Tofu for Obama Plush from Chris Creatures at Crafty Bastards June 2008. Pic from Laura.

Well, I ended up feeling well enough to go to Crafty Bastards, although I was really glad that my friend Laura drove…even though she inadvertently went the wrong way (because we were talkin’) on the Washington Beltway and we ended up in Virginia, which is totally the wrong direction. I am such a horrible friend, I promised her that I wouldn’t tell anybody and here I just blabbed it to about 50,000 people.

I’m sorry, Laura! I can’t help it, I am a blog whore….My life is fodder for my blog.

Anyway, Crafty Bastards was okay. Lots of folks I’d already seen before, which is not bad at all, since I was able to check in with some peeps that I know….Annie from Imogene, Shawnna and Michael from Spaghetti Kiss, Jess from Art School Drop-out, Caitlin of Rebound Designs and more. I was just looking to find some new artists and designers to add to the Indie Fixx Shop though and I didn’t really discover that many who fit the curated feel of the Shop. I did talk to a couple of people though and I’ll be sure to let you know if I add anyone new to the shop, I always do.

It really was a fun day though, visiting with peeps, listening to bands, checking out indie stuff and hanging with my bestie Laura. I will be planning on visiting the September Crafty Bastards show for sure.

I did buy some soap from Biggs and Featherbell and a crafty motherfucker notepad from Rar Rar Press (pictured below).

***Warning*** Don’t scroll down if you are at work and have people looking over your shoulder.

Five craft and DIY themed online communities — Craftster.org, Etsy.com, CraftZine.com, BurdaStyle.com and ThriftyFun.com — have launched the Creativity 350 partnership and contest to draw creative energy and attention to 350.org’s goal of reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide to 350 parts per million to stave off drastic climatic and planetary repercussions.

The Creativity 350 contest is actually two contests in one: A 350-themed craft contest and a 350-themed T-shirt design contest. For the craft contest, participants are invited to craft any project that creatively expresses the importance of the number 350, using any crafting technique. For the T-shirt contest, entrants may create an original T-shirt design that creatively expresses the importance of the number 350.

Entries will be accepted from July 15 to August 15, 2008. Then the public will vote for their favorites from August 16 - August 31, 2008. Valuable craft and green-themed prizes will be awarded to the two winners. A complete list of the prizes can be found at the contest Web site. The winning T-shirt design will also be utilized by 350.org on t-shirts that will help the organization raise money and create awareness of its mission.

Co-founded by environmentalist and educator Bill McKibben, 350.org centers itself around the number 350 to provide focus on a clear, concise goal for reducing global warming factors: “350 is the red line for human beings, the most important number on the planet. The most recent science tells us that unless we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, we will cause huge and irreversible damage to the earth.”

Learn more at 350.org.

by guest contributor Jessica Gonacha

If any of you are like me, you can’t bear to throw anything away. Which for an indie business means: CLUTTER. It also means leftover materials that I don’t know what to do with, or things that I don’t want to throw away because they are harmful in landfills (ie: paint-filled rags, ink cartridges, oil paint-filled solvents), but I don’t know where to safely dispose of them.

Some of the things I am often left with are: small pieces of wood that are leftover from frame-making, paint-covered rags, cans of paint with dried paint in the bottom, ruined brushes, ink cartridges.

Depending on where you live, the ease with which you’ll be able to safely recycle or dispose of these types of items will vary. For example, when I lived in Boulder, CO it was easy! I just went to the local hazardous waste recycling facility and voila! Nothing to worry about. But here in Duluth, Georgia, it’s quite a bit more difficult.

So, I thought I’d share some resources I’ve collected to help get you started:

1. Earth 911 — an extremely informative site that will tell you what can and can’t be recycled, and you can search by zipcode, state, or city to find your local recycling and disposal facilities.

[*Quick fact: did you know that in July 2007 Office Max started a national ink cartridge recycling program? You can recycle your used ink cartridges (as well as old cellphones!) at any Office Max store! And they’ll give you $3 any in-store purchase!]

2. Building Materials Reuse Association — find out where and how you can recycle building materials (wood, paint, etc.) You can also serach this site by state.

3. School Art Programs — can you donate those bits of wood that you don’t know what to do with? Kids could make sculptures out of them (here’s a great example).

4. Mother Earth News — a great site that’s FULL of articles on every green topic you can imagine. You can search their archives for answers to your recycling questions and to get tips on how to reuse materials.

5. E-Waste on Wikipedia — learn about what types of products contain hazardous substances.

6. eRecycle.org — info about where to recycle e-waste in California, as well as a page that allows you to search outside of California.

GREEN CHALLENGE: make a paper collage out of bits of paper in your recycling bin! You can find colored bits in newspapers, magazines, and advertisements, and what about using non-traditional materials like toilet paper roll tubes, cereal boxes, and egg cartons? There are fun textures in the recycling bin! Post your creations to the Indie is the New Green flickr group.

About the contributor: Jessica Gonacha is an artist from Atlanta, Georgia who is endlessly creating. Her work includes paintings, drawings, illustrations, and paper goods and is vibrant, colorful, and charming. Her work can be found on her site, in her Etsy shop and in the Indie Fixx Shop. You can also read more about Jessica and her work on her blog.

I’m not feeling too hot today, so there will be no TGIF: Thank God for Illustration Friday or Fresh Etsy Pixx. I’m going to respond to a little bit of email and then go back to bed. Your regularly scheduled posting will return next week.

Don’t forget about Crafty Bastards in Silver Spring, MD tomorrow, Saturday June 28th. I am planning on visiting, hopefully I will feel better.

What: Crafty Bastards Arts and Crafts Fair
When: Saturday, June 28 from 10am-5pm
Where: Pyramid Atlantic Art Center
8230 Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring, MD

Here’s some goods I’m looking forward to checking out.

Sewing Stars

Owly Shadow Puppets

The Weekend Store

Art School Drop-out

Liz Matthews

Sean Hennessey

Figs & Ginger

Each month I donate a portion of the proceeds from Indie Fixx and the Indie Fixx Shop to a different charitable organization. The organizations I choose vary from those that provide humanitarian support, focus on the arts, provide for environmental stewardship, are concerned with animal welfare and other issues and causes that I think are important.

After hearing & reading how high food & energy costs are hurting food banks and other charitable organizations that provide food assistance, I decided to donate to the Food Bank of Delaware this month. The Food Bank of Delaware is my local food bank, but you can learn how you can donate at Second Harvest, the Nation’s Food Bank Network.

Finish this sentence, “I’m inspired by…”

To take the place of Reader Fixx Thursdays, I am starting a new feature asking you, the readers of Indie Fixx, what inspires you in life & art. So, what does inspire you?

Share 3 things that inspire you…they can be 3 indie designers whose work you admire, 3 artists who inspire you to create, 3 flickr groups you belong to that inspire you to take photos, 3 blogs that are every day ‘must reads’, and really whatever gets your creative juices flowing and makes your life more enjoyable and meaningful.

To participate in “I’m inspired by…”, just share 3 urls and a brief (1-2 sentence) blurb for each url explaining why you chose that particular thing as an inspiration.

Click here to share your 3 inspirations for “I’m inspires by…” I will be sharing your submissions on Thursdays, so stay tuned!