DIY Sunday - Folk Art Angels

If you're like me, and lurk around Etsy trying to find inspiration, you might have noticed all of the cool holiday goodies folks are making. You might also notice that a lot of it falls under the classification of "folk art."

Folk art, as wikipedia describes it, is art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic. All of our Christmas decorations - those would be folk art (nothing like being lumped with the peasants to make one feel awesome). The modern handcraft movement would also be folk art.

So, being folk and being a bit arty, I tried my hand at making some Christmas decorations for my apartment in a folk art style. Here's how I did it:

You'll need:

A shadowbox (I used the "Ribba" from Ikea). You could also use a cardboard box painted black.

Craft paper

Things that cut (scissors, a craft knife)

Things that adhere (a glue gun, tape, glue sticks, photo splits, 3-d tape dots)

Vintagey post cards or clip art

Other baubles, charms, plastic flowers or leaves that you have around

Step 1: Cut a piece of background paper to fit inside your shadowbox.

Step 2: Cut out a head from one of your vintagey postcards or clip art pics. Leave the neck! or you will have a neckless angel, kind of like when a Barbie's head gets ripped off and you try to push it back on, but it no longer has a graceful swan neck, but instead, the neck of a linebacker.

Step 3: Using craft paper, cut your angel some clothes -- just like a paperdoll. Don't worry about getting fancy - this is folk art, so it can be 2-d. If you have some gold paper or some wire, give her a halo.

Step 4: Angels need wings. You can cut wings out of craft paper, or use some feathers, flower petals, leaves, or ribbons -- whatever you want.

Step 5: Adhere. Using your glue and tape, or whatever else, adhere it all together. It's easier if you let pieces hang off the edges, and trim them when you're done adhering.

Step 6: Trap your angel inside your shadow box and hang her on your wall.

I made a triptych of three angels for one wall. Here's one:

For another wall, I used a similar technique to create a stylized creche.

If you go to regular ol' big box stores, many of them sell holiday art for $20-100. You can create your own for a fraction of that price, and create something that's meaninful to you.

Cranberry Sauced

As my loyal Light Greenies (I think there are about 20 of you now!) know, "mixology," or the art of creating cocktails, is a hobby of mine. This hobby gets a workout every Wednesday night when my friends get together for "Glee-tini Night." We laugh, we drink 'tinis, and we debate the relative merits of Puck and Finn.

Last week, I created a cranberry martini to celebrate our last big Glee-tini Night before everyone headed off for the holiday. As they say on Top Chef, I wanted to mimic the "flavor profile" of cranberry sauce -- but not the kind that comes in a can. My mom always made fresh cranberry sauce each Thankgiving, a sweet-tart taste explosion that makes the canned version curl up and cry in a corner. Those flavors include cranberries, of course, along with orange zest and sugar.

I also wanted to green my cocktail. Many flavored vodkas and cocktail mixes are chock-full of fun things like high-fructose corn syrup and and the ubiquitous "natural and artificial flavors." While no one can claim that a martini is healthy, it can be made healthier for the planet if you infuse your own vodka with organic goodies. Here's how to do it:

To make Orange-infused Vodka:

Ingredients:

4 tsp. organic sugar

4 oz. H2O

1 organic orange

10 oz. vodka

Step 1: Mix the sugar and water in a microwaveable container. Microwave on high for about 1 min, or until the sugar is dissolved.

Step 2: Wash your orange well (you can use white vinegar to kill the H1N1 that might have migrated from some kid's hand to your orange while it was happily nesting with the other oranges in the grocery store). Cut the orange into pieces and leave on the peel! -- that's what's going to give it that zesty, orangey goodness.

Step 3: Mix your sugar water, orange pieces, and vodka in one container. Mash up the oranges with a spoon if you want. Then stick the whole thing in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

Step 4: Strain it all and put the orange vodka in the freezer.

That's it. You're going to use that orange vodka to make your

Cranberry-Sauced Martini.

Ingredients

2 parts orange vodka

1/2-1 part pure cranberry juice (NOT cranberry juice cocktail)

dash orange bitters

ice

organic sugar

curl of orange peel

Step 1: Rim martini glass with sugar. To do this shake the sugar out onto a plate. Dip the rim of the glass in water or a squeeze of lemon juice. Then swirl the glass in the sugar. Click here for a pic of how to do this.

Step 2: In your ice-filled cocktail shaker (or plastic tumbler or bar glass) mix the vodka, cranberry juice, and bitters. Shake, shake, shake ... well, you know the rest.

Step 3: Strain into your prepared martini glass. Garnish with the orange peel.

Step 4: Toast to something you are thankful for.

I am thankful for you, Light Greenies -- all 20 of you. I am thankful for my amazing nephew H., and the wonderful nieces and nephews that I am not related to by blood, but by love. I am thankful for my amazing mom and dad, my fabulous sister and her great husband, and the family of friends that I have here in Houston and in the PacNW (you pronounce that PackNoo).

I am thankful for the existence of French fries and pie. I am thankful for Joss Whedon. I am thankful for stories. And I am thankful for the proliferation of dance shows. So with that, I leave you a Thanksgiving gift ...

Let's Get Crazy with Al Gore

Al Gore was once on Congress's cutting edge. Then came that presidential campaign, the one that did to Al what the presidency seems to have done to Barack H. Obama (don't hate me because I'm truthy ...) - neutered him.

But Al.G got his balls back after that whole Florida rigamarole, and his appearance on SNL this weekend urged us all to get a little cray-cray, as my friend Melanie would put it.



Yes, Al was hyperbolizing for the sake of humor, but I can't help but wondering at the truth (not truthiness) beneath it all.

Isn't it time to get crazy?

Glenn Beck is crying on your TV and advertising his Christmas special at the movies.

Sarah Palin is wearing short shorts and netting salmon.

And liberals are trying to pretend they are actually "progressives."

Let's follow Al's lead and get crazy.

Let's call ourselves liberals (because there's nothing progressive about the so-called "progressive" agenda.)

Let's call out those who don't believe in global warming and stop addressing their position as if it makes sense. It doesn't.

Let's admit that we have religious faith (or don't) and let's admit that our beliefs, whatever they are, are the foundation of our politics. The right does it. So can we.

Let's stop apologizing for the truth that minorities, immigrants, women, and homosexuals are people.

Let's put it out on the floor of the Capitol: Americans have a right to health care. Period.

Let's stop quibbling about how we're going to educate all of America's kids, and do it, because it's possible. While we're at it, let's stop making excuses that "kids will succeed if their parents support them" and make it happen even for those who don't have any support -- because it's not a seven-year-old's fault if his parents don't read to him.

Let's get cra ...

Well, none of this is crazy. But we've been led to believe that it is. We've been acting like it is. We've been behaving like shame-faced kids with our hands in the cookie jar, trying to address every argument FoxNews sends our way.

Al Gore was joking. But we shouldn't be.

This is my plate

And this is my bowl sitting next to my towel.

At work today, somebody said, "Wow, fancy plate."

I felt sheepish as I said, "Well, I try to use non-disposable products when I can." At work we only have paper plates, cups, towels, and utensils, so I have my own.

"Wow," she said. "I appreciate that. Maybe someday I'll join you."

That was nice of her to say, but I'm not gonna lie. I'm not sure why, but I kinda felt like a jackass for having my own plate, as if my plate was sticking out its tongue at all the paper plates and calling them names like "Trashy" and "Junky."

I guess I'll just have to get over it.

Cute Cat Pictures

It's been awhile since you've had the pleasure of Cute Cat Pictures. Here are some outtakes from Wily's holiday photo shoot.

Cats are not known for their fondness for hats.

Hiking with Mr. Henry

This past weekend, I was a kid again, as I went on a Girl Scout field trip to camp. I volunteer with this Girl Scout troop, and as I've written about before, scouting is an amazing opportunity for girls to get out into nature. It turns out, it's also an amazing opportunity for this big girl to learn all about the flora in Texas.

I've lived in Texas for six years. In my home state of Washington, I felt as though I was able to identify the most common trees and animals by their common names. I was no expert, by any means, but I could find chamomile, honeysuckle, thimbleberries, echinacea, maples and sycamores, blackberries and bobcats. Texas, however, is another story. Immersed in my busy city life, and surrounded by friends who are also transplants from other parts of the country, I have learned a total of three (count them - 3!) Texas plants and animals.

Live oak.

Jasmine.

Grackle.

Luckily, at Girl Scout camp we went on a hike with Mr. Henry, the camp forester, who gave us some insight into the other living things all around us.

First, the mighty yaupon!

I never realized that the street in Houston called "Yaupon" is named after this red-berried beauty. This relative of the holly (which we also saw on our hike) has the scientific name of Ilex vomitoria, so-named because Europeans believed that the Native Americans used it to induce vomiting during purification rituals.

Looking similar, but with fuschia berries, is the American beautyberry, which I have seen often in my walks at the Houston Arboretum. Time and time again, I've thought to myself, what are those beautiful effusions of berries, breaking against the foliage like fireworks? Now, I know.

Somehow, when you know the names of things, the world seems a bit more right.

Mr. Henry also let us in on the secrets of the multitude of oaks growing throughout the woods. To a girl from evergreen country, there's something majestic and mysterious about oaks. And while nothing compares to the grandeur of a live oak, learning the names of water oaks, white oaks, pin oaks, red oaks ... I felt like I was finally "getting" the Texas landscape. Up above, you see the leaf of of the water oak.

We also came across the star-shaped leaves of the sweetgum, a tree whose resin, when mixed with tobacco, was smoked by Mexican emperors.

We learned about the acorn flour that settlers made, the seed pods that could double as balls for playing catch, the holly decorations that most of us have only seen in plastic form. The girls climbed a tree, scrambled through a rock labyrinth, and scrabbled for deer tracks in the iron-rich mud. And as we walked, Mr. Henry's stories hit home.

In Mr. Henry's childhood (in the last century, but not really so long ago) people had a certain level of familiarity with nature. They knew the names of things. And knowing the names of things is important. We are close to the things we understand and use, and those are things that we want to preserve.

But when we walk, every day, under the live oaks, and never know their names, what value do they have to us? Why inconvenience ourselves, to save a tree or a berry bush or a bird?

The girls grew restless with all the old stories and the names, but I think some of it sank in. Even though the hike exhausted them, in the end I could see that, though they couldn't articulate what was different, something had changed.

Monday, Monday

So, Monday got ya down?

Want to waste time?

Want to waste time and save the planet?

When you need a brain break today, I've got your green interweb roundup, organized from least-time consuming to "my boss is on maternity leave and nobody will be checking up on me for 5 more weeks" time-consuming.

5 Minute Brain Break

• On the LA Times' Environment page, you can catch up on green news from Cali and around the world. I discovered it while looking for free crosswords. The New York Times also has an Environment page, although they put it under the heading of "Science", which seems to deny the socio-cultural-political-stylical-entertainmental aspects of the greening of our culture.
• The Sierra Club's Hey, Mr. Green column addresses all of those green dilemmas that the average person doesn't have time to research. Want to know what kind of cups will be most environmentally-friendly at your next kegger? Mr. Green can tell you!

15 Minute "Fresh Air" Break

My sister had a friend who was irritated that smokers got to take more breaks during the day than your average non-smoker. So she started taking "fresh air breaks", equivalent to those smoke breaks. Wanna rebel against the system and start taking fresh air breaks? Here are some websites to fill the time.

• Dooce, aka Heather Armstrong, has started a community on her website. The participants are fun, the question-and-answer format allows for a lot of information sharing, and if you click on the "Environment" category, your time wastage can serve a purpose. If you're not familiar with Dooce, she's a mega-blogger and author who writes about photography, motherhood, and washing machines. Always good for a laugh, followed by an aw-shucks moment, Dooce is an internet star who's totally relatable.
• Want to know what chemicals are lurking in your shampoo? How many bunnies died for your mascara? On the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetics Safety Database, you can check out the hazard level on your beauty products. But be forewarned - you might not like what you find out.

Break? What break? I'm trying to get fired

• Head over to Hulu and watch the latest episode of Bones. What does a forensic TV show have to do with the environment, you might ask? Well, on this particular episode, a dead body connected to a poultry plant leads the entire murder-solvin' gang to consider the ethics of eating meat. In fact, Bones consistently has an undercurrent of environmentalism, with bodies found at recycling plants, a household wind turbine serving as motive for murder, environmental activists popping up as suspects or victims ... it might seem trivial, but on this show, the greening of the American culture is ever-present, and the disparate personalities and politics allow the writers to explore a multitude of points of view.

Hope this roundup has provided you with some ways to abuse your corporate internet service while still loving Mama Earth. Enjoy your Monday!

Mask

Halloween's over, but a girl can always use a mask - a clay mask.

My mom was a big fan of the clay mask once a week or so to tighten pores and clarify skin. When I was a teenager with bad skin, she recommended this type of treatement as well. But I have to say that lately it's been hard to find a good affordable mask. I don't know if it's just not the fashion anymore, or everyone now goes to a spa for their facials.

Luckily, I've found Burt's Bees Pore-refining Mask with French clay (ooh la la!). It runs between $8-10, and comes in a delightful little glass jar (perfect for future crafts -- tea=light holder anyone?)

The mask comes in a powder form, so you mix it with water to form a paste - which is a nice ritual - and then slather it all over your face, enjoying the minty smell as you do so. And of course, I love a product that does what it is supposed to -- and this mask does, tightening pores and making your face feel silky smooth.

Best of all, if you check out Skin Deep, the Environmental Working Group's Cosmetic Safety Data Base, this product receives a score of 2 (out of 10) for environmental and health hazards (that means low hazard). As a point of comparison, many of the masks listed on Skin Deep have hazard ratings of 8 or 9. And who wants an environmental hazard on their face?