How can you not be enamored of someone who writes that:

“instead of making more waste, we REUSE waste. Instead of employing highly skilled experts, we TRAIN the unskilled. The aim is not to make more stuff quickly and cheaply, but to address problems through CREATIVE experimentation.

Where there is garbage, there is always poverty. A large part of the world – primarily in developing countries – continue to live in extreme poverty within huge global economies of waste.

I design products from waste and the production methods that include the poor. In waste reduction and social business, the more challenging aspect is to instill a sense of possibility and creative experimentation in this mix of artistry.”

Invisible Sisters is a project set up to help women in Manila who can’t work outside of the house earn an income. They crochet items from city refuse, bags, wires, computer parts. Seeing this creative reuse of trash is not only uplifting, it is also inspiring and providing us with another example of what we can do with this mountain of trash we’ve collected over time.

Even though we may not be able to see the heaps and heaps near our houses because they’re tucked far away in a landfill (out of sight out of mind), they’re there. And one day we will not just have the option, but will most likely be forced to deal with them. Why not start now?

You can read Ann’s inspiring vision for the project here.

Also inspiring and crafty:
*Schoolchildren reuse fabric for charity weaving project
*Harris Tweed weavers start course to help bring back dying industry
*Women in England knitting real-life size house to raise money for church
*European Relief Society members knit 4,400 hats for newsborns in Guatemala

Bonus! If you can read Greek, you might want to read about their introduction to craftivism over here. Thank you, Greece!

Words cannot express how much I love this video. Garbage reuse, singing, the crinkling of bags, soccer, this has it all!

Also inspiring, this 5-part video series of the documentary Threads of Hope about the Chilean arpilleristas.

Bonus: The narrator, Donald Sutherland, schools me on how to properly pronounce the word “arpillerista!”

The photo above changed my life. No, really. It was the beginning of my discovery of Riot Grrrl and DIY ethics. This picture made me realize that it was okay to be angry and confused and frustrated and loud as a teenage girl. It made me not feel so alone at 16 when I was angry at all the world’s problems and violence to women. Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna (the women in the photo above) had a scream that enveloped many of us in the early 90s.

Seeing these photos below made that 16 year old in me smile and wish nothing but happiness and strength to these women. I may not be wearing the same stomping shit-kicking boots and holding the same angst, but the part of me that knows what it’s like to be set free and not be scared to speak out feels like it’s just like 1991.

Ok, so technically it’s craftivism. FEMEN’s fighting back against the sex-trade industry. The sign above says “Ukraine is not a Brothel” and the bikinis below are not bikinis, they’re H1N1 masks sewn into bikinis as a statement against the H1N1 hysteria in their country. From their website:

WE ARE THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT:
*We unite young women basing on the principles of social awareness and activism, intellectual and cultural development.
*We recognise the European values of freedom, equality and comprehensive development of a person irrespective of the gender.
*We build up a national image of feminity, maternity and beauty based on the Euro-Atlantic Women’s Movements experience.
*We set up brand new standards of the civil movement in Ukraine.
*We have worked out our own unique form of a civil self-expression based on courage, creativity, efficiency and shock.
*We demonstrate that the civil movements can influence the public opinion and lobby the interests of a target group.
*We plan to become the biggest and the most influential feminist movement in Europe.

One last check of the news before I go to bed tonight and the front page of The Guardian (online) has photos from past Holi celebrations.

I’m not sure how I’ve managed to entirely miss Holi, the Festival of Colors, until this evening. It is a welcoming of springtime by a number of Eastern religions, the “celebrated season of Love.” You can read more about various Holi celebrations here and read various legends surrounding its beginning here.

The photos in this post are taken from a photo gallery of Holi in 2009.

And seeing these photos makes me sad for everyone not choosing that wicked orange sweater they like because it will be “too bright” at the office or stuffing their hot pink tights in a drawer so as to not cause a commotion. Why don’t we celebrate? Why don’t we dive in and embrace hues that make our lives cheerier and more colorful more often?

These photos resonate deeply because they’re about open, honest, pure celebration. They make my feet tingle out of happiness. There’s a joy and a note of life that you rarely see captured. Today, as you’re wearing your khakis or perhaps whites, have a look online for photos from Holi today. And join in their celebration of colors, the bright, the bold and the awesome.

And don’t forget to take notice of how you (your mind, your eyes, your body) react to the photos, to their smiles and their tones. Chances are good, you’ll find yourself smiling back.

Want more color?

*Pantone

*Color Matters

*Dutchboy Paints

*Color Theory Tutorial

*Color: A Natural History of the Palette