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Dec. 15th, 2007

tiny art, wackyness

Calling all who need some serious GOOD KARMA!

mood: motivated

On Saturday, Dec 8th a fire started near the water heater at AlterNatives (3320 West Cary St) which caused nearly $500,000 worth of damage to the store.

Fortunately, no one was hurt, but this fire destroyed more than just their inventory.

AlterNatives is a retail outlet for fairly-traded crafts that directly supports over 100 Guatemalan artisans and their families, many of whom have no other source of income. It is also part of the broader Highland Support Project, which does a variety of humanitarian work in the Guatemalan highlands (including empowering women to start their own craft businesses).

The busy Christmas shopping season accounts for the lion's share of their yearly sales, so this fire could not have come at a worse time. Efforts are currently underway to move to a temporary store front across the street, but for now store employees are set up on the sidewalk in front of the store selling jewelry and other items that were stored offsite & escaped the blaze.

How you can help:

Donations to help rebuild the store can be sent to:

AlterNatives
P.O. Box 7185
Richmond, Va. 23221

Please make checks out to "AlterNatives" and put "re-building" in the memo line.


Fellow Etsy sellers: I am donating 10% of my December (and probably January) Etsy sales to the rebuilding fund--if anybody would like to join me, I would love to put together a post featuring everyone's shops. Email me at BeeMail@BeesKneesStudio.com

Also, there are many smoke-tarnished silver items from inside the store that they would like to try and salvage. Anyone with silver-cleaning expertise who would like to help with that or offer suggestions is welcome to contact Kim at alternativemarketrva@gmail.com

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Posted at 12:44 pm | | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend

Nov. 22nd, 2007

tiny art, wackyness

(no subject)

location: turkey town
mood: full
 I give thanks that I don't work retail!

I spent many years working in a small local shop and I cringe every time one of those ads for 4am Door-Buster sales comes on TV. I imagine tired, blurry-eyed salespeople and cashiers getting up at 3am to get ready for work and deal with seething masses of crazed bargain shoppers. I remember the nightmares I would have around Christmas time: the ones where I could never ever leave work because just as we would let the last person out, someone else would come in.

Why has Christmas shopping become a full-contact extreme-sport obstacle course? An obscene spending glut of mass-produced crap from China that will be in the landfill by next Christmas? How is this special? How does a $20 DVD player tell someone how much you love them? It doesn't.

I give thanks for handmade gifts!

My family and friends are all receiving handmade gifts this year. Sure, I may not be able to buy them as many things as I would if I went to some big box retailer, but each thing will be special and unique. Many things will be made by me or by people I know personally. Call me a big old hippy, but that's how I think things should be.

"But what if I'm not a big old hippy craftypants artist like you Erica?" you ask...

That's fine, there are plenty of craftpants people out there to help you!

I give thanks for local Richmond, VA crafty folks!

For those of you in the Richmond, VA area here are some upcoming opportunities to handmade and local!



I give thanks for crafty people all over the country (and the world!)

Not a Richmonder but still want to find craftiness near you this holiday season?

Go to craftmafia.com and see if your city has a craft mafia. A good place to start if you are looking for local crafty resources and events.

Check out indiecraftshows.com for upcoming craftshows all over the country.


I give thanks for Etsy!

Oh, Etsy, how I love you, let me count the ways! How about 70,000 and counting? That's how many sellers there are on Etsy to choose from!

Etsy is a 24-7 world-wide craft fair. Find a unique handmade gift for anyone on your list, buy craft supplies for the crafter in your life, or reduce - reuse - recycle with fabulous vintage finds!

You can browse my favorites and check out some of the great Etsy sellers!

So, instead of wrestling the last crappy off-brand DVD player out of the hands of someone's crazed granny tomorrow at 4am, sleep in and do your shopping on Etsy. Many sellers will be running sales for the Thanksgiving weekend (you can check some of them out by doing a titles and tag search for "cybersale.")

 
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Posted at 03:55 pm | | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend