Big plug for etsy's alchemy!

I can't be the only one with a growing pile of craft projects I'll get to ... when? And yet I keep feeding it, assuming that the day will come (and in some cases that I'll be magically imbued with new found art skills) to complete the projects. One of these was improving the horrible, drab blackout curtain in my kids' room:

It's a vital, necessary thing, but such a downer to look at. So I imagined sewing on some decals, or cutting out some fabric scraps to liven things up. This was not happening so I decided to try out Alchemy, the new custom order site by Etsy. Etsy is just what it sounds like. OK, so etsy doesn't really sound like anything but what it is is a fabulous online craft source. Alchemy is a place where you can post your craft project and people bid on doing it.

I posted a picture of the curtain and a description of the mural I wanted and within 24 hours I had 3 bids. I picked my favorite Etsy provider based on the links they sent, mailed off the curtain and 2 weeks later got:


The girls adore it... and it had all the elements they'd asked for... a sun, flowers, a tree and a bird. And the price was completely reasonable!

Two sewing thimbles up for Alchemy!

On the budget front: Gilt Groupe invitation link

Gilt Groupe is an online sample sale for very high end clothes. The best part is they have a children's category, which often has really nice stuff. It's a great place to find unique but -- thanks to the site's discounts -- within reach special occassion kids gifts. The sale this week, for instance, featured Tea Collection and Saurette.

It's invitation only. Here's a working invitation link:
http://www.giltgroupe.com/invite/handknit

In an emergency, think about text and twitter

My husband and I were talking about emergency preparedness this weekend. One of the subjects we covered was how to be in touch. We both were in lower Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001 and it was just Blackberries working that day... people passed them around to those who didn't have them so everyone could get an email out.

We don't have Blackberries now but we settled on text messages since they're a similar technology. On the old-school front, we also reminded each other of the one, non-cordless phone in the house that'll work even if electricity goes out.

Today there was a great article in the SF Chronicle taking the text idea one step further. You can program a message, like "we're okay" into your phone and also put in the numbers where you want it sent (something they didn't say: remember always include numbers of friends/family OUTSIDE the state since those are more likely to reach their target and can be a point of contact for everyone here). Then you can just quickly hit send in case you ever need to.