Holiday Bounty

The holidays often entail lots of stuff.  Toward the end of the winter break, I finally asked my kids to put away their presents, and the 13-year-old whined, "What's with all the housework?!"  Suck it up, little man.  No one said being upper middle class was going to be easy! 

I gave my Mom a fridge magnet stocking stuffer (SOoo necessary) a few years back that says, "She believed that the holidays were no time to show restraint."  Actually my parents do not get me a lot of stuff.  Despite all physical signs to the contrary, they seem to think I am still a teen, and they give me money-- which I enjoy spending on my favorite eco-friendly/fabric art finds.  Here's what I splurged on this year: 

This from Baltimore fabric artist Lauren Hinds.  This padded laptop holder looks like a manila folder down to its closure and silk-screened postage.

 

I first came across her work at the Vis ArtsCenter in Rockville.  Lauren's Etsy shop shows some of her smaller items, but she also does fanciful chair refashioning work that is tremendous.

This next goodie was no splurge at a wildly inexpensive $10.  Sorry, I got the only one of these:

 

But there are many other great upcycled finds at Etsy's Rehashed Fashion:

 

Looking for something a little more office-friendly?  Check out the tremendous fair-trade African fabric peplums at fashion-conscience.com.  The company Fair+True makes them-- plus peplum skirts, plus lots of other great clothing-- in all different patterns,.  I got the orange and blue top on the far left.

 

Speaking of fashion-conscience.com, I have a very stylish friend Leslie Zucker, who came across the brand "Skunkfunk" on a recent trip in Spain.  She suggested I check them out; then there they were comprising a bunch of the bestsellers on fashion-conscience: 

 

 

Good synchronicity, huh? I can vouch for their stuff because it looked great on Leslie!  By the way she's a life coach, if you're looking to make a new start in 2013.  Happy New Year, fabulous people!