Mike’s T-Shirt Yarn

During one of my many late-night adventures in online craft sites, I came across a new favorite shop and I had to share – Mike’s T-Shirt Yarn (Etsy).  For some reason, t-shirt yarn is still flying under the radar of a lot of eco-crafters. Perhaps that’s because creating the yarn is a craft in itself.

Aside from a crisp, clean appearance, Mike’s yarns are very handy for a wide array of projects. He mentions pot holders and scrubbers as great candidates for this sturdy, easy to clean yarn, but I absolutely love the knotted bracelets he makes.

“Each ball of yarn is made using a clean, no longer wanted T shirt. I accurately cut each shirt into a continuous ribbon of fabric (never any knots or seams). Next, I stretch the ribbon of fabric into the beautiful, smooth yarn that you see in my shop. I am always careful to make sure that the sides of the ribbon roll over nicely so that there are no cut edges showing. Each skein will come to you in a convenient, ready to use, center pull ball.” 

 

I especially love the fabric woven through the center of the bracelet. Keep up the great work, Mike!

The Teal Cat Project

No home is complete without an ocean bright kitty companion. The Teal Cat Project, established by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Denise Muller, and Anna Dorfman, works towards decreasing feral cat populations. The most recent TCP campaign was based in NYC, with proceeds of all Teal Cats and other items going towards NYC Feral Cat Initiative.

 

How It Works

Teal Cats are vintage ceramic cats that have been donated to the TCP and then painted, numbered, and labeled. Each one is not only a beautiful collector’s item, but a symbol of the greater effort in helping save cat lives. The funds raised from selling the Cats fuel local trap-neuter-release (TNR) missions, thus reducing the number of feral cats which fall victim to natural predators, inclement weather, scarce food sources, and other dangers of homelessness.

The Cats

Each Teal Cat is unique in many ways. Here are just few of them:

All of the past Teal Cats have been “adopted”, but TCP has some more on the way.  Head over the Blog for some good reading while you await the new litter! TCP is on Facebook, too.

November is Love Your Turkey month

Over at VegForTurkeys, a new Tumblr blog dedicated to promoting awareness about turkeys, readers are allowed to share their own turkey love posts. I can’t wait to see all of the submissions and the future for VFT.

“How can you help? You can start by spreading the word.

• Share scientific articles about turkey’s social habits, emotional needs, and amazing cognitive abilities.
• Spread the word that “free-range” and “organic” farm conditions are still inhumane and torturous. Many don’t know that baby turkeys’ beaks are surgically altered, that most turkeys don’t live past 4 months of age, and that many birds are stunted mentally and emotionally due to overcrowding. The anxiety and fright that these birds endure is extremely cruel and certainly unnecessary. We can prevent it.
• Write your thoughts about what you can do, or what you are doing, to improve living conditions for turkeys and to help save more turkey (and other animal) lives.
• Recommend great books on factory farming and animal rights.
• Post away here!”

  Head over and add your own post dedicated to the turkeys. I’m hoping to collect some beautiful photos next time I visit the farm.

Hello weekago friends!

Hello, MoFo’ers and other folks! It’s been a week since I’ve posted and I apologize for the delay. With wedding plans and other family matters to tend to, it was hard to squeeze in writing quality posts. I have several drafts awaiting a fate, fear not!

 

In other news, the winner of the Spindle Bell Veg*n Bracelet giveaway did not claim the prize, so I will be selecting again. Feel free to pop and say hi here if you’re (still/newly) interested. Thanks!

Veg*n Giveaway Winner!

The Spindle Bell Veg*n Bracelet giveaway winner has been selected…

Congratulations, MMMorgans!

Please send an email to greenlightvegan[at]gmail[dot]com with your shipping location.

Thank you to everyone who participated! As the first giveaway that I have featured on GLV, it was an exciting time. I am also excited about trying out everyone’s great product recommendations. Be sure to stay posted for details about Giveaway #2.

Wishing I had enough bracelets to give away, too. I just might have to send some simple little e-freebies to all of the giveaway participants, too… Once I concoct something worthy enough! Requests? I’m wondering if some folks might like some vegan cupcake topper graphics to print and use. Throw it my way and maybe I can throw it back!

Happy MoFo!

Don’t forget!

Deadline for Giveaway #1 is today at 6pm!

Good luck!

Sugar, Sugar for festive tea and sweets

There is a time for sweets in this mixed up, muddled up, shook up world. If you have a sweet tooth, or twenty eight of them, you may appreciate these little fancy treats as much as I do.

Vanessa of Nifty Thrifty Things made some of her own decorative sugar “cubes”! With a few kitchen staples and candy mold (or ice tray), you can play around with your own sugar creations. Thank you for such a cute and easy idea, Vanessa! Nifty Thrifty Things is one of my newest favorite blogs.

If you’re looking for larger quantities quickly…

Gourmet Sugar Company‘s adorably packaged vegan sugar, in the shape of fleur de lys, are perfect for adding a little something special to your morning tea or to a dessert and coffee table at a celebration. Paired with some exotic tea, these would make great favors, too!

“Our Vegan sugar comes snowy white in the shape of the fleur de lys. It has the same great taste as regular sugar. Our vegan sugar goes through a 100% animal-free carbon deactivation process to decolorize. This carbon is a mineral and therefore, a non-animal source.“

Based in L.A., the shop ships nation wide for both custom orders as well as bulk purchases.

Happy Festive Baking!

Savvy Vegan: Top 3 Vegan money blackholes

VegNews’ sub-blog, Savvy Vegan, recently posted their Top 3 ways in which vegans can get sucked into spending unnecessarily. They offer a few reminders and hints about keeping your cash in your own wallet.

“Just imagine your (read: my) surprise when lo and behold, sometime around drink number 1.4, you’re ravenous and have suddenly ordered all of the appetizers on the menu, and the bill has now jumped from a mere $20ish to a whopping $600ish. (Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but it’s definitely how expensive the meal will seem.)“

Read the article 

 

For me personally, it’s the dried fruit-filled pre-packaged granola bars, the nuts, the fancy juices – mostly things that are not necessarily “treats”, but are also not crucial. I’ve wanted to get into making more granola bars at home and packing them up for the week or freezing some. A food dehydrator might end up just sitting in the cabinet, though. Baby steps….   Perhaps I’ll have to embark on a spree of granola experimentation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomato Rosemary Scones from Vegan Brunch

I did not make these for my brunch.

I did not make these for my lunch.

O! Scone-ione-iones

at Midnight.

-me, just now

I received Vegan Brunch (by the one and only Isa Chandra Moskowitz) as a Christmas gift last year and went to town on it with my sticky flags, picking out my favorite-sounding recipes. One that I had yet to try was the Tomato Rosemary Scones. Perhaps it was all of the immediate birthday needs and my overall preference to bake sweeties that steered me off course, but last night, success was had!

I have a tendency to get heartburn easily, especially when consuming tomato products after midnight…   (!)  However, for those with normally flame-retardant esophagi, this is such a scrumptious recipe and pretty hard to mess up, in my opinion. My only complaint? It’s very sticky. I found myself dipping my long-handled spoon into my bag of flour (to add for kneading), in hopes that I would not get the mess in the bag – it was an urgent goo-handed need. I recommend more than a “lightly floured” surface for these goo monsters. It was also somewhat tricky to make the triangle shapes because it required making *two small discs to slice into sixths. After the first disc was sliced, I created six more round, and equally delectable, scones.

They were done in 14 minutes and came right up off of the pan. I’m wondering if the extra two minutes allotted in the recipe may have dulled their superhero-strength orange tint, but I love their consistency. I sent some off to work with my guy today and plan on sharing the rest with my coworkers and parents. They are too good to not share, and surely this means making another batch by the weekend!

Thanks, Isa!

*Yes, you do only count nine in the photo. :p

IBakeCupcakes’ Summer Flowers

I just discovered the beautiful work of I Bake Cupcakes‘ master artist Sarah-Lyn. These adorable, elegant, and creative vegan cupcakes had me scouring every page on the blog! My particular favorites were her Summer flowers cupcakes. She selected the edible blooms, along with fresh strawberries for the icing, at a farmer’s market. Be sure to skim through all of her beautiful work!