Thursday, November 26, 2009

Things I am Thankful For




I am thankful for my doggies and best friends Penney and Carmel as well as the coolest human friend there is out there (who
just so happens to dress up like a bunny rabbit regularly!)

I dont celebrate thanksgiving, as it symbolizes something much different than giving thanks to me...but I am thankful for the folks in my life and what a better way to protest Thanksgiving than to tell my best friends how much I love them!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Giveaway Win a Vegan Craft Sample Bag Design Our Logo

We are looking for the perfect logo for our bags, yes thats right we will be switching to premade bags, but to keep handmade alive we will be hand printing or stenciling a logo on each bag!

What does that mean for you?

Come up with a design for our logo, email it to us, and when we receive all of the entries we will have a vote on this very blog!


Here is some useful information when coming up with your design
Vegan Craft Samples
Its All In the Bag

both are titles of our bags,used together and interchangeably

100% profits go to animals ( would like to have that mentioned on the design if possible)

our web address
vegancraftsamples.com

Those are the basics, go wild, run with it and have fun!

Please remember to email your design to
ecosampler@yahoo.com

Good luck, the due date for the designs is December 20th

Please remember that if I do a stencil of the design it will be hand done, and if i screen print it it will also be hand done.....nothing too crazy hhah

Good luck!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

It's A Wonderful Life- Daiya Vegan Cheese, Strong Hearts Cafe, and Co-Op Grocery Finds!

The other day, last Friday to be exact, Jessi and I took a little adventure out to Syracuse, NY where we had planned to see a band play. Low and behold they were playing at a farm, and when I couldnt get an answer at the farm to find out what their definition of "farm" was we decided the chances of animals being there were high...so what did we do instead?

We headed on over to the Syracuse Co-Op Grocery store, grabbed some organic portabellas and ran into a pal of mine who works there, she told us that they now have Daiya Vegan Cheese, in bulk! We walked right by it and would have never even noticed, I dont make a practive of looking in the cheese cooler hah! For the last couple of months we have heard nothing but rave reviews of Diaya Cheese, and were waiting and waiting to have enough money to try it. Thank you co-op for making it easily accessible.

We left the co-op arms full and wallets on E and headed over to Strong Hearts Cafe, it an all vegan cafe in Syracuse, NY and Friday night is pizza night! We saved up for this night for a long time and were very very eager to munch on some Vegan Chicun Wang Pizza, which consists of dough, hot sauce, seitan strips, sheese blue cheese (which is to die for and tastes a lot like bleu cheese), and smothered in the Daiya mozzarella cheeze.

By the time we sloshed down our vegan milkshakes, we each could only eat one slice of the AMAZING pizza!

So we boxed it up and brought it home, after a long hour drive it was time for a bit of a snack again...so we each had one more slice and saved the rest for morning.

What did those crazy folks do with their bulk Daiya cheeze anyway? Well, glad you asked, we decided to make some of our famous spicy tofu subs and melt the daiya cheese on top! They turned out amazing and are super simple to make. Which makes for a cheap easy meal when you cant afford to eat organic raw veggies the entire winter in upstate NY (which sucks by the way, we are still trying tho!)


These were so simple to make, so heres the recipe!


You will need:
1 or 2 pounds of tofu, depending on how many meals you want to get out of them (we each got 2 meals out of our half of the big sub)
Your favorite hot sauce, we like red hot, it doesnt have corn syrup or sugar in it
Vegenaise
Black Olives (if you dig them)
A roll or many rolls depending on what you prefer (we went big ahha real big) Make sure to check ingredients strange dairy crap loves to creep its way into breads
Daiya Cheese shreds (however much you want)
1 c. nutritional yeast


Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
Drain the tofu, leave it a bit damp so it can be dipped! Dip each strip of tofu into the nutritional yeast (you can also mix in some garlic powder, if you love garlic)and place on a cookie sheet. Bake the tofu until it gets a bit crispy...the thinner you slice it the better it gets nice and crispy that way.
While the tofu is baking mix up your sauce, take a glob of vegenaise and add hot sauce until its the spiceyness that you prefer, set aside. Pull it out of the oven, dunk it in the hot sauce (or soak it, which I do sometimes) then spread the tofu slices on your roll. Cover with more sauce if you fancy, sprinkle with black olives, then smother with the daiya cheese. Put back in oven, just to melt the cheese....Yes thats right, daiya melts and stretches! Pull it out and munch! I wouldnt suggest eating this all the time, or atleat I wouldnt eat it all the time....but you could eat 3 and still be eating healthier than a meat/dairy eater...so have fun!

Posted by and recipe by Heather of Holistically Heather

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Keeping old traditions alive! Gramma passes down knitting/crocheting

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the crafts that we pass down from generation to generation, and wondering what my generation will pass down. You cant exactly call playing video games a craft now can you?


Organic Cotton Hat Handknit by me available in my ETSY


When I was a little girl my gramma taught me how to knit, and from that day on I would carry my little plastic bag with her leftover yarn and needles in it....creating whatever ugly monstrosity I could. Every mess I made she appreciated and even still has a few "scarves" from those days. She supported me and helped me learn something that I think is slipping away, something beautiful, something unique. The idea that you can pass down trades/skills to your children and grandchildren and keep these ideas flowing and alive.


I have been thinking about all of this a lot lately, now that my gramma is sick. Thinking about how beautiful it is, that even when she is gone I will have my bag(which now is cloth instead of plastic) and my needles and yarn, to teach my children and grandchildren the same way that she taught me.


My knitting has come a long way over the years, will I ever be as good as gramma? DOUBTFUL! That woman could knit with her eyes closed, and come up with the most elaborate beautiful designs.

What skills/trades have you learned from your parents or grandparents that you want to remember and cherish forever? Everything I know, am learning now, or will ever learn has something to do with my grandmother, she inspires my every action.

Thanks gramma!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Promotional Videos For Etsy Handmade Shops!

This is a video I made yesterday to help promote It's All In The Bag-Vegan Craft Samples

What does everyone think of this video? Is it something anyone else would want made for their shops? Should I offer to make these in my etsy shop? What would be a good price? I am looking for opinions here folks, people are full of opinions, so lets hear them!!!

If you havn't ordered your sample bag yet, now is the time, they are selling like fake Gucci in NYC!

Here are the websites associated with the sample bag project:

Website

Etsy

Twitter

Facebook

Youtube Video

Flickr

If you are interested in promoting your shop in the next round of sample bags, now is the time to sign up! You can go right to our website and click "get in the bag" to sign up! All questions can be emailed to ecosampler@yahoo.com

Thanks for your input on the video and anything really!

Monday, November 2, 2009

ON SALE NOW! Vegan Craft Sample Holiday Bags

100% profits to Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary!

Due to a large response we are having 2 different sized bags this time, a regular and a large. The large contains 25+ samples and the regular contains the usual 17-20.


You can get your bag in the following places

There is an easy checkout cart in the left margin, through artfire (for the regular size bags only)
Go to the order section of our website! You can choose the size bag you would like
Or finally, go to our Etsy where you can also buy all 3 sizes! (while they last)

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Raw Vegan Berry Pie- Use Any Berries You Love


This raw vegan berry pie is a piece of cake! (Or is that a piece of pie?)

What you will need:

12 pitted organic dates

1 c. raw organic pecans

4 c. organic berries of your choosing, I used blackberry this time!

2 avocados, nice and ripe (if you dont have avocados 2 bananas are fine, or any combination of the 2)


Ok, let's get started, grind up your pecans, to a fine crumbly powder substance, add 8 dates, and blend til its a desirable crust texture. Press your crust into the bottom and sides of your pie dish, I prefer glass pie dishes, but hey who cares what I prefer, right?

For the filling, blend 1/2- 1 c. berries, 4 dates, and avocados, mix with remaining berries (save a few if you want pretty decoration on top), fill the crust with pie mixture, and sprinkle some remaining berries on top.

Viola, a pie that noone at dinner will know isnt full of flour, sugar, and doesnt have all the nutrients baked out!