I’m surfing etsy, looking at the soaps that had caught my interest. Smiling at all the pretty colors and the beautiful smells when all of a sudden I stop, because I saw something. Palm oil. Listed inconspicuously in with the rest of the ingredients.
 
Palm oil’s in a lot of stuff, it’s cheap, has a lot of useful properties, it comes from palms. Not a problem right?
 
 

(from gliving.tv)

 
Compare the palm oil plantation to the rainforest at the top corner of the photograph. Think about the amount of rainforest in Asia and in Africa.
 
I think we’ve got a problem. Large cosmetic companies and the fast food industry do a lot to create demand for palm oil. It’s these larger corporations that make the soap that most of us buy, but what about those of us that buy handmade soap?
 
It’ll be an easy switch to make I figured. People tend to be conscientious of what they put in they’re soap, because the people that buy it are. At least that’s what I thought. I’ve got picky skin and I’m sensitive to strongly perfumed soaps. Even so I figured I’d go looking for a soap bar that I could use as shampoo. Turns out I was having a hard time finding anything, shampoo or not.
 
I found a couple of non-etsian shops in the UK, and while the soaps look absolutely beautiful I’m not sure shipping soap across the ocean would cut it in the environmental department, so I pressed on.
 
I came across The Chic and Green Blog and rejoiced. Sitting a top the list of posts was a review for AuntNancysSoap. Palm oil free and she has a selection of unscented soaps that I’m definitely going to be trying.
 

Rose Clay Soap from AuntNancysSoap

Fragrance Free Bar From AuntNancysSoap

(another deviantArt feature)
 

100 years of solitude by *curlytops on deviantART
 
 

sant six-three-five II by *suo-me on deviantART
 
 

Audrey II. by *JulieCerise on deviantART
 
 

kis by ~SnjezanaJosipovic on deviantART
 
 

mail by ~suckcess on deviantART
 
 

Abandoned by *iKate on deviantART
 
 

Seabird 2 by ~jondean on deviantART
 
 

sea shell by ~saveourtrees on deviantART
 
 

tell me story by *curlytops on deviantART

 
Back before our little heat wave I did a lot of baking, and every time I started I’d stop to think of just how badly I really need to buy an apron. Without fail opening the flour canister is asking to be over taken by a furious cloud of flour. While originally amusing, I wanted to do something about it, so I hopped on etsy and started looking around and found these incredible aprons (1, 2) by boojiboo.
 

 
If these aren’t the cutest aprons ever I don’t know what would be. Too bad they didn’t have full skirts. I’d totally wear these out for a night on the town.

It looks like I’m going to be playing catch up for awhile so I figured I’d hop over and update before I got started with all of that.

I managed to make it to a local rummage sale last weekend and found a lot of really interesting stuff, some for myself and a couple of things for projects I wanted to start.  They had a couple of old cookbooks that I snagged and a few Mary Higgins Clark books to add to my collection.

I haven’t gotten around to binding any more books although I’m hoping to soon as I made up a couple of thicker sheets for book covers in my last batch.  I think I might have actually found a more efficient way of drying the paper, but we’ll have to see how it holds up for a second time.

Things on the crocheting front have died down a bit now with the backlog of hats I have to post.  I might save them for next season, although we’ll see.  I’ll get the paper listed in a week when things calm down a bit and we’ll go from there.

I haven’t got any interesting finds to post this week, but I’ve got to say I really liked the interview etsy did with gaiaconceptions.  All of her stuff is incredibly beautiful and yet it’s simplistic, it’s very eco-friendly, and I love the fact that none of it’s covered in patterns.  Normally I might disapprove, but in this case there’s no need for all the extras.

Bring Your Own posted this really great video from zaproot and it got me thinking about reusable bags (again) so I figured I’d share some of my favorite etsy finds.
 
I’ve been using reusable shopping bags like this hot pink one (which is oh so cute) for awhile now, but some of the rest of these are new to me.
 
 

by parischicboutique
I love this bag, because it’s sassy and pink, plus it’s the perfect size to use for other things. They’ve also have canvas totes and one with poka dots.
 
 

by quirkybags.
I had a really hard time choosing between all the bags in this shop. They’ve got everything from quilted bags to bags with bicycles. This one I really liked because of the coloring, it’s springy and cheerful without over doing the pastels so that it looks like an estar bag. Plus like the rest of the bags in the shop it’s lined with a complementary pattern so the bag feels more like a bag and less like something you’d use to haul groceries around.
 
 

by gnomeclothes
I’d seen these with plastic lining before, which while that was a step in the right direction I kind of felt like it was missing the point. These sandwitch bags are not only made totally from fabric, but they also look cool.