It’s not as perfect and tidy as the original, but I think it turned out great and it serves it’s purpose.

You can make your own recycled phone book desktop organizer with this tutorial over at chica and jo.

Check her out. She’s fabulous.

Hope for Jasenn is a fundraising shop to help Jasenn and his family in their fight against kidney cancer. The shop will be open through December 15th at midnight, then will close briefly for the holidays (so that hopefully all packages will arrive on time) and reopen Jan 2. It is run by Linda, Jasenns sister in law and 100% of the profits from every item sold in this shop will be donated to Jasenn, Ann and their son Tegue to help with their everyday expenses. All of the items in this shop have been donated by generous crafters and friends.

YOU can help by making a purchase there, donating your own handmade items or you can make a monetary contribution here at Lindas blog.

But, oh joy, how happy was I to see this! A sewing machine you can control via Gameboy!? That sounds just doable to me.

“This system includes the IZEK sewing machine, Nintendo® Game Boy® , connection wire and a special cartridge that contains stitch pattern designs. The Game Boy’s on-screen menu will guide you through all the functions you need to make sewing fun and easy.”

The rules are pretty simple. You must incorporate the number 2 into your project. It IS open to International residents (yay!) and the prizes are outstanding!

For the complete list of rules please see here.

Good luck to all who enter! And Happy Anniversary Indie Fixx!!

The Press Release…

Crafting a Solution to Global Warming

Five craft- and DIY-themed online communities — Craftster.org, Etsy.com, CraftZine.com, BurdaStyle.comThriftyFun.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. and

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: http://www.craftster.org/350. 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.”

This unique partnership between the environmental community and the crafting community will bring out the creative energy of people around the world to help spread this important number, 350, in inspiring new ways.

Sounds fun, huh? Better get crafting!

First there is Yellow Brick Road. I originally bought some item’s from them online and their service was good. They have a decent selection, but like most things here in Ireland, are way overpriced for me. I also had the pleasure of finally visiting this shop in Dublin. It’s a charming LITTLE shop, the staff were very friendly and helpful, the selection was decent. I did notice there were quite a few items there that weren’t available online.

Next we have Beads and Bling. They also allow you to shop online. When I was looking for seed beads they didn’t have any online, but they did have some in the shop. They had a good selection of Swarovski Crystals and some very nice stone. Again, the prices are reflective of Ireland. Not as affordable as in the states.

I’ve heard Dublin Woollen Mills carries a small selection of beads, but I have never been there and their website, as of right now, is down.

{ UPDATE:  Dublin Woollen Mills does not allow you to shop online. }

Outside of Dublin we have Gemini Beads. They also allow shopping online, but I have not purchased from them as they didn’t quite have what I was looking for and they seem to be even more pricey than the others. They are also located in Cork which is a little too far from me.

BDI Jewellery, located in Bray, Co. Wicklow, seems to have a lovely selection and a very nice sized shop. They also offer online shopping. I’ll have to look for them next time I’m in Bray!

Amazing Beads is an online shop only. They seem to have a limited stock and the prices are a bit much for me.

[UPDATE]

The owner of Amazingbeads.net, Sue Graham, informs me that she has recently added many more items to her shop and reviewed her pricing system. She also assures me that her friendly and efficient service to customers is second to none! I’ve taken a look myself and am thinking I may be making a purchase there soon. Sue also makes some really lovely jewelry pieces and I feel horrible for not mentioning this before.

I commend Sue on making these changes and wish her the best of luck on all her endeavours.

There are of course possibly others I am unaware of. Some just don’t seem to have websites, others I’ve found no longer exist.

I will probably, mostly stick with Etsy or even Ebay. You can’t beat the selection there and the prices are excellent. Even with shipping, most times it works out cheaper than buying here. Unfortunately.