The Leakey Collection: Zulu Grass Jewelry

Zulugrass jewelry is handcrafted jewelry created by Maasai women out of environmentally sustainable grass grown in the Kenya area. The results are beautiful, stylish, sustainable and fashionable jewelry that can be worn in a variety of ways.

The Leakey Collection has created over 1200 jobs and over 10,000 people are supported by the efforts of the Leakey Collection.

The stretchy bands of grass can be worn in a [...]

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Celebrate the Holidays in Sustainable Style

The holidays are creeping up fast, Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Many are busy planning what they are going to cook, what they are going to wear…and everyone’s thinking about gifts they are going to give.

One thing you may not have considered is your serving dishes or your table settings. Do they match, do you have enough? If you’re like me the once complete matching set has been reduced to bits and pieces over the years as things get dropped, broken and lost. I’m lucky to have a complete set of dishes for 6…and matching serving bowls… forget it. Good thing I’m not planning any large, fancy get togethers this season, but that could all change with a phone call, email, or spur of the moment idea.

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Brittanie’s Thyme: Spa Quality Products With a Handmade Feel

I have fallen in love with a couple products from Brittanie’s Thyme.

The organic oatmeal facial scrub, the French green clay facial mask with white tea and the organic acne treatment oil are all amazing spa quality products with that nostalgic touch that gives them a handmade feel. Like you just walked into a little shop where a lady is mixing the formulas right there behind the counter.

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Motherboard Gifts for the Tech Geek On Your Holiday List

Now here’s what a little creativity can come up with; Motherboard Gifts is a company that utilizes old motherboards and computer parts to make reclaimed gifts like money clips, picture frames, clocks, coasters, jewelry, bookmarks, binders, business card cases and even Christmas ornaments.

These are eco-friendly gifts even the most tech savvy, computer geek may love.

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The Best New Green Cleaning Products

Green cleaning products are popping up all over the place. Even mainstream companies are going green. It’s great, but how do you know what’s really green and what really works?

I’ve tried several of the newer brands of cleaning products and compared them against the original green cleaners that I’ve used for years like Seventh Generation and Bi-O-Kleen products. And I must say many of the new cleaners hold their own fantastically.

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Bottled Up Designs: Stylish Jewelry Made from Vintage Glass

I love vintage glass. I have a few hoarded bottles and unique finds that are currently stashed away so my kids don’t break them. Eventually I will have all my antiques displayed around my home and not stuffed in boxes…after the kids have grown up.

If I displayed everything now it would just get broken. But broken glass pieces don’t always get wasted. There are many artists who have found creative ways to turn broken glass into works of art. Some make mosaics, others make new bottles, glasses or tumblers, and some, like Laura Bergman of Bottled Up Designs , make pretty pieces of jewelry.

Laura Bergman is a Reclaim Artist. She finds old pieces of glass and turns them into beautiful, wearable art. She takes found glass and transforms it into jewelry… and the results truly are works of art.

Who would have thought that pieces of broken glass could be turned into eco-elegant jewelry.
I love unique finds and when I came across Bottled Up Designs I was fascinated.

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Junk Beautiful Books: The Ultimate in Repurposed Inspiration

If you have not gotten your hands on one of the Junk Beautiful books you are totally missing out.
Sue Whitney is the ultimate when it comes to taking a piece of whatever and re-purposing it into awesome decor. Examples: an old grate becomes the centerpiece of a magnificent winter wreath, washboards and a printer’s drawer become a stylish outdoor patio table, a tire and drum become a side table, a vintage wooden milk crate becomes a garden cart, dominoes become a soap dish, an old urinal becomes a planter…and that’s just ideas from the Junk Beautiful Outdoor Edition.

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HappyMais Eco Kids Crafts From PeekaGreen.com

PeekaGreen.com sent me this box of awesome HappyMais for my kids to try out.

HappyMais building blocks are made by Ecotoys in Italy and sold through PeekaGreen.com. The building blocks are made from Mater-Bi, a GM-free certified cornstarch dyed with non-toxic food coloring.

Building blocks made from cornstarch, how cool is that?

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My Daughter and I Won the Love Earth Always Green Halloween Costume Contest

Check it out- my daughter and I won this cool Green Halloween Costume Contest put on by Love Earth Always.

Here's the winning announcment http://loveearthalways.com/blog/and-the-winners-are

Here's her costume:

This is how we made a green costume:

My daughter wanted a unique vampire costume this year-and I didn't want to deal with any store bought stuff and nothing that I needed to sew either ( because I have yet to learn how to use a sewing machine)

So my daughter and I raided my closet and found some old clothes in the back that I don't wear anymore -a black lace top (that was made to go over a tank top, tank top long gone), a 3/4 length sleeved red t-shirt top to go under the lace which we turned inside out so the rose screen print didn't show through, a long red and black skirt, and lace up witch type boots.

We put everything together for a gothy vampire look.

My daughter already had some old fangs and I bought a used velvet cape on ebay for $1 when they are selling at the store for over $20.

With a little white rice powder makeup, some eyeliner and red and black lipstick- a vampire was born.

It's great the only thing purchased for this costume was the velvet cape (and that was used) everything else we had in the closet and in the makeup bag.

A great green Halloween costume.

And my little guy wanted to wear his sissy's old kitty costume (which she wore for like 3 years in a row and now he's got it, so that's pretty green, too).

Here they are together:

Rosie Hippo: Earth Friendly, Unique and Handmade Toys

Rosie Hippo offers parents a place to shop for unique, handmade, organic, fair trade and eco-friendly toys.

They have toys made of wood, made of fair trade materials, they have stuffed animals, pretend play toys, and everything you need to spark your child’s imagination and give them something safe to play with.

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Cleaning Green with Eco Mist Solutions Carpet and Upholstery Spray

If you have kids you probably have stains…all over the place. Or maybe my kids are just extremely messy.

Part of that is my fault for buying a light colored silver/cream sofa and love seat. But my carpet is dark colored and that gets stained too. I have well water which always leave cellulosic browning spots when I try to clean up a mess with water but Eco Mist’s carpet and upholstery cleaning spray works wonders without leaving any brown spots.

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Clementine Art Offers Safe Art and Craft Supplies for Kids

I worry about the art and craft supplies my kids use much more than what I use, even though I try to keep my own supplies as safe as possible. But when it comes to my kids I want to know their stuff isn’t full of toxins.Clementine Art feels the same way that’s why they have created a line of safe art and craft products with kids in mind.

Clementine Art has safe markers, natural glue, natural soy crayon rocks, soy crayons (that are shaped for little hands to hold), really safe finger paints, and natural modeling dough.

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Eco-Friendly Photo Printing From Lifephoto

Most of my photos get stored on the computer, on flash drives and DVDs. I sometimes get creative and make some photo books or do a little digital scrapbooking. However the grandparents always want photos…and they aren’t as digital savvy as some other family members. Email about does them in, don’t ask them to download, upload or do anything else technically advanced. That means I have to make prints. I found a site that offers eco-friendly printing options, Lifephoto.com.

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Happy Green Halloween

Happy Green Halloween

Today we are celebrating a fun filled green Halloween.

Costumes are all closet scavenger pieces, hand me downs, or used items bought on eBay.

We are trick or treating locally and just looking to have some green halloween fun. after trick or treating we'll have pizza and sit back and watch some Halloween movie favorites, maybe The Haunted Mansion. We'll see what we have.

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy and Safe Halloween.

Making Memories with Shadow Boxes

(Happy Birthday Mom!)

I inherited my grandmother’s house many years ago. I still have not went through everything that came with the house. Boxes remain that have not been sorted and organized. My grandmother was a pack rat but the awesome thing is that she left behind memories of her life like pieces to a puzzle for me to put together.

I have found newspapers and photographs from the 1800s, old magazines, some cool handbags and hats and tons of letters, cards, and little mementos of a long life.

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Last Minute Green Halloween Tip: Iconic Necco Wafers Go All-Natural

Now here’s a candy you don’t have to special order online or search high and low for. Necco Wafers can be found at most grocery stores in the candy aisle or currently in the Halloween candy section.

Necco Wafers have been around since 1847 but as a sign of the times they’ve gone “green”.
The 162-year-old Massachusetts company has taken Necco Wafers and made them “all-natural” which makes them the largest mass-produced candy line in the U.S. to get rid of artificial flavoring and colors.

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Jamar Labs Wipes: Clean Solutions for On the Go Moms

It never fails that when you are out with your kids that something messy happens. It can be a spilled drink, a food mishap, or even stepping in something not so pleasant at the park but what do you clean up with if there’s not a bathroom in sight? Many conventional wipes are made with polyester, wood pulp, binders, fillers and all kinds of chemicals but Jamar Labs offer a variety of eco-friendly wipes.

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LITTLE MUSIC LOVERS : Available Online and in Stores in time for Holiday Season

"Little Music Lovers, a four CD series for children was released today by Universal Music Classical in time for the holiday season. The music collections provide parents with an opportunity to introduce their babies and toddlers to the world around them by incorporating beautiful, thought-provoking music from the famous Decca catalog.

Little Music Lovers contains famous works by renowned composers such as Bach, Beethoven and Mozart along with well-known lullabies that will accompany little ones through all of their daily activities including play time, story time and of course, bed time.

Classical music is believed by some researchers to cause “The Mozart Effect,” a phenomenon that can potentially aid in the development of math, reasoning and memory skills, while also giving babies and toddlers a head start on learning language.

The musical pieces found in the Little Music Lovers collection were carefully selected for their melodic content, as well as their impact in enhancing early childhood development. Children will learn from the series, while parents can enjoy many hours of beautiful music.

Little Music Lovers is available for sale at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders among other participating retailers.

For more information regarding this music release, visit www.LittleMusicLovers.com"

I had the chance to listen to a sample of one of these CDs and it is fabulous, the best of what classical music has to offer and specifically geared towards young children.

When my daughter was little she listened to classical music everyday but I lost those CDs long ago.

Now I am glad to have the opportunity to introduce my little guy, who is 3, to this amazing music. (I just wish he would take naps so I could play classical lullabies to him like I did for my daughter, no such luck)

He already loves music and having the Little Music Lovers CDs will open him up to new music that he can enjoy.

Little Music Lovers CDs have four different CDs to choose from: Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Lullabies. The CDs are even seperated into categories for what they are best suited for: Activity Time, Play Time, Story Time, and Bed Time.

I haven't heard this Lullabies CD but I had one along time ago that was Classical Music Lullabies for children and it was so wonderful. Put your little one down for a nap and play the classical music....it was great. My daughter slept so good (and she's 10 now and gets straight A's in school, loves to read and is a great little artist).

Maybe it's not too late for my little guy to start listening to classical music...there may be hope for him yet. :-)

Last Minute Craft: Go Batty Before Halloween is Over

Halloween is almost upon us, then it’ll be over in a flash. But before Halloween goes into hiding until next year make one more fun, green Halloween craft to your collection. This time make it out of small yogurt containers and black craft foam. It’ll make you go batty, but it’ll be worth it.

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Fleur D’Amour Phthalate Free Fragrance

Sylvie Beljanski, owner of the Beljanski Wellness center in Manhattan, has created an indulgent phthalate free and very sophisticated French fragrance named Fleur D’Amour.

Sylvie worked with French perfumer Jean Pierre Subrenat to create a distinctly French scent, subtly floral with top notes of bergamot and bourgeons de cassis, middle notes of lily of the valley, Moroccan jasmine, pink peony, and Bulgarian rose and bottom notes of white amber, modern musks, Australian sandalwood, and a drop of Madagascar vanilla.

The result is a very light and feminine scent perfect for night or day.

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Suey’s Scents: Awesome Aromas In Soy

Suey’s Scents offers highly scented candles and bath and body products made with soy and high quality essential oils. The results are awesomely fragrant products that smell amazing.

I love Suey’s Scents because they are a small company and the products are all handmade with care about the environment. The soy is sourced from US farmers and the ingredients are as pure and natural as possible.

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Monkey Moccasins from Nowali

The monkey moccasins from Nowali are the cutest things. Part sock, part slipper, and all cute my little guy fell in love with them as soon as he laid eyes on them.

If you follow my writing you know my three year old is bananas about monkeys so anything I can find with monkeys on it goes to my very own little monkey man. Now thanks to Nowali he can even have monkeys on his feet.

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Kissably Green Lips with NVEY ECO

Ever since I heard that some lipsticks contain lead and many lip glosses and lip balms use petroleum products I have made a conscious choice to green my lips. I’ve found many lip balms that I love but green glosses and true eco-lipsticks have eluded me…until now. I have tried a couple of NVEY ECO’s lipsticks and one of their glosses and…I am smitten.

NVEY ECO’s products offer high performance without chemical fillers and the colors are phenomenal.

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Lab Created Gemstones Are More Eco Than Mined Gemstones

Are you looking for some beautiful bling but can’t stand the guilt of buying newly mined gemstones?

Consider lab created gemstones. Synthetic diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires are nearly identical to the real thing. In fact these sparkling beauties are physically, optically and chemically identical to the real thing. Minus the awful amount of mining waste, pollution, and environmental destruction that mining often creates plus the ethical problems associated with mining in third world countries.

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Licking My Lips: Dark Chocolate Orange Lip Balm from KokoKahn

I can’t keep this stuff on my lips! It is so delicious I keep licking it right off. Thank goodness it is natural, safe and full of organic ingredients and not any petroleum by-products.

The Dark Chocolate Orange lip balm by Kokokahn has to be one of the best tasting lip balms I have ever used. At one time I never would have believed that orange and chocolate was a tasty flavor combination but since trying it, it’s almost up there with chocolate and raspberry which is my most favorite flavor combo.

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