DIYthing

Well if you haven’t heard - Brooklyn Flea is in high gear - the first weekend was a huge success. Every Sunday from 10am to 5pm—rain or shine you can gather with your best buds and check it out at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, on Lafayette Ave. between Clermont and Vanderbilt Ave. You can expect to see about 200 vendors selling vintage furniture, clothing and antiques plus what we find neat - local makers. There’s even a slideshow of last week’s event. With all of these vendors, you will find great items to upcycle for your green projects.

Check out the April 13th Market Layout to see who will be where.

Spencer Brown of Costa Mesa, CA is the $25K Grand Prize Winner in Keen Footwear’s STAND Contest. His Rent-a-Green Box.com is a really neat company. His idea is to create a “zero-waste” pack and move solution. He saw that there was a real eco problem with the way we produce and dispose of packing boxes for moving. So he created a way to recycle plastic trash to make a rentable and reusable stacking packing boxes.

Check out his video describing how he started this eco-friendly business. What a great contest rewarding creatives who are committed to sustainability.

Spring is here and the fashion experts say that color is in! Of course fashion trends come back around, so if you are wanting to update your wardrobe and the dollars are tight you might want to check out what you can find at your local vintage store. This lovely dress can be found at the Roulette Vintage in Carrboro, NC. Check out our overview of the town at DIY City Mag blog.

Compai Design Studios is releasing a new book - 99 Ways to Cut, Tie, and Rock Your Scarf. If you want to meet the authors (Ellen Schultz and Faith and Justina Blakeney) you can stop by Spoonbill and Sugartown at 218 Bedford Ave. in Williamsburg on March 6th. The festivities will begin at 7 pm.

Well the dust has settled a bit and Deb and I are back at it full force. We have started planning our New Orleans issue with lots of great DIY resources and designers on the list!

DIY City mag News:
We will feature a new desinger from the community weekly on DIYthing - today is Mergirl that sells over at Smashing Darling! From dressed up to dressed down and throw in a little fun - Mergirl has the outfit sure to please. So if you up for a little shopping and you are in Chester, Connecticut stop by Mergirl.

We love finding great art from New Orleans. These shotgun houses are made by some artists that we met via Etsy - Kerry and Heather. They have made them in honor of the Make it Right Foundation’s drive to rebuild homes in the lower 9th ward. And the great thing is that the artists have committed to give 50% of the purchase price to go directly to the organization.That we find just wonderful. You may be familiar with these efforts as The Pink Project which Brad Pitt has been promoting.

As many of you may know, New Orleans is known for its shotgun houses. You can purchase the houses which are made of wood salvaged from 9th ward debris piles and are signed & numbered, at bayousalvage.etsy.com

Check out their shops for more great Louisiana art.

Kerry’s Shop bayousalvage.etsy.com
Heather’s shop nolasalvage.etsy.com

Also, Wendy and I will be launching our 1st issue of DIY City mag on Valentine’s Day so stay tuned. The first issue will highlight New York City - then we will head to New Orleans next. So stay tuned. We will keep you posted.

Here’s your chance to Make it Work with Project Runway and Levi’s 501 - “Fashion Your 501 Dream” contest. If you haven’t heard about - hurry. Deadline ends February 6, 2008.

Here is the work of another artist, Tami Curtis-Ellis, that I met at the Arts Market of New Orleans. I love how Tami uses vintage wooden frame windows and screens in many of her pieces. Not only is it eco-friendly, but the screens also connect you to a different time in our history. Many of the artists at the Arts Market were using found objects and recycled pieces in their works.

Tami has a rich history on the Louisiana art scene. You can read her profile at the NOLA Fun Guide. Stay tuned, we hope to bring you more about Tami and her colorful, jazzy style soon.

We know you voted last week for Smashing Darling…but they need your help once again.
Smashing Darling has made it to round #2 for Best Social Shopping Site in the Mashable Open Web Awards! So stop shopping and go VOTE again for Smashing Darling!

“We created a place for EVERYONE who loves fashion that thinks beyond the mall. Whether you want to shop, sell your own designs, find raw materials, meet others, collaborate, or just see what’s new and hot in independent fashion…Smashing Darling is the place that brings all of these elements together and is a community like no other. “

Check out our hot indie stocking stuffers for the guys on your list over at Stylehive.
And check out some other great posts by the bloggers over at Stylehive.