Been thinking of getting an Eco-TAV Blossom Bag but haven’t followed up on it?
Thinking that a Hemp Body Towel is an interesting concept?
Eco-TAV Artisan Line Holiday SALE
CLICK on the PHOTO to GO SHOPPING!
Eco-TAV in Review
Nothing like the trepidation of sending products that you think are great, off to be tested and reviewed by a total stranger. But that’s what I need – some fresh eyes to give me some feedback and let folks know how they find the Napkins and Pouches are to work with.
Thanks to Carrie Anne at EverythingMom for taking the time to post a review about my Eco-TAV goodies!
You can check it out here:
and then follow them on twitter:
@everythingmom and @cbadov
November 14: Women Entrepreneurs’ Christmas Sale
Part of a Larger Community
As part of my journey with Eco-TAV, I am finding ways to connect with other artisans, support them and find creative ways to self-promote!
The latest is joining up with indienorth’s Holiday Gift Guide!
There are a lovely selection of gifts and goodies that express the elegance and fun of some fab Canadian Artisans!
Check it out!
November 22,2009: West End Bazaar
Sunday, November 22, 2009 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Where:
4026 Richmond Road, Ottawa, Ontario.
Website: Facebook Event page….
This bazaar is also a fundraiser for the Women’s Shelter in Iqaluit: it is named Qimaavik. This is the only Shelter for women in all the thousands of square miles of the Territory. Woman and child abuse in the Nunavut is 1200% higher there than in the rest of Canada.
They need funds for their daily life, education and counselling as well as much needed security, night and day! They get no official government funding.
The Bazaar will have 14 vendors:
Creative Clothing by Roxane,
Tracey with TAV Creations,
Zamira and her Flying Veils,
Darlene with her Shibori hand-painted veils,
Sha’ Vega in her Tarot Tent,
Rain Kazymerchyk with her Silver Jewellery,
Sylvie Girard will be cooking up her wonderful treats,
Curves will be there to help us with our fitness!
You will find: jewellery, practice and recital clothing, accessories for Cabaret and Tribal dancing, pottery and Val’s trading table will be chock-full of surprises.
Here are more of the vendors:
Barbara Szatanski’s *B Daszled Deszings*,
Melissa Wakeling from Belleville,
Catherine Archer from Montreal and
Lynn Commanda, a Native jeweller.
Admission is free but donations for Qimaavik will be welcome!
pARTicipate-March 29, 2009
Shakti fusion presents: pARTicipate! A Benefit for Hollis Hawthorne
As some of you may have heard, a friend I work with at Burning Man, Hollis Hawthorne, has been in a motorcycle accident while travelling in India, suffered a head injury, and is in a coma. Her family wants to bring her home to the US, and we need to raise $200,000 to cover the cost of the MedEvac air ambulance to get her to Stanford hospital, where she has been admitted as a charity case. Since the accident last week, the community has raised $41,000 and that number continues to climb through the support of her friends in the international performance arts community. Fundraisers are happening in San Francisco, New York, Portland, and Nevada, and Leslie of Shakti Fusion organized a fundraiser benefit show here in Ottawa!
The details:
Shakti fusion presents: pARTicipate! A Benefit for Hollis Hawthorne
Sunday, March 29th
7-10 at The Mercury Lounge, 56 Byward
Performers: Leslie, Shakti fusion bellydance, Francesca (Rockalily Burlesque) Dani LeBlanc, Safiya, Halyma, Joshua Tacoma, Vera Sagram, Zamira, Justin Barca, John Lloyd, Dollhouse Dance Co, and more to come!
Visuals by: The Latest Artists (AO & Deborah O’Malley)
All funds generated from this event were donated to Hollis’ family via the PayPal account they have set up. I’d like to generate at least $1000 from this event!
To learn more about Hollis and the efforts of her friends and family, or to make a donation, please visit:
http://friendsofhollis.blogspot.com
Eco-TAV Video Submission Contest!
Let’s have some fun this fall and yes, you can win a prize!
PRIZES:
The top 4 videos will each be awarded a fun prize as a thank you for your creative efforts!
The top prize will be a choice of one of two options:
1 – $50 value of Eco-TAV products, gift wrapped and mailed to an address of your choice for the upcoming holiday season.
or
2- $50 gift certificate to any restaurant of your choice within the Ottawa area.
The three other prizes will be valued at $20 each and your choice between
1 – $20 value of Eco-TAV products, gift wrapped and mailed to an address of your choice for the upcoming holiday season.
or
2- $20 gift certificate to any restaurant of your choice within the Ottawa area.
DETAILS:
Why:
I am seeking different ways to:
a. generate interest in the Eco-TAV line…
b. get folks thinking and acting a bit more ‘green’, one step at a time…
c. encourage that community feeling…
..and I thought maybe this could be a fun adventure for those interested in coming on it!
What:
The adventure is to create a video up to 2 minutes – or whatever!- in length that shows how you and yours are using the Eco-TAV line to enhance your lives. It should feature at least one of the Eco-TAV products, but I totally welcome the inclusion of other green/eco-friendly/healthy lifestyle products too!
Where:
Submit your video to the Eco-TAV Youtube Channel and let everyone see it and vote on it. While I don’t like the idea of “competition”, I do want to award those creative sparks and encourage some funky thinking!
When:
Submit your video [s] until December 12th. Judging will be on going with the standard YouTube rating system already in place, and comments will be open so that folks can really let us know what they think!
Judging will end December 15th so that the Prizes can be awarded in time for Holiday enjoyment!
Who:
Well, everyone who has been touched or will be touched by Eco-TAV, of course! If you know someone who is a creative soul and would love to play with this, send them to Eco-TAV.com so that they can find out where to get their own Eco-fabulous piece of the action!
Rules of engagement:
1 – Copyright issues:
You must have copyrights to everything used in the video. If you are going to talk about someone else’s products and can get permission to do so, that would be ideal.
Any music/ logos/ etc. must be original content created by the creators of the video, or you get written permission to use that music.
Use of the Eco-TAV logo in the video will be permitted. You can contact me for a good quality image!
Once you submit your video, you are giving permission to Eco-TAV/ TAV Creations to use the video, completely or in part, for promotional purposes. Credit will be given to you in every way possible, though no compensation, financial or in trade, other than indicated in the original contest can or will ever be granted. But the Fame! and the Glory!
2. Video submissions should be family friendly.
That’s the way I roll – it can be funny, serious, kooky, dark and even mind numbing – as long as it is safe for work and safe for the kids to walk past while it is on screen!
So, I hope you see this as a fun way to get creative and share you own love of the planet. Remember to tell your friends to go and vote too!
Elevator pitch and other thoughts
There’s that concept of the 30 second elevator pitch to promote/ introduce/ explain what your job is. That one was always easy for me: “I sew, and I dance and I teach both, but not at the same time :-)” I don’t define myself with labels, but with verbs – and that makes sense to me!
People will describe me as a “seamstress” and I inwardly cringe. Yes, according to the official definition, that is one of the aspects of my reality. I really do like to think I am so much more than that. I design, I read people’s minds and pull their ideas out and bring them to life, I create new concepts for them to explore as we journey through making their garment – whatever it is. And yes, I hem pants too – and that part of my job is not really creative, but it takes at least a modicum of awareness on how the whole procedure works! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrA2yPrMlkw]
Maybe I need to approach the label Seamstress in the same way that I approach Belly dance – empower it in my own mind and revel in it!
My signature on my emails starts with “Creativity Abounds”. I am thinking of using that on my website – when we get it updated [ hopefully sometime in the next month] So, I invite creative titles and inspired labels 🙂
And I have had an epiphany regarding folks reactions to my telling them about my Eco-TAV products. Many folks simply react in a pleasantly positive way, even if it is not something they see themselves embracing right away. But I have had what seemed to me to be an odd reaction from other business folk and a few non business type folk. Suddenly I was being told about a similar but different product and it was implied or occasionally stated that I should copy it. What? What?? Why would I do that? Why would I want to do that? Would I want someone doing that to me??? No…So with much restraint, I would try to reply with a simple, thank you, possibly adding a clarification if the product in question involved the use of plastic – I don’t do plastic. Speaking of not doing plastic – here’s a local company’s video of my Eco-TAV Napkin…They have an absolutely fabulous all natural insulated lunchbag too!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecF8YU02YRI]
My epiphany was that these good friends were merely trying to help. So I thought they deserved credit for their intentions, and I genuinely thank them for their links and face to face suggestions. I can only design, engineer, test, supply, make and market a limited number of products, so I think I’ll stick with what I have come up with, and improve upon them.
While some were inspiring, it is a fine line to be original/unique when working with simple concepts – bags and fabric, so one really has to make the decision to not outright steal someone else’s idea/combination etc. Well, if one wants to look at oneself in the mirror and see some integrity.
Many of the suggestions that have come my way, were created by artisans setting up their own online stores, with the opportunity for anyone to buy their goods online as easily as mine. We all have similar goals, ideals and creative skills, and I hope to encourage everyone to check us all out – and see what you like! While some brand loyalty is great – just stopping using the disposable stuff is the first step -so choose the eco product that will work for you! I’ll send you all to Artfire first – Etsy is easy, and great too but Artfire is new and cool!
So, let’s embrace the creativity – support artists, entrepreneurs, and farmers! Share your knowledge, share a smile if that’s all you’ve got, add a kind word if you are inspired!
On a side note – this weekend is full of artistic events to support :
~St. Brigid’s on St.Patrick will be full of paintings and artwork – in support of something fabulous I am sure – but there is no website! So, just check it out if you are in the neighbourhood!
~ La Petite Mort on Cumberland hosts a fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders starting Friday evening til Sunday. Details are online here!
~ Lansdowne Park will be full of Women this weekend for the National Women Show. I do not have a booth at this one, but may go check it out Saturday morning!
Ottawa Centre Class Party: June 10, 2009
Halyma’s Ottawa Centre Class Party
Doors Open at 6:30
Show starts at 7p.m.
211 Bronson, Ottawa, Ontario.
An evening of Belly Dance presented by Halyma’s Belly Dancing For Fun with the participation of many local belly dance teachers and their students.
Support professionals, and emerging student dancers, as they explore classic styles of Raks sharki, fusion styles with modern elements, and Tribal style dance, all based on a foundation of belly dance.
This “class recital” brings forth a culmination of months and years of dedication to learning this ancient dance form with a variety of local teachers in the Ottawa area and beyond.
Tickets ONLY $10 at the door!
I was a guest blogger!
I was given the opportunity to share some thoughts and express myself on another blog! What fun!
Thanks to Michele at QuiltingGallery.com for letting me go on a bit! And there is more – a Give-Away!
Go check it out and post your own comments after reading it, and you might win a Gift Certificate for Eco-TAV products!
