You can also join along my journey on me arts website https://dandylynn.com/
]]>For my stitch journal I am working on an organic cotton napkin from Maiwa and using hand dyed fabrics and threads I have naturally dyed. Each day I spend a few minutes stitching a circle. Each month is a new napkin and to follow along with my dye journey, new colors will be introduced as I dye them up.
This process has been amazing for me this month as we’ve worked thru some challenges it’s given me a space to be creative and lose myself in stitching. I’ve never been good at meditating as I can’t sit still so knitting is usually my go to but this new craft is very relaxing and meditative.
Do you meditate?
Have you tried slow stitching/stitch meditation?
-Jamie
]]>Check out the video on YouTube
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fcF504Nky5g&feature=youtu.be
Find all our tools here
https://thegeneralbean.com/collections/needle-felting-tools
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The eyes we carry are handcrafted in Germany and are glass, keeping things plastic free. To do this tutorial you will need
a pair of glass eyes
an awl
https://thegeneralbean.com/collections/needle-felting-tools/products/awl
Embroidery Needle
Sewing Thread
Feating Needle ( medium or course) https://thegeneralbean.com/collections/needle-felting-tools/products/course-felting-needle-pack?variant=32228822581283
And you can find the video on our YouTube channel
]]>We also put together a supply pack for the moon coffee cozy https://thegeneralbean.com/collections/2d-felting-supplies/products/supplies-for-online-tutorial-for-coffee-cozy?variant=39317568389155
We created a cozy template to print off
And you can view the online tutorial here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNT4aisKAGg
Once needle felted you can either sew it together by hand or use a machine with a 1/4" seam.
We would love to see your finished ones please join our facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/338794550534895
Have fun and reach out if you have any questions.
And make sure to subscribe to our You Tube Channel for more tutorials and tips
Jamie and Mike
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Our kit is called Wool Aid and comes with everything you need to patch up in style. You can find the kit here https://thegeneralbean.com/collections/kits/products/needle-felting-mending-kit
And our video demo of our kit here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12nERrKQTs0
]]>We have put together 4 different kits to help with laundry, visibly mend and get a good scrub with felted soap. These are all great for beginners, no experience needed.
Our first kit is a great introduction to needle felting while creating a set of your own dryer balls. In this kit you will learn the basics of needle felting by creating the balls and adding decorations also. You get enough wool for three small dryer balls, plus a foam pad to work on, a stencil and 4 felting needles.
Next up is our Wool Aid Kit where you will learn to visibly mend through needle felting. Felt cute designs over holes and stains in sweaters, blankets and more! So much fun and gives a second life to your clothing. The colors in this photo is from a collab we did with Simply Merino, you can find this color way on their website or check out our kit for the colors in ours on our website.
Looking for a Natural Exfoliate, look no further than felted soap. It works as a natural exfoliate but it also keeps your soap longer as it doesn’t melt everywhere. It’s a fave in our house.
And then if you want to do all three projects we’ve created the Zero Waste Starter Kit where you get everything to create all three projects!
Check out all four kits on our website https://thegeneralbean.com/collections/kits
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If you haven't subscribed or don't receive an email and want to receive our newsletter, scroll down to the bottom of this page and on the left is a place to subscribe.
The newsletter will keep you up to date with classes, events, new products and new retailers and once in awhile a subscriber only special.
]]>First up the Easter egg kit is a great beginner project and would be fun to do with the whole family. We sell the supplies and then you can follow the online tutorial.
you can find the supplies here https://thegeneralbean.com/collections/kits/products/wafa-february-colorway-easter-egg-supplies-for-a-beginner-felting-project-4-eggs
and the tutorial here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g6z7UT3AEU&t=9s
Or of course Easter isn’t complete without a bunny! We have kits, finished ornaments and a class to make our spring bunny.
you can find the finished bunny here https://thegeneralbean.com/collections/christmas/products/needle-felted-sheep-ornament?variant=11173764806
the kit to make your own here https://thegeneralbean.com/collections/kits/products/bunny-felting-kit?variant=39249133207587
Or take a class here https://thegeneralbean.com/collections/classes/products/copy-of-beginner-class-bunny-ornament-workshop-saturday-march-13?variant=39249536483363
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check out the kit here https://www.thegeneralbean.com/collections/kits/products/easter-egg-supplies
and the tutorial here https://youtu.be/_g6z7UT3AEU
have fun and please share your creations #thegeneralbean
]]>We keep the classes small so there’s lots of time for questions, you can use your own supplies or we will send you everything you need. Check them out under Classes on the website!
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We are very excited about our new wool pads. These are sooo much nicer than foam pads which tend to leave bits of foam in your project. The wool ones don’t let off any bits and are lovely to work on. They are also Canadian wool both the wool pads and the inner stuffing. We are sewing these here in our Calgary studio and will have a few colors available soon.
We’ve also put together fibre bundles, a few different color packs and made labels for our 25 gram fibre so they will be available to retail shops shortly.
Watch for more needle options, holders and kits coming throughout the summer. As well as tutorials. We will also be offering Zoom classes this fall, both open to everyone and options to book your own Zoom Party.
Lot’s of exciting things to look forward to, make sure to follow us on Social Media for updates.
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https://www.volumeretail.com/home-projects-to-start-during-isolation/
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All of our products will remain with the same great quality you’ve grown to love made by us here in Calgary AB
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This is a beginner tutorial and we have supplies available to purchase on our website.
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Here is one of our new car diffusers, a cute chicken for all the chicken lovers out there.
Or ditch those nasty paper trees with a felt one and a little pine essential oil!
We also have a few new ornaments such as the sloth.
And keychains like this popular bee one.
Check out all of our new ones on the website under Useables.
And if you missed our release yesterday of the new Pollinater set of dryer balls here you go,
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“Announcing our first prize for The Amazing Trash Race this Saturday! Trash pickers will compete for a chance to win a super cute set of Splat and Cowool dryer balls handcrafted right here in Calgary!**
Remember, there are 5 easy steps to participate:
1) Download the Litterati app on your smart device.
2) Create an account using your full name.
3) Join the Plastic-Free YYC club - go to the club tab and search for "Plastic-Free YYC" to find our group.
4) Go out on June 2nd, take a picture of each piece of litter you pick and upload it to the app.
5) Follow Plastic-Free YYC to find out competition results.
That's it - it's that easy! So, ready? Set? Go get that trash!
100in1Day Canada is a global movement that is changing how people interact with their cities. 100s of people united together taking 1 small action to improve their city all on the same day.
** Top Trash Racers must be located in Calgary to receive their prize*”
Introducing our Barnyard Buddies. We have had lots of requests over the past year for pigs and cows so we put together a little set to incorporate those along with the cutest little chicken.
Next up is our Bed of Sloths. Over the years we have had many requests for sloths, so finally here we go with a set of three.
Even though sloths are a solitary animal the females occasionally hang out in groups. Due to their laziness a group of Sloths is called a Bed of Sloths.
Last but not least for our friends who love our colourful dryer balls, we have a new color Blurple. We had fun naming this one by putting it out to our Facebook Followers. We had many amazing names suggested but we felt Blurple was the perfect name. What do you think?
You can find both of the patterned sets under Patterned Dryer balls in our shop and Blurple is listed under Variegated Dryer Balls
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Home
1) Water plants with pasta water
2) Use a rain water barrel to collect water and then use to water the garden
3) Hang laundry and use wool dryer balls when drying to cut down drying time, and to replace dryer sheets and fabric softener (we recommend Splat And Co dryer balls of course)
"Hang laundry, If you must use a dryer use adorable dryer balls! " - Sarah Schaefer
4) Wash laundry in cold water and normal size loads
5) Unplug electrical appliances when not in use
6) Use LED light bulbs
7) Solar power
8) Turn off lights when you leave a room
9) Rechargeable batteries
10) Unpaper towels (we use cloth napkins and rags)
11) Put on a sweater instead of turning up the furnace ( Ideally a wool sweater as microplastics in our water are a major issue and wool is biodegradable)
"Get away from having a lawn and keeping it green with all that water!!!" - Tessa Dill
Food
1) use a reusable water bottle and coffee cups (ideally glass or stainless steel) I love my Klean Kanteen and Swell bottles, mason jars work great too!
2) Reusable containers ( we use stainless steel for our packed lunches Ecolunch Box and Onyx) and Glass Anchor for our leftovers and freezing as well as mason jars.
3) Beeswax wraps ( Abeego is awesome www.canada.abeego.com)
4) Covers for bowls for leftovers instead of plastic wrap (Edgy Moose www.facebook.com/The-Edgy-Moose-designs-1566967063578772/)
5) Carry your own utensils and straws when away from home
6) Grow your own food and regrow vegetables ( we've been re growing green onions,celery and lettuce)
7) Reduce,reuse and recycle ( try to reduce the amount of packaging coming into your house when grocery shopping, what does come in reuse (such as glass jars in your pantry, we purchase as much as we can in bulk)
8) Compost
Clothing
1) purchase second hand
2) Upcycle
3) Alter
4) If buying new choose natural fibres, ethically made, locally made
Transportation
1) Carpool
2) Bus
3) Walk and pick up litter along the way
5) Invest in an electric car
6) cycle
Personal Care
1) Use mama cloth ( we love Canadian company Treehugger www.treehuggerclothpads.com)
2) cloth diapers
3) cloth wipes
5) Shower instead of bath
6) Turn off the water when brushing your teeth
Shopping
1) Use cloth bags and leave a stash in the car
2) cloth bags and jars for produce and bulk section ( Bulk Barn www.bulkbarn.ca)
3) use reusable tubs or baskets
Miscellaneous
1) Pick up trash
2) repair items instead of replacing
3) repurpose items until they can't be used anymore and the recycle
"This is the only earth we have so we need to protect it! there is no Plan B Earth!" - Jessica Young
]]>Putting the kit together was a lot of fun.We turned our kitchen table into a photography studio and I played camera woman and director ( which entailed me just pressing a button and yelling commands at Mike)
Mike then laid out all the photos and we started adding in the text and it came along into a nice instructional booklet. Yay for Mike having photography and publishing skills!
We then weighed out all the little bits of wool and added them to cute little boxes with needles and off I went to class.
The class was awesome, everyone had a great time creating their sheep and learning techniques they could carry on to their own students. And I had a blast teaching them!
Here is a picture of all the little sheep.
We have a little bit of tweaking to do to the pattern and packaging and then we will have these ready to go in a week or two. If you are eager to get your hands on one we have uploaded a few pre orders. If you order now they are 15% off.
We will also be adding some fibre kits for those that already needle felt or for those who would like to create their own masterpiece in the next couple days.
If you do not have a felting pad you will need one of those too which we will have available later this week too.
Happy Felting!
]]>We eat this granola at least a couple mornings a week and pair it with our homemade yogurt and fruit sauce.
Another bonus for our zero waste journey is you can buy most or all of the ingredients in bulk thus reducing your packaging waste.
Ingredients
2 cups Rolled Oats
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup coconut
1/4 cup chopped cashews
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 tablespoon hemp hearts
3/4 cup wholewheat flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of sea salt
1 orange
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
A handful or two of dried cranberries
Preheat oven to 300 degrees farenheight. Grease pan with coconut oil.
In a large mixing bowl combine oats,pumpkin seeds,sunflower seeds,coconut,cashews,chia seeds,hemp hearts,wholewheat flour,cinnamon,sea salt,and zest of orange.
Juice orange and set aside.
In a small pot melt coconut oil. Add maple syrup, juice from the orange and stir. Remove from heat and add vanilla and almond extract, stir.
Slowly pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Spread on a cookie sheet and place in oven and bake till golden. 45-60 min. While baking stir your granola every 15 min till the 45 min mark then check on it every 5 min so you don't over cook it.
Once cooked add 1-2 small handfuls of dried cranberries and stir.
Enjoy!
Store in an airtight jar.
Breakfast!
Side note! If you haven't checked out our sale page yet we have merino wool knitwear on sale 40% off sizes baby-adult! Go to shop and then sale.
]]>To prepare; the day before I made up a big batch of our granola and a couple loaves of bread to have while in Ottawa. So I picked up a large stainless steel container for the granola and used my cotton bags for the bread. I do place the cotton bags of bread into zip locks which I reuse just so they won't dry out. When I'm home our bread goes into cloth bag and then a tin.
The morning of our trip I packed up lunch,snacks,dinner, and water bottles so we would have enough food on us for the whole trip and extra in case of delays. The only issue I had was my afternoon tea as I can't bring liquids so I brought my to go cup and bought a tea at the cafe at the airport so I had a bit of waste with the tea bag :(
It was great having all our food with us at the airport and on the plane. When we arrived at the Kelowna airport and got thru security we went straight to the water fountain and filled up our water bottles. Once on the plane Bean was very excited to get to have juice as we don't normally have much juice. I did think ahead and brought some enamel cups so we wouldn't have to use a plastic cup. Our first plane ride was only about 45 min but the amount of plastic cups that were collected after was crazy, so we highly recommend bringing your own glass or a water bottle.
Our second plane which was our longer plane ride from Calgary to Ottawa ended up being our dinner time. I had made our dinner (burrito bowls) and had them in our tiffin which worked well.
Our stewerdess was quite impressed with Bean and her cup that she stop and chatted with her and Mike about cups and plastic and her experience with casually picking up 40 straws in one stretch of beach. She told us that all those plastic cups that are collected on the plane will end up in the garbage. She said that in Toronto all cups are thrown out but in Vancouver if the Stewardess stacks the cups they will be recycled. That turns out to be a lot of plastic thrown into our landfills every day.
We arrived in Ottawa at 2:30am a little tired but excited to be there.
The next morning was a quiet day of adjusting to the time change but we did head into town to pick up a few groceries with Mikes mom Gram. Before we left Kelowna Bean made sure we packed our grocery bags with us which worked out well as Gram forgot hers. Gram said she had never heard of anyone taking there grocery bags on holiday with them lol.
Unfortunately by Thursday evening Mike was not feeling too well as he had caught the cold Bean had before we left, by Friday I was feeling under the weather and Bean who I think had been suppressing it was down too. Thankfully I had packed some cloth hankies with us. The next few days were pretty mellow for us.
Bean was fine after Friday so Gram,Aunty Caroline and her went to feed the chickadees on Saturday.
(The chickadee photos were taken by Aunty Caroline)
Sunday was a snow storm and a family dinner party with all the Aunts,Uncles and cousins which was a great time. Here Bean up cycled a bow from a gift into a hair clip for the party.
On Monday we headed out to Hull Quebec to experience a bit of The Winterlude activities. Bean got to try her hand at skiing and they had these amazing slides of ice. We did cheat a little on our plan also as we had to experience some real Poutine and of course Beaver Tails!
Today our last day we made one more Winterlude stop to see the ice sculptures.
Tomorrow we get up super early and hope the snow storm allows us to get to the airport and be on our way home.
]]>This weekend Bean and I set out to make her Valentines for School. I've never been a big fan of buying cards so we usually try to make them. This year I wanted to do something that would be zero waste or close to and not be candy. So when I saw the idea of seed bombs I knew that was the project.
Here's what we did:
Seed Bombs
Materials:
Colored paper and news paper or just newspaper about 7 sheets
Wild Flower seeds, small ones
Blender or Food Processer (I found the food Processer worked best but you can use whichever you have)
Bowl
Colander
Rag or cut up t shirt
Sponge
Silicone mould or just shape into balls
2.5 Cups of hot water
Directions:
1) Rip paper into small bits
2) Place paper in blender and add hot water to cover, Aproximately 2.5 cups, leave for 10min.
3) Blend paper to a pulp
4) Place a colander inside a bowl and place a rag over top, we used a cut up shirt.
5) Remove your mixture from the blender and place on cloth. Add a couple teaspoons of seed and mix it into the mixture with your hands.
6) Wrap the cloth around the mixture and squeeze out as much water as possible.
7) Remove the mixture and either roll into small balls or press into a silicone mold.
8) Use a sponge to press on each seed bomb to remove more water.
9) Allow to dry at least overnight but if they are thick like ours it could take a couple days. We ended up having to put them in front of a fan to dry quickly as we ran out of time. They will not come out in one piece if they aren't completely dry.
10) Once dry pop them out and package them up. We used scrap material cut into a circle to wrap and tied a string around the top with our tags we made. I had the pre made tags already but you can make your own with paper and a hole punch.
Happy Valentines Day!
Check back next week to see how are travels to Ottawa go, I'm currently planning out how our Zero Waste/ Whole Foods plane ride will go tomorrow 😁
]]>Mike and I have always tried to live a somewhat environmentally aware lifestyle. Before Bean came along we lived the city life in Vancouver BC. Cycling,walking,busing everywhere but we also lived a very busy life of running around from one job to another so convenience definitely had crept into our lives. Once Bean arrived and the reality of the affordability of staying in the city and with us not wanting to put her in daycare, we packed up and moved back to the Okanagan where I had grown up.
Having a little one and no money (I was on maternity leave) we started re-evaluating our lifestyle and started to make changes towards a more sustainable lifestyle. We already cloth diapered but I started making everything I could and slowly started to push plastic out of our life. Within this change I was introduced to the concept of dryer balls and being a fibre artist already I made some up both as toys for my little home daycare that had started up a few months prior and for the dryer. Thus our dryer balls were born and within a few months Splat And Co was started.
Each year since we have been making little changes to our life towards sustainability. January this year I made a pact with Mike that we would work hard on pushing forward with a whole foods diet (nothing packaged) we already lived this way most of the time but we do like to grab things on the go or buy some convenience food especially during market/Christmas season.
Once started I began to really start to notice packaging and how much waste there is out there. The topper was when we stopped at the mall to do some mailing and thought we would grab a smoothie and a bit of chocolate. We walked away with two plastic cups with straws and chocolate in a plastic bag. At that point we decided to start trying to move towards the zero waste concept and bring our own containers and/or own food.
So I was thinking I would start blogging about our little journey towards sustainability. So tune in each week for stories about our week, products we love, sustainable solutions and such.
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