Photo's have Arrived!

The photo's have finally arrived!  It was a long process and we waited as much as we could.  We are so happy to have photo's done and tangible.  Check these out!  Super hot pictures and amazing folks.  Thank you Christopher for your amazing talent.  You did a smashing job.  Ladies, your a Star!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

October Thoughts

It's been a month of change and adventure for us here.  As we watch all our efforts come together it leaves me with so many thoughts.  I have had a difficult time trying to write about just one.  Prolonging this posting.

This is my recap for now.

Change happens to all of us.  Each year, month, week, and day.  You really never know what you will wake up to in the morning. Today I was trying to catch up on some lost sleep, to find a painter at my window.  This forced me out of bed.  Which then I discovered I had to pop off to the market to purchase creamer for my coffee.  The only thing keeping me happy about this was knowing I could go to the market to purchase my creamer for my coffee.  What if I didn't even have this little luxury I indulge in each day.  First thing in the morning practice: first cup of coffee sitting on the deck watching everything come to life.  It's the only time my phone doesn't ring, the emails are piling up, and my children are to tired to say "mom" every five minutes.  The only thing I hear are the birds, and the breeze.

Some days we had so much happen, I didn't think I would get any sleep.  Other days we waited to receive results from others.  As the roller coaster for business continued I was able to experience and view this in personal lives as well. 

I was fortunate enough to accompany 5th graders to camp Killoqua http://www.campfireusasnohomish.org/killoqua.htm.  Watching them bond, grow, face their fears, and push themselves out of their comfort zones at camp, was watching history for their lives.  Never will they have this opportunity again.  Nor will they understand (until later in life) how profound the impact was for them.  I was so proud to see how they charged in with the tasks and challenges.  To witness pure compassion no matter the subject.  It gave me hope for our future generations.

 

We lost some people and gained others.  One of my dearist friends is moving to another state.  I find myself feeling so happy for him and wishing him the best of luck on his new adventure and the future it holds.  He will truley be missed.  A new artist is starting this week and I am anxious to see what she can do.

In this economy many people wake up each day praying and hoping they can have something positive happen to them.  Maybe someone finally finds a job after being out of w

ork for over a year.  Another can receive a hot meal.  They reconnect with a lost loved one.  Each day I'm happy to be meet with my family, warm home, and all the wonderful people in my life. 

Take each day for what it is.  Let the worries pass you, the joys embrace you, and never forget how lucky you are no matter what you posses.

 

Take care and take your time.

Fall is here and so is My Eco M O!

Oh, we have been busy, busy, busy. 

You can always tell when companies are going through growth.  Somethings get tabled.  The good news is we are growing again!

Who's new:

We have a few new artists to our team.  They are adding to our jewelry and bags.  It's so exciting to see what they are making just for you! 

Amazing photographer joined us as well.  You will see his art work on our site here soon.  I'm so excited for this!  His prior work is amazing.  Chris captures each moment and focus with percision and passion.

Adding to our new photographer we have brought on models for the first time.  This should be so much fun.  I know Nicole is having a blast putting all of this together. 

From what I can see, of the plans and story boards, these folks are smashing!  We have such a talented team! 

What's new:

November and December are looking to be busy, as well.  The holidays are coming and so are all the shows.  Dates and locations are coming soon.

Check out our cute new hat!  Oh yes, we have hats coming!  It has been so much fun playing with the styles and fabrics.  This has become an obsession for sure. 

We have new fabric to play with as well.  We were able to acquire a few bolts of Ecofi.  This fabric is magnifisent.  Looks like wool...feels like wool...but it's not.  Ecofi is made from recycled plastic bottles.  We have six colors to chose from.  Our hats and bags will showcase this lovely new find.  Here are some samples of each color.

I can't wait to see what other recycled fabrics come out this year!

Here is a picture of our new prints and hobo bags.  Super cute.  I love that I can have this stylish bag inside my little clutch.  Then when needed (like magic) I have a big bag. 

 

Until next time.

Super Cute Bag!

This is my new favorite.  I have been working on a plastic bag line.  All made from bags you get at the market.  I have several folks give me their bags (Thank you).  Several have been made.  This one is my favorite.  My lovely Jordy was nice enough to show it off for us.

August News

It has been a busy and long month already.

Found to many people to hire. I had to stop replying to people because I was running out of time. I can't wait to get all the new items up from them!

Got a good friend of mine to work his magic on the site and it's going in a better direction then I had it. Thank you!

Estate Sales are crazy right now. I have been able to visit a few and found some little gems. I'm a sucker for bags, especially when the cool old ones are so hard to find.

More materials were purchased this month. I hope since I have more materials to play with now, I will be able to get time to make some fun things.

Another good friend made my logo finally and it is perfect. I spent days on the computer trying to create what took him minutes to toss together. It's good to know folks.

I have not heard back anymore from any of the grants. Since the deadlines, I had the time to research this more, and I am losing my hope of receiving any of them. I found some more to submit to and am looking forward to this again.

Thank you all for your support and I'll be back to write more as time allows.

People

People in any ones life are key to life itself. I feel truly blessed to have the people in my life I have.

Today I scrambled to complete my grant. This week a very intelligent women helped me edit my paper and a very patient man helped me print it. I had been working on this paper for a month - off and on. I set my mind to finish it on time and not request the offered extension. Because of my dear friends I was able to finish it!

I knew it needed overhauling. My feeling was I could have this really amazing friend look it over to give me the hard truth. Boy did she come through. I owe her big time. This women has taught me many things, and I love how honest she is with me. Once the paper was done I had to print it. For some reason (full moon) I could not get any printers in my house to work. This brings in friend number 2. He came over at a drop of a hat looked over my paper, made the necessary changes, fixed my user error with the printer to find I had ran out of ink. While I was doing multiple other things and babbling, he was awesome enough to make a copy and go to print my paper for me. He then ran to the post man for me while I ran after, because I could not figure out the necessary postage to send such a package. I then fell down the stairs onto the rock wall, to discover the post man didn't know. The attempts to catch me were appreciated. However, me being in full moon, dead lines, and totally not grounded fell in the most amazing fashion there was no hope. Thank you both so much for all your help and taking time out of your busy lives to deal with mine.

In the process of my new events this has added a fresh flame to my fire for My Eco MO.

I believe everything happens for a reason. In the last few months I have been contact by folks and crossed paths with others. Each leaving their impression on my mind. Some were to ponder my ability of success others to keep me motivated. Now I knew what to do next.

Taking in a deep breath I typed the help ad's. After 10 minutes of the ad's going live I actually received responses. I was shocked and delighted. I spent hours thinking of who I really needed and what I knew I could let go of. After this I had to figure out how to attract the people I actually wanted to hear from. One ad went smashing. I received just enough replies. The folks I have heard from, spoken to, and meet with have been amazing. The passion they express and the excitement was exhilarating. The other ad...huh...well...could have had more time spent on it. I forget sometimes how that industry thinks, and now know I did not make myself clear enough. I received close to 100 emails and only had three I could reply to. I'm still hopeful on all accounts. In my experience of hiring and training people first impressions are not always correct. However, in this case for these positions the first impression is critical. For one main reason. If you can't communicate well (reading or writing) how do you plan to work for a company that does everything remotely? Emailing was a great start for a reply to my ad's. This forced them to show me they can communicate and have the ability to use the computer. Secondly the phone call. If you don't answer after you told me to give you a call, and you gave me your cell number. How can we move forward? These two steps cut my list down to 10 people. Now I have a number I can deal with.

Tomorrow I start the interviews in person. This should be really fun. I already know who I'm getting and what to expect from them. What will be exciting is I don't yet know which one of them is bringing the bad skirt. Oh yes, the bad skirt. It's multiple pieces of old jeans that has been turned into a poorly stitched, ratty looking thing from the wrong decade. The sad part is, I feel so bad for them I want to bring them on. I don't mainly because they end up not being able to learn and take to much time away for the rest of us.

This brings me back to people being key. The right people regardless of where they are in life and the skills they have; can do anything if they have the passion, want, desire, and ability to learn or change.

Exciting News

I meet some guys a few weeks ago making silk screen shirts. The girls ended up making some shirts with them and loved them. I have been trying to get someone to do printing using eco ink. These guys hooked me up! Now I'm looking at purchasing a setup of my own to print my bags and other items. I'm very very excited! Can't wait to get started!

In addition to this good and fun news I meet with some ladies today to be a vendor at an Eco fashion/art show in the Bellevue area, November 19th. They really liked my bags and jewlery. Again - Very excited!

Now if I could just keep my nose in the computer long enough to finish this next grant. It seems like each time I work on my paper it gets longer and longer. I believe when I'm done I just might have a novel. I hope to have it off my tomorrow. I'm really pushing the deadline date.

Oh and I almost forgot. I have been working on these bags made from the plastic super market bags. I have been using my home iron to fuse the plastics, but it is just not what I had in mind for the final outcome. I am going to try a heat gun now and see if this helps the material fuse better. If so you should be seeing some new little cute tote bags up.

Because of the November bit I'm not sure how much clothing you will see up on the site anytime soon. Just saying...I might go on a full blown bag rampage to get enough done.