Giving back doesn’t get any easier than this:

Simply switch your search engine and donate to the charities of your choice.

Seriously?

It’s true.

Sleio is a nifty new search engine that donates 100% of its profits to good causes. Whether you’re passionate about children in need,

Photo by USAID Africa Bureau via Wikimedia Commons

wildlife,

Photo by Ailuropoda via Wikimedia Commons

homeless pets,

Photo by Nathan R. Yergler via Wikimedia Commons

or safe drinking water,

Photo by U.S. Army Tech. Sgt. Mike Buytas via Wikimedia Commons

Sleio will make you feel good about surfing the net because it gives 100% of the profits from your searches (specifically, commissions earned from over 30,000 retail website affiliates) to your choice of 12 charity organizations.

“In other words, the money for each search you make, every link you click and/or product you buy through Sleio helps change the world,” the company says. “Simply use Sleio as your default search engine, choose your charity, and enjoy the Internet. Changing the world has never been easier!”

Get started at Sleio.com.

Remember these?

Photo by Ben Schumin via Wikipedia

Not so long ago, cigarette vending machines were commonly found in restaurants, hotels, and countless other dimly lit corners of civilization. But, as the fad fell from favor (cheer!), the machines quietly slipped out of sight and out of mind, lost in the smoky haze of a bygone era.

Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire by American artist Russell Patterson (1893-1977) via Wikimedia Commons

But, as trends tend to do, these vintage vendors are coming back en vogue, although not in the manner you might expect …

Instead of vending cigarettes, they’re now selling original art!

Photo by Nate Steiner via Flickr

Introducing the Art-o-mat.

This cleaned-up and kitschy-creative concept is the brainchild of North Carolina artist Clark Whittington, who says that the “Pavlovian” inspiration for Art-o-mat came to him while watching a friend unwrap the crinkly cellophane from a snack. The sound triggered an immediate craving—Clark was overcome with the urge to have a snack too!

Fueled by the force of his involuntary reaction, Clark sensed that he could create a similar impulse to “snack” on art.

Gotta have it!

One urge led to another, and he ended up converting an old cigarette machine into the first Art-o-mat, which sold his own black and white photos, mounted on blocks, for $1 each.

As he had predicted, the idea was catching. He and a group of local Winston-Salem artists forged the Artists in Cellophane (AIC) group with the mission “to encourage art consumption by combining the worlds of art and commerce in an innovative form.” AIC states that art should be progressive, yet personal and approachable. “Art-o-mat has created an opportunity to purchase original artwork while providing exposure and promotional support for artists,” says that group.

Photo by Alan Levine via Flickr

“The experience of pulling the knob alone is quite a thrill,” says the AIC, “But you also walk away with an original work of art. What an easy way to become an art collector.”

Art-o-mat Sedona Abstract Painting by Gene Garrison (Photo by Alan Levine via Flickr)

There are now more than 50 Art-o-mat locations across the nation. Check out this map to find one near you, or peruse the online gallery of machines—they’re almost as cute as retro camp trailers!

Photo by Seth Anderson via Flickr

Want to get in on the art?

Art-o-mat welcomes submissions from artists to feed its ongoing supply of small wonders, so if you’re interested in trying your hand at a playing-card-sized masterpiece, learn how to get it into a machine with these guidelines.

I love witnessing tender moments between mother and child.

How many times have you picked and scraped to remove one of those pesky produce stickers?

Photo by acloudman via Wikimedia Commons

I hear you!

But the next time you have a sticker stuck under your nail, you might look at it a little differently. You might—who knows?—even smooth it out, strip away the pieces of peel that cling to it, paste it to a piece of paper, and mail it to the Sticker Man.

That’s right—Sticker Man.

Once he has your sticker, it’s anybody’s guess where it could end up …

Photo courtesy of StickermanProduceArt.wordpress.com

Look closely. Yes, those are ALL produce stickers stuck by “Sticker Man” Barry Snyder.

Photo courtesy of StickermanProduceArt.wordpress.com

Why produce stickers, Barry?

His reply, “It’s so stupid, it’s neat.”

Neat, indeed. The 60-year-old, self-proclaimed Almost World Renowned Food Sticker Mosaic Artist has had a penchant for produce stickers, reports Modern Farmer, since he was teenager in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Over the years, he has refined his hobby into a singular sort of produce-inspired pointillist pop art.

This one might just be my favorite …

Photo courtesy of StickermanProduceArt.wordpress.com

Or, well, who wouldn’t love this colorful interpretation of American Gothic?

Photo courtesy of StickermanProduceArt.wordpress.com

Something about Barry’s art just makes you smile.

Photo courtesy of StickermanProduceArt.wordpress.com

You can actually purchase prints of Barry’s brilliant work, but you’ll probably have to call him (he prefers the telephone to newfangled computer chat).

Of course, he also welcomes produce stickers via his (tongue-in-cheek) Save Our Stickers Foundation.

In Barry’s words, “The Save Our Stickers Foundation provides a new home and a meaningful purpose to these unassuming stalwarts of our supermarket lifestyles. Won’t you please help? If you could find the compassion in your heart to simply peel these valiant warriors off the skins of your preferred produce and then place them, sticky side down, on a piece of notepaper (paper, not plastic), they can live as artwork (united with thousands of fellow food stickers as part of a symbiotic visual presentation), bringing joy to young and old alike.”

Photo courtesy of StickermanProduceArt.wordpress.com

He asks that you send your stickers to:

Barry Snyder
POB 301
Erie, CO 80516

We made hanging baskets a few weeks ago (featured in the online Sister Issue of MaryJanesFarm) and have been patiently (some of us a little impatiently) waiting for the first day of May to arrive.

We woke up early Thursday and carefully cut our bouquets.

It was a beautiful day and the girls were so excited!

Off we went to ring seven doorbells and run as fast as we could (the best-est fun-est part)…

Continue reading →

Wasn’t it Gandhi who said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”?

Well, in the case of Canadian artist Aganetha Dyck, perhaps it might be more apt to say, “Bee the change.”

Photo by Erik Hooymans via Wikimedia Commons

In 1991, Aganetha forged a fascinating collaboration with honeybees in order to create works of art.

Photo by Peter Dyck via Aganethdyck.ca

Beyond encouraging focus on the crisis of colony collapse, she also had a more intimate intention—drawing humankind’s attention to the miraculous and fruitful relationship that exists right beneath our noses.

“I am interested in the small, in the really tiny of the world,” she has explained. “We’re going so fast, because we have so many people to feed and house, and so we just bulldoze ahead. It’s the simplest things that already exist and work so hard for us that I think we’re kind of ignoring.”

One of Aganetha’s most charming series is called Masked Ball, which features delicate porcelain figures in formal finery that have been further adorned by bees.

Embedded in hives for up to six years, these figurines are transformed by coifs, ruffles, and veritable auras of golden beeswax, crafted by the bees themselves.

Photo from the Masked Ball series via Aganethdyck.ca

These pieces are not only a curious pleasure to the eye; they also represent a metaphor of the interconnectedness between species.

As blogger Artisword elegantly states, “The Masked Ball functions to highlight the productive aspect of the human-bee relationship, illustrating its mutually creative potential by exhibiting the product of combined interspecies work. The finished pieces are graceful, for the bees often follow and extend the curves of each sculpture with their wax, in a sense continuing and expanding upon the work of the original human sculptor. The manner in which beeswax adorns these small human figurines is both decorative and protective, and creates the most literal metaphor of an idealized human-bee relationship. The bees swarm these delicate human figurines not to attack or destroy them, but to build upon, protect, and beautify them.”

Aganetha employs specially designed hives that allow her to introduce an object without disrupting the colony. She removes the “sculpture” after it is sufficiently covered with lacy honeycomb, a process that can take anywhere from a few weeks to years.

Never mind that she has been diagnosed with a bee allergy …

Photo of Aganetha Dyck by Peter Dyck and William Eakin via Aganethdyck.ca

The Masked Ball series and a selection of Aganetha’s other works can be seen at the Ottawa School of Art through April 13, 2014 in an exhibition entitled Honeybee Alterations.

If you can’t make it to Ottowa, enjoy a virtual tour of the artist’s work here:

Oh, my …

Before you go any further, grab a hankie.

Really.

Otherwise, happy tears will be pooling into your lap after watching this video.

Are you ready? Hankie in hand?

As you might imagine from watching adorable Emily James caress her flowing pre-cut locks, her favorite princess is Rapunzel.

Hair is serious business to this 3-year-old.

But, “serious” took on a whole new meaning when Emily decided to cut her hair and donate it to kids who’ve lost their hair to cancer.

Emily’s mom, Amy, had donated her own hair in high school and thought it would be a win-win way to tame Emily’s unruly locks (if you’ve ever tackled a little girl’s tangles, you know how trying it can be!).

“We hope to instill an attitude of giving to all of our kids,” Amy James told Today.com. “We want them to realize that everything we have is a blessing from God and it’s really important to give to others when we can.”

Emily agreed to let her Uncle Matt, a stylist, cut her hair—on one condition.

Her Rapunzel doll had to be shorn too, too.

Done deal!

Following the haircut, both Emily and her mom (and, presumably, Rapunzel) reported that they were enjoying the low-maintenance style and felt happy about sending six inches of lovely locks to the Canadian Cancer Society, where they are destined to become a wig for a pediatric cancer patient.