all good things

 This week was my friend Jenny's birthday so for a present I made a little portrait of her, screenprinted onto a cute tote bag. It's sort of comic-bookesque because she loves comics. In fact, I included a bunch of things she likes! Just look at all things floating around her and you will see: turn tables and music notes, cooking things (including a piece of kale), a bike, a heart, mountains with hiking trails, comic books, regular books, snow board, plants, spool of thread, sewing machine, a softie (she makes awesome teddy bears and plush animals she calls softies!), and the sun. All good things.

The tote is 100% organic cotton and fairtrade certified. This is a limited edition design, but I'm going to be making more bags as well as tea towels with other interesting and cool designs on them, so stay tuned!

Jenny Smith!

...cooking...kale....mountain biking...

...snowboarding, books, comic books..

...plants...making softies...sewing...

The making of. This is the screen I used to print the design onto the bag. 

Bear with coffee card meets bear with coffee wool felt doll.

Besides making traditional teddy bears and softies, Jenny is getting into needle felting and here is what she made me for my birthday (which is a few days after hers). I LOVE IT! She took my 'bear with coffee' drawing and sculpted a version of it with wool felt. It came out awesome and I will cherish this little guy. Above is a photo of her creation next to my drawing. I am selling these 'bear with coffee' cards as well as others in my etsy shop. 

Jenny's Teddy Bear Republic and Etsy Shop

wake up and smell the...

 I first saw a reusable coffee filter at my older sister's house before I even drank coffee, so the idea has been in my mind for many years, maybe 10 or so. When I began drinking coffee the normalcy of paper filters was enough to make me not consider an alternative, although I hadn't forgotten about the cloth ones I'd seen. Then, after moving from England and to LA, I bought my first sewing machine and I now have a special power that I didn't before! Things I used to feel were beyond my ability to make can now be made, and that gives me so much joy.

And so, the coffee filters. We make coffee everyday and the idea came to me slowly and then all at once. I had the cotton because I had bought it for another purpose (eye pillow bags, though it turned out to be too stiff) and so things just came together. I am selling these on my Etsy Shop and hopefully in some local Los Angeles cafes. (Please get in touch if you are interested in selling them).

I've made these coffee filters out of 100% unbleached cotton (which was made in the USA).You can use these just like ordinary filters and your coffee will taste great without the environmental impact of using a new paper filter every time you brew. Plus you will never have to buy the paper kind again!

Instructions are as easy as pie: 

-Place filter in coffee maker basket and brew as you normally do.
-After coffee is made, take grounds out of filter and dispose of them (I compost them).
-Rinse filter in cold water, squeeze out excess water and hang to dry. 

Happy Coffee Brewing!