Living enviromentally conscious; Recycling, Animal Testing and Co-ops

So much earlier this year I decided that I was going to make a more conscious effort to "Go green" as they say. Recycling, local produce(preferably organic) and cutting out all products that use animal testing.

We found a wonderful recycling center about 15 minutes from here that takes pretty much everything. We live in an apartment so composting is currently out but the fact that we've been able to get by with a small bathroom style "trash can"(which consists of organic scraps almost exclusively) that only gets emptied once a week has been a huge accomplishment for me. We had SO much trash and we had to empty it very frequently because the can would heat up and everything would start to decompose. Needless to say, the trash can smelled like a dump. We make roughly one trip a week/week and a half to the center. I can't say we are saving money in any way but it's a really nice feeling to know that almost everything we have will be re-used in some manner.

Today we were sorting through old clothing and found a lot of pants that we no longer wanted. I started thinking about ways I can use the fabric. When I was at a convention a few weeks back I saw this woman who made an absolutely fabulous skirt out of various jean pockets:


I thought that it was one of the more creative upcycled jean skirts I had seen before. I think the skirt had over 20 pockets in it. With this picture as my inspiration, I hope to make a skirt and possibly a bag using our old pants.

Going local with produce was relatively easy as well. I live in the Pittsburgh area and we have many Farmers Markets as well as a beautiful local, year round vegetable market a few miles from me. The owners go into the city every week to pick out stock for the store. They avoid off season items and anything they consider over priced. We walk out with a huge box filled to the brim with local organics for under $30. That produce can last us well over a week if I do it correctly.

Finally there was the "No More Animal Tested Products" adventure. This is a lot harder than one would think. A lot of the products I had become accustomed to using, use animal testing. I found that the PETA website was incredibly helpful. They have many lists showing animal friendly products of all sorts. We still have some products in the home that were tested on animals, but that is only because I can't justify throwing out almost full bottles of window cleaners.

1. On the note of cleaners: what methods do you use for cleaning?
   
2. Do any of you make your own window washes or things of that nature?
   
3. What do you find works best for you?

For next year it is my hope to get involved in a CO-OP of some sort for both produce and meat. I have no experience with them but it sounds sort of exciting. I feel like I shy away from too many ingredients out of habit. I absolutely adore cooking and think it would make me have to experiment, not to mention canning all the extras!

1. Do any of you partake in Co-ops?
   
2. What are the positives and negatives you have found in them?
3. Canning? Do you do it? If so, have any recipes to share with the rest of us? I'm a particularly big fan of pasta sauces.

It is 2:39AM and the Bloops have long since passed out. I shall follow their lead and bow out for the morning, but before I do that:

CONGRATULATIONS to SARITA for winning the Autumn Leaves hair-sticks that were part of Mrs B's 31 Days of Halloween Give-away!

Goodnight all!

Hello to my new followers! Also, Octoberfarm's giveaway!

Hello to all my new followers that found their way here via Mrs B! I look forward to getting to know each of you <3

A real post to come sometime tonight, in the meantime why not head over to Octoberfarm and check out a give-away she's having, straight from Salem, Mass!

Perfect apron for all you Kitchen Witches

Look for a giveaway from me tomorrow~~~

Got your attention? Good!

Tomorrow at Mrs B's blog one of the items from my shop will be part of the Give-away festivities! I won't tell you what it is, you'll have to wait and see. Make sure to stop by for a chance to win it along with some other amazing goodies!

Also make sure to check out the guest bloggers, it's a good chance to get introduced to some amazingly awesome people.

Attack of the coffee! Adorable give-away at Mrs. B's!

So I worked for a coffee shop at one point and while I do not like caffeine(and have a strong hate relationship) I slowly developed a liking of the "mixed" drinks. I like my coffee like my alcohol, a little of that and a whole lot of everything else!

Still, this basket is absolutely ADORABLE! I really want the Bear and basket itself, if you like coffee you should check it out:

Starbucks goody basket

Also up is an interesting book focusing on the first chapter of Dracula that was left unpublished. It's your own little mystery, complete with clues and the answer in a sealed envelope!

Dracula's Heir

Energy working for nightmares and restful sleep

So, changing gears here a little, I'd like to share an energy working exercise that can be helpful for children that may be experiencing bad dreams or fear of the night. This can be classified as energy redirection and dream magick as well as every day shielding.

A lot of us growing up probably had the problem of seeing things people said weren't there. This fear would often cause problems sleeping or trigger bad dreams. This isn't anything new and I'm sure many of you have children or know of children who suffer from the same problem.

This exercise can be used by anyone, including children, and can help ease them into sleep as well as give them a sense of personal power and help with visualization.

See yourself, see your feet, your hands, your hair and your eyes. Now imagine a color. You want to imagine a color that you feel is strong and that is comforting. My personal color is blue(which is the color I associate with my aura. This may not always be the color you use, it is a matter of what feels right for you). Once you have a firm sense of this color, imagine that it is inside of you, slowly churning. This is your energy. Play with it a little, feel it move. Try to move it to your hands. A lot of this exercise is about visualization and feeling, so there is no right or wrong way to move it, do whatever feels natural.

Once you feel comfortable, it's time to put up a barrier. For this barrier you want to think of a symbol you find personally comforting. It can be a pentacle, a cross, a web or vines, whatever calls to you personally. Now that you have your symbol, think of an incantation. I personally use"Nothing with ill intent may enter this space". You want it to be relatively short, the point of this is to act as a focus and guide for your intentions.

Now that you have both your incantation and symbol in mind, it is time to apply these to the walls, floor and ceiling of the room you are in. How you go about this, what order, is entirely up to you. Some witches believe it should be done in a certain order, clockwise, according to the cardinal directions. I'm a much more free form practitioner, so again, do whatever feels natural.

Apply your symbol to each surface, chanting in your head as you go. Use your energy to paint the walls with it, infusing the space with both your intent and your energy.

Once you have your process down, this can be a quick ritual before falling asleep that will allow you to release all those daily stresses. For children, it gives them a tool to combat whatever negative force they may feel. By doing this with them you will create a closer bond and leave them with a sense of peace as they fall asleep.

Obviously, nightmares may still come, but with the loving energy of mom or dad surrounding them as they sleep, it should help remove those night time nasties.

Good luck and happy dreaming!

The grand entrance of the PuffPuff family!

So my knuckles were sore today from all the crocheting I've been doing. With Nekocon coming up I really can't afford to be all slacker like. So I whipped out the felt I got at Pat Catan's and went to work.

The result is the second mascot of Manifested Dreams, Starchan Puffpuff!



This is the prototype. I intend to alter it slightly, making her a little wider (I think). Currently it's roughly 5 inches tall and 5 inches wide, 1 inch thick. I may add about an inch(and get the boyfriend to work on a proper, vectored patter!) to make it a bit more puffy looking.

Starchan and the other Puffpuff members will be available on my website in the coming months. Their sizes make the Puffpuffs perfect ornaments for trees. Starchan will be available as a tree topper as well. I'm hoping to have a special give-away ready before Christmas, more details on that front as I figure it out!

Another idea I have is to fill some of them with lavender to be used as sachets, thoughts? I don't want to spread myself too thin but as far as sachets go, it's just one more quick step.

Anyways, that's it from me for now. Hope you all had a good day!

Moving update, Manifested Dreams contemplations, and Give-aways

We have officially moved out of the other place. It was sort of bittersweet. We have a lot of happy memories that were made there and even though this current apartment has the exact same layout, it's still not quite the same. The only consolation/really annoying part is that Aaron and I will be moving into our own place at the end of February. We decided that we'll just sort things while we straighten up and then box away most of our things. No art on the walls or anything. It's going to be weird, but I don't really want to fully move in here just to leave so soon. It'll make moving that much easier a little later down the road!

So I'm looking for some feedback from you, my lovely readers. I've considered doing lip balms in the past but for one reason or another, I never got around to it. I'm currently looking into ways to generate funds for a couple projects in the near future(more on that in a moment) and thought it might be a good idea.


I'd appreciate if you could answer the following questions for me:

1. How likely are you to purchase home-made lip balms?
2. What sort of flavors do you go with most often?
3. What is your dream flavor?
   
4. Do you prefer colored or uncolored balms?
5. Would you be willing to act as a tester for the product and supply feedback on quality, consistency and other such things? All testers would receive said balm free of charge.
   

IF I go through with this, I will be using a pre-made Vegan base by Majestic Mountain Sage for now, mainly because I have limited space to work with.

Now for the project in question. My may-as-well-be-blood sister is hoping to have her novel finished relatively soon. It is a modern fantasy(is that a good way to put it Kyira?) following a group of teenagers who are discovering their destinies amidst a world on the brink of chaos. Magick runs heavily through the whole thing and I can NOT wait for it to be ready.

Due to the nature of the book(and her desire to have full control) she has made the decision to self publish. I'm not sure if many of you know a lot about self publishing, but it is not an easy path. It requires a lot of up front funding and an insane level of advertising. I'm hoping to help out where-ever I can to see this happen

We're plotting several different methods to generate funds, the lip balm is one of them. There is another project we are currently flushing out that, in time, we hope to have it evolve into a source of interactive advertisement for other artists trying to get started(we never think small!)

More on both as information floods in.

And on a final note, Today's giveaways!:

Salem, Mass. Goodie Bag!

Handmade Runes - A rainbow of color!

<3