New Tapestries are here!!

We love decorating with tapestries. It's a quick, easy, and inexpensive way to turn a house into a home.  Something about textiles just makes a space so warm and inviting.  Spring cleaning and redecorating time can be so much fun, so in the spirit of purging and making way for the new, we present you with the grooviest of tapestries. :)

 

One of our very favorites, our Gold Elephant Tapestry, has a metallic sheen to the dye which makes the elephants pop.

 

We love the colors on our Elephant Mandala tapestry.  This one is great to use as a throw over a table or chair, as the colors are super mellow but the pattern is still interesting and fun.

Our Blooming Mandala Tapestry has been flying off the shelves! The combination of complimentary colors blue and orange makes this tapestry very dramatic and visually stimulating.

Our best selling tapestry of all time, The Tree Of Life, now comes in redwood and purple too! 

Another one that is great for covering a table or bringing life to an old sofa, our Blue and Purple Domino Tapestry has a beautiful, cool color palette and groovy stitch work that make this tapestry a must have piece.

Oh how we love to save the best for last!  When we first laid our eyes on this amazing Patch Tapestry, we knew it was love. <3  This huge tapestry can serve any purpose your heart desires.

Check out all the tapestries here.

Much love from your friends at Blue Sky

Groovy New Items Are Arriving!

 As our new collection arrives, we couldn't be happier with the beautiful articles of clothing that we are receiving. 

Here are a few items that will have you looking and feeling groovy.

Perfect for those cooler spring days, this asymmetrical Sparkle Edge Tunic looks adorable with cut off shorts, as well as with leggings and boots.

 

One of our best sellers of the season, this gorgeous Tree Of Life Dress comes in redwood and green.

Our Garden Tank features a printed tie dye with embroidery that is totally unique. It's super cute with cut off jeans, or as pictured above with our Wide Leg Om Cropped Pants.

Our lovely Sugar Shack tank top showcases delicate embroidery and can be dressed up or down depending on the occasion.

This gorgeous embroidered Exquisite Blouse will be your go to shirt for spring.

Every girl needs a little black dress, and with this super groovy embroidery detail, our New Morning Dress is certainly one of the cutest! It also comes in a gorgeous shade of turquoise.

Our gorgeously fitted Electric Kool-Aid tie-dye rayon dress makes the perfect sundress for a quick trip to the grocery story or for an afternoon in the Phish lot.

Check out all of these styles, as well as tons of more groovy new items at www.wearbluesky.com.

Much love from your friends at Blue Sky <3

Our First Batch of New Arrivals is in!

Spring is in the air, and the first batch of our Spring/Summer 2013 collection has arrived. Check back weekly to see what new items are arriving.

Here are some of our favorites pieces that are newly in stock.

Our favorite of all tie dye skirts is back! This super soft rayon lycra blend is an everyday, staple item for your wardrobe. It's so comfy you'll never want to take it off.

This gorgeous flowing blouse with butterfly sleeves comes in a wide variety of beautiful prints. The best part? The belt below the bust pulls you in and defines a waistline to keep you looking svelte.

Our tiered panel skirt is the perfect festival skirt for summer. Pair it with a cute solid camisole for a fun and groovy look.

Laddered tanks are all the rage these days, and this detailed printed knit tank is sure to turn heads.

This stunning maxi dress is sure to make you look and feel like a goddess. Nothing gets you more in the mood for Spring than a long, flowing dress.

This open back tank was inspired by Native American themes and motifs. Channel the good vibes and spread some of your own in our Medicine Wheel Tank.

Get groovy in our rayon patchwork Dangler Skirt.  Dress up up with a nice blouse or be more casual with a tee.

More to see at www.wearbluesky.com.

We've Got The Groovy Tapestries

Batik Sun

Red Palm

Blue and Purple Dominoes

Medallion

Rustic Flower

Batik Ohm

Batik Buddha

Batik Ganesh

Dancing Shiva

Eyes of Buddha

Fish Harvest

Velvet Hand Painted Ganesh

Our tapestries will help you keep your home as warm and inviting as your heart. 

<3 Om Shanti <3

Get The Look: Janis Joplin

image from wikia

In the 60's, Janis Joplin busted out on the music scene with a voice and look completely her own. She wasn't the cookie-cutter image of a beautiful and delicate young woman that we had been so used to. Her fashion sense was so awesome, so unique, that we find ourselves getting inspired by her looks all the time. 

Get the Look: Janis Joplin

Get the big bell sleeves in this blouse.

Layer your blouse with this velvet jacket.

Throw on a Glass Tooth necklace.

 Get groovy and layer your other necklace with this acai seed one.

Can't forget the hip hugging bell bottoms!

Feeling groovy yet?

Newly Added One of A Kind Items

image from reciprocityimages

We are so excited to have a collection of one of a kind items from the Shipibo tribe of the Peruvian rain forest. The ritual process of embroidery is considered sacred among the tribe and these handmade pieces showcase the beautiful work and vision of these talented individuals.

This gorgeous sacred cloth full of intricate embroidery could be used as a table cover or wall hanging...it's perfect to place sacred items upon.

We've got several amazing bags full of colorful and fun embroidery work, this slouchy shoulder bag being one of our very favorites.

How could you not feel groovy wearing this awesome tank top?

Check out all of the new items at the One of A Kind Collection section of our website.
 

Much love from your friends at Blue Sky <3

Namaste Quinoa

This is a dish that we make about once a week and then have leftovers and side dishes that are ready for us to eat on the go. Quinoa is an essential part of our diet because it is a complete protein, and once you add all the yummy veggies you've got a pretty balanced vegan meal to nourish yourself. We recommend going organic wherever possible, and to substitute vegetables that are in season if you're feeling creative. This recipe makes about 6 servings.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup dry quinoa

5 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 of a large red onion, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

3 medium sized carrots, chopped

1 zucchini, chopped

1 cup of cooked corn

15 or so grape or cherry tomatoes, cut in 1/4ths

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

3 Tbsp Bragg's Liquid Aminos (soy sauce can be substituted but Bragg's is better)

4 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tsp ground cumin

Salt and Pepper to taste

Combine 3 cups water with quinoa in a sauce pan with a tight fitting lid. Bring to boil, stir once, reduce heat to low and replace lid. Set your timer for 15 minutes and do not open the lid, as the steam is what is cooking the quinoa. Once your timer goes off, remove from heat, fluff with fork and replace lid for 10 minutes. Remove lid and set aside.

While your quinoa is cooking you can begin to sauté garlic, onion, red pepper, carrot and zucchini in olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once the carrot doesn't crunch when you bite into it, but isn't soft (about 12 minutes) add basil, cilantro, parsley, corn, tomato and cumin. Cook for an additional minute with the new ingredients.

Add cooked quinoa and Bragg's to skillet (or to a big mixing bowl if your skillet isn't going to hold everything.) Add a little salt and pepper to taste and stir well. Garnish with a sprig of parsley and enjoy. If you serve your yummy creation on a blue plate then you have every color of the rainbow!!

Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream

image from sfweekly

We love when successful businesses use their power to help make a difference in the world. Ben and Jerry's ice cream has always been one of our favorite tasty treats, but our love for them goes beyond the ice cream. Ben and Jerry moved to Burlington, VT in 1978 because it was a college town with no ice cream parlor, they figured no competition would help their business blossom. The pair held social and political events at their store aimed at the college crowd, and business began to boom. In 1980, they began packaging their ice cream for sale in a stores. Once Ben and Jerry began to taste success, they did the unthinkable for young businessmen...they held a public auction of the company's stocks in Vermont. Their idea was for their community to 'get a taste of the action,' as their business was beginning to succeed as well as gaining capital to invest in more equipment for producing ice cream. In 1984, Häagen-Dazs tried to limit Ben and Jerry's distribution by threatening to pull their product out of any store that would carry Ben and Jerry's. As you can imagine, this did not settle with the pair. They immediately launched the "What's the Doughboy Afraid of Campaign?" and became the faces of the little guys getting squashed by big business. The media storm that followed helped the pair gain recognition not only because of the Häagen-Dazs ordeal, but also allowed them to share their important philosophies and ideologies of how a business should be run.  In 1985 the Ben and Jerry Foundation was created and received 7.5% of their annual pre-tax profits to go towards community oriented projects. In 2000 the pair sold the company to food giant Unilever under one condition, to keep going with their mission to give back to the community through the Ben and Jerry's Foundation, as well as sourcing all milk from Vermont cows. Though they don't oversee the company anymore, Ben and Jerry are both active in the Ben and Jerry Foundation. Ben lobbies in Washington to increase funds for education by taking a minuscule amount of funding from the military. He uses cookies to demonstrate how much funding the military is getting vs. how much funding education is getting.

Click here to see what Ben and Jerry are fighting for these days and what you can do to help. What's your favorite flavor of Ben and Jerry's? We like Phish Food, but you probably already knew that! :)

Make Your Own Prayer Flags

We love to donate our old clothes to charity because it makes us feel so good! But every once in a while there's a textile that we love so much we can't say goodbye. While spring cleaning we found this old Blue Sky skirt that's just too big for us, but we weren't quite ready to get rid of it yet.

So we're looking at it and trying to think about how to utilize the five colors, and it hits us...prayer flags! We've been wanting to make prayer flags with our own hands so they're just that much more special and this skirt seemed like the perfect item to up-cycle. This tutorial doesn't involve a sewing machine, all you need is an old garment, a seam ripper, a ruler, scissors, hot glue and hot glue gun, and some string. Find a woven cotton garment that you want to use, any colors and patterns you're drawn to will work. The only thing we recommend is no stretchy fabrics, so tee-shirts are out. Please note that it is possible to work with knits, but it's going to require a LOT more work, so we'd stick with a woven. The most time consuming part of this project is deconstructing your garment, we watched movies while we removed our seams over a couple days so it wasn't as overwhelming as doing it in one sitting. 

After you've got your garment deconstructed your next step is to iron the heck out of your fabric. You want it to be as flat as possible. Once it's ironed, you can cut out 5" by 5" squares of your fabrics. We did 8 of each color and are going to put them in color order to more closely resemble traditional prayer flags, but there is room for creativity. We love the idea of each square being a different print with no rhyme or reason too. Go with the flow, work with what you already have and something beautiful is sure to follow.

We have a hard time working in a space that isn't organized, so we like to set everything out and make it a little easier on ourselves. Grab 5 flags and lay them out in a straight line. Use a ruler to make sure everything is in order. We like the look of about a 1/2 an inch between flags. Next pick a yarn or string to use to connect your flags. We used an 8/2 cotton thread. Give yourself about a yard of slack before you start. This gives you a bit of leeway when you're hanging up your pretty new flags.

With your yard of slack hanging out to the left of your first flag, squirt a dot of hot glue onto the left corner and press the thread to the left and to the right of the glue so that the thread is smushed in there securely without you ever having to touch the hot glue. Continue to do this in the middle of the square as well as the right side of the square, so that each flag is connected to the string in 3 places. Make sure that from each dot of glue to the next that your string is taut. This will help your flags to lay beautifully once they're hung.

Continue all the way down the line. Once you glue the last flag of that row, move them to left and start another row and continue the process until all of your squares are gone.

Hang with thumbtacks wherever you please and enjoy your good fortune. To get this look, pair with a Blue Sky tapestry. And yes, that IS a print of Fishman playing a vacuum cleaner on the right. :)