Candy Bags! (So You Think You’re Crafty?)

Recently my partner and I relocated to Vancouver Island from the wintery north to take a new-ish life: long growing seasons for gardening, future island hopping, and new jobs! Little did I know that by relocating from an amazing job where I felt I was actually making a difference in my community to a smaller island community meant that jobs are actually few and far between. In desperation to ensure I could pay my bills I’ve taken a job working in a call centre for an American cell phone company.

While I do refer to this time in my life as “just another chapter in a forthcoming memoir” or “all great Canadian authors have worked a rather strange job once upon a time!” I still can’t get over the fact I’m not allowed to have food at my desk: except for hard candy. Then along came this tutorial! I have purchased pouches for dry snacks at craft fairs and have a pile of pouches I made before the holidays and use them often to house York Bites, Yoghurt Raisins, and Nibs (or even almonds if I didn’t work in a nut-free environment). This Candy Bag Tutorial by “So You Think You’re Crafty” is great and easy to follow (so many pictures, step by step instructions). It includes how-tos for both fabric lined pouches (for pre-wrapped candies) and vinyl-lined pouches for every other candy or dry snack you’d want to put in there. The fabric lined ones can usually be thrown in the washer and the vinyl just wiped out with a damp cloth.

So if you do find yourself “working for the man” and really want to get your hands on some wildberry twizzlers at your desk, or even while studying Death of a Salesman in High School English, these pouches can hide your goodies and reduce plastic consumption!

We here at Shameless are big fans of the Parkdale Street Writers, a fantastic forum for youth writers (some of which we’ve been very lucky to reprint in the magazine). And a new set of workshops are about to begin. In addition to workshops with some amazing Toronto artists, participants get to try their hand at a wide range of creative writing, including comics, lyrics, poetry, video narratives and storytelling.

Full deets from PSW co-ordinator Emily Pohl-Weary:

Are you 16-25 years old? Do you keep a blog or journal? Constantly update your Facebook page? Write super-long e-mails? Make up stories, films, rants, video game ideas, lyrics and/or poems in your head? Love to read and talk about books?

Why not join the…

Parkdale Street Writers

Free writing workshops led by kick-ass local authors, comics creators, hip hop poets and street artists in Toronto’s west-end.(more inside…)

Girls from the PG Roller Derby Brat Camp 2009 show off their shirts. (ohsweetie)

This past weekend I got to participate in a teen girl roller derby camp that my place of employment, the YMCA, threw with a handful of other local agencies and businesses. One of the girls’ main projects was DIY-ing their camp t-shirts into derby dresses/shirts of wonder. They used lace, glitter, markers, and general deconstruction techniques to turn their men’s cut tees into the sassy piece they desired.

The fun part was that even though a lot of the girls were crafty, a number of them had never hand sewn before. Even basic techniques like how much thread you need, threading a needle, and tying a knot. It was exciting to be able to teach these girls basic sewing skills and it even erupted into a bit of feministy conversation:

Me: “Can you believe that once upon a time people argued that women were naturally inclined to do this [sew]?”

Pink Ink: *groan*

Zero: “Nuh, uh! They were forced to!”

Basic sewing tutorials:

Three techniques for basic hand sewing
Securing a knot and tying off thread
How to hem jeans in three easy steps.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I was more than just a little bit upset by the new Bacardi Breezer ad campaign that Mir posted about this morning. This campaign, with the tagline “Get Yourself An Ugly Girlfriend” is one of the most offensive, sexist attempts at promoting alcohol that I have ever seen, which is saying a lot, considering the general grossness of alcohol advertising.

I’m not sure how Bacardi thought it could convince women to drink Breezers by insulting their looks, but, well… that’s what they’re trying to do. Certainly the best way to sell a product is to remind women of all the things they hate about their bodies, right? That makes total sense.

I have been looking for an excuse to do some more feminist adbusting since Your Mom Had Groupies, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Thus, I present a new ad campaign that I like to call Take A Beach Stroll With Sally (Click the image to make it bigger):

Once again, I’m putting out the call for contributions, because adbusting is more fun in groups! Who would you like to join you at the beach or at the mall? Make your own ad or just leave a comment saying how you would bust this gross ad campaign. If you have a contribution, please submit it here and I’ll make a big post with all the responses!

Or, if you don’t feel like spending your day messing around with Photoshop, you can just tell Bacardi exactly how you feel about their new campaign.

EDIT: Sources in Israel (oooh, I love saying that) have informed me that this is an old campaign, dating from 2007 or 2008. They are not sure if it was dropped by the company or even if it was ever officially used by Bacardi. McCann Digital is an Internet exclusive ad agency known for its disgustingly offensive campaigns. McCann recently listed the ad campaign on Best TV Now, dating it as being from this month and listing the client that commissioned it as Tempo.

Possibly, and this is entirely my speculation, it was going to be submitted to the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. Does anyone else have any clues? I, for one, would love to hear from Bacardi on the matter. Adbusting remains very satisfying, whatever the response.

EDIT: McCann has pulled the promotional minisite down and removed it from their website!

There’s still space left in this incredible event happening in Toronto this weekend. And leading one workshop is our very own art director (and genius) Sheila Sampath. Full (exciting) details below from Michelle Cho from the Urban Alliance on Race Relations:

Ever wonder why we see the same kinds of images of women in the media all the time? Wanna see women in the media as being something more than just a video ho? Tired of the lack of diversity in the media? Want to see your story? Want to learn how to make your own media (video, podcasts, magazines)?

Come to the Making Noise Media Camp for Young Women!

For women 14-25
Saturday May 30
rsvp: michelle cho, 416-703-6607 x 3
michelle@urbanalliance.ca

Challenge stereotypes about women; bring your own t-shirt to silkscreen; meet other young women from around the city! Free breakfast and dinner, free TTC tokens, free childcare.

This year, we’ve started a program called Making Noise which is a media literacy initiative for young women in this city to connect the negative portrayals of women in the media with the gender violence women face on our bodies, in our neighbourhoods in our homes. We want to talk about the politics of media ownership but also give spaces for young women to create their own media, with the sole goal of launching a summer campaign against street harassment.

Summer is almost here, and rates of violence always go up in the summer…we’re tired of being hollered at the in the streets and feeling unsafe, but want more creative ways of challenging gender violence.

We’ve organized a media camp FOR THIS SATURDAY, MAY 30, 2009 to start to bring young women together to plan a summer campaign to challenge street harassment in Toronto using media they’ve created themselves. We want to talk about how violence is experienced differently by women of colour and how it is made invisible by the media or sensationalized to be soley about being because they do not fit into the “mainstream”.

i.e. Jane Creba - Her story flooded the media and was seen as this ‘bright light’ that was taken away from our city…

vs. Chantel Dunn - her murderers who are still not found…a case which got way less coverage and funding…

vs. Reena Virk, 14 year old South Asian woman that was killed by a group of seven girls and one boy. The media coverage that followed became all about girl on girl violence and not about racism.

vs. Aqsa Parvez, strangled by her father, grew up in a home with abuse issues, but the media framed it as an “honour killing” and became an attack on “fundamentalist Islam”.

We want to use popular education, pop culture and media creation to talk about how we can support each others work and build a movement together where an analysis of violence includes a critique of gender violence, including one that is critical of violence against queer folks…but in a fierce, media savvy way.

I know in some way, all of us have built spaces for young women, but we also need to make spaces for young men to talk about masculinities, gender roles, homophobia etc and how this is tied into how we experience violence different in our communities.

Similar Space Girls much? (www.dinosaursandrobots.com)

The interwebs are ablaze with activity and anger about a recent embroidery showdown. Some crafters are claiming there’s been a copyright infringement of Sublime Stitching original designs created by Jenny Hart. The perpetrator? Urban Threads.

To date no official comment has been released on either of Hart’s websites, but an incredible amount of data is being batted back and forth online. Without going into too much detail (you can find blogging here, here, here, and here) it saddens me that this kind of widespread artistic infringement happens in the indie craft world. I mean, Urban Outfitters has been accused of similar in the past, repeatedly, but you kinda hope that last time is really the last time.

To add fuel to the fire, Urban Threads has provided a rebuttal for the entire online craft world to dissect and discount as well as a letter from the big cheese meant for Jenny but published on the Urban Threads website for the whole world to see.

(more inside…)

Newspaper Pots (Little House in the Suburbs)

If you live anywhere along the border like most Canadians, the idea of having to bring in your planters at night so your Petunias don’t freeze to death will be somewhat foreign. Our friends in Vancouver are celebrating spring under the cherry blossoms and Toronto seems to be at a nice 25C right now. But up here in Prince George it’s still chilly during the day and dipping below freezing at night, which means our growing season is a little short.

Often gardeners here start their seed a few months in advance, inside, under the pale light of fake sun. Gardening helpers, like these Newspaper Seedling Pots or Newspaper Seedling Packs from Little House in the Suburbs are a handy and waste-reducing way to get your garden a-growin’ before the ice has even left your flower beds. Even if you just want to plant some basil in your windowsill to dress up some summer pastas, these might be a cheap (and environmental) alternative to those kits at the grocery store. All you’ll have to do is thicken up the newspaper and make sure you put it on a plate or on a yoghurt lid and in some sunshine.

Chili Can Candelarias (Crafty Chica)

The may sun be settling on Earth Day in the east coast, but here in the west we’re just settling in for an evening of activity before Earth Day comes to an end. If you’re looking for a few more things to do, Crafty Chica, Kathy Cano-Murillo, has blogged about an earth-friendly craft every hour for earth day. From a mixed-media wind chime to a recycled grocery tote, or these wonderful Chili Can Candelarias, the Crafty Chica has a craft tutorial for all levels of crafty-ness! Now, get out there and reduce, reuse and recycle some crafts!

Thinking about summer plans? If you live in Montreal and are between the ages of 10 and 17, this is your chance to be the media! CKUT 90.3 FM is offering its first ever radio camp, a chance for future journalists, DJs, music enthusiasts, writers, and documentary makers to learn the ins and outs of radio. From the CKUT website:

Over a week long session campers (ages 10-13 and 14-17) will write, produce and act in a radio play, conduct interviews and create short documentaries, learn to dj and at the end of the week will produce and host a live radio show on CKUT!

This could be you. (venus collective)

This is an amazing opportunity for young folks to get involved with something that, for me at least, is inspiring, exciting, edumacational, oh, fine, I’ll just go ahead and say it - life-altering. Participants will learn such skills as how to make sound effects for radio, DJ skills like scratching and beat-matching, how to interview bands and artists, how to put together a documentary or radio play, and sound-editing. Plus you’ll get to hang out with other media-enthusiasts and wave-makers, and meet musicians, DJs, journalists, and all the other usual suspects who make for a vibrant media landscape. Who knows, you could end up karaokeing I’m Too Sexy with members of Les Georges Leningrad and Lesbians on Ecstasy (see image) - anything can happen.

Sessions are one week long and run all summer, from June 29th to August 21st. To find out more information and register, go here.