Artist Highlight and Giveaway: Mellow Mermaid!

 To get this spring break party started, I would like to introduce an awesome artist and vintage collector that not only has an Etsy shop for her vintage wares, but a brick and mortar shop as well.  Oooolalala :)  Lori has the cutest items in her shop, Mellow Mermaid.  I literally spent an hour going through it and had so many favorites that I had to remove half of them so my blog post was readable.  Anyways, you get the point... So without further ado here is Lori from Mellow Mermaid with an interview, discount (I'm totally using it!), and giveaway (a gift card!) here!

Some of my favorites from her store:

Vintage Train Case

Upcycled Wall Sconces 

Stiched Map of the South Pillow

Fabulous Vintage Crewel Work

Besides the vintage items you have in your Etsy store, what else do you like to do?
My college degree is in Studio Art & Art History. I've been fortunate to have always worked in the arts. My many "Art" hats include: Gallery Artist; Art Teacher; Artist in Residence; Summer Art Camp Director; Gallery Sales; Ceramicist; Painter; Mixed Media Artist; Decorator; Creative Recycler.

I opened my brick & mortar shop in 2005 in a rented space at an Antique Mall in Virginia Beach. My plan was to use this as a test market for a shop I would open in a historic beach cottage 2 blocks from the Oceanfront. Six years later, I still fantasize about my vision for Mellow Mermaid Studio, but my terror of being trapped indoors keeps me from seeing it to fruition. My shop at Barrett Street Antiques is still going strong. I work there 1 day every week or two, rearranging, restocking & merchandising. I spend the rest of my time working in my home art studio, where I can see the ocean from the deck where I prefer to work whenever the weather cooperates.

I treasure hunt regularly & especially love it when I'm traveling. Thrift shopping is like a social experiment for me. I learn so much about the people from the things they cast aside. I love imaging the stories of how an item ended up on a shelf in Goodwill store. I even once found a pair of framed postcards that I had designed for a postcard company, while living in New Orleans. The cards were large colorful underwater & beach scenes that sold in the Caymans, Bermuda & Virgin Islands in the 1990's (Maybe still do). How they ended up professionally framed in Virginia made me wonder, smile & know what it feels like to have your "art" be discarded. Better that than in a land fill, anyone's trash is someone else's treasure, no matter who you are.

I make up my days as I go. My time goes to gardening in my over crowded cottage rose & perennial garden, photographing & posting Etsy finds, making stuff in my studio, loving my family, wishing I had a personal organic chef to feed us, and collecting washed up sea glass, shells, driftwood (& trash) while I walk the beach with our very funny looking dog, Josie. Running on the beach helps keep her personality disorder in check. She probably says that about me.

What first drew you to vintage wares?
My parents both were thrifters & vintage recyclers long before it was chic. Dad used to pull our green Chevy station wagon over on trash day to pick up floor lamps & lawn furniture from the curbside, while I hid on the floor biting my finger nails & praying no one from my junior high school would id the car. Mom painted, refinished or 'antiqued' every piece of furniture in our house. They taught me to see possibility in everything. When I was 9, we moved from coastal California to the east coast & our new home was near a landfill turned city park, called Mount Trashmore. I made a decision to do my part in not adding any more than was absolutely unavoidable to any more mountains of trash.

What inspires what you put in your shop?
I'm like a magpie, with an eye for anything that glitters with images from my childhood. I'm always attracted to things we had in our homes in the seventies & eighties. Often times, that meant mid century modernist, crushed velvet upholstery, swag lamps and seventies crafts. I love finding things that make me smile. I figure if it works for me, it probably will for someone else. Color is my muse. Every room in my house is a different color, I can always find just the right spot to suit whatever my mood happens to be. I have to rearrange my Etsy shop whenever I post new items, so the many colors aren't conflicting.

What advice would you give to aspiring vintage artists and Etsy shop owners?
Don't be afraid to 'just do it'. If you find you aren't getting as much activity as you'd hope for, join a team. Make treasuries. Help others when you can, I've found that my most active selling times coincide with when I've been paying it forward by promoting other Etsy sellers. My main attraction to Etsy is the spirit of sharing the love & encouraging others. I've found that whenever I get outside of my own concerns about if MY shop is successful enough, & focus outside of MYself, the positive energy flows. Kind of like life, huh?

Where else can we find you?
If you're ever visiting coastal Virginia, you can check out my shop at Barrett Street Antiques. You'll find beach inspired home decor, cottage style brightly painted furniture, hand made souvenirs & things you just have to have to make you smile! I also have a 1950's-80's retro home decor shop there, as well as an antique, vintage & hand crafted jewelry display case. The warehouse is nearly 30,000 square feet of showroom space where 200 vendors sell their vintage wares. Great fun on a rainy day! And... Greyhound will ship your loot home for you if it doesn't fit in your luggage, or you could just purchase a vintage Samsonite suitcase from me while you're there. :)
 

Also, my website is embarrassingly amateurish, but is on my list of things to focus on in 2011, you can find it here. 

In addition to such inspiring words (for real!), Lori is hosting a giveaway here at A Girl and Her Scout! She will be giving away a $25.00 gift certificate to be used in her Etsy shop, Mellow Mermaid to use on cute things like this:

  Antique German Children's Dish

The winner will be chosen (via a random assorter) on March 30th so be sure to get in your entries by then!

 

To enter, head over to her Etsy Store, Mellow Mermaid, and leave a comment here about your favorite item(s). Additional entries for: 1) becoming a first time follower of A Girl and Her Scout 2) Posting this giveaway with a link to my blog on your blog 3) Posting this giveaway with a link to my blog on your facebook and/or twitter 4) “Hearting” or adding Mellow Mermaid to your “Favorites” on Etsy and/or 5) making a purchase out of her store (one entry for every purchase).

Be sure to leave a new comment for each additional entry!

In addition, until April 7th she will be offering a 20% discount to all A Girl and Her Scout readers! YAY!!! Just use key word "girlandherscout" at check out to receive your discount!!!

Thanks again Lori for your inspiring words! 

Mixing up the wardrobe

 

Courtesy of Urban Weeds.

Sometimes us girls (and boys, but probably not as much) look in our jammed-full-with-clothes closets and think "Crap, what am I supposed to wear today?  I don't have anything!"  This my friends, is an untruth.  We have plenty- more than plenty actually.  And while I will admit, I like shopping for new clothes (Anthropologie mhmm), I try to make a commitment a) to buy as few new clothes as possible (it's more sustainable, less materialistic, and that money (I like to think I do this at least) could be going to a better cause than my obsession with stuff)  and thus, I try to make a commitment 2) to learn how to mix up the clothes I already have for new looks so I don't feel so outdated.  That's why I love the blog Urban Weeds.  A photographer snaps photos of people (normal (read not high fashion) people ready for a magazine shoot) walking around Portland.  

Great things about this: practical (these people are walking around to work and such, not modeling--- they have on practical- move around clothes that are still stylish), reasonable (so many outfits list thrifted items), creative, and inspiring.  Take the above pic, blazer- got it, collared shirt- who doesn't?, boots- maybe not in that exact style, but yes, scarf- check, skinny pants- check and check. Surprise: you have a new outfit you never knew exisited!!

This blog helps me to revamp my wardrobe without making more purchases by inspiring me on how to mix up the clothes I already have.  Cheers to sustainability!

Simple Living Month: Day 14~ More Guest Blogging Awesomeness

Some more awesome tips from Calamity Wilde!

Hang your clothes to dry whenever possible. Save energy, and let your clothes soak up some fresh air. My Japanese friends NEVER use a dryer. They hang their clothes to dry indoors- always.

Save water. 1) Don't leave the water running while you brush your teeth or the whole time you wash the dishes. 2) You don't have to wash that bath towel or that pair of jeans EVERY time you use them. My friend out in San Diego got me into trying to not wash clothes after one use, unless it's underwear, or you had a particularly sweaty day, of course. But you'll be surprised how much of a habit it is to throw clothes automatically into the hamper at the end of a day without considering how dirty they really are.

It may be gross, but the rule in our house is "if it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down." If you can save just one flush per day, you're saving a ton of water. Also, pee in the shower. The water's already running, so you won't have to flush.

Simple Living Month: Day 13! Guest Blogger!!!

For the next three days, I will have a guest blogger, CalamityWilde, who also happens to be my vegan, earth-loving, awesome, and beautiful sister-in-law. She will be gracing us with her tips on living simply and sustainably no matter where you live. She is currently studying holistic medicine aka- all-natural living coolness- and has an awesome blog, Call Me Vegan so be sure to check that out too! Welcome CalamityWilde!

Her tips for today revolve around the kitchen in some form or fashion.
Check it out:

Buy in bulk whenever possible. It will not only save you money, but it will save the environment and precious energy used in packaging, etc. (I love the dry foods bins at our local health stores- I stock up on oats, cornmeal, beans, etc.)

Don't throw out veggies that are on the out and out. As long as they are not rotting, you can use them to make your own vegetable stock. Then, you'll never have to buy it. Stock is a necessity in our house, for soups, to cook beans in, to add to almost anything for that delicious flavor. I even add herbs like burdock and echinacea for extra medicinal benefit.
How I make the stock: I use things like the ends of broccoli stalks, the stems of swiss chard and collard green leaves, the hard top parts of tomatoes, the ends of green beans, and any veggies that are old. I cut everything into about 2 inch pieces. I add 1/4 onion, a carrot, some garlic, and perhaps any other veggies I have laying around. I chop those up too, throw it all in a stock pot, add filtered water, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover and reduce heat to simmer. After about 30 minutes of simmering I add sea salt and black pepper. After simmering again for 30 minutes, I add herbs. I add the conventional cooking herbs like sage, thyme, basil, fennel, and some cayenne pepper. But I also add echinacea, burdock root, calendula flowers, and anything else I might be in the season for (thyme and fenugreek are great for allergy season, licorice root for sore throats, etc, etc.). The herbs definitely affect the taste of the stock, so don't use any that you don't enjoy the taste of. Burdock is my favorite as far as flavor. (Burdock is actually a Japanese vegetable called Gobo root. They put it in all sorts of dishes, so it makes me think of delicious Japanese cuisine.) So after adding the herbs (I never measure, I just add, but to give you an idea herbal teas use 1 tsp herb to 1 cup water), I let it simmer for 20 more minutes before straining out the liquid into a glass jar. Keep it refrigerated if you're going to use it within the week, and freeze it if it'll be longer. Make sure to leave some room at the top of the jar before putting it in the freezer, to give the liquid room to expand. Use the stock to cook your beans in- it'll give them wicked good flavor. Use it to make soups of all sorts. Use it to make gravy. Add it to any dish for a savory flavor and a medicinal kick. You know what Hippocrates said, "Let thy food be thy medicine."

Compost!! Even though we can't do it as much as we'd like, due to living in an apartment, you can do it to an extent no matter where you live. As for the composting, we keep a tub (one of those kinds that you use for storage) on our porch, but you can use a trash can with a lid as well. We start out with some dirt, and add a layer of dry plant matter (leaves that have fallen off our plants), and then throw in food scraps, tea leaves, coffee grounds, hair from our hairbrushes, etc. We don't actually keep a lid on it, instead we cover it with a trash bag (a biodegradable one, of course), because it needs a little air. You can also punch holes in the sides to keep the air flowing through. We stir it every couple of days, and keep adding more soil, or newspaper shreds to the food scraps. After the bin gets full (but not too full to be thoroughly stirred), we stop adding to it. Ideally, this is when you should start a second one. The first one will slowly turn to finished compost (times vary depending on conditions and what you have put in it). So you can have the second one filling up while the first finishes. If it gets too smelly, add more soil, and keep covered. Ours never gets incredibly smelly, but that might be because we don't use meat, so there were no meat scraps. Remember that what you put in your compost is what you'll be putting on your plants when you use it on them. That being said, I feel great about completing the cycle of our chemical free attempt at life. Our fertilizer is organic because the scraps of our food are all organic. Thus we can grow more organic food! Here's a link that may come in handy: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/apartment-compost-guide.html.
There are also some great books we reference a lot in our efforts to grow organic food in our apartment: Rodale's Encycolpedia of Indoor Gardening Edited by Anne M. Haplin, and Rodale's All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening: The Indispensable Resource for Every Gardener Edited by Fern Marshall Bradley and Barbara W. Ellis. This will help you out with the next tip.

Grow your own food. Even if you only have one windowsill, herbs like basil and parsley are so easy to grow, and so delicious to add to any dish. Also try radishes and green onions for super ease. Grow as much as you can (organically of course) and nourish all your plants with your own compost. Oh, and grow sprouts! They are so easy, and so incredibly nutritious (and you can use the water you used to rinse the sprouts, to water your other plants).

When using the stove and/or oven, try to maximize use. For example, if you're baking bread and the oven is already hot, then don' t turn it off and then 2 hours later turn it back on for something else. Go ahead and throw some veggies in there so they'll be ready for dinner. You can also do things like soaking dry beans overnight instead of letting come to a boil and then sitting for an hour. Also, to make oatmeal, soak your oats overnight, and no stove is necessary for oatmeal! It'll be waiting for you in the morning. I personally think it tastes better this way, too.

If you eat honey, get it local, raw, and unheated!! It has incredible nutritional benefits. Make sure you support holistic beekeepers who do not use chemicals or sugarfeed the bees. Let's protect the bees, and support them, they are the reason we have most of the food we have. If they didn't pollinate it, it wouldn't be around.

Stop buying packaged and processed food. 1) It's full of crap- i.e. chemicals, pesticides, GMO foods, artificial colors and flavors, and sweeteners that are toxic 2) It makes our society lazy. It really doesn't take that much effort to make yourself a PB and J instead of buying frozen ones. 3) If you get in touch with the food you eat, you'll be more in touch with your body (and thus your health) and this beautiful earth that gives us life. 4) It's actually easy to make your own everything (salad dressings, ketchup, barbecue sauce, cereals, snacks, jam, hummus, salsa, etc.).

Buy organic. As much as you possibly can. Although much research has suggested the toxicity of pesticide laden food on our health, no one will actually admit this. But come on, since when is poison good for you? More than that, stop supporting giant agrobusinesses, and evil companies like Monsanto. These companies are affecting the lives of the small farmers who are trying to grow organically and preserve the integrity of our land and our food chain. Also, the chemicals are leaking into ground water, air, rain, etc.. contaminating everything. Also with this, buy non-GMO.

Thanks again for sharing Calamity Wilde!
Everyone be sure to check in Thursday and Friday for more awesomeness from this awesome chick!

Simple Living Month: Day 11

Make conscious decisions regarding your cars. AKA Try to reduce your carbon footprint by reducing your trips or at least choosing the car with the best gas mileage.

Scout and I are lucky enough to have two cars, but his has much better gas mileage (but mine's cooler!) so when we go on long trips and when we go just down the road for groceries, we take his car to conserve gas.
We also try to think about where and when we are going somewhere, thus saving gas because we drive less.
We try not to make multiple trips to the same place (besides work and church) in the same week, making sure to save money.

Always, always, we try to carpool with each other and our friends to also conserve that gas and help the planet!

One day if we get a new car, I would love to get a hybrid or an electric car like the Nissan Leaf!

ps- Two giveaways tomorrow! Don't forget to sign up! See my side bar for details!

Simple Living Month: Day 8

Looking for something to do this weekend?

Make it something that will support your health and the environment and is still a good time and check out your local Farmers' Market!

Farmers' Markets are a great place to buy local veggies which because they aren't transported as far, have a lower carbon footprint and they are vegetables, so they are obviously a healthy eating choice.

You also have the chance to meet the farmers that produced the vegetables, meat or whatever it is you are purchasing (there are always lots of cool vendors for homemade soap, plants for your gardens, etc) and ask them questions.
Did they use chemicals or genetically-modified seeds to produce what you are about to consume for example?
Usually at farmers markets, farmers are more conscious of the environment because they do not mass produce products like grocery store produce. Thus, they don't use pesticides or harmful fertilizers, but it never hurts to ask.

Farmers' Markets are also a great opportunity to walk around outside.
It often only takes a quick internet search for your local Farmers' Market to find out when and where it is.
Saturday mornings are typically the best time to check them out!

For Knoxvillians, check out ours here.

**Simple Living Month**: Day 6

Be inspired by others and learn what they have to teach you.

It's as simple as that.

Start here with this awesome family that has totally forgone most traditional ways of living and created a truly simple lifestyle. I can think of about 15 conscious choices they have made to live simply that are mentioned in this interview, so you know there have to be more.

Really, watch it, because IT.IS.AWESOME.

**Simple Living Month**: Day 5

Tip of the Day #5:
Catch your rain water.

It's the perfect time of the year to catch rain water.
Grab a 5 gallon bucket and set it out in the rain to catch water or just an old tub or go hardcore and make a rain barrel.
Here's a great video to give you an idea of what this may be:



Use this water to nourish plants outside and inside and also your fall garden.
Think broccoli, cabbage, and turnips... they all need a drink of water on a cool fall day.

This tip of the day brought to you by my Dad! Thanks Pa!

**Simple Living Month** Day 4

image taken from google images

It's fall people!
The weather is gorgeous and the wonderfulness of October?
It is the perfect time to conserve energy and
turn off the air and heat and open your windows.

When the weather is so temperate, help the environment and your budget and open your windows to let the air circulate and let nature do your thermostat's job. (This temperate weather is what makes October a great month to practice simple living.)
Also try taking off or adding a layer of clothes to prevent having to heat or cool the house instead of automatically reaching for the thermostat.
Putting on a sweatshirt is easy and simple and better for everyone.

It's also better for the soul as it's more feng shui.

**Simple Living Month**: Day 3

Some beautiful students that I was privileged to teach at an at-risk school in Memphis.

Because some of you might have heard a version of this this morning at church and everyone could use hearing this and being reminded of this daily.... today's simple living tip:

Serve others.

Now at first this may seem rather abstract compared to the other tips we have had or expect. Who do you want me to serve? What should I do? When should I do it? Where? How?
Well, fair enough.
But I believe, a simple, sustainable world is a world where people work together and look out for one another.
It is a world where we are more selfless than we are selfish.
It is a world that we do not witness from day to day, but that I think is possible.

So what can you do? You can live selflessly. What does that look like?
Well, it can take on many different shapes and forms. Most people would think of working with the homeless, inner city kids, or some charitable endeavor. These are fabulous, but serving others can start with simple tasks like conservation, which you will see more of this month. Make the decision to buy free trade for example. As you see these tips and DIYs, and do a little studying of your own, you will see that your choices towards simple living will benefit a huge range of people and beyond.
It can also be simply showing someone you care by doing something for them.

So tomorrow, turn off those lights, take a walk outside, and write someone a little note, reminding them how much you love him or her.
Not only will this brighten their day, it's proven that serving others, makes us happier as well.
So here's to our emotional health by doing simple tasks that make a big difference.

**Simple Living Month**: Day 1

I am so excited about this month's special focus: simple, sustainable, natural living.

It is one of my personal passions: to live a life of conscious choices that will benefit the environment, humanity, my friends, my family, and in the end, myself as well (though it's not meant to be a selfish endeavor, which makes it that much more satisfying).

I call this kind of thoughtful living "simple living," simply because it is simple. The tips and thoughts I will share are meant to simplify life.
To take away the complications that chemicals, toxins, technology, business, stuff, etc often present us with daily.

I've taught classes on simple, sustainable living when I was in college to students, faculty, and community members, but I still have so much to learn, so PLEASE e-mail me, comment, and comment again because I hope that this month can be a month of sharing advice, thoughts, and tips so that we as a broad community can take a step towards living consciously for a simpler, more passionate life.

So tip number 1 is an easy one that you've probably heard over and over and over again, but oftentimes we forget:
When you leave a room, turn off the lights.

I was really bad at doing this until I got married and Scout does it religiously. So much so that I have gotten in the habit and people at work even complain when I turn off the office lights when no one is around.

This simple task not only conserves ridiculous amounts of electricity, but will save you money as well.

Benefits: you and the environment

Note: To those super conservationists out there that might argue that turning a light back on will use more energy, especially with fluorescent bulbs, the most recent research (see here) argues that it is worth turning it off, especially if you are leaving the room for more than 5 minutes. So... turn those light bulbs off friends.