Cover Story

Love the cover of this months Wallpaper. Been too busy (doing both?) to crack the magazine, but plan to.
Back to makin' bags...

Happy Birthday!

125 years old has never looked so good!

I love this bridge. So iconic. It still gives me a thrill to travel on it. It's a challenging jog - a little farther than I would normally go - a hill through it's span. But it's 'da Brooklyn Bridge' and it's architecture, history and presence still puts a smile on my face.

Check here for a complete list of birthday events - including outdoor movies, walking tours and art exhibits.

My Earth 360

Visit Lynn from My Earth 360 today at The Green Fair 4PM at Countryside School in Barrington, IL. Not only will you be introduced to local "green" businesses, you will also have a opportunity to purchase Reiter8 bags from her! She will be giving a percentage of sales back to the school to support environmental awareness. Sounds like win win.

Not able to make the event? Check out My Earth 360 to purchase eco friendly products including school supplies.

Lynn is also founder of I Count for myEARTH which partners with schools to inspire children’s environmental awareness and help families sort out the ways they can make a difference.

Nice work.

2ReVert - Recycled Skateboards

2ReVert is a husband/wife team from Nova Scotia that sees the beauty and potential in old skateboards. They craft pieces from bangles to belt buckles.

Yeah, I have an obvious soft spot for recycled goods that have a hint of their former life, yet stand on their own. I'm not loving it because it's green - that was actually secondary. I'm loving it because it looks great.

Brooklyn Flea 5/18

I'll be at the Brooklyn Flea again today with a armful of newly sewn one of a kind bags. Looks like it might rain the the late afternoon so come early!

New to the flea this week is a satellite smaller operation of the Red Hook Latin Food vendors. Look for grilled corn and fruits this week and more substantial faire next week.

Bagged

Was skipping around the blogesphere and came across Peter Carpenters mother's day post and a photo of THE cutest Reiter8 bag use to date.

Say hello to George (and the Blue Star Middie).

Peter's blog is a lovely commentary on food and fathering and lots of other bits of info, advice and observations.

Thanks for posting Pete!

Evolving Into Something Great

Wow. A mention by name and photo in yesterday's CNN.com story 'Eco-fashion: Transforming trash into treasures' made for quite a busy day around here.
Joyce Justicz deserves a lot of credit for Reiter8's mention. She is the owner of Evolve Boutique in Atlanta, Georgia who has stocked Reiter8 bags and pillows since they opened. She is as cheerful as they come and a wonderful spokeswoman for fashionable upcycled products. She comments at the beginning of the video segment. (If you look quick and close you can see a blue star Reiter8 pillow on the shelf behind her!)

I thought the article was interesting. I had always wondered where all the wrappers came from for those Ecoist bags! (watch the video and find out!) I did notice that the comments seemed to focus on a small negative part of the story (Timbuk2 using fused plastic bags some of which have the Target logo and Targets legal issue with it) rather than the spirit of the article which was how people are reusing materials creatively in an effort to be eco friendly.

I must weigh in and say that it's a real effort to use reclaimed materials. It's much more time consuming to seek them out not to mention prepping them. I'm glad I do it though. I've never used a more interesting material and met better people throughout the process. My foremost intent always is to have a positive impact on the environment. And the rest (not without some effort, though!) seems to fall into place.
(photo credit: Ashley Preskar/CNN)