How to Attract Birds to Your Yard

By BululuStudio

Here are a few tips to lure them there.

No Pesticides
First of all, do not use pesticides. The pesticides may kill the birds you are trying to attract.

Proper Trees
If you've landscaped your home for energy savings, you probably have a few trees in your yards. The evergreen trees make a great year-round home for birds, especially those that have berries and seed-producing cones. You'll also want to grow deciduous trees that have berries, fruits or other possible bird eats.

Reduce the Size of Your Lawn
A big lawn does not make a bird-magnet. A large lawn can also consume a lot of time, money, water and lawn-mower gasoline. Planting shrubs or hedges or anything that provides cover for birds is preferable. Bird houses also work as cover.

Water
Birds need water. Any shallow pool of water can provide birds water. A bird bath is a popular method of providing off-ground water to birds. Birds are vulnerable to cat and other predator attacks when they are on the ground. To keep the cats off your bird bath grow prickly plants along its base.

Bird Feeders
Birds are attracted to feeders. Feed them native seeds if possible. Exotic foods can give native birds digestion troubles.

Etsy Day Sales!

Happy Etsy Day!

Esty Day Sales in Spanglish Team only for today!

Free Shipping!

Hurry Up! 

agmode

BululuStudio

tumbleweedstudios

Lolos

Etsy Day is coming soon......

Etsy Day is approaching...Friday 24th will be the big day to promote Etsy.com everywhere...What could we do as a Team??

Here are some suggestions

*Special promotions
*Promote Etsy in our blogs, twitter, facebook, MySpace, Flickr etc. etc.
*Leave stickers or ads in Supermarkets, shops, offices, workplaces etc.
*Make a treasury with the group's offer of the day.
*Tell our friends and relatives to visit us in Etsy.
*Make an orange color product or item.
*Take a funny picture with the Etsy logo and publish it in Flickr
*Put an Etsy sign in our cars.
*Dress our pets in orange..
*Decorate your Etsy banner announcing the big Etsy day.
*Make some handmade cards and pass them around.

Whatever comes to your mind to make this a successful day.

Now, lets get to work together and let our imagination fly...good luck and have Fun!

For more info just click here

Green Tips!

By BululuStudio

Tip 1: Don’t leave a trail of plastics water bottles in your wake! Choose water bottles made from renewable resources or reusable materials, such as aluminum ***

Tip 2: Reuse
Carry a reusable bag with you for groceries, shopping, and take out food. But if you forget, choose paper and recycle it or plastic and reuse.

Tip 3: Recycle
Recycle whatever and wherever you can. The energy saved by using recycled instead of raw materials to manufacture goods ranges from 40 to 95 percent.

Tip 4: Save energy
Do not stop with changing your light bulbs! You can also set the refrigerator thermostat to maintain a temperature between 38 and 42 degrees.

Tip 5: Save energy
Start by turning off your screen saver and cut even more energy that your computer uses by putting it in sleep mode when it isn’t in use.

Tip 6: Switch it off
Plug electronic equipment into power strips that can be switched off at night or when not in use.

Tip 7: Buy toilet paper, paper towels and paper napkins that are made with post-consumer waste. Many brands are available in grocery stores, often at comparable prices.

Stores

giandpindo

auclairdelalune
CPMelo
Lolos

Stores
tercermundista
GarageInc
BululuStudio
naturalezanica

Earth!

By Lolos

As if only one day sufficed to honor our Mother Earth, we wax poetic about her and rest complacent that we have fulfilled our obligation. The rest is up to others to take care of. Or is it?

We must all do our part in giving back to our community which is where it all starts. If we cannot help those around us we will hardly be able to help the world at large. And we know this blue planet of ours needs all the help it can get before it turns muddy gray and lifeless.

We can honor our Mother Earth in our own little way by recycling, giving new life and rescuing from obsolescence the cultural debris of our consumer society.

Here are some examples from our own Spanglish Team that go in that direction and that can inspire us to work and live in a sustainable way!

Stores
tercermundista
naturalezanica
BululuStudio

Stores
GarageInc
auclairdelalune
lolos
giandpindo

And the Winner is.......

Our lovely winner is the number 10.... :-))

Number 10= heidisblog

Congratulations!

Thanks everyone for your participation!

Spanglish Team!

Miembro of the Week!

handbagcave

I was born and raised in Costa Rica and currently live in NYC. My father has an upholstery shop and my mother is a seamstress. They are both very talented, but I never touched a sewing machine while living with them.

After the disappointment of being rejected by a fashion school here in Manhattan, just because of a delay with a document, I bought my first sewing machine and learned how to use it. I struggled enough until I got my first professional looking handbag, which surprisingly happened after my third attempt.

After that I started designing for friends and family, and it seemed like my skills were getting better and better. It wasn’t until 2009 that I decided to give my talent a shot and share my passion with the world. So here I am.

I make my own designs, patterns and manufacture every bag you will find in my shop.

By handbagcave

handbagcave

To see more of her work just click here

Spring / Primavera

By auclairdelalune

I just love the transitional seasons. In an effort to embrace spring in a Spanglish way I thought I’d investigate what Spring y Primavera nos ofrecen en tandem:

En inglés, la palabra Spring is from spring (v.); the notion is of the "spring of the year," when plants "spring up" (cf. spring of the leaf, 1538). My research finds “O.E. springan "to leap, burst forth, fly up" (class III strong verb; past tense sprang, pp. sprungen), from P.Gmc. *sprenganan.” So, the image that comes to mind is definitely one of action – think time change, spring forward, water springs forth from a source...

In Spanish, the word primavera proviene del latín vulgar prima (primera) y ver, veris (primavera). El latín ver viene del indoeuropeo *ver- que se relaciona al crecimiento y donde vienen las palabras verde, verano, vergel, incluso verga. “La palabra primavera es por Ver Primum (a la entrada del verano) o estación previa del verano,” So, from this I think of looking forward to those first hints of summer, and of course images of verde (“Verde, que te quiero verde...”).

So, if we quit la lección de etimología, ¿Qué quieren decir spring y primavera para nuestras tiendas de etsy? We can obviously all find ways to look forward and take action, profesionalmente y personalmente. I will certainly be looking for ways to improve my shop both artistically and business-wise. What new ideas are waiting to germinate, needing attention to grow? Certainly team Spanglish is feeling the call of spring, energized with new marketing strategies y el cultivo de nuevas amistades. También podemos interpretar verde as eco-friendly. La primavera might be the right time to introduce that first bit of green into your business, whether it’s through the economy of using less or re-using more.

En mi pequeño rincón del mundo, aquí in Central Florida, we don’t have the dramatic contrasts of spring que nuestros amigos al norte get, but we do have a gentle whisper that hints at the scorching summer that is to come. It’s time to trabajar en el jardín before the arrival of longer, hotter days. I need to finish the spring cleaning and finally tackle that garment rack that collapsed in my workspace, making a disaster of all of my neatly folded and sorted fabrics. Yo leo Thoreau’s Walden with the Etsy Book Club, un texto que representa la celebración de la naturaleza, and is always a fitting choice for spring. Busco también oportunidades for volunteerism in my community with literacy & ESOL groups.

I encourage everyone to embrace spring/primavera, to look forward and take action, inviting both personal and professional growth into your corner of the world!

Reflexiones sobre la primavera:

Doña Primavera

De Gabriela Mistral


Doña Primavera
viste que es primor,
viste en limonero
y en naranjo en flor.

Lleva por sandalias
unas anchas hojas,
y por caravanas
unas fucsias rojas.

Salid a encontrarla
por esos caminos.
¡Va loca de soles
y loca de trinos!

Doña Primavera
de aliento fecundo,
se ríe de todas
las penas del mundo...

No cree al que le hable
de las vidas ruines.
¿Cómo va a toparlas
entre los jazmines?

¿Cómo va a encontralas
junto de las fuentes
de espejos dorados
y cantos ardientes?

De la tierra enferma
en las pardas grietas,
enciende rosales
de rojas piruetas.

Pone sus encajes,
prende sus verduras,
en la piedra triste
de las sepulturas...

Doña Primavera
de manos gloriosas,
haz que por la vida
derramemos rosas:

Rosas de alegría,
rosas de perdón,
rosas de cariño,
y de exultación.


I cannot meet the Spring unmoved

by Emily Dickinson


I cannot meet the Spring unmoved --
I feel the old desire --
A Hurry with a lingering, mixed,
A Warrant to be fair --

A Competition in my sense
With something hid in Her --
And as she vanishes, Remorse
I saw no more of Her.

blanco y negro

missbutler

Stores
kutz, suenosdejmi, giandpindo
naturalezanica, BululuStudio, tumbleweedstudios,
knots, CricketsCreations, RobelParra,
ClaudiaOlivos, CositasSeriasVintage, tercermundista

Miembro of the Week!

auclairdelalune

Au clair de la lune is when elves and busy mommies work on their projects -- and by the light of the moon, through the window of my attic workshop, is where you'll find me on most nights.

By auclairdelalune

Recycled Fabrics for Human and Habitat

auclairdelalune

To see more of her great work just click here

A bit of Art in Spanglish!

Wednesday Art!
Just a few!
Enjoy them!

Corinadotdash




ClaudiaOlivos



MariaAragon



brochazo

Our First Giveaway ever!

The team is happy to announce to you that beginning Friday , April 3th we will start doing Giveaways.

Our first Giweaway will be from Friday 3th till Saturday 18th of April. Our lovely member calabaza will be the first one. She is giving away a great custom monogram from calligraphics, her other store.

In order to win this Giveaway you have to visit her store and leave a comment in our blog about her work.

The ruffle will be held on Saturday 18th until 10:00 pm East and the result will be published Sunday 19th at 2:00pm East.

Here is an example of a custom monogram.

calligraphics

What you will win is a personalized custom monogram or name! I will draw your name or monogram by hand and then scan the image and digitally color it. You will get to choose the colors, file size and file type. These images are great for blogs, weddings, banners or to print through a printing service on personalized stationary! We can communicate via email or through etsy convos to make sure that the image is perfect for your needs. You will have all rights for reproduction over this image.

calligraphics

Good Luck to all!

Wednesday Tips!

By BululuStudio our Queen of the Tips

Crafting tips and tricks

1.- After painting, set your brushes in fabric softener for about 10 minutes (I have left mine even over night) and then clean as usual. This works for brushes used for all types of paint, even oil based paints.

Then I tried the same thing with hair conditioner after using acrylic paint and it worked too. I was in a hurry and just dropped the brushes into the conditioner until I went back to the craft room... my brushes cleaned up faster and it worked well even after using gesso."

2.- If you have small items to paint that are hard to hold onto, try this... Make a loop using a piece of masking or duct tape and stick it to the back of your project. Now, tape the item to the eraser end of a pencil. Hold onto the pencil to paint the item - to dry, simply place the pencil in a cup!