle of school children with shining, tanned, grinning faces, noses dripping, eyes alight with rediscovery and pride. Approaching the white dome rising as a hill on the horizon contrasting the flat tundra landscape, it seemed as though I had been transported back in time to a place foreign yet familiar. Its simplicity complex, its basic natural form a call to the origins of all humanity. A thrill of the anticipation of ultimate peace with the world tightened my chest.

Inside we were met by the smiling weather worn visages of elders, women whose eyes told stories. The traditional seal oil lamp {the kullik} was replaced by a small wood stove, the stovepipe disappearing out the domed ceiling now slightly blackened, surmounted by a large stewing pot of brewing tea. Women sat sewing upon the sleeping platform thick with caribou hides. I was joyously welcomed with tea in a styrofoam cup which I must admit was somewhat unappealing. Over laden with sugar, escaped caribou hairs floated on its surface. I accepted the tea not wishing to be rude and carefully sipped the tea straining it through tightly closed lips. The ladies and children laughed. I hoped their jovial behaviour was not directed at my awkward foreignness. I was an anthropologist as well as a teacher in training I was supposed to blend in was I not! On the hard packed snow floor of the Iglu upon a piece of cardboard, lay half a caribou carcass, its meat frozen and rich red. The women took turns with their half-moon knives {ulus} cutting away bite-sized chunks of the bounty of frozen, raw flesh and popping it into their mouths most delicately. I was offered a piece from a chuckling elderly Inuit lady. She sensed my timidity and countered it with a smile of good humour. I forced the meat into my mouth attempting to present an air of worldliness and nonchalance. I was pleasantly surprised at the luxury of its taste. The frozen meat, fresh from the land and frozen by the arctic winter elements, melted in my mouth and satisfied a very base human hunger. I have had caribou many times since, cooked in so many ways but never have I again experienced a taste so close to nature.

Amazingly, the Inuit are not so far removed from life in an Iglu. While living in Kuggaaruk {Pelly Bay, Nunavut} many spoke of leaving their Iglus on the shore to go to school in the morning. This was only as far back as the 1960s. The Inuit have leaped from life on the unrelenting tundra into an age of phones, computers and internet, satellite television, and processed food! As with many indigenous cultures world wide this leaped has not proved easy and the Inuit have faced some very difficult hurdles during this transition from their traditional nomadic life to a sedentary life once forced upon them. The Inuit are a people of endurance and survival. They have always fought for their existence and this has not changed.

Travelling back from the Iglu that day, back off the tundra--to the town site where government built portable homes heated by furnaces rather than seal oil lamps stood above the permafrost on stilts, where the children sat at desks in stuffy classrooms instead of shadowing their parents hunting and gathering and playing with the toys that nature provides--I felt again as a time traveller returning from a sojourn into the past following a route far less easy for the people of the arctic!

Oliver Labels -- Review and Giveaway!

Every fall, as all mom's with school aged children know, there is a mass exodus to local department store stationary departments, and office supply stores! School supply shopping marks the commencement of school but the sometimes gruelling task does not end there! At my children's school everything down to each individual pencil crayon must be labelled. And believe me labelling 48 crayons, 48 pencil crayons, and 32 markers, glue and glues sticks, scissors, erasers, ruler...the list goes on, can be frustrating and time consuming. The tiny printing with a marker reminds me of cataloguing artifacts {sorry, I'm an archaeologist so this is my bizarre comparison}. This fall my youngest daughter, Bronwynn, starts kindergarten. I will then have to label everything from clothing to erasers for three children! Guess who will be using Oliver's Labels?? Oliver's Labels makes life just a little bit easier...and isn't that what all parents want? Something that makes life just a little less frustrating!

Oliver's Labels are full-colour graphics. This makes them bright, attractive and noticeable! They are made using a special process that guarantees the image will not rub or wash off and they are produced using eco-friendly machinery! And the best feature? Oliver's Labels are the only labels to feature "Found-It"! Tired of your child's precious items disappearing? Does your child leave his or her jacket at the park, or lose dance shoes at dance recitals? "Found-It" may help your child's valuable belongings find their way home! "Found-It" is an online lost-and-found program. Oliver's Original labels, shoe labels and clothing labels include the lost-and-found website and an identification number! Isn't that ingenious?
The first Oliver's Labels product I tried was the Shoe Label. Having three children means shoes seem to multiply in our home. Dance shoes, soccer cleats, outdoor shoes, indoor school shoes...so many shoes! I used the shoe labels in my daughter's tap shoes. The first thing I noticed was how these durable labels are shaped like the left and right foot. This is perfect for cuing children who have trouble with putting their shoes on the wrong feet! The labels are so easy to apply. Just Peel and Stick!
I also received the mini labels which are the perfect size for many of those small school supplies which are normally such a nuisance to label. I put them on my daughter's school pencil crayons {yes I buy some school supplies super early on sale to avoid the rush}! The Original Labels can be used for just about anything. I will be using them to label school books, bags, and stash boxes!

There's something NEW at Oliver's Labels! Oliver's labels now have Stick-eez Clothing labels! I've used iron-on labels and sew-on labels in clothing in the past and found it far to time consuming applying them and inevitably the iron-ons peel off! Oliver Labels again makes labelling so simple! Even better Oliver's Labels now have a NEW Laurie's Labels designer collection. For your style conscious mini-fashionistas checkout these fashion inspired designs!

Oliver's Labels is offering one of my readers a $20 gift certificate for their online store! You could have your choice of labels if you win!

To Enter:

~Visit Oliver's Labels and return here and tell me what you would buy if you won the $20 gift certificate

{This is Required}

Extra Entries:

~ Follow my blog

~ Subscribe to my blog {if you are already a subscriber that counts}

~Grab my Button

~Blog about this contest with a link to my site {please leave me the link to your post}

~Visit Oliver's Labels and tell me what your favourite design is from their NEW

Laurie's Labels collection

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents. Giveaway closes April 24th, 10:00 CT. See General Giveaway Rules for further details.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

I love gardening!! Having lived most of my adult years in the arctic my gardening experience was rather limited by the environment but the past couple of years, here in Saskatchewan, I have been able to develop my green thumb. Gardening is a project our entire family enjoys. I am fortunate to have a husband who has a background in biology. He loves experimenting with me in gardening endeavours. Snow still spots the yard but we like to start things early indoors! My children relish in the seed planting!

This year's early birds? Tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, sugar pumpkins, and green and yellow peppers! As the warmer weather approaches we intend to plant beans, peas, beets, onions, potatoes, carrots, and hot peppers (cuban or jalepeno) as well as herbs and lettuce! We are expanding the size of our garden again this year which I am thrilled about!

We have never used herbicides or pesticides on our garden and we do compost. We are planning to get our new vermicomposter set up next week too, yay!

Here are a few tips for green pest-free gardening!

~Add a little Spice: Lots of garlic will preduce a strong scent that will make it difficult for pesky insects to find the plants they enjoy. Onions also work well but be careful because if the scent is too overwhelming you may also deter the helpful insects! Onions can ward off dogs as well or spray tabasco or cayenne pepper...dogs will not be so impressed!

~Recruit Helpful Bugs: Many bugs are veggie-friendly and eat the bugs you'd rather not have munching away at your potential harvest! Recruit ladybugs, spiders, ground beetles, and praying mantis {wasps are also helpful but you may not wish to have too many around especially with children}. To attract these garden wonders use a thin layer of mulch in spring and plant herbs or cover around your garden borders!

~Beer, Vinegar, and Citrus: A bowl of beer can trick and trap unwanted slugs! A jar of vinegar can capture fungus gnats and deter cats from urinating on your precious plants. Do not spray vinegar onto your plants however for this could kill them. Citrus peels should also repel cats and possibly some small insects.

~Earthworm Hotel: Import earthworms to help the soil! Healthy soil means healthier plants and less issues with bugs and disease. Compost, compost, compost!!

Happy gardening!

I will be writing many gardening posts over the spring and summer! Oh and stay tuned for the simple canning ideas in the fall!

HIP POP 2 -- The Pattern Instructions!

Alright, I know I promised to post the instructions for these wonderfully funky pop tab belts! I am a woman of my word!

• YOU WILL NEED:
  Washed pop/beer can tabs (approximately 15 per each 10 cm/4 inches of finished belt
• 3 mm diameter cord in the colours of your choosing (measure the waist, double that length, then add 1.5m to 2m extra for the ties. You will require 6 lengths of cord.)
• a tapestry needle
• Masking tape (optional)
• Measuring tape
• a small file

Note: Wash the tabs first and file down any rough edges. The small metal loop that attached the tab to the can should be removed or bend back. Make sure when assembling the belt to position the tabs so that the widest hole is at the bottom. You may wish to use the masking tape to hold the nonworking end of the cord in place on your work surface.

ASSEMBLING:

~Using the diagrams to help you works best!

1. Place 1 tab (A), wrong side-up, on the working surface.

2. Position a second tab (B), right side up, overlapping the edge of the first. Leave one meter of cord unwoven at the right-hand side {for the tie}. Push the needle down through the top hole in B, behind the right-hand side edge of A, then up and out the same top hole of (B).

3. Place a third tab (C) wrong side up, beside tab A, then position the fourth tab (D), right side up, overlapping A and C as shown in the diagram. Push the needle in through top hole in D, behind side edges of A and C, then up and out through the same hole in D. In this same manner work from right to left adding tabs and weaving the cord in and out until you have your desired length.

4. In the same way, weave the second length of cord through the bottom holes {this anchors both the top and bottom of the belt into place and makes it easier to weave in the other lengths of cord}. Weave the third length of cord through the top holes as you did you first and a fourth length through the bottom holes again as you did with the second length of cord. {Always leave a 1 meter tail to form the ties}

5. Leaving 1 meter of cord again at the right hand side, push the needle out through the top hole in B, over side edge of A, in bottom hole in B, behind side edges of B and D, and out through the top hole in D. This forms a diagonal pattern in the center of the belt {the first part of your x pattern}. Continue weaving in this same manner the length of the belt {make sure you are weaving this cord in below the top pair of cords and above the bottom pair of cords instead of crossing over them}.

6. Leaving 1 meter of cord unwoven at the right-hand side, push the needle out through bottom hole in B, over side edge of A, in top hole of B, behind side edges of B and D, and out through bottom hole in D {again below top pair of cords and above bottom pair). In the same manner working from right to left, continue weaving the cord in and out to form a criss-cross pattern in the centre.7. At each end divide the cords into 3 pairs and braid them leaving about 15cm (6 inches) or desired length unbraided. String beads onto the unbraided ends and tie knots to secure!

I like to add detail to my belts by adding button elements to its length, using a variety of cord types or weaving in things like key clips!

CAPITAL MOM

Capital Mom can you contact me? It seems my computer doesn't want to let me access your email!! Please email me at: northern_mama@yahoo.ca