What an amazing response!!

Produce bags are sold out! I'll be ordering more fabric very soon and will continue to fill orders from the spreadsheet as I am able. I'll contact everyone individually regarding the status of their current order! Thanks to everyone for their overwhelming support of Joyful Earth!

preorder for organic muslin produce bags

I'm happy to report that I've just received my shipment of organic muslin. I'm excited to start sewing up produce bags this weekend. Since there has been a demand for the bags, I am going to take orders for them to ensure that everyone who was interested in getting some is able to get them.

Click here to order

You can also find a link to the order form in the side bar.

Please feel free to comment with questions or contact me directly.

Thursday stocking updates!

Click the photos to shop!

joyful earth reusable muslin tea bags

As I sit here enjoying a nice cup of chai tea - I thought it would be a good idea to write a detailed post about the joyful earth reusable tea bags.

The idea for the reusable bags came from receiving a muslin tea bag with a tea order I had made. I loved using the bag, but found it was not durable enough to survive multiple washings. I had been using muslin to make the joyful earth produce bags, so I figured I'd whip some up using scraps I had kicking around.

The first tea bags featured a drawstring closure:

Great design, instantly popular! Like many of my products, inspiration strikes me in the wee hours of the night either in a dream or having just woken up. The idea to change the design to the current fold over tea bag design was one of those middle of the night inspirations! I woke up the next day and made a big stack of tea bags.


I've since expanded the tea bag line to include eco tea lovers on the go tea wallets. These wallets include three reusable tea bags and little mini PUL wetbag. My most heartfelt thanks go to Lisa, from Healing Pixie, who mentioned the need for such a product ~ it's been so fun creating this particular line for joyful earth!


I've been asked how the muslin reusable tea bags work. They are really easy to use. To open, flip the top over itself like a plastic sandwich baggie. Add your favorite tea and flip the top back over to close the bag. Steep as you would any other tea. When you remove your bag from your cup or tea pot, allow the leaves to cool before cleaning the bag.


To clean your tea bag, flip it inside out and dump the leaves into the compost or garbage. Give the bag a good rinse, and allow to air dry. If you have used milk when brewing your tea - you will want to wash your tea bag with each use. If you are brewing with just water, you can use the bag two or three times before washing. To wash your reusable muslin tea bag simply add it to your regular kitchen laundry.

The joyful earth reusable tea bags feature serged seams, with added reinforcement to ensure our product lasts for a long time. I am excited to announce that very soon our tea bags will be made using organic cotton muslin!

I'll bet you are craving a cup of tea now! Want to try one of our reusable tea bags? I have a set of two bags ready to send to anyone who has not tried the joyful earth reusable muslin tea bags before. To win, simply post your favorite tea blend in the comments section of this post! I'll randomly draw from all the entrants next Sunday night.

joyful earth stocking?

What?? Its Thursday already? This week has been a whirlwind of events and excitement! I've been busy with stuff outside of joyful earth... and as a result was not able to list anything in the hyena cart store today.

But, never fear - I've got a long weekend of sewing planned and will be stocking the Etsty store as I get items completed. Look for tea wallets, coffee cup cozies (in a new and improved design), some reusable tea bags, and maybe some napkins.

I've got many many of the old design coffee cup cozies available - they work beautifully but the sizing is small for the largest of coffees. These old cozies will be included as a free gift with purchase while supplies last!

Alright... back to work! Thanks for stopping by today.

web wednesday

Some links for ya!


How to go green - this is a great website, one of those ones where you could spend hours reading stuff!

Or you could read for hours here.

hmmmm.... maybe here.

(and next week, I'll try harder to finish the green valentines day post....)

So, when are they coming to get that tree?

Its still sitting there, waiting....

For local Tuesday this week - I thought I'd check out the City of Regina website to find out when I can expect our Christmas tree to be hauled away to be made into garden mulch.

Pick up started on January 11th, and the following is cut and pasted directly from the city's webpage regarding their Tinsel Mulch Christmas tree program:

City of Regina crews will begin to pick up thousands of discarded Christmas trees for recycling beginning January 11. The Christmas trees are and turned into garden mulch and offered to Regina homeowners each spring and fall. Mulching helps preserve soil moisture, reduces weed growth and returns organic matter to the soil.

Follow these tips to have your tree picked up for recycling:

· Put your tree in your regular pickup location before January 11

· Remove all decorations and the plastic tree bag

· Do not put your tree in the garbage bin or lean it against the bin

· Keep snow from covering your tree

· Christmas tree collection is separate from your regular weekly solid waste collection

· If your tree is missed, crews will not return for pickup – drop it off at the landfill

If you would like more information on the Tinsel Mulch Christmas tree recycling program or any other City of Regina Waste Minimization programs, visit regina.ca

or call 777-7000.

monday news

Quick update on all things joyful earth!

The feedback is coming in from the joyful earth multi sized snap free diaper testers - and so far the word on the street is that these diapers rock! I'm expecting production to begin early to mid February with diapers available around Valentines Day.

Many of you know that my formative WAHM years were spent sewing diapers under the name tush cloth diapers. The joyful earth diaper has been patterned after the tush diapers, which was well known for its trim/yet provides adequate coverage fit. The concept behind the JE diapers is to create a product that fits our mantra of making affordable, practical and sustainable items for your family.

Continue to watch the blog as we update progress on this exciting new product.

Another new product in the works is wool dryer balls. These wool balls work just like the plastic or PVC ones available in stores, but they are made from wool which is a sustainable/eco friendly fibre. Safe for you, your children, your pets and our planet.

It may be a well kept secret that joyful earth is actually a two WAHM operation. While I tend to keep the online presence hopping - behind the scenes my business partner Rebecca has not only been a wonderful sounding board for ideas, she has also been the impetus for some of our most popular items, namely our sandwich/snack bags. Rebecca is a very busy homeschooling mom of three, and so her participation in joyful earth has been limited to this point.

Which brings me back to the dryer balls! Rebecca's talent lies in the creation of her felted wool items. She makes beautiful felted wool crowns, funky wet felted handbags and tea cozies, and stunning wall art. I'm so excited that Rebecca has agreed to make a few wool dryer balls for our online stores - watch for them soon!

In other product news, keep an eye out for ORGANIC reusable muslin tea bags and muslin produce bags - I expect they will start to show up in the online stores early to mid February. These products are very popular and I expect we'll be selling out quickly!

Eco tea wallets and tea on the go sets in the works for this week! Stocking will be ongoing at Etsy all week and on Thursday in the Joyful Earth Hyena Cart. Thursday's blog will contain more detail on what is stocking where!

Have a joy filled week!

Thursday stocking updates!

This week Joyful Earth is stocking at Lilypad Landing. Lilypad Landing stocks on the second and fifth Thursday of every month. The second Thursday is a themed stocking, the first is vendors choice. This week our shops are offering free shipping. I've stocked a couple of sets of children's napkins. Such simple pieces, but so very handy! We use ours A LOT - they are great for cleaning up little ones after a meal or a snack!


Lots of items still instock at Etsy - see the link to the right of this post -------> I've committed to participating in the Crazy for You, Valentines Day Sale February 1st -8th along with several other Etsy sellers. Each store participating is offering a discount or free shipping during this time period. I will be offering free shipping on a few select items. Stay tuned for details closer to the start date of the sale. In the mean time, become a fan of the sale on Facebook to get updates on the other stores offering discounts as well.

Lastly, a couple of items are left on the Hyena Cart store including subscriptions to the Joyful Earth Green Club! Club members will receive an item from Joyful Earth each month for the duration of their membership. Items include snack bags, tea wallets, reusable muslin tea bags, and unpaper products. A great way to try many of our products and treat yourself to a month surprise in the mail as well!

Happy shopping!!

Web Wednesday!

Yes... its Thursday morning. I went to bed at 9:30 last night, after an unexpected early start yesterday.

I have been browsing around looking for fun ways to "go green" this Valentine's day. Look for that post next week!

This week, I'm going to share my Mini Etsy with you - featuring some of the items I've marked as favorites over the past week. Check out some of the great shops I've found!

Also - still two coffee cup cozies are available for local Regina readers. Take a minute to read Tuesday's post and comment on your favorite coffee shop in Regina to receive your free cozy. I almost have them finished and will be posting photos later today on my facebook fan page! Are you a fan yet? Click the fan box to your right to become one.

Etsy Buy Handmade joyfulearth

Some local fun!!

Calling all local Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada readers and supporters of Joyful Earth! I had a thought today as I drove past my favorite coffee shop (Roca House off Rochdale Blvd.). I contemplated running in for a cup of coffee before I headed into work, but decided against it because I had not brought along my latest creation - a coffee cup cozy!

The first Joyful Earth coffee cup cozies were made as teachers gifts this past holiday season, and I figured I'd keep making them for the Etsy cart! They are a unique way to reduce a bit of waste, keep your hands cool and your coffee or tea hot.

So - as all of my thoughts go - I imagined the entire scene from start to finish! I imagined how I'd order my coffee with extra room for cream and then pull out my sweet little cozy hoping the Barista would notice and make a comment. It would be at that moment, that I would slyly tell her about my little Etsy store and pull out a business card. Of course, this leads me to thinking how fun it would be if the coffee cup cozy became a mainstay in Regina coffee shops! Kind of like a given, you pull up to Tims, you pull out your cozy and they dont need to give you the double cup! Genius!!

How can this work? A giveaway of course! I'm going to give the first FIVE local peeps, who post a comment telling me about their FAVORITE local coffee house in Regina, a FREE coffee cup cozy (and a nice big pile of business cards to go with it!).

If you happen to miss out on the five free cozies... keep checking my Etsy store for more cozies stocking regularly. If you prefer a cozy of the knit variety - then you must go visit Rachel at Threebees Knits!

Together - we'll spread the earth loving, style loving, cool hands, warm coffee phenomena!

food

I like food. I like to eat it. I like to talk about it. I spend a lot of time thinking about food, about our food system and about how to eat being mindful of the earth. The next book on my "to read list" is Michael Pollen's The Omnivore's Dilemma. Yes, I probably should have read this one by now... so many books, so very little time to read!!

Tonight I spent some time watching a Michael Pollen lecture on TED (17 minutes long, totally worth the time!), check it out:

Welcome... now what?

Welcome to the Joyful Earth blog! Trying to decide the focus of this blog comes on the heels of watching an incredibly compelling, heartbreaking and important documentary called "The Cove" last night.

I went through the list of directions this blog could take - perhaps a personal blog about the behind the scenes workings of Joyful Earth, maybe a strictly business blog about our next stocking, our new products and all that jazz, maybe it would be a collection of my thoughts about stuff...

Now, granted - there's merit in all of those approaches. But, I really wanted this blog to reflect what Joyful Earth is about and what inspires our products. The inspiration for Joyful Earth is rooted in a passion for creating functional, useful and sustainable products with a consideration for our planet. Finding joy in the everyday.

"The Cove" is a documentary about a truly joyful animal - dolphins. Not only does the experience of the dolphin reflect their passion for life but it also reflects the serious and devastating effects of human greed and exploitation. The dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan claims the lives of over 23,000 dolphins a year and at times the footage shot in this documentary is truly horrific. There are images in The Cove that I will never erase from my mind. Images that have inspired me to act and become involved in ending the dolphin trade in Taiji.

The Dolphin trade is a multi million dollar industry, serving Dolphin and sea life theme parks or Dolphin swim programs. These dolphins are taken from their ocean life, from the cove in Taiji, Japan. Those not selected are slaughtered and sold either as dolphin meat or in disguise as whale meat for human consumption. Highly contaminated with mercury, again, the dolphin is a reflection of human disregard for the planet.

I've long felt compelled to make changes in my life - to try and respect our planet and to try and be more conscious of my own footprint. Movies, books, websites, and blogs have all spurred me into action. Joyful Earth was born out of that desire to make a change in my life, but to also help others do the same. Something as simple as a reusable shopping bag, or a reusable paper towel reduces waste and will have a positive impact on our planet.

Which brings me to the direction of this blog. As I scour the internet for information on ecological issues, or as I create new products to help you make a difference in your own life I will post about it here. I want this blog to serve as a tool for information and change.

"The Cove" inspired me by realizing that even the smallest changes are important. Ric O'Barry's drive to make change in one small body of water challenges me to look at the very small changes I can make in my life. One step at a time - one less tea bag in the garbage - one less plastic bag in the landfill - one less paper towel . These small changes are important. Ric O'Barry said that if he could not change things for the dolphins in Taiji then what hope do we have for global change? I agree. Think globally, act locally.

Thanks for joining me here! Please follow the blog, post your comments or ideas and join me in celebrating our Joyful Earth!