Wednesday, November 30, 2011

25 Gifts to Make with Your 2011 Photos


Who'd like to make more holiday gifts this year?

Me!

But I'm often stumped for ideas.

One raw material I have more than enough to work with is photos, so today I'm brainstorming holiday gifts to make with them.

I've listed 25 ideas below, along with 7 websites that can help you with your creations:


Book
Bookmark
Calendar
Coasters
Cookbook


Deck of cards
DVD slideshow (with or without narration)
Family history book
Framed photo (you could decorate the frame too)
Greeting cards


iPhone case
Magnet
Mouse pad
Mug
Notepad


Ornaments
Photo album
Postage stamps
Postcards
Poster


Puzzle 
Stickers
Scrapbook
Tote bag
T-shirt


7 websites to help you create your gifts:


What are some other ideas for gifts you can make with photos?

All photos are by me (:

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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

6 Healing Artists

"Art is a wound turned into light." - Georges Braque 

As I mentioned in my Fun-Do list last week, one of my favorite things to do is collage. The process of combining words and images helps me to work things out in a different way than writing in my journal does. I truly believe that art can heal, which is why I love producing the Arts and Healing Podcast for the Arts and Healing Network.

This year I interviewed six healing artists:












Creative living coach at Jamie Ridler Studios, and creator of one of my favorite podcasts, Creative Living with Jamie

You can listen to these interviews, and many more, on the Arts and Healing Network's website, or on iTunes.  If you have ideas for people we should interview, email the Arts and Healing Network team at ahn AT artheals DOT org.

Full disclosure: The books I linked to are attached to my Amazon Associates account, which means that if you buy anything after clicking on the link, I receive a percentage of the sale.

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Monday, November 28, 2011

Meatless Monday: 2 Soups, 1 Salad, 2 Casseroles + Cosmos Apple Pie

Meatless Monday is a nonprofit initiative of The Monday Campaigns. Their goal is to help reduce meat consumption by 15% to improve personal and planetary health.  Each week I share meatless recipes I've tried from cookbooks and online.  You can see past Meatless Monday posts by clicking here.

If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.
― Carl Sagan 

One of the items on my Fun-Do List for Thanksgiving was to try some new recipes, and boy, did I!  I made a soup, a salad, and two casseroles from Vegan Holiday Kitchen by Nava Atlas, baked the most amazing Cosmos Apple Pie with Olive Oil Double Crust from Vegan Pie in the Sky by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, and made a soup from Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons, also by Nava Atlas. I hope these photos will inspire your winter holiday menus!


Butternut squash on its way to becoming soup


 Coconut Butternut Squash Soup from Vegan Holiday Kitchen.
Unbelievably delicious. You're in luck 'cause the New York Times published the recipe!


Autumn Harvest Stew from Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons.
Yum, yum.  This recipe is available through Google Books.

  
Pistachios ready to roast and toss in salad . . .


Mixed Greens with Green Apples, Beets and Pistachios from Vegan Holiday Kitchen.
I liked this salad.  It has *a lot* of fruits and veggies in it, a few too many for some of my diners!


Ravioli with Sweet Potatoes and Sage from Vegan Holiday Kitchen.
Delish. How can you go wrong with ravioli and sweet potatoes! The hardest part was finding vegan ravioli.  I ended up buying fresh Roasted Butternut and Chestnut Ravioli in Pumpkin Pasta from Market Hall in Oakland. I'd like to make it again with Rising Moon's vegan ravioli.


Hearty Lentil and Mushroom Shepherd's Pie from Vegan Holiday Kitchen. 
 Also yummy, and you're in luck again 'cause Fat Free Vegan Kitchen posted the recipe.


Pretty veggies ready to roast


Veggies roasted. Don't they look like jewels?


Cosmos Apple Pie with Olive Oil Double Crust from Vegan Pie in the Sky ready to bake.  This is only the 4th pie I've ever made (see my Old Fashioned Chocolate Pudding Pie with a Graham Cracker Crust), so I'm proud of how it turned out: pretty and delicious!


It's not burned, that's cinnamon and sugar baked into the top!


Slice for day after Thanksgiving breakfast!


*************


What yummy meatless dishes did you make last week?

Full disclosure: The cookbooks I linked to are attached to my Amazon Associates account, which means that if you buy anything after clicking on the link, I get a percentage of the sale.  I received review copies of Vegan Holiday Kitchen and Vegan Pie in the Sky.


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Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Your Fun-Do List for Thanksgiving Weekend


I'm a huge to-do list maker, which is a blessing, and a compulsion.  My lists keep me on track, but they can also be overwhelming.  I'm definitely ready to relax and have fun during the long weekend, so instead I've made a fun-do list:


What's on your fun-do list?

Photo: Our super fun Thanksgiving in Maine. 

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Monday, November 21, 2011

Meatless Monday: Vegetarian and Vegan Thanksgiving Ideas

Meatless Monday is a nonprofit initiative of The Monday Campaigns. Their goal is to help reduce meat consumption by 15% to improve personal and planetary health.  Each week I share meatless recipes I've tried from cookbooks and online.  You can see past Meatless Monday posts by clicking here.


I didn't make any interesting meatless dishes this week, so instead of posting my photos and recipe notes, I'm including a link to my Vegetarian and Vegan Thanksgiving idea board on Pinterest. Even if you aren't a member of Pinterest, you can still see the board, scroll through the photos, and click on the recipe links. Just click here to view it.


What meatless Thanksgiving dishes are you making this week?

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Friday, November 18, 2011

Friday Fun Links: Creativity, Yummy Food, Blogging, Do-Gooding and Events

A collection of blog posts and articles that caught my eye this week. I've organized them into sections: creative ladies, yummy food, nonprofits/do-gooding, blogging/social media, and events, so that you can peruse the ones that fit your interests.

Creative Ladies

Planning the Year Ahead on Jamie Ridler Studios

Wish on Create Your Own Beautiful

Holiday Poetry Book (Your Other Names) by Tara Sophia Mohr

I'm 42 and Full of Gratitude and Appreciation on SurfPrayLove

Unfun Decisions: Scraping Bottom by Gwen Bell

Forget Your Perfect Offering by Gwen Bell

Creating With Kids :: Still Shots from Goddess Guide Book

Something for the Weekend by Susannah Conway

Upcoming Right Brain Business Plan Events by author, Jennifer Lee, and licensed facilitators

Nonprofits and Do-Gooding
photo and t-shirt by kimberly wilson

Pig Animal Sanctuary on  Tranquility du Jour

Drumroll Please...Announcing Ten New Social Citizen Ambassadors on Social Citizens

Top 8 Tips for Writing a Fundraising Letter by Joanne Fritz

New podcast: Accessing student loan relief now on Idealist

Fast Company Profiles Open Philanthropy on Philanthropy 2173

Free eBook on Volunteer Management on Wild Apricot

Yummy Food

Kalyn's Favorite Baby Arugula Salad with Lemon, Balsamic Vinegar, Parmesan, and Pine Nuts on Kalyn's Kitchen

Nava's Hearty Lentil and Mushroom Shepherd's Pie on FatFree Vegan Kitchen

Warm up with Winter Squash Soup on the Kind Life

Blogging and Social Media

Why Bloggers Should Self-Publish on ProBlogger

Get Your Second Edition Copy of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Today (for 25% off) on ProBlogger

The Best Blog Growth Strategy is to Say Thank You . . . A Lot! on ProBlogger

Why Data Smog May Be Making You Depressed by Dr. Andrew Weil on Time.com (hat tip to Beth Kanter for tweeting this)

Mindmap of How to Focus in the Age of Distraction (hat tip to whomever's Facebook page I found this on. I can't remember!)

Events 
 
December 6 (Berkeley): Seeds of Resilience: Women Farmers Striving in the Face of Climate Change hosted by Women's Earth Alliance.

December 8 (San Francisco): The Power of Women Leading from the Heart with Nina Simons

**********

What posts, articles and events inspired you this week?

Leaf photo by me.


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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Juicy Blogging Classes in January (Berkeley + Online)

Just wanted to let those of you who are bloggers, or who have blogger pals, know about two classes (in Berkeley and online), that I'll be teaching in January 2012.

Tea and Cupcakes with Creative Bloggers
Sunday, January 15, 2012
1-4 PM
Teahouse Studio
1250 Addision St., Ste. 208
Berkeley, CA 

Sip tea, eat cupcakes, and connect with creative bloggers (like you!). After we’ve had time to eat and chat, we’ll do some fun activities to help you generate lots of juicy blog posts in 2012. I’ll also share tips for increasing traffic and engagement. 

$35 when you register by January 8th. Use the discount code YUMMYFUN
$42 after January 8th.
Join us: http://bit.ly/blogandcupcakes

Juicy Blogging E-Course: The Art and Play of Blogging
A class for artists, writers, creative entrepreneurs and do-gooders
January 25-February 15, 2012

Do you want to re-energize your blog and blogging practice, or rediscover the ♥ of your blog? During this 4-week e-course you’ll play with fun assignments through a private blog with your fellow juicy bloggers.

The course consists of three kinds of fun-work:

  • Reflection questions to refine your blog’s purpose
  • Connection assignments to build community and traffic
  • Creative and juicy blog post prompts to get you writing

$75 when you register by November 22. Use the discount code SUPERJUICY12
$99 when you register by January 18. Use the discount code JUICYWINTER12
$125 when you register after January 18.
Join us: http://bit.ly/juicybloggingjan25 

 P.S. Lemme know if you'd like me to host a Tea and Cupcakes with Creative Bloggers in your town!

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Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Why Are You Inspired (or Not) by the Occupy Movement?

As a Bay Area liberal blogger who lives in Oakland, I feel like I should be taking part in occupations, posting photos, interviewing organizers, and sharing ways to get involved, but I haven't done any of those things.

I want to be excited about this global movement, but I'm not.  It just makes me sad, and a bit tired.

Many of the letters people have posted on We Are the 99 Percent break my heart, but they feel like letters into the void.  Who will listen? Who will help them?

I wish that all of the creativity, organizing and innovation that has gone into gathering people, spreading the word, making signs, building tent villages, taking photos and videos, marching and protesting was going towards helping the people who wrote those letters.

The Occupy movement feels like the human race is screaming, "Help! Something is not right! Life is out of balance!" Thing is, there isn't anyone there to hear us, except us.

Only the 99% can help the 99%.  Only we can help each other.  How are we going to do it?

What am I missing?  Why are you inspired (or not) by the Occupy movement?

Flickr photo credit: Occupy Protest tent 99 percent by Ano Lobb.


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Monday, November 14, 2011

Meatless Monday: Dilled Potato, Pink Bean and Green Bean Soup + Sunday Night Pasta + Vegan Chocolate Pudding Pie

Meatless Monday is a nonprofit initiative of The Monday Campaigns. Their goal is to help reduce meat consumption by 15% to improve personal and planetary health.  Each week I share meatless recipes I've tried from cookbooks and online.  You can see past Meatless Monday posts by clicking here.

Thursday night I made an old stand-by, Dilled Potato, Pink Bean, and Green Bean Soup from Vegetarian Soups for All Seasons by Nava Atlas, which lasted us through the weekend.


Sunday night we were a little low on groceries, so I made a quickie pasta. While the spaghetti was cooking, I chopped up a head of garlic, and sauteed it in garlic oil with red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and a little butter (you can use margarine, if you're vegan). In a separate little pan I sauteed a can of chick peas (rinse them first), and frozen peas in garlic oil (thanks, Heather, for the pea idea).  I added  the pasta to the garlic mixture, heated it through for a bit, and served it with the garbanzo and pea mixture on top along with some parmesan cheese for the hubs, and nutritional yeast for me.  Delish.

We're coming into that time of the month when all I want to eat is chocolate pie (you know what I'm talking about ladies), so I broke out my review copy of Vegan Pie in the Sky by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, and made their Old Fashioned Chocolate Pudding Pie with a Graham Cracker Crust.  Yum! You're in luck, 'cause the recipe was in the New York Times last week in Tara Parker Pope's article Can You Bake a Vegan Pie? If you make one, let me know how you like it.




What yummy meatless dishes did you make last week?

Full disclosure: The cookbooks I linked to are attached to my Amazon Associates account, which means that if you buy anything after clicking on the link, I get a percentage of the sale.  

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Sunday, November 13, 2011

Dancing for Peace: Big Vision Podcast with Sara Potler

"We had a blast!  These kids over the course of the next 18 months did not really fully comprehend that they were learning basic social, emotional, and civic competencies because they were moving and dancing the entire time." -- Sara Potler

Sara Potler is the Founder and CEO of Dance 4 Peace.  Dance 4 Peace is a conflict resolution, and civic education program that promotes empathy, understanding, mediation skills, anger management, and emotional and civic engagement through dance in youth around the world.  

Dance 4 Peace began in Bogotá, Colombia as part of Sara's Fulbright Scholarship project in 2007. In conjunction with Aulas en Paz (Peaceable Classrooms), a multi-component pedagogical project designed to promote social and civic competencies and conflict resolution among primary-school students, Dance 4 Peace was designed, implemented, and evaluted in public schools in the outskirts of Bogotá.  Today, the program works in Washington, D.C., New York City, Colombia, the Philippines, and Nepal.

You can listen and subscribe to the Big Vision Podcast via iTunes, or on the player above.  If you have suggestions for people I should interview, please email me at britt AT brittbravo DOT com.  

*Show Notes*

Learn more about Sara and Dance 4 Peace:
Connect with me:
Music: "Mango Delight," by Kenya Masala.  Connect with Kenya through CD Baby and Source Consulting Group.

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Wednesday, November 09, 2011

13 Women Changing the World

Today I saw a blog post on Twitter about 10 Men with the Capacity to Change the World. I've interviewed soooo many amazing women for the Big Vision Podcast who are changing the world that I thought I'd post a sampler of interviews with 13 women from over the last four years. I've included links to each audio interview, as well to transcripts (when they're available). You can listen to all of the interviews, plus 55 more conversations with Big Visionaries on iTunes.

1. and 2. Amira Diamond and Melinda Kramer
Co-Directors, Women's Earth Alliance. WEA unites women on the frontlines of environmental justice causes by coordinating training, technology, and financial support.
Listen: Big Vision Podcast interview (April 20, 2010) 
Read: Transcript on Have Fun, Do Good



3. Anna Lappe
Author of Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It. Co-author of  Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen, and Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet.
Listen: Big Vision Podcast interview (May 18, 2010)
Read: Transcript on Have Fun, Do Good





4. Cristi Hegranes
Executive Director and Founder, Global Press Institute. GPI (formerly the Press Institute for Women in the Developing World) uses journalism as a development tool to educate, employ and empower women, who produce high-quality local news coverage that elevates global awareness and ignites social change. 
Listen: Big Vision Podcast interview (February 6, 2008)
Read: Transcript on Have Fun, Do Good

5. Favianna Rodriguez
Activist printmaker and digital artist. Favianna's vibrant posters deal with issues like war, immigration, globalization, and social movements.
Listen: Big Vision Podcast interview (December 22, 2008) 
Read: Transcript on Have Fun, Do Good


6. Halle Butvin
Founder and Director, One Mango Tree. One Mango Tree uses a fair trade model to provide income generating opportunities for women artisans in impoverished and conflict-ridden areas of the globe.
Listen: Big Vision Podcast interview (September 7, 2011)

7. Jensine Larsen
Founder, World Pulse. World Pulse is a global media and communication network devoted to bringing women a global voice. 
Listen: Big Vision Podcast interview (November 1, 2010)
Read: Transcript on Have Fun, Do Good





 
8. Kathy LeMay
Author of The Generosity Plan: Sharing Your Time, Treasure, and Talent to Shape the WorldFounder and CEO of Raising Change.  Raising Change helps organizations to raise capital to advance social change agendas, and helps individuals create Generosity Plans to change the world.
Listen: Big Vision Podcast interview (May 31, 2011)




9. Lisa Witter 
Author of The She Spot: Why Women are the Market for Changing the World -- And How to Reach Them. Chief Change Officer and Partner, Fenton.  Fenton creates issue campaigns that make change.
Listen: Big Vision Podcast interview (October 15, 2009)
Read: Transcript on Have Fun, Do Good

10. Marsha Wallace
Founder, Dining for Women. Dining for Women cultivates educational giving circles that inspire individuals to make a positive difference through the power of collective giving. They fund programs that foster good health, education, and economic self‐sufficiency for women and girls living in extreme poverty
Listen: Big Vision Podcast interview (September 30, 2010)
Read: Transcript on Have Fun, Do Good



11. Naomi Natale
Founding Artist, One Million Bones. One Million Bones is a collaborative art installation designed to recognize the millions of victims and survivors who have been killed or displaced by ongoing genocides and mass atrocities in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Burma.
Listen: Big Vision Podcast interview (July 23, 2011)


12. Seane Corn
Founder, Off the Mat, Into the WorldOTM uses the power of yoga to inspire conscious, sustainable activism and ignite grassroots social change.
Listen: Big Vision Podcast interview (April 17, 2009)
Read: Transcript on Have Fun, Do Good




13. Zainab Salbi
Founder, Women for Women International. Women for Women International provides women survivors of war, civil strife and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency. Author, Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam.
Listen: Big Vision Podcast interview (May 3, 2009)  
Read: Transcript on Have Fun, Do Good



For more inspiring stories about women changemakers, I highly recommend the 5-part PBS series Women, War and Peace.  All of the episodes are available online.
 
What women do you think are changing the world?

Full disclosure: The books I've linked to are attached to my Amazon Associates account, which means that if you buy anything after clicking on the link, I get a percentage of the sale.
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