Since I’m on holiday, Jessica Gonacha is stepping in for me today to share a post for Indie is the New Green. Jess is sharing some of her New Year resolutions….or intentions as she likes to call them…as well as sharing her wonderful illustrations as well.  Thanks, Jess!

by guest contributor Jessica Gonacha

What better time of year than January 1st to start being more mindful of our effects on the planet? I feel sort-of funny about the idea of resolutions, because they just seem like they’re just waiting to be broken—I prefer to set New Year intentions. It feels more gentle. So, in order to start sending my intention for the new year out into the world, I thought I would share it with you!

. . . I intend to be mindful in my actions in each moment, considering their effects on the planet and making choices that will help to heal the earth instead of harm it. .  .

Now, I feel that I’m a pretty mindful person when it comes to environmental stuff, but I am also aware that there is much I don’t know and much that I can add to my life to more fully live this intention. That said, here are some ideas of small, simple, but powerful ways that we can help our planet and live with the intention of healing, not harming. And yes, they are all on my to-do list.

1. Turn your Christmas tree into compost or mulch– check out earth911.com to find the nearest place to recycle your tree.

2. Get yourself off the junk mail list with the Direct Marketing Association — you can register online for free at DMA.org or mail in a form along with $1 to be removed from national marketing campaigns, which will reduce junk mail by 75%!  Catalog Choice is another site where you can remove your name from catalog lists.

3. Eat more local food (you’ve heard the term ‘locavore’, right? — read Michael Pollan’s books, find your local farmers’ markets and go every week! You’ll be eating food that is healthier, more flavorful, and there will be much less transportation (which = less oil, gas, carbon dioxide) involved in getting the food from its source to your table.

4. Find somewhere to recycle hazardous materials– and do it (again, earth911 is a great resource to get you started)

5. Air dry all your laundry! Get yourself a couple of drying racks and get to it, or string yourself a clothesline in the backyard!– I have done this for years, but I will be trying to sway Ryan away from his dryer obsession in 2009.

6. Make your own eco-friendly cleaning supplies to use around the house– you’ll save money, you won’t be contributing to the alarming amount of nasty chemicals that are being put into the earth and our bodies every day, and you’ll be reusing bottles instead of buying new ones every time you run out of cleaning products!

7. Switch over to organic make-up—read more about your cosmetics’ safety at Skin Deep, and then learn about eco-friendly make-up at All Natural Cosmetics.

Happy New Year to you all! Have fun setting your new eco-friendly routines and intentions in 2009!

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 still on holiday today, but Samantha Hahn is stepping in for me today with a post for the Guest Blog. She is sharing some resolutions and a few Happy New Year’s cards. I do hope you all had a nice holiday, I sure did and I will be back soon to share my Christmas goodies with you!

by guest contributor Samantha Hahn

Hello Indie Fixx readers, Samantha here, just visiting from my blog Maquette. I was happy when Jen asked me to share my new years resolutions (personal and professional) with you. Resolutions are important to me. I think artists are hard on themselves so new years is a good time to reevaluate and think of modifications in life that could help us personally and professionally in the upcoming year. I thought it would be interesting to share my resolutions and those of two other illustrator/surface pattern designers I’ve become friends with through the blogosphere, Jessica of Treasuring and Yasmine of a print a day.

I wish you the happiest and must fruitful year! Please enjoy these FREE downloadable cards I made for you! Just click on the links below or the images themselves to open larger printable files.

Happy New Year Darling - Large

May the new year bling you joy - Large

Happy New Year - Large

Now for resolutions:

Samantha Hahn’s resolutions
PERSONAL: Positive thinking! I need to try to feel good about who I am, and what I’ve achieved instead of being hard on myself. I need to work on accepting compliments without embarrassment or self effacement and just absorb positive sentiments. I also resolve to try and enjoy each moment, recognizing how lucky I am to have family and friends who love me and who I love.

PROFESSIONAL: To be more organized! To allow myself downtime without constant guilt. To work hard when I’m working, and relax when I’m not working, instead of always feeling guilty. I’d like to achieve a better balance between work and play and the way I feel during both periods of time. The major goal is to cut the anxiety out and work efficiently and keep good records! I’d also like to be more focused and choose a few areas to attend to rather than trying to do everything and spread myself too thin.

Jessica Gonacha’s resolutions
PERSONAL: I am setting an intention to transform my negative thoughts into positive ones. For example, each negative though can be reframed– if I’m thinking about something I don’t want, I can reframe it to focus on the opposite– what I do want! I want to say a big YES to life.

PROFESSIONAL: I intend to be less obsessed with checking my email. I think it can be a creativity destroyer, yet I obsessively check it all day long. I think it will help me focus more on
getting into the creative zone.

Yasmine Surovec’s resolutions
PERSONAL:
a.) To be nicer and generous to people and animals in
general. I think it makes living a bit easier when
there’s one less crabby person.
b.) To spend more time with my husband, family and
friends (and my 2 cats and 2 dogs). I sometimes find
myself lost in work and making things that I
oftentimes forget that the reason why I’ve been
working really hard is for the people I care about.
c.) Volunteer more.
d.) Give myself more vacation time.

PROFESSIONAL:
a.) Open my own online store!
b.) Regularly contribute a portion of my earnings from
the said store to non-profits.

Another Christmas Eve An Indie Holiday Story for you from Heidi  of My Paper Crane. Heidi shares her super cute tree and what makes Christmas special for her.

1. Your favorite holiday tradition.

Every year we decorate a gingerbread house and while it is messy + we never eat it, I love doing it.

2.  A favorite cookie recipe?

Magic Cookie Bars

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 (14 ounce) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped nuts

•  Heat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees for glass dish). Coat 13×9-inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray.
• Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut and nuts. Press down firmly with a fork.
• Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Cut into bars or diamonds. Store covered at room temperature.

3. Share a story behind a special ornament on your tree.

On the top of our tree instead of a star we have a Queen Of Hearts tree topper. My husband and I are big fans of Alice In Wonderland and so when we got our first tree together it seemed only natural that something related to Alice would reside on top.

4. All you want from Santa is….?

For everyone to love their gifts from me!! I didn’t really have any major gift wants this year but I love love love coming up with gift ideas for other people, so I really hope everyone enjoys them.

5. Your favorite Christmas movie and why?

Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas because it always makes me tear up, good nostalgic memories…and Jim Henson!

6. Are you dong anything special for the holidays this year?

My parent’s and youngest sister have all moved out of state within the last year. We used to do a big Christmas Eve at my mom’s house each year (this is the first year that my side of the family is not all together) Since this year it just leaves my older sister her family and mine for Christmas Eve we have a big night planned for my house, an all day event. We plan to try and make up for the missing family by celebrating all day long.

7. What’s the best toy you ever got when you were a kid.

I can’t even remember…maybe some fisher price little people? I always liked art kits too do those count? Nothing impressed me more then a new box of crayons!

8. Why is Christmas special to you?

I love the time we spend on our friends and family. I love baking for everyone, and trying to plan out the gifts. I love that we have all these mini celebrations with different sides of families, our own family, and then friends. Oh and I love all the crazy decorating and lights, just LOVE it!!

I just love the artwork of Marisa Haedike of Creative Thursday fame.  In fact, I have a few dozen of her prints on my Christmas list and I sure hope Mr. Indie Fixx was paying attention…

Anyway, Marisa found this clever idea for making tree ornaments from Starbucks cup sleeves on the Internet and decided to add some of her tiny prints  to make the cutest ornaments ever!  She was selling them in her Etsy shop, but they are all sold out now. You can read about their creation on her blog though.

You can also read about Marissa’s most treasured ornament for her An Indie Holiday Story submission.

Every year I open a little brown box that holds an ornament I made in the 3rd grade.  And every year I’m still so excited when I open that box and every year I love it a little more. Considering what it is made of I can hardly believe it has held up as long as it has, and hasn’t gotten crushed in all of the many, many moves I’ve made since the third grade.  It is made of a white Styrofoam egg carton. We basically cut all the egg “cups” out of the carton and then cut thin upside down triangle shapes all around the edge of each cup, to make it look like the edges of a star. Then all the cups are attached to a white Styrofoam ball with a long pearl tipped pin that also holds a couple of blue and white beads and a blue metallic snowflake. The pin presses through the center of the egg cup and holds all of the baubles in place. When it is finished it resembles a big white snowflake with touches of silver and blue. I’m still so impressed by the ingenuity my teacher had in coming up with this idea for such a pretty ornament, that I have to say is also a timeless design ! And as the story goes with ornaments, when I unpack it every year, I’m reminded of my childhood, the dreams I had and the dreams I have, and I think about how my life has turned out and what my child self would think about my life now. And I think she’d be very happy.

Margaret from Resurrection Fern (and on Etsy) shares her pretty & pretty clever frozen icicle doily snowflakes.  You can read about how to make them here, but this one is really only for people who live where the temps are at freezing or below.  It’s gotten cold enough here lately, but too bad it’s going back up to be in the 40s & 50s for Christmas day.

Margaret also shares her An Indie Holiday Story  with you.

Christmas is very handmade in my home. I think one of my very favorite holiday traditions is the dolls’ Christmas that we celebrate on Christmas Eve. I borrowed this from Tasha Tudor. On Christmas Eve we decorate a tiny tree and each of the children are allowed to invite one of their dolls or special stuffed animals to join in the celebration. They each receive tiny handmade stockings with doll sized treats and one or two small gifts under the tree. Usually, they are a new handmade outfit or knitted hats. The dolls and children then have a tea party with tiny party sandwiches , cookies and cupcakes.  My three daughters would almost always invite the dolls that I made for each of them but my son would bring a different stuffed animal to the party every year, from puppies to dinosaurs.

Image courtesy of Scott Beale / Laughing Squid

On a budget? Well, who isn’t right now? However, that doesn’t mean you need to forgo planning an off the hook New Year’s Eve Party. I’ve got some tips that will help you get more shizzle for your swizzle stick.

Linnea Johansson, party planner extraordinaire and author of the book Perfect Parties, says that that no matter what type of party you are planning or the amount of your budget, “Don’t try to do everything, keep it simple and put your focus on one or two things and really do them well instead of doing everything so-so.” So, let’s break it down.

Food
Don’t feel like you need to serve a 12-course meal; cocktail parties are a lot easier on your wallet. Just make it clear to your guests that you’re not throwing a dinner party. Also, keep it simple and don’t try to serve 15 different appetizers, but instead come up with 2-3 inexpensive little nibbles.

Image courtesy of the Food Network

• Tsia Carson, from the website Supernaturale and the author of Craftivity, likes to make cucumber cups filled with sake. Your guests can drink the sake and then eat their cups…food and drink in one. Here’s a recipe from the Food Network.
• As a southern girl, Jennifer Perkins of Naughty Secretary Club likes to serve black-eyed peas for New Year’s Eve. She uses this recipe from epicurious.com for a tasty and inexpensive Black-eyed Pea Dip.
• Cookthink.com can also be a good resource to help you come up with recipes using food you already have in your cabinets!

Entertainment

• There is no need to hire a DJ, just create your own Mp3 playlist. Get your friends involved too, but make sure to be specific about what you are looking for…if you are looking for booty jams, you don’t want to end up with smooth jazz!
• Becky O’Neill, the designer behind Becky OH! suggests putting your guests to work as the entertainment. “At the best New Year’s Eve party I ever attended, everyone was required to do a performance. The night was organized around the acts and it was so much fun. Some people even learned new skills to come, like flamenco dancing, tap dancing and even stand-up.”
• If you are lucky enough to have a Wii or know someone who has one, have a Wii Sports tournament. It’s a really great icebreaker!

Booze
The biggest party investment hands-down is alcohol.  Since buying multiple types of booze is definitely more costly, one way to save some of your dinero is to serve punch or just one kind of cocktail. Also, try shopping at a warehouse store, the prices are often a lot cheaper. Don’t forget to check in with your liquor store though. Many have a buyers’ club or offer discounts on cases.

Decorations and Ambiance
While decorations can be important to setting the mood or setting up a theme party, it’s very easy for party planners to overspend. Make sure not to forget those three little words…do-it-yourself!

Friends of Jennifer Perkins at last year’s New Year’s Eve party.

• For a little bit of decoration and entertainment, Jennifer from Naughty Secretary Club, suggests getting guests involved in making their own pipe cleaner tiaras and hats.
• Use food as décor. Nicole Batch of Pink Loves Brown fills glass containers with the brightly-colored Japanese candy called Pocky. Voila…edible decorations! You can also make fruit sculptures with Styrofoam and toothpicks.

Your Look
It’s quite possible to spend a small fortune just primping for your big party, but consider going to a cosmetology school for your hair, make-up and nails. The cost can be unbelievably cheap! Visit BeautySchoolsDirectory.com for a state-by-state listing of cosmetology schools.  Plus, don’t forget about thrifting or refashioning your outfit.  Or swap with a friend.

Theme Parties
Theme parties can be helpful in the planning stage, since they help provide some structure for your party.  They can also be a real blast if planned well.

• New Year’s Eve Scavenger Hunt – have guests bring a list of at least 5 resolutions. Then shuffle the lists and distribute them amongst teams.  The teams need to find at least one item that relates to each of the resolutions on their collective lists.
• Pimped-Out PJ party – everyone wears their pimped-out or refashioned jammies. Serve cookies and Kahlua & milk. Provide lots of pillows and blankets. With everyone already in his or her jammies, you won’t have to worry about anyone drinking and driving.
• Foodie Cooking party – everyone brings a recipe and the ingredients to cook over the course of the evening.
• Movie Night – have your guests dress up like a character from a movie and bring a DVD to watch. Watch movies and serve popcorn and cherry rum and cokes.

General Cost-saving tips

• Thrift for serving trays, dishes and punch bowls instead of buying new. It’s more eco-friendly anyway.
• Don’t buy coordinated napkins, plates and cups. Just buy in bulk and save some money, your guest will not care at all.
• Don’t worry about mailing out invites, just pick up the phone or send out an email. If you just love paper, make your own invitations from recycled materials and hand-deliver them if possible.
• Throw a party with a group of friends and share in the costs of the planning. Chances are you all want to invite most of the same people anyway.
• Make a budget and stick to it. It’s just like going to the grocery store without a list, you are going to spend more if you don’t make a budget right from the start.

That’s it folks.  I do hope whatever your plans are that you have a rockin’ good time!