Budcozy on Etsy

Taking Etsy for spin this morning. Curious if I can get any traction in their busy marketplace. The Geekery Category isn't as saturated as others, so I'm hoping this works in my advantage.

I've had my Etsy MissJenny shop since 2006 when I was painting. Dusted it off today with Budcozy. The site has evolved so much in the last 2 years. The user experience for adding products and store information is really tight. Really nice to use a tool that is really usable. Definitely lots to learn from their progress.

Found their Etsy Mini, but not finding it very useful. I definitely have my own thoughts on what they should do here ;)

Budcozy at Mission Indie-Mart, July 27

I'm very excited for budcozy’s first craft fair, the Mission Indie-Mart.

“The Mission Indie-Mart is a bi-monthly marketplace that has quickly grown from an underground backyard shopping party into a popular monthly event featuring a tantalizing combination of shopping, music, and food. This event showcases truly independent local designers, offering everything from one of a kind fashions and reconstructed vintage to offbeat crafts, handmade jewelry and fun antiques. Enjoy cheap beer, hot plates, local DJs and the cream of the crop of SF’s indie designer scene.”

It’s a big step for me. Lots to figure out in the next few weeks. Success today at Daniel’s Display on Market. Miranda gave me the scoop on Daniel’s when I asked about her hat display. Each step along the way with this new business is such a learning experience. Paula also threw me a great tip on a new local production company. Will definitely be checking them out, if the fair goes well. At the very least it will be a fun day with bbq, drinks and djs.

Will post more deets when it gets closer to July 27.

Effects of Composting

image from sfrecycling.com


We shifted our garbage-ing habits a few months back, and the effects have been really surprising. D noticed a blurb in some newsletter or newspaper that SF is encouraging folks to take advantage of the green bin for kitchen scraps and some food soiled packaging. We took their cue on a couple tips and combined with recycling, our regular garbage bag has been reduced to barely anything. SF now has an abundance of new dirt and has started a dirt program where everyone can get get a bucket of new dirt for their yards. It makes me feel like I’m back in little San Carlos circa 1975. It’s a nice feeling that a big city like SF can have small a town vibe.

The best tip I have to share is regarding storing your scraps. Use milk cartons, cereal boxes, and take out boxes to store your kitchen scraps. There is no need to buy composting bags. You’ll find you have plenty of containers on hand. And it makes perfect sense, don’t go buy more stuff just to hold your scraps that eventually goes into a bin anyway. That’s backwards. Just use what you have. We’ve got a pile of boxes under the sink waiting for their big moment.

At some point I’d like to take this even further. This personal composting bin handles pet waste. With Lucy and Depot we have plenty of that. For now we’re using biodegradable bags for both dog walks and cat box. I can't believe I used to mummify all that crap, literally, in regular plastic bags. What was I thinking?

Reverse Graffiti

Following Laughing Squid on twitter provides a lot of quick access to cool-stuff-right-now. This one in particular is really neato. An eco-friendly cleaning product company teamed up with a graffiti artist to create public murals by cleaning away dirt, instead of using paint. I love this because it gets me to look at the world in a different way, what else can be flipped around like this?

Reverse Graffiti Project
“San Francisco’s Broadway tunnel is a highly traveled thoroughfare in the heart of the city. Over 20,000 cars, trucks, and motorized vehicles pass through it per day. Its walls are caked with dirt and soot, and lined with patches of paint covered graffiti from days gone by. It set the perfect canvas to create a beautiful work of art showcasing the talents of reverse graffiti artist “Moose”, and the power of Green Works plant based cleaner.”

Maker Faire Poster

Poster by eboy.

I'm a little tardy for a Maker Fair mention but, I came across this poster today and it's worth mentioning just for the visual graphics alone (one in a long series). And so, my quick review of the faire will be better late than never. Bliz and I went for the second time. We took CalTrain and the faire shuttle bus which worked out 200% better than driving, and we reviewed the schedule in advance to make sure we saw the stuff we wanted but, it was still totally overwhelming. This poster captures it well. The faire seems to have huge momentum and I imagine it'll be even bigger next year. It's really amazing to see a little bit of Burning Man in San Mateo. (As an aside, I grew up in San Mateo County. My parents were both born and raised there. My sisters and I were in 4H and they showed their lambs at the same fair grounds. I spent many summer nights running around the carnival eating sticky sugary foods and trying to win stuffed animals and gold fish. It was so the 1970's.)

A couple highlights:

- My friend Emi works for TCHO, who had chocolate samples you could vote on. It's yummy chocolate from scratch. Always a crowd pleaser. We had them at EG2007.

- My friend Marnia was there with Swarm. It's great to see this Burning Man project still going and now starting to tour year round.

- Mike with BlinkM, of course.

- David with Making Things, of course.

- Steampunk Squid, Robot Girafe, Tesla Coil, Cupcake cars, Never Was House and The Treehouse.

- The Mento-Coke guys did a show. Was fun to see in person.

For a more thorough review, Wired has a great blog write up complete with photos and videos.