Celebrating Eco{uture}

Having the opportunity to design something and send it to a celebrity is a great experience. I’ve been fortunate in having my designs go to a number of celebrities. This is the first in a series where I’ll take you on that journey.

It all started in 2011, when I had a display at the GBK Emmy Awards Gift Lounge. The actress, Catherine O’Hara (known for Beetlejuice and the Home Alone movies) asked if she could have my display purse because she loved it so much. Of course, I said yes!!

Catherine O'Hara

I had also made evening wristlets with vhs tape as press gifts. Nia Peeples saw them and was fascinated. She is the owner of one of the wristlets now. She was also kind enough to pose with my display purse. Penny Marshall’s eye caught the vhs wristlets as well. Turns out she also asked to keep one. I hope they are enjoying them!

Nia Peeples

Nia Peeples showing her VHS tape evening wristlet

And the late Kathryn Joosten who was known for her roles on The West Wing and Desperate Housewives. I was so sad to hear of her passing earlier this year.

Kathryn Joosten

And so it began!

TDD is Bringing Hand Crocheted Eco to the Oscars!

Well, actually, TDD products are Oscar-bound! On February 24-25, TDD will have a display piece and swag bag gifts at the GBK Academy Awards Gift Lounge. I will, again, be represented by The Artisan Group, which had a very successful showing at the GBK Golden Globes Gift Lounge (where TDD gifted the press baskets with a bar of Summerfield Soaps' Buttermilk and Carrot Complexion Soap).

I'm very excited that the newly designed eco-friendly Occoquan Tote Purse will be featured as my display piece! Hand crocheted from upcycled/repurposed plastic grocery bags; it's lined and has a zippered pocket. After receiving customer feedback, models after this design will include a snap closure.

The Occoquan Eco Friendly Tote/Purse

The celebrity swag bags will include an Eco Petite Pocket Purse. These little numbers are hand crocheted from upcycled/repurposed plastic grocery bags and have a magnetic snap and a little bling as a button. They are perfect for keeping coins, lipstick/lip balm, and other small items from cluttering the bottom of your handbag.

And so the excitement for my fellow artisans and I will begin in a couple of weeks! Fingers crossed that we all receive some great photos.

Jessica Alba and Zooey Deschanel to Receive TDD Eco Evening Wristlets!

To say I'm excited to be included in this special celebrity gifting opportunity via The Artisan Group is putting it mildly. The VHS/yarn eco evening wristlets will be headed to California for inclusion in the bag this week and will be headed to these two fabulous actresses the week of December 1st.

As excited as I am to gift to both ladies, I'm really so thrilled to be gifting Jessica Alba, a fellow Air Force Brat.

Jessica Alba (left) - actress, film and tv
Zooey Deschanel (rt)- actress/singer, currently of "New Girl" on FOX

These wristlets were initially designed as press gifts for the 2011 GBK Emmy Gift Lounge. Both Penny Marshall and Nia Peeples spied them and asked to take one home.

Here are the wristlets, with cotton cheetah print lining, that are going into these two special bags:

I hope they enjoy!

Emmy's Blog to Blog Giveaway!

There's a huge blog-to-blog giveaway happening right now!

If you want a chance to win $950 worth of swag, get the details on Fancy Designs blog!

Have fun!

Emmy Gift Lounge Excitement Wrap-Up -- Part 1

The excitement of being in the GBK Emmy Gift Lounge was unbelievable. Of course, when I wanted to do this post, I wound up catching some creeping crud from Andrew (my 12 year old). I'm still trying to recover, but wanted to congratulate my fellow artisans for a job well done! Our table was quite impressive, and we received great feedback.

I was particularly enthused, not only about hearing that Penny Marshall took home a clutch and Catherine O'Hara took home the display purse, but also that Nia Peeples took home a clutch as well. I am also loving the photographer assigned to The Artisan Group for capturing some great posed photos and some great candid shots as well.

Catherine O'Hara loved the eco purse so much, she took it home!

Nia Peeples - currently of Pretty Little Liars

Kathryn Joosten - of Desperate Housewives & The West Wing

Nia Peeples decked out in TDD's purse, AJ Sweet Soap's Banana Split Sundae (and you can see Atutudes tutu in the background).

The Artisan Group Founder Valerie Guerrero explains to Nia Peeples that the clutches are made of vhs tape & yarn.

Nia Peeples showing a friend the clutch.

Beverley Mitchell - of 7th Heaven - finds out that the purse is made of plarn.

Here are some quotes I received on my product:

"That's amazing! Out of grocery bags? Whole Foods, I see." -- Jennifer Carpenter (of Dexter)

"Oh, my God! That's incredible!" -- Cloris Leachman
"This is awesome! This is fantastic! Look at this! Can you believe it's made out of bags?!" -- Nia Peeples
"Oh, I love that!" -- Jason Isaacs (of the Harry Potter films & the upcoming film Abduction)

So that wraps up an amazing ride that was the GBK Emmy Gift Lounge. My next post will focus on my fellow artisans who were there, too. :)

GBK Productions Emmy Gift Lounge Excitement - Day 2 Recap

Day 2 was a rollercoaster ride, too! We found out that we'll all get at least TWO celeb photos with our product, so that's a great bonus.

The Artisan Group was interviewed by Splash! Magazine and Gosh tv, and the feedback the group has gotten over Twitter and other avenues has been stellar. :)

Some celebrities in attendance yesterday who were lovin' The Artisan Group:
Nia Peeples, Rico Rodriguez, Michael Trucco, Jennifer Carpenter, Cloris Leachman, Andy Milder, Zach Woods, James Woods, Loretta Devine, Catherine O'Hara, and more!

And speaking of Catherine O'Hara, I got this message on the updates:

"Catherine O'Hara fell in LOVE with your purse, and asked to have it, so I hope it'sOK we let her have it. She really loved it."

So, if Day 1 wasn't exciting enough with Penny Marshall picking up a clutch, Day 2 was equally as heart-thumping with Catherine O'Hara picking up the purse!

This purse!

Also extremely happy for my TAG colleagues whose products were also adored and snatched up.

Extra, Extra: READ all about the Emmy's Weekend from the rest of The Artisan Group members (so many fun posts!) starting with Stevie Lynn, of Jewels for Hope.

The Emmys Are Coming and The Peppermint Mocha Eco Tote Bag

After working hard, psyching myself out, and more, the Emmys are THIS week! I'll be glued to my computer for updates (as many of The Artisan Group members will be) from Valerie and Nikki. It's an exciting time, and I can't wait to hear how my product is received. So over three days, starting on Thursday, I'll have a stomach full of knots. :)

I'm also excited to announce a new eco tote that I just listed on my site.
Introducing the Peppermint Mocha Eco Tote Bag!

Crocheted from plastic grocery bags (or plarn), it gets it's name from my good friend, Denise of AJ Sweet Soap! She's a naming genius. Really. The name is perfect, too, describing the brown with red accents so well.

I'm working on more designs, so stay tuned!

Emmy Swag Gifts on Their Way!

Ok, YAY! I got the Emmy swag gifts off to CA! Now I'm completely obsessed with tracking the box across the country. It should arrive next Tuesday, and I know it's left PA.

So this is how the wristlets wound up being packaged. I used VHS tape as ribbon and kept it simple (cause I like simple).

And just in case you didn't see it before, here is my display piece. A great little plarn purse.

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am!

Expanding the Biz...

So, as I continue preparations for my participation in the GBK Productions' Gift Lounge at the Primetime Emmy Awards, I find myself pondering as to how to expand my business. Right now, it's just lil ol' me prepping the plastic bags and crocheting. That means that there's a limited number of product that I can produce.

I've had people tell me to outsource the prepping and teach people how to crochet my totes and purses. Well, outsourcing the prepping makes a lot of sense to me; that would give me more time to crochet, thereby increasing the number of products I can offer at one time. But, having someone else crochet for/with me, not so much. The point is that it's MY work, and I'm such a flipping perfectionist.

I have found one person who's willing to prep bags for me, which is awesome (thank you, Lu)! I would like to find more. I will continue to crochet all the totes and purses myself. My hope is that people will understand that something that's artisan-made is worth the wait. In today's society of instant gratification, that may be a bit difficult, but I'm confident that my products will be worth the wait to those women who truly want something that's not only eco-friendly, but also one-of-a-kind (because handcrafted items are never exactly alike).

My thanks go out to my wonderful husband and friends who give me honest feedback about my products and my business. Kate, Denise and Valerie, thank you! And a special thanks to The Artisan Group and its members for their support.

Preparations Underway for The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards Gift Lounge

Holy Cow! Here we go, ya'll! I've started my preparations to participate in the gift lounge at the Emmy Awards in September through The Artisan Group. I've decided to display one of my P-Eco Purses of upcycled/repurposed plastic bags (or plarn). The wallet that will be with the purse is a new idea. It's constructed out of yarn, cassette tape and will be lined with the same fabric as the purse.

Here's the purse:




Here's the wallet, so far:




To say that this is a little exciting would be a huge understatement. The Artisan Group has been invited to participate in GBK Productions' Gift Lounge. For those that don't know (or don't follow this stuff), GBK is the PREMIERE gift lounge to be in. Not only will we participating member artisans be in GBK's gift lounge, but we'll also have our items displayed for TWO days. This is a major boon - to be seen by top celebrities for two days!

More updates to follow!

The Artisan Group

So, I recently had the privilege of being accepted into an exclusive group of artisans. What group is that you may ask. Well, I'll tell you!

Ever heard of those celebrity swag bags and gifting suites/lounges at major awards shows? Think Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, Kids Choice, Golden Globes... The Artisan Group is a professional promotions group that gives its talented member artisans an opportunity to get in front of those celebs. Not only celebrities, but also in front of major press outlets (E!, Life & Style, InStyle Magazine, Fox, MSNBC, and so on). How cool is that?

*Photos are from The Artisan Group website.*


Description: Giuliana Rancic, Host of E! News, and star of "Giuliana & Bill". *with a former promotions group.


I was clued in by one of my favorite people, Denise of AJSweetSoap (go look at her stuff, it's AMAZING). And I'll be thanking her until she gets sick of me. LOL! Firstly, I'm so glad that she thought well enough of my work to recommend me to the Group; and secondly (is that a word?), I'm so glad that the Group thought well enough of my work to accept me.


Description: Sarah Drew, best known for her role as Dr. April Kepner on "Grey's Anatomy. *with a former promotions group.

It's free to join and be aware that they are discriminating. They are currently looking for more talented artisans.

Right now, the Group is ramping up for the Primetime Emmy Awards in September. It's a great way to get your item on the display table and possibly get a professional photograph of your item in a celeb's hands. Can we say - incredible marketing opportunity? But, the time to get in is drawing near as half the display places have already been snagged.

Go check out their site, follow them on Twitter and Facebook. Fill out the application and see where it takes you!