Announcing Earth Tones in the Storque!

Etsy's blog the Storque just premiered a new featured column: Earth Tones. It's focused on being eco-conscious.

Trashion and EcoEtsy teams collaborated on a series of Earth Day celebration articles. The first one Why We're Green coordinated by EcoKate is up already for your reading enjoyment!

Trashion team members highlighted in this article include Kae1Crafts and rikrak. Both life long upcyclers.

It's a wonderful read and a great start to a very special feature!

Trashion team spotlight - Interview: Kae1Crafts

Shop name: Kae1Crafts
Shop address: http://kae1crafts.etsy.com/

In a nutshell:
I sell a variety of trashion items as well as regular crafts such as: greeting cards, ACEOs, Jewelry - mainly wire-wrapped, clothing.

Tell us a bit about yourself:

My husband of 47 years and I live in a travel trailer and have traveled since 1989. We are retired. I enjoy most needlecrafts, jewelry making, painting and other crafts -- but I failed at learning tatting -- just couldn’t handle that one!!! I also love to read, visit new places and meet people.

Trashion materials: paper, stones, found items, fabric, lace, yarn.

I transform them into: Cards, ACEOs, Collages, Jewelry, Clothing and Accessories, Items for the home.

How do you do it?

I usually look at the fabric, for instance, and see what I think it should become. Often an old pair of jeans wants to be two or three different items such as - an apron, a skirt, a trim or a bag. Most of the time I let the materials dictate what I am creating.

What inspired you to do this and why are you involved in trashion?

I’ve always enjoyed reusing items and making something good out of something that might be thrown away. You might say it is “My Mother’s fault” as she often made my clothing out of flour sacks, older dresses or whatever she had on hand. We lived on a farm and she survived the depression by being frugal and still is today. I guess I just learned her habits.

Do you remember the first thing you made using the trashion concept? What was it?

Not really but I can guess. My first trashion item was probably clothes for my doll from Mom’s sewing scraps.

What are your current projects and what is on the horizon?

I am working on creating clothing from thrift store finds, my closet overflow and yard sale treasures.

Why should people buy handmade, and buy from trashion?

Because handmade is unique, usually high quality workmanship and trashion saves items from becoming a blight on our beautiful planet.

More you'd like to share:

I feel privileged to be a part of the trashion effort as we live in such a beautiful world and we are discarding far too many items and using our natural resources at an alarming rate. It one small thing I can do to keep our world beautiful and I find it a lot of fun to create something lovely from something that is literally trash.