TOMS - One for One

At first, I thought TOMS was just a gimmick to make white middle-class consumers feel good about buying an over-priced pair of shoes...  But that was before I read about the creator of TOMS, Blake Mycoskie.  He's an amazing person, and I was so impressed by him that I read his book, "Start Something That Matters."  The book explains Blake's business model, which somewhat improves the "evils" of capitalism.  His story made me inspired to do my own charitable business kind of thing--I re-opened my Etsy shop and decided to donate 50% of the sale price of each item to my chosen organization.

Generate Hope is the organization that I chose because it's based in San Diego and it helps women who are victims of sex-trafficking, which is a cause I'm passionate about.  I feel like, now knowing what the abused women go through, how could I not help prostitutes?  It's something that pulls at my heart.

It's more common than you think.

Now, I want to write a letter to Blake and buy TOMS for everyone I know.  I want to spread his story to all who will listen!  I would even love to work for TOMS, but I don't know what the chances of that are...  What I am going to do is organize a "One Day Without Shoes" group to promote his compassionate message.

http://www.onedaywithoutshoes.com/photowall

All I need now is my own pair...  Luckily, I dug up a Nordstrom's gift card that I had been saving for something special.  My TOMS will arrive in the mail any day!

I Made It - Painted Tennies

 Back from a creative hiatus!  (My absence was caused by the myriad other projects I have.)

Very simple diy:  There was a pair of white tennies hiding in my closet because I had spilled wax on them (don't ask...).  Perhaps you can see the slight discoloration on the toe?  Like many other crafters (and broke former college students) I couldn't just throw away a perfectly wearable pair of shoes.  Finally, I brought them out, dug up some turquoise acrylic paint from my disastrous supply closet, and went to work.  I had to use one of those makeup sponges because I didn't even have a damn paintbrush, but it worked out really well.  For the stripes, I used regular old scotch tape.
This is where I got my inspiration:

TOMS!

And a tutorial I once saw that is very similar to this one:

Stripes + Sequins's SaturDIY Neon Stripe TOMS

What really pushed me to get creative yesterday was this Lifehacker.com article:  How I Feel Satisfied With Every Day.  The author's simple guide to happiness is to do 3 things every day: make money, get fit & make something cool.  I already knew I needed to do those things, but the article reminded me of why--to be happy!

GET CHO KICKS

GET CHO KICKS by taylorsays on Etsy
She hand paints the underside of her shoes!  Why haven't we thought of this before?

She also does t-shirts...

...and paintings in the traditional sense.

It was really hard to pick only a few of her pieces.