Creative Crush: Kent Williams

Kent Williams is a contemporary painter in LA. I'm a big fan of his raw, colourful, collage-like paintings and the way he paints the human figure. Take a look at what I mean!

He has some beautiful drawings/mixed media work on his portfolio site, that I also really enjoy. The following are part of his Lord of The Flies series.

Williams' work really has me wanting to ditch all the work I have to do and PAINT! I won't, of course, but there's something inspiring about work like this. Maybe something to do with being able to see the strokes and see the honest pencil lines and wonder what kind of marks my hands could make.

Check out Kent Williams' portfolio site for more!

What creatives have you been crushing on lately?

Year of Thrift Start of Summer Update (Half a Year!)

It has officially been half a year of only thrift shopping! Time flies, even when you're not letting yourself shop at big stores! Ha!

This year of thrift challenge has become even easier now that it is summer and I have already gone to Europe - I was seriously budgeting to be able to go on that trip, and now, in some ways good in some ways bad, I am free to spend a little more. In terms of buying clothes - I have been able to grab a couple of fun summer items at nicer thrift shops - consignment shops, more curated ones, and have thus found some much nicer things than usual!

Thrifting while traveling was also, totally do-able. The ONLY time I bought a clothing item that wasn't handmade or second hand was upon arriving to Edinburgh and realizing I forgot to bring a scarf, and feeling VERY cold, so I bought a typical, wooly tartan scarf. I think this is a fair exception though - I was not in a position to buy a second hand scarf and wash it for immediate use! ;)

My neighbourhood also had a huge garage sale at the beginning of the month, so I snagged a couple of fantastic items there, including a really sweet black jacket that my neighbour brought out and asked me if I wanted before putting it out to sell. Garage sales have the best deals - ever! It's actually my favourite time of year, and I am eager to scout out more this summer!

I admit, it has been really difficult to resist all the summer patterns popping up in H&M and Forever 21 and the like. Im such a sucker for pattern. But I've done it! And to be honest, I think I will keep resisting, always. The more I discover how achievable this challenge is, the more I dislike the idea of going back to my old shopping habits.


Have you had any fun thrifty finds recently?

xo

My Favourite Phone Apps for Sustainable Living!

Our mobile phones are a big part of our daily lives, whether we like to admit it or not. I personally could benefit from some phone rehab! But, we do use them habitually for so many useful things, and I doubt most of us would be willing to completely part with them anytime soon. As such, why not make the best use of them? Here are my favourite 3 mobile phone apps to help & encourage you in your pursuits towards healthy, eco-friendly, sustainable living!


Think Dirty App (for body products)
I discovered the Think Dirty App a few years ago and is one of the first things that encouraged me to begin the switch to all-natural products for my skin!

How it Works: Using this app, scan the barcode of any body/beauty product in the store and it'll pull up all sorts of information about it, including a "Dirty Score" from 1-10; one being good, ten being very very no good bad. It gives you a list of the ingredients, which are categorized based on how risky they are, and tells you what each of them does and how it affects you. I LOVE that I can get tons of information from this app and how it explains each ingredient to me. I don't have a science/chemistry background in any way shape or form, so it is nice to have a resource to get informed!

It's a handy app for sure, but I don't think it is available for android phones (yet!), so I have not been able to use it since I switched from my Iphone. It also doesn't have 100% of the products, and certainly wasn't helpful for some of the products I encountered outside of North America, but you can submit the ones that aren't in their databases yet!


Good Guide (for all products)
The Good Guide app is a more comprehensive Think Dirty App in that it covers more than just beauty/body products. Also, I was able to get it on my Android! So far it seems pretty handy, though I don't think it gives as much detailed information/specifics as the Think Dirty App.

How it Works: Just like the Think Dirty App, you scan the bar codes of your products to access specific information! You can also scroll through the categories, ranging from personal care to household cleaners to cellphones to food, to take a look at products you might not have right in front of you.


Joulebug (for eco-friendly habits!)
Need to change some of your habits, and do well with positive reinforcement? Joulebug is probably the cutest little app to help you do so! It gives you pins/badges and various little encouragements to keep up with your good eco-friendly habits.

How it Works: Record your actions by "buzzing" the actions on the list to achieve certain 'pins', kind of like achievements in a video game! There are things like "Flip Off" for turning off the lights whenever you leave a room, or "Bottle Rocket" for every time you re-fill a reusable waterbottle!

The graphics on this one are super fun and adorable. I feel like I am playing an old Nintendo DS game from when I was a kid - it's pretty addictive! Just, don't leave rooms 5 times in a minute ONLY so that you can turn off the lights and Buzz the action without lying; IT DOESN'T COUNT ;)

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Do you use any apps on your phone to help you live more sustainably? PLEASE share! I would love to discover more :)

xo