HAPPY NUDE REAR!

HAPPY NUDE REAR EVERYONE!!!  

Sending some New Year's loving to all of you who give me the greatest gift of being able to be a creative spirit in the real world.  THANK YOU!  I am going on 9 years of being a full-time artisan and can honestly say that I am one lucky gal.  I am broke most of the time and damn-near close for the rest of the time.  haha!  But I answer to no one and am able to infuse my imagination and creative soul into my daily work.  High fives all around!

2014 was an extraordinary year for me, both in my work and my personal life.  It was full of synchronicity and serendipity, magic and awe, great friends and new friends.  A friend of mine was just remarking yesterday that she really fostered her son's imagination when he was young and now he is a really adventurous person.  She said that he can think to pursue these adventures because he can imagine them first.  That was very significant to me.  I think it's so important to live partly in our imaginations because that is what will allow us to achieve extraordinary things -- the fact that we can first imagine them.  So, let 2015 be a year of imagining!  No limits!

A real powerful mate for imagination is persistence.  My fave brand of persistence is slow and deliberate.  Taking baby steps might seem elementary but I think that subtle progress is usually the most strong and permanent kind.  One little tiny and sure-footed step in a certain direction can inevitably change the entire trajectory.  Backed-up by the fuel of clear intention and you're really on your way!  

As you can see, I'm really waxing philosophical today.  haha!  Leaving my head for a minute, I am happy to say that I have some great new products coming at you online in 2015.  Many of these I already have been producing and selling at craft shows, but will now be available online.  Yay!  Here is a booth pic from the show I just did in Ottawa in December.  

I was ready for business and had an awesome show.  I am getting to know my Ottawa clientele now that I've done the Christmas show 3 times and the spring show once.  I am happy to say that my newest upcycled products were a hit!  Legwarmers, armwarmers, hooded cowls, hats, and skirts all sold quickly, leaving a few customers empty handed when they came back to buy what they had seen a few days earlier in the show.  

UPCYCLED SKIRTS -- What a hit!

The above pic shows some of my skirts made from recycled sweaters.... super fun, super cute, and one-of-a-kind.  

These are my armwarmers made from recycled sweaters, too... funky, warm, and very affordable.  Will post some model pics in the near future so you can see how sexy they look on.

All for now.  I will leave you with this awesome pic that I took yesterday at a nearby beaver pond.  It is an incredible spot located in the Green Mountains Reserve (more on that magical place soon!).  Beavers sure do work hard!

Again, all the BEST to you in 2015!  I would love to hear your feedback on your outlook for the New Year, so please comment below and feel free to share this post with others if you've enjoyed it.  THANKS!!!  Much love!

Renée

p.s.  I will be posting some new stuff in the shop next week but in the meantime there are some AWESOME bags still available.  Get bagged in style!  Take me to the shop..... www.thehobotrain.com

FREE.... what an awesome concept. :)

Well then, is there anything better than free stuff?  Is there?  The answer, of course, is YES!  There's tons of better stuff.... like friends, family, love, creativity, adventure, excitement, relief, and more.  Also better than free stuff is BEING free!  I have to say that I am incredibly fortunate to have a freer lifestyle than most.  I work for myself and enjoy what I do.  I am able to have flexible hours and do as much or as little as I want.  It's pretty awesome and suits me well.  I wouldn't trade it for anything right now.  There is a trade-off, though.  I don't have a guaranteed paycheque.  I work alone (great a lot of the time, but kinda lame sometimes too).  I am entirely responsible for the development of my business.  And I don't have a path to follow.  There is no clearly laid out plan for me.  My biggest goal is being as free as possible.  After that I would like to make enough money to pay my bills and a few extras.  And I would like to keep my work interesting, so that I don't become bored with it or resentful of it.  I haven't been able to find a manual for this type of living, but I suppose that would go against the MO of it all anyway.  I kind of enjoy that the details are fuzzy.  lol  On that note, let's have a musical interlude that follows on this theme.  The group is called FREE and the song is All Right Now.  Enjoy!

                                        

And getting back to free stuff.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm hosting a giveaway.  I am giving away this bag:

It gives me a lot of pleasure to make someone's day, so I'm gonna do it dammit!  This giveaway will also bring me some new traffic and exposure, which is always cool with me.  And it's just downright effing fun to do.  Who doesn't like free swag?  Here's the rundown on how to gain entries into the giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, if you're hanging out on my blog and have 1 extra second, please scroll down to the bottom of the page and participate in the survey question (to the left of the contact form).  Many thanks!

Good luck to you all!  The lucky winner will win the above bag or a same-size bag of their choice from my shop -- whichever they prefer.  This giveaway is open to anyone in the WORLD.  Ya baby!

Have a great night!

Renee :)

HANDMADE SWAG + RAW FOOD... The beginning.

Hey wait a sec!  Crafts and food don't go together.  Oh yes they do.... 

And so it begins, here is my new blog that will embrace handmade artisan products (my own and those of others) and curious adventures in raw food.  I've been an artisan for 6 years now designing and making purses and a few other crafty things.  I appreciate the work, time, attention, love, sweat and originality that goes into making things with your hands, as well as the joy and despair that goes with being self-employed.  I support handmade as much as I can and think that it's a great way to develop community and human connection (I guess that's kinda the same thing, non?).  The root values of this way of thinking have to do with knowing where your purchases come from and paying a fair price.  This means making an effort to be accountable for what your dollars are supporting.  It's kinda like voting with your wallet.  It also means not taking for granted the stuff that you buy.  I don't know about you guys, but I seriously sometimes feel like a prisoner of STUFF... a mule to my things.  What the hell is all this shit?  It's in boxes, on shelves, in drawers, under the bed, collecting dust in the corner, etc.  You get the picture.  So, yeah, I'm a work in progress...  lol 

And so what does this have to do with food?  Well, I enjoy eating and I'm trying out this accountability thing with my food.  I know, I know... can't I just buy and eat what I want when I want?  Yeah, that's a very westernized way of thinking and I'm totally guilty of it and being responsible is kinda boring.  lol  But really I've found that the consumerist mentality in general just doesn't make me feel good as a person.  It makes me addicted to things and self-centered, too.  And when it comes to food and blind consumerism, the consequence is not feeling good as a body.  The effects of eating whatever you want whenever you crave it will always come out in your health.  So what does it mean to be accountable for what you eat?  Well, for me it means being aware of where your food comes from and what your food is.  It's kinda like voting with your fork.  The long-term picture for me is to eat an organically-grown (as locally as possible) raw food vegan diet.  Yikes!  Sounds daunting.... it's even scarier when I see it written down.  What does it all mean???  lol  How I got to this conclusion for myself will have to be saved for a later posting.  I'm not there yet, but that is the path I'm on.  I've played around with raw food for a couple of years now and have been a 99% vegan for 3 years.  I do believe that raw food veganism done properly is the best way to achieve optimum health.  (Of course, I'm no doctor, so don't take my word for it).  More on the goods and the bads of all this stuff later.

Hopefully you've enjoyed reading my little introduction.  Feedback is welcome.  I intend to use this blog as a casual conversation (assuming people answer me; otherwise, it will be more of a casual soliloquy) about the main things that interest me: handmade swag and raw food.  Please join me if you share these interests.  There always room on The Hobo Train... all aboard!!!  TOOT!  TOOT!  (Kinda cheesy? lol)

Thanks!

Renee

p.s.  By the way, here are the links to my handmade world:

www.thehobotrain.etsy.com 
www.facebook.com/thehobotrain
Twitter:  #thehobotrain
Pinterest: under thehobotrain