Real Couple’s Favorite Fair Trade Products – Ashleigh & Collin

May 15, 2013 - Posted by Ashleigh Krawll to General Real Couples

After featuring several other couples favorite fair trade products, I’ve had a few requests for my favorites! As some of you may know, Collin and I founded Seven Hopes United over 4 years ago after a trip to Costa Rica & Nicaragua. Our love of travel and heart to change the world not only helped us start this business journey together, it brought us closer together as a couple, and we were married on September 29th of last year.

As you’ll be able to tell in our favorite products collage, we LOVE anything to do with the beach. Although we both grew up in the midwest, a piece of our hearts have always lived at the beach. After living in California for 5 years, we celebrated our dream wedding on Coronado Beach with several of our closest friends and family members.

We live in a little (well, tiny) beach bungalow in Pacific Beach, San Diego. Our decorating style incorporates our love for the beach, with lots of aqua and sand tones, and artsy splashes of bright colors. We love bringing home small ethnic pieces from our travels around the world.

We, of course, love so many things we carry at Seven Hopes United, but here are a few favorites we received from family & friends for our wedding!

1. Large Capiz Bowl – Teal
This capiz bowl is one of my all time favorites…the colors are brilliant, and it’s the perfect accent piece for our beach bungalow. I primarily use it as a fruit bowl, but enjoy using it to serve salads when we have guests over for dinner.

2. Blue Diamond Vase
This piece has a special meaning to us as it was made in one of the villages we visited on our trip to Nicaragua. The people and the artisans there were part of what inspired us to start Seven Hopes United.

3. Graphic Lidded Hamper – Aqua Comb (Currently Unavailable)
We received this storage basket as a gift from my new sister-in-law and her family. It is so beautiful & the perfect color for our aqua/green bathroom. I use it for storing extra towels, beach blankets, etc.

4. Fig Stripe Vetiver Placemats
I love the natural smell of these placemats & the color works great with our cream and aqua dishes!

If you are interested in having your favorite fair trade products featured, email me and I will give you more details (it is easy and painless, I promise)!

Fair Trade Hot Fudge

May 14, 2013 - Posted by Dawn Stary to General Recipes Tasty Tuesday

It’s ice cream season!!! And what is better with ice cream than a little (or a lot of) fair trade hot fudge. The idea of making hot fudge (fair trade hot fudge or otherwise) seemed daunting to me until I found a super easy recipe in Gwyneth Paltrow’s cookbook “My Father’s Daughter” . I made some changes so as to use fair trade chocolate and it was still very tasty!

My Favorite Homemade Hot Fudge (aka Fair Trade Hot Fudge)

3 ounces semisweet dark chocolate (62 percent), finely chopped (I used fair trade chocolate chips at 42 percent)

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons brown rice syrup (or light corn syrup) (I used light corn syrup)

Combine all of the ingredients in a double boiler (or in a metal or glass bowl set above a pot of simmering water) and stir until completely melted about 3 minutes. Serve warm.

Gatsby Inspired Fair Trade!

May 12, 2013 - Posted by Dawn Stary to General

The Great Gatsby has been one of my favorite novels since I was required to read it in high school. F. Scott Fitzgerald captures the human spirit in all of its complexity and lays it out in a beautifully crafted story. Although the book was published nearly 100 years ago the essence of the story still holds true today. And I must be honest while I love the story I equally love the clothing of the era as well. 1920′s fashion produced a remarkable style. This weekend the latest film version with Leonardo Dicaprio as Jay Gatsby, a great pick in my opinion, came out, so I felt inspired to share with you some pieces from the Seven Hopes United collection that I feel invoke the spirit of the 1920′s.

Enjoy – Dawn

31Bits Elasticity Necklace

Garnet Heart Earrings

31Bits Gypsy Cuff

Scarlet Threads {Product Spotlight}

May 10, 2013 - Posted by Casey Trogden to Fashion

I don’t know about you, but to me, cybershopping always seems especially fun on a Friday. Especially if it’s payday. So without further ado, I present to you our most recent crop of adorable aprons to hit the Seven Hopes Website—just in time for bridal shower season! (There’s nothing wrong with buying one for the bride-to-be AND one for you, right? Plenty to go around.)

These gorgeous aprons are made by Scarlet Threads, one of our very first partnerships at Seven Hopes. They have been working hard in the past year to bring visions of functional, frilly, and just plain fun aprons to life, and we’d say they have definitely succeeded! Check out the Vivian Ikat Apron below:And here’s another one of our recent faves and bestsellers, the Priscilla Ruffled Apron:

Scarlet Threads empowers rural women through employment, much like many of the companies we work with. Based in a small village in Asia, Scarlet Threads provides women, many of whom only have an elementary school education, an opportunity to earn a steady source of income for their families. The purchase of Scarlet Threads’ aprons helps provide higher profits for women than they would earn locally. There are few opportunities for women to find work in this area, so Scarlet Threads is a powerful organization for the small rural village.

The mission of the organization is this: “We believe in the possibility of change. Scarlet Threads exists to make our core vision of ‘Work. Dignity. Beauty.’ a reality in the lives of our partner seamstresses.”

This amazing company makes more than just our beautiful aprons—check out some of their other goodies, such as jewelry, accessories, and childrens’ items, on their Website. You can read all about the women they employ there, and explore their core values of Fair Price, Profit Sharing, No Sweatshops, and Giving Back.

And speaking of cybershopping, that seems like a pretty great way to help celebrate World Fair Trade Day this Saturday! So don’t put your credit card away just yet. You can read more about World Fair Trade Day and how Seven Hopes is getting involved here–we’ll be out and about at various events in San Diego!

Have a happy weekend!

XO,
Casey

Real Couple’s Favorite Fair Trade Products – Theresa & Greg

May 8, 2013 - Posted by Ashleigh Krawll to General Real Couples

Today we are featuring an extremely special couple – my sister and brother-in-law! Theresa and Greg recently moved to Portland, Oregon after years of planning and dreaming about their adventures there. They were married on a gorgeous day in Minnesota – October of 2011, at a park near their home in Saint Paul.

Greg being the outdoorsy type and Theresa the crafty type, their decorating style is artsy with bits of rustic nature. They’ve hung artistic photos of their travels throughout their home, and incorporated them with unique finds from thrift stores, handmade items, etc. When registering for fair trade products at Seven Hopes United, they stuck to the classics with a bit of handmade flair.

Without further ado, here are a few of Theresa & Greg’s favorite fair trade products!

1. Sliced Persimmon Mango Wood Bowl
2. Sweet Coconut & Vanilla & Spice Soap
3. White Wolof Fair Trade Storage Basket
4. Vintage Sari Throw