Happy Mothers' Day...to Lisa of Sweetbeets, and other Crafty Moms

Happy Mothers' Day to all the mothers and mother-wannabes...May their nurturing energies Mom-up the world!

One of the ways this is happening these days is that mothers in many places are starting their own businesses on-line and in their households, crafting ingenious home items, clothing, toys, and paper products. They tend to communicate with each other, and with their customers, via facebook, flickr, blogs, and twitter, and they are changing the ways we can shop.

These moms are humanizing the marketplace, sharing ideas, tutorials, and tips about running a business while caring for kids. I am frequently impressed by their honesty, openness, friendliness, entrepreneurial savvy, and bountiful creativity. One of the things they do best is repurpose old items, transforming used goods into upcycled materials that find new life as objects of art.

On Etsy, I recently found the work of letterpress artist Lisa Zuraw, author of the blog ModEcoKids and creator of Sweetbeets products. Lisa makes letterpress cards and gift tags from her own drawings, created with Adobe Illustrator and printed in Canada using a Heidelberg Windmill vintage printing press. Her work is eco-friendly: Sweetbeets cards are letterpress printed using rubber-based inks; the cards and envelopes are made from 100% post-consumer recycled paper. The clear sleeve that protects each card is biodegradable or can be recycled.

I love the cards and the illustrations, some of which I've posted here. Lisa also shares photos of her workspace and home on flickr, where you can see an image of her son on a rocking horse that was the inspiration for the cowboy card above. At her workspace are colorful message boards, made from felted wool sweaters shaped into circles with embroidery hoops found at a thrift shop. Beautiful work – and Happy Mothers' Day to Lisa and the deep network of clever, crafty moms!