This weeks Sunday Planet Saver is.......

I know I shouldn't blow my own horn, but I'm so pleased with my recycling efforts so what the heck?  Here goes.....................

TOOT!  TOOT!  

This is why I am so proud of myself today, here's my latest collection of FatBottomBags.  Most are available in the store if your interested.  A few are for a special order and a couple are gifts for friends with upcoming birthdays.

This photo contains over 620 recycled plastic bags!

 I think my running tally is now up to somewhere around 6500 plastic bags recycled! And that my friends, is why I'm blowing  my own horn on Sunday Planet Saver. 

Here's one for you too!

TOOT! TOOT!

Why for you? Because I couldn't do what I'm doing without you!  It's so exciting to see that together we are closing the loop with recycling.  So thank you to my contributors who have donated their plastic bags to me for recycling.  Thank you to my loyal and wonderful green customers for purchasing the finished bags.  Thank you friends, family and followers for encouraging me on this path.  Together we are making a difference!

News and happenings at FatBottomBags

I know, it's the weekend. I should be taking the day off. Because I took some down time this week to visit with my lovely family at the cabin,  I thought I'd go ahead and take today to catch up on a few of my online tasks.

I've been busy giving the old website an update.  I've kept the layout that you're familiar with, but I spruced up a few pages and edited some of the photos and verbage.  It seems as though every time I read "our story" I find a little finer or better way to tell it. 

Some new bags available now!

I'm also very pleased to announce a new batch of bags in the online store too!  Here's a photo showing a few of the new ones.  To see the complete set of new bags please  visit the store.  Remember each and every FatBottomBag is unique and lovingly handcrafted by me from recycled plastic bags. Two may be similar, but not identical, so if you see one that you simply adore be sure to get it because it's a one of a kind!

In my last blog post I was lamenting the loss of a friendship. Today I'm re-focusing on the wonderful friends that I have in my online and real life. I've added some of my new green buddies to the Friends page.  These are other folks who are working to make a greener planet. Be sure to check out their great green websites, blogs, shops and groups. If you have a eco-friendly online endeavor and would like to be included in this free promotions page, there's info posted there for you too!

Oh and I received a new batch of bags for the recycling exchange this week.  Lot's of lovely colors for future FatBottomBags. If you are saving your colored plastic bags  for me to  save the planet and receive your own free Mini-bag, thank you!  Please take a minute to read through the requirements and best shipping methods over on the website before sending them off.  Also, if you are wondering where to find colored plastic bags, you may want to take a look at the discussions over on the FatBottomBags fan page on Facebook. Myself and members have begun keeping a list of stores and bag colors.

That's about all I have to report from FatBottomBags for now.  Hope you all are having a lovely weekend and taking a day off!  Now I'm off to play in my garden for a little bit!

Recycled bags need recycled tags

I've been wanting to have some garment tags made for my FatBottomBags, but after searching the internet for an option I found it is extremely expensive to have custom tags printed and it was impossible to find a recycled material option.  So after some struggle, I've found a way to make my own recycled tags to mark my bags as original FatBottomBags!

You might use this shrink plastic method to do a quick and fun recycled project with the kids *remember shrinkedinks*, or to create your own tags, beads, charms for a bracelet or necklace or even buttons for a sewing project!  

Here's what you'll need for this project:

• Cookie sheet lined with paper
• #6 plastic containers
• Sharpies or other permanent markers
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Oven

Step 1:  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Step 2:  While oven is heating, begin to cut out shapes from your plastic container.  These will shrink significantly, so cut them about 3 - 4 times larger than you want your finished item sized. 

Step 3:  Using your regular hole punch, punch holes in the plastic.  For mine I put a hole on each end so I can sew the tags onto my FatBottomBags. 

Step 4:  Decorate with sharpies.  I just added the name FatBottomBags to mine. 

These large thin pieces will become smaller thick tags

Step 5:  Lay your decorated item on a lined cookie sheet.  I used regular paper to line mine.  Leave some space between each piece.

Step 6:  Once you've completed all of your designs and have your items on the cookie sheet, place in preheated oven for 2 to 3 minutes.  Be sure to run your vent fan to ventilate any fumes.  (I didn't notice any bad smell when doing this project)

Step 7:  Remove from oven.  Allow to cool on a flat surface.  Once your items are cooled they are ready.

Fast, fun and recycled!  I think these will look nice on my recycled FatBottomBags.  :0) 

FatBottomBags starts a fire

Many of you have suggested that I use Etsy for selling and promoting  my FatBottomBags recycle project.  I did attempt to set up an Etsy profile, but it turned out theres an inactive user selling under the name FatBottomBags.  Darn it!  So you should be aware, that is NOT my shop. 

Today I was reading some posts on MyCraftCorner regarding how other crafters were using Etsy and Artfire to promote and sell their crafts. The reviews were somewhat mixed, but it seemed that Artfire was worth pursuing. 

I headed over to the site and set up my free Artfire account for FatBottomBags!  I'm going to try it for a while and see if it's a good fit for FatBottomBags.  So far what I'm liking is the ease of adding products and the classifying of your own products.  They even have a category for Earth Friendly :0)

So if you have a chance, jump over to my Artfire page and then leave me a comment if you have any suggestions for ways I can improve the FatBottomBags recycle presence on that site.  I'm going to try it for a month or 2 and depending on the results may start my professional account.

If you're a crafter selling on the internet, please leave a comment and let me know your advice for storefronts, shoppingcarts, selling communities or whatever you find important with your selling experience.

Thanks!

Break over and back to work

It was lovely to take a break from bags for a couple weeks.  That's the thing when you work for yourself, seems like you never take time off.  I know that's true for me.  But this year I decided it was important to give myself a break, a Christmas vacation of sorts.  It was nice, but now that we're into the second week of the new year I knew it was time to refocus on my crafting for a greener planet.

So if you are a new reader and don't know about my FatBottomBags,  they are all made from recycled plastic shopping bags that I collect from friends and family. My goal is to save as many of those rotten plastic bags from going into the waste stream as possible.  I cut them all up and sort them by color and then crochet them into one of a kind purses, backpacks and totebags.

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours sorting and cutting 500 newly contributed plastic bags.  Then I went on to start on some new bags and purses for the store.  I worked on a new purse all evening and finished it off this morning. So here's what I've been up to:

This is one of my totes.  They're a great size for reusable shopping bags

This cute little purse is the latest Bee bag I've made.

Ok, so now it's on to some more domestic chores like finish the laundry and grocery shopping! 

BTW, don't forget to enter to win your own Mini-bag by FatBottomBags

Have a great GREEN day!

Facebook Fan Appreciation Giveaway!

So much for silence this Sunday.  I tried to make it a photo only blog day and take a blogging break..... but when I went over to post the link on our Facebook fan page I was plesantly suprised to see over 600 smiling faces of fans staring back at me.  600 + fans of recycling and recycled bags!  Yay!  This seems like a cause for celebration!  What better way to celebrate than a GIVEAWAY!

Ok so I have to admitt, I've been slacking a little on bags since Christmas.  I took a little bag break to work on some crochet projects for my new *beautiful* granddaughter.   This means the store front is still currently empty (shame on me) and I don't have any large bags completed for a giveaway right now.  What I do have is one very cute Mini-bag.  Mini-bags are great as a small handbag or even a lunch tote.

This cutie was made from 30+ recycled plastic bags!

It's all in the details and this one has a cute little flower!

  If you would like to win this cute little bag here's the details:

• You must be a Facebook Fan
• Then just leave a comment on this blog posting and tell me what you are doing to make a greener earth for the future (examples:  I recycle regularly, I ride my bike to work, I changed my bulbs to CFLs.  Or any other things you do to help)

I'll draw a random winner from the comments on Friday, January 15th and announce it on the Facebook page and here on the blog. Good luck and thank you again for being a fan, a follower and an inspiration!

This contest is now CLOSED!

Happy New Year!

You know, with the nightly news bringing a constant barrage of bad news and tragedy, it can be easy to forget about all the good things that go on in our lives.  Today being the end of the year, I felt like reflecting on some of the happier moments and memories from the 2009.

This year saw a lot of happy memories and times shared with my family.  The Wiflers' shared many happy times at our wonderful Lummi Island Cabin this year.  We spent time at the beach roasting dogs, and zuchinis (my veggie Mom.... Gotta love her!!!).  We lit off fireworks, shared stories and just had general good times with the cousins, uncles, aunts, children and friends.  So much joy and laughing shared with loved ones, it makes my heart full!  We had much to celebrate when Mom and Jim tied the knot this year, taking their long relationship to the next level!  Congrats to the happy couple!

Also this past year brought a closer relationship with the Spanglers too.  Through this tool, the internet, I've been able to share in the lives and times of family I'd long ago lost touch with.  Now the family is just a mouse click away.  Even better, I got to have a lovely in person visit with my Dad and Margy!  It's been a few years and it was heartwarming to reconnect on a personal level.

The Heredia family too made an impact on our happiness this year.  We had some wonderful visits with long lost family from Nevada.  I had great time meeting Ben's fateher, sisters, brothers, niece.  We enjoyed and appreciated their visits to little ole Lummi Island.  We're happy too to have the local family to share in some great life experiences.  We're all different, but love is the common bond!

This past year also brought a lot of new friends into my life. I've met a lot of really great people.  Some on our little island and others I've met through mutual friends and volunteer efforts. 

Speaking of volunteer efforts, another really happy memory from this past year is little Chitenango, the seal pup.  Little Chitty was a stranded pup on Lummi Island, who was rehabed and released into the wild this year.  He's the pup on the photo at the top of this blog!  What a great experience to see this little guy released to rejoin other seals in the wild after seeing him so skinny and sad when we found him.  So thankful to be a part of the Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding Network

I'm also very proud of the progress at FatBottomBags.com.  This year we've grown by leaps and bounds.  My little kitchen recycle project has grown into a full fledged recycle program.  We're up to over 20 regularly contributing families and growing!

Ben and I have a lot of great memories from this last year too!  We converted our living room into a pool room and a lot of great conversations with friends and family have happened around a game of 8 or 9 ball!  We've taken many a drive around the island just to spend some quality time together.  We've added to our organic garden and enjoyed many times out in the company of eachother, our dog and our veggies.  Life is good when your partner is your buddy and best friend too!

Now with the close of the year, we're waiting for the newest addition to the family.  What a joy to celebrate a new generation along with the new year.

I hope you all are reflecting back on the GOOD times in your lives from the last year.  I wish you all a happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous new year!

~Christi

Extended order date for Christmas

Ok!  I've gotten all of my orders filled!  Yay!  It's been real busy with Christmas coming.  That's great!  With the orders I've filled this week we're up to about 4750 plastic bags saved from the landfills! 

I had stated on my order site that all Christmas orders should be placed by December 10, to allow for Christmas delivery.  Now that all my orders are filled I can take up to 5 more bag orders by December 13th and will be able to get them shipped out with Priority Mail USPS to allow for Christmas delivery!

Merry Christmas and Happy Recycling!

For Dolly in FL

For Lee in CT

~Christi

and the Winner Is......

There were so many great ideas of how to go Green this holiday season that it was hard to choose one winner based on that alone, so I decided to draw a name from a FatBottomBag

All entries were put into a FatBottomBag and I reached in and pulled out a winner

Carolyn Keys Cutter!

The winning entry is:  Carolyn Keys Cutter who entered through FatBottomBags fanpage on Facebook!  Congratulations Carolyn!

Carolyn is going Green this Christmas by:

1. Sending everyone homemade fudge
2. Making cards from recycled papers and left over ribbons, buttons etc.
3. Eliminating wrapping paper by giving her fudge in reusable tins

Thank you to everyone who entered the Green for the Holidays FatBottomBag Giveaway.  You all had some great ways to reduce  your environmental impact this Christmas.  Look for tomorrows blog where I'll be sharing all of your great ideas and more ways to Go Green for the holiday!

Planet Savers, the next generation.

I was so thrilled this summer when my neice Samantha took an interest in making her own recycled bags.  She has several that I've made for her, in fact some of the cutest ones went home with her.  Even still she wanted to learn to make her own. 

Recycling runs in the family.  Here's Sammi learning

to make her own FatBottomBag recycled bag.

We spent an evening together sorting and cutting plastic bags into strips.  I explained how to hold her crochet hook and get her bag started. As she worked on her first bag, she told me how she recycles at home.  She even goes as far as cleaning up recyclables she finds in her neighborhood.  A budding environmentalist!

Another young person who is taking up the torch for the environment is my facebook friends son.  Kori purchased a bag from me a while back and she sent me my biggest compliment.  Her young grade school son Tyler wanted to let me know he was proud of me for helping the planet.   I was so touched with the compliment I actually cried!

This week my friend Mattie sent a photo of the bag her daughter Sarena made.  They have a FatBottomBag of their own and a Minibag from the recycle exchange and Sarena used those to come up with her own beautiful design for another recycled bag that she made for her mom.

Sarena's recycled bag!  Great design awesome work!

I'm loving making these bags and helping the environment.  I love that others are being influenced to do the same and make their own efforts to help.  I'm thrilled to have made a small difference in the lives of these young people and I'm proud of the efforts that they are making.

If you want to try your hand at making a recycled/reusable bag, check out my video tutorial and I'll show you how.

Planet Savers, We're doing it!

My kitchen table.  Here's where it all happens.  You can see boxes full

of plastic bags I've cut up to turn into new reusable FatBottomBags!

We're doing it!  We're saving the planet 1 bag at a time.  You, me and FatBottomBags are making a dent in the landfills and a differnce for the future.  We're keeping them off our beaches and roadsides and out of our oceans where they could have become part of the North Pacific Garbage Gyre

This morning, as I finished updating the online store with new bags for sale, I decided to do the math and was overjoyed to realize the we've kept over 4500 plastic bags out of the landfills! 

It couldn't have happened without you.  I'm so thankful for all of your moral support from fans who are following the progress online, for customers who've purchased bags, for contributors who donate bags (over 22 families now!), for friends who spread the word, and for exchange participants who've sent me colored bags.  You are the best!  You are the reason this little kitchen recycling program has been able to help save the planet 1 bag at a time.

Thanks you!

~Christi~

Green for the holidays GIVEAWAY (update)

This contest is now CLOSED!  Please follow or fan FatBottomBags to stay up to date on new bags and contests.  Thank you to Everyone who participated!

I'm giving away another FREE FatBottomBag and just in time for the holidays!  Have you entered yet?  

 Details:
      To enter the drawing you will need to:  
 
     *Become a fan of FatBottomBags on Facebook 
     or Follow me on Twitter 
     or Follow me on Blogger
         
     *Post a link to the giveaway page at 
      http://fatbottombags.blogspot.com/2009/11/green-for-holidays-giveaway-update.html
      in your status message  

     Facebook users: Post on the fanpage completing this sentence,
     "I am going Green for the holidays by _______________"
           
     Twitter users: Post an @FatBottomsBag completing this sentence,
     "I am going Green  for the holidays by ______________"
     
     Bloggers: Post a blog about FatBottomBags holiday giveaway 
     and how you are going green for the holidays and comment here with a link

One winner will be selected by me on December 1, 2009 and announced on Facebook, Twitter and on my Blog at http://fatbottombags.blogspot.com/

The winner will then choose their free bag from the available bags at the time of the drawing from FatBottomBags On-line Store  Free bag will be shipped by US Priority Mail *(I'll pay the shipping) Winner should receive the free bag in time for the holidays!

FatBottomBags are made from recycled plastic shopping bags.  I recycle for 20 families and together we've kept over 4500 (and counting) plastic bags from going into the wastestream! Each bag is unique and comes with a signed certificate of authenticity. Here's a slideshow of the current bags available as of today 11/23/09

Finally got some new bags in the online store!

I've been pressed lately.  The holidays are coming and there's always so much to get done!  The last few weeks I've been working on new bags to fill my empty storefront. 

I finished several last week, but before I could even get the photos up on the site, my mother came for a visit and bought out my entire inventory. It's wonderful that she purchased what I had on hand, but I still needed to get some bags made for the online store.

Today's the day!  I'm feeling great about the 2 new bags that I've completed.  I've been working on a new design on these ones and they turned out great! 

Brown Betty

Blueberry Muffin

I'm working on a couple more new bags with a different overall design.  I hope to finish tomorrow and get them uploaded to the store too.

I love what I do!  FatBottomBags.com started out as a way for me to use up the bags I had accumulated, and has grown from my kitchen into a multiple family recycler.  From these humble beginnings it's become an international influence for recycling of plastic shopping bags!

If you ever feel overwhelmed like you can't make a dent in the problems of the world, think of me in my kitchen, crochet hook in hand.  It's really true, when we each do our small part we can change the big picture!!!

Enjoy the new bags and keep your eye out for more to come!

Bag Lady!

Today is a bag recycle day for me!  I sold the last few bags from my inventory yesterday.  (thanks Mom!) So today there's no more procrastinating or finding some other chore to take priority.  Nope, today is the day for cutting bags.

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!  This bag of grocery sacks

is destined to become the next series of  FatBottomBags!

I've received a lot of donations recently and my bag closet is getting pretty full.  When I work on cutting bags for plarn, I like to work with a lot of bags so this is great!  I usually sit for a few hours and fold and cut them, sorting them into boxes by color.

Here's a couple of the boxes I've cut up this morning.  I see some

beautiful tan and white FatBottomBags in our future!

With my moring coffee close by and the TV tuned to the morning news I started cutting away.  Within a couple of hours I'd worked through about 1/2 of the closet where I store my donated bags.   That turned out to be around 500 plastic bags ready to be changed from ocean harming disposables into eco-friendly reusables!

I'm off now to start on the stitching.  I'm really excited to start a new series of reusable bags and I hope to have some new ones posted in the store for you tomorrow.

 Did you know that each FatBottomBag uses 100% post consumer recycled plastic shopping bags?  I'm fortunate to be able to recycle for over 20 families now!  I've connected to contributors through my local community, friends, family and even through the internet.  Today I worked through a stack of bags sent to me for the Free Minibag Recycling Exchange that I'm sponsering through FatBottomBags.com.  

Make your own FatBottomBag

Today I'm revisiting these video tutorials I made a while back. I'm planning to update them for better lighting but will have to wait until I have a new video camera. Enjoy!








If you like FatBottomBags, but don't want to make one of your own, why not sign up for the Free Green for the Holidays drawing at the top of this page on the right.

Green for the holidays - a free FatBottomBag giveaway

Here come the holidays!
It's only October 13th and you may not be ready to face the fact that the holidays are right around the corner. I know I was shocked to see the holiday lights and ornaments already out for sale at my local department store. That got me to thinking, even though there are still 75 days until Christmas, a lot of us are already working on our gifts for friends and family. With the economy what it is and all of us tightening our belts I wanted to run another giveaway for a free FatBottomBag. It's a perfect gift for your eco-friendly friends.

The Details:

I will be running this giveaway through December 1st. To qualify for the drawing you will need to:

1. Become a fan of FatBottomBags on Facebook or Follow me on Twitter or Follow me on Blogger
2. Post a link to the giveaway page at www.FatBottomBags.com/id18.html in your status message on either facebook or twitter mentioning the free bag giveaway
3. Facebook users: Post a comment on the fanpage completing this sentence,

          "I am going Green for the holidays by _______________________"

          Twitter users: Post an @FatBottomsBag message completing this
          sentence,

          "I am going Green  for the holidays by _______________________"
         
          Bloggers: Post a blog about FatBottomBags holiday giveaway
          and how you are going green for the holidays and email link for
          your Blog to mailto:info@FatBottomBags.com

It's that simple to enter to win a free FatBottomBag in time for the holidays! One winner will be selected on December 1, 2009 and announced on Facebook, Twitter and on my Blog at http://fatbottombags.blogspot.com/

The winner will then choose their free bag from the available bags at the time of the drawing from FatBottomBags On-line Store Free bag will be shipped by US Priority Mail *(I'll pay the shipping) and should arrive to the winner with pleanty of time for holiday gift giving.

FatBottomBags are made from recycled plastic shopping bags.  I recycle for 19 families and together we've kept over 4000 (and counting) plastic bags from going into the wastestream!

Here's some of the bags that I've made and sold in the past.  Each bag is unique and comes with a signed certificate of authenticity.