Sustainable Suites

T and I finally made a trip to Spokane after more than a year. Typically we'd go a few times a year to visit his mom, but alas, COVID. His mom finally got her first vaccine, so we headed for a visit and to do some honey-dos. 

To reduce our time together, we opted for a hotel, which is how we ended up at the Downtown Spokane Oxford Suites, a great mid-level hotel on the riverfront. They seemed to have a bicycle theme throughout the hotel, quite appropriate given the location. In the lobby, they incorporated upcycled wheels and tires into their bike-themed decor. Why, hello, Spokane!

 And here, multiple wheels create an abstract pattern above the lobby check-in desk.

Do these give you ideas for reusing and materials for home decor? Ranging from modern to shabby chic, it gets the imagination going for how you could make some interesting DIY art on any theme.

Beyond the lobby art, there were some sustainable features in the room itself. LED bulbs in all the lamps: 

These ecosmart bulbs are 9W LEDs with a 60W equivalent brightness.

Moving into the bathroom, they replaced the mini toiletries with full-sized toiletries, saving on both packaging and product waste:

Now they didn't brag about these amenities or sustainability features on their website; however, they did call out that they have electric car charging (including Tesla) available. Until these features become mainstream, you may need to make a quick call to the hotel or read some reviews to seek out hotels making these smarter choices. 

Large hotel groups are already starting to make the change, including the likes of Marriott, Holiday Inn, and Crowne Plaza. Per Marriott, a global change across their portfolio will "prevent about 500 million tiny bottles annually from going to landfills; that’s about 1.7 million pounds of plastic, a 30 percent annual reduction from current amenity plastic usage."

What can you do? Choose hotels that are committing to these changes, and if you are faced with a hotel that hasn't made the switch, politely leave a comment at guest services. 

Spotlight - Ocean Sole

I'm recently joined this fun Facebook group that shows off interesting thrift store finds, and was amazed to see a colorful lion (like the ones pictured below!) that the owner described as being made from "some type of foam". I recognized the lion from some cool videos I had seen last year and did a quick search to see if I could learn more.

The company is called Ocean Sole, and believe it or not, these colorful creations are made out of flip-flops! Ocean Sole was founded by Julie Church, who noticed children making toys out of washed up flip-flops on the beach, and recognized the potential for families to make income from the sandals, while also having a positive environmental impact.

Ocean Sole is providing:

• full time income to 100 Kenyans
• some income for 1000 Kenyans
• education initiatives benefiting 10,000 
• recycling of 750,000 flip-flops

The sandals are collected, washed, melded together, then hand-carved, sanded, and finished. Check out this short video on the process:

I'm just loving how creative these creatures are, and they seem like a fun gift for the animal lover or conservationist in your life. The small sculptures average about 6" in the largest dimension and $23-29, and the medium are about 11" and $42-49. (Feeling bold and have a large space? The XL giraffe is 54" tall and $675!)

For more information, or to support them, check out the original website here, or the US shopping site here.

Re-Use, Re-Cycle, Re-Creative?

We're all familiar with thrift stores, second-hand stores, and consignment shops offering a variety of goods from clothing to toys to furniture to small housewares. But have you heard of reuse shops that specialize in arts and crafts supplies? Let me introduce you to Seattle ReCreative, located in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle.

This store is roughly 1000 square feet of many types of creative supplies plus room for classes and workshops, kids parties, and community events. What is cool to see is the broad variety of supplies they carry. Some more traditional fine art supplies, to common paper and fabric crafts, to more obscure ideas like vinyl records (seriously look at Pinterest for all the amazing ideas to paint on, cut up, or melt records into new objects!) and empty plastic bottles (perhaps to mix paints or store beads in).

Here's a sampling of some of the great inventory today. A huge box of of rubber stamps:

Buttons - use them for their original purpose or to craft an adorable angel ornament:

Paints galore:

Scrapbooking or cardmaking paper. Full 12" sheets and smaller pieces:

Canvas stretcher bars for the serious painter:

A whole wall of yarn! Some partial balls, and some completely new skeins, along with knitting needles: 

And the reason for me going today. They carry a large selection of fabrics, and I scored about 14 yards of holiday fabric. Check out my next post for what I'm doing with it. ;)

Not shown here were stacks of postcards, greeting cards, National Geographic magazines, vintage photographs, tile, beads... great for collage, card-making, school projects, mosaics, jewelry-making. Today, I observed that most items were going for about 10-20% of what they would cost new/retail. For example, the fabric was just $2/yd, an incredible skein of fuzzy sparkly yarn was $2, and cards and postcards were just $0.10.

This store has so much potential for both shopping and donating. How many times have you tried a new craft and decided it wasn't for you? Donate the leftovers! How many times have you or your kid wanted to try a new craft but you're worried about the investment just to give it a try? Shop at a steep discount and see if you like it. Even better, you can just buy a few pieces of something without purchasing full sets. I think too about teachers who end up having limited budget for supplies or even spend some of their own money: think how far that same money would stretch here, for art supplies for their students or creative materials for bulletin boards.

Ultimately, this store allows for low-risk creative pursuits, while funding a community space and keeping many pounds of leftover arts supplies out of the landfill.

I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas

Well, it's officially time: the pumpkin spice lattes have been swapped for eggnog, the preview ads for Black Friday are beginning, and it's getting dark at 4pm. I guess that means we're starting to think of holiday gift shopping!

There are lots of ways to think about reducing your footprint this holiday season:

• choose quality items that will have a long life
• choose gifts with reduced packaging
• buy experiences, such as tickets to a concert or gift card to a favorite restaurant
• do a swap: each person in the gift exchange chooses a loved book or movie to pass on
• shop local

Shopping local not only stimulates the local economy, but also reduces the fuel to move goods from place to place. One of my favorite shops is The Handmade Showroom, located at Pacific Place Mall in downtown Seattle. Open 8am-9pm on Black Friday, they are right in the heart of other conventional retail that you may be visiting on Black Friday, and feature dozens of artisans and crafters from the Pacific Northwest. In addition to the shop itself being a small local business, all of the products within are from small local businesses.

They have a bit of something for everyone on your shopping list: sauces and confections for the foodie, cat beds and toys for your fur-babies, jewelry and accessories, kids dress-up costumes, screen-printed t-shirts, housewares... Want to level-up your conscious shopping? Some of the artisans use reclaimed or recycled materials! Top it all off with a letterpress greeting card.

A glimpse into the kids's section: 

Some of your local small businesses may be participating in Black Friday, but keep in mind that many of these business will taking the day to spend with their families. Small Business Saturday was started by American Express in 2010 to encourage shopping small and local and is observed on the day after Black Friday. Search social media for #‎SmallBusinessSaturday or ‪#‎SmallBizSat‬ to find participating businesses.

Finally, if you are crowd-shy and avoid shops this time of the year, consider checking out online marketplaces like Etsy and Amazon Handmade. These marketplaces feature small businesses and artisans, and highlight where the artisan is based from.

Happy holiday shopping, everyone, and may you discover a cool small business near you!

Oceans: Part 2, Art from our Trash

In Oceans: Part 1, we talked about the insane amount of plastic waste in the oceans and a few ways we can reduce our own negative contributions. 

The Washed Ashore Project responds to this waste with a few solutions. The project started with artist Angela Haseltine Pozzi, who wanted to do something with the plastic polluting Oregon beaches. She uses the litter gathered by volunteers to create giant sculptures of marine life. 

(Image ©WashedAshore.org)

These sculptures are created from all sorts of debris, that you may or may not expect to see discarded in the ocean - from bottles and bottle caps to beach toys, toothbrushes, shoes, lighters, sunglasses, and more.

In addition to creating the sculptures, the Washed Ashore Project has become a full-fledged educational program with staff and volunteers. The sculptures go on exhibit at zoos, aquariums, and museums to teach the public about pollution, conservation, and our ocean life. 

(Image ©WashedAshore.org)

If you are in the Pacific Northwest, you have some opportunities to see these in person this year: 

The Washed Ashore Project's home is in Bandon, OR with regular open hours Thursdays-Saturdays.
They are also going to be on exhibit at the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, WA starting 4/17.

How you can get involved:

• Visit the project's website or Facebook page. 
• Visit the Bandon, OR workshop to participate in the process. 
• Reduce, reuse, and recycle your own plastic, and make sure to pack out your trash at beaches and parks.

Upcycle: Penguin Family

T and I decided to treat ourselves to our favorite breakfast place in old Kent, WA today and were pleasantly surprised on our approach. Just a block from the restaurant was a giant sculpture of a penguin and hungry baby that appeared to be made out of... silverware!

We enjoyed our respective Eggs Benedict and Eggs Florentine, than walked back to the sculpture for a closer look.

Sure enough, papa penguin's body is made out of spoons, his beak out of spoon handles, 

and his wings and back feathers out of inner tubes. 

Baby penguin is primarily made from forks and saw blades for wings. At a distance this gives Baby a fuzzy downy-feathered look, but up close, he's dangerous to the touch! 

 

They are standing on a patch of ice or gravel made from mosaic-ed broken tile. 

Based on a quick search online, we were lucky enough to stumble across this temporary art installation just the day after it was installed.

The penguins were built by welding artists Greg Bartol, Debbie Drllevich and Anita Schuler. It's awesome to see how everyday materials can be re-imagined into incredible works of art.

Additional Info: http://www.kentreporter.com/news/penguins-migrate-to-kent-as-temporary-art-landmark/