Cinco de Mayo is this Saturday! Let’s celebrate with friends & family by having an eco-friendly party with fun festive food, drinks, and party favors.

Top 5 eco-friendly ways to celebrate Cinco de Mayo

1. Drink delicious organic margaritas
2. Make mini piñatas party favors shaped like chili peppers
3. Buy local & organic food for your get together
4. Use biodegradable wooden cutlery instead of plastic at your party
5. Recycle all glass bottles from the cocktails served at your shindig

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This weekend is Earth Day!

What a prefect time to go green, if you haven’t already. Show the world you care about the planet with these five easy tips for conserving energy, water and waste.

5 Earth Day Tips

1. Use reusable shopping bags
2. Buy local food & products
3. Upcycle / reuse everything you can
4. Ride your bike instead of driving your car
5. Fix all leaky water fixtures

Happy Earth Day!

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I love all those natural pampering bath products, like soaps, body scrubs, lotions, oils… They smell like heaven in the shower when I use them and they make my skin feel great, but they are all so expensive.

So I decided to see if I could create my own.

After a little experimental trial & error, I finally came up with two DIY exfoliating body scrubs that are similar to store bought products, but are from ingredients on hand in most kitchens.

DIY Sugar Body Scrub

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup White Sugar
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
3/4 Cup (or so) Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Vanilla or Almond Extract

Step 1: Add the 2 sugars to a containter, mixing until well combined.

Step 2: Pour in most of the olive oil. Let it bubble down to the bottom, then pour in a little more. Mix with a spoon, if needed, until you have a nice sticky scrub.

Step 3: Mix in vanilla.

Step 4: Add a cute ribbon & this indulging exfoliating scrub makes the perfect gift.

DIY Citrus Salt Body Scrub

Ingredients:
3/4 Cup Sea Salt
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
2 Slices of Lemon
2 Slices of Orange

Step 1: Add olive oil & sea salt to blender.

Step 2: Slice your fruit.

Step 3: Add fruit with the peel to the blender & mix.

Step 4: Once completely mixed, so the fruit peel is itty bitty, transfer scrub mixture to a container.

Step 5: Add a cute ribbon & this summery exfoliating scrub also makes the perfect gift.

Posted in Eco-Products, Green Crafts | 1 Comment »

Make your Valentine’s Day dinner party extra special this year by decorating your tableware with edible paint & glitter. It’s super easy, completely edible and eco-friendly. All you need are a few ingredients that you most likely have in the pantry and some plain jane dishes to dress up.

Let’s get started…

DIY Edible Sugar Glitter

Mix 2 tablespoons of sugar and a few drops of liquid food coloring until the color is evenly distributed. (You can also substitute salt for sugar, however the grains of salt give off less sparkle than the sugar.)

Line a baking tray with aluminium foil. Pour the colored sugar onto the baking tray and spread the sugar thinly and evenly on the tray. Preheat your oven to 300ºF. Place the baking tray with sugar in the oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Remove tray from oven and let the sugar cool completely. Use a fork to break up clumps of sugar that may have formed.

DIY Edible Paint

Mix 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon of water, and 2 drops of liquid food coloring.

Apply with a paintbrush to plain dishes, mugs or even glassware.

Sprinkle your homemade suger glitter on the paint while it is still wet to add a little extra sparkle and shine to every dish.

And when it’s time to clean up, just wash your dishes like normal. The paint and glitter will just melt off in hot water.

Have fun! Get creative! The sky’s the limit to color scheme & design.

Posted in Green Crafts, Healthy Eating | 1 Comment »

As 2011 comes to an end, it is time to reflect on the past and make new resolutions for 2012 and the future.

One of my resolutions every year is to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle. I achieve this by making a new goal for the year and taking baby steps at making it become part of my everyday routine.

A few years ago, that goal was to use reusable shopping bags every time I go to a store. The year after that, was to recycle or upcycle everything I could. The next year, I promised to shop more consciously, to look for products that are local, packaged in eco-friendly packaging and are natural or organic.

Now this year, my resolution is to make my home more energy efficient. I currently have an old thermostat that requires me to manually turn up or down the heat. Of course, I often forget to turn it down when I leave for the day or at night. So this year my goal is to install a programmable thermostat and save some energy.

What are your green living goals for 2012?

Posted in Energy, Environment, Family | 6 Comments »

The holiday season is a great time for fresh starts and new traditions. If you haven’t started living a green lifestyle, now’s your opportunity. Here are the top five tips for creating a green Holiday Celebration.

Eco Holiday Tips:

1. Cards -Consider switching to emailed holiday cards to reduce your landfill waste. If you would like to send printed paper cards consider a card which is made from 100% post consumer recycled paper and is printed with soy inks.
2. Trees - Fake trees are reusable but are made from petroleum-derived sources and often shipped from abroad. Real trees, for their part, are typically sprayed with lots of pesticides. Organic Christmas trees are tough to come by. If you opt for a real tree, be sure to bring it to a local recycling center, where it can be chipped for mulch or used whole to stabilize wetlands. A better Christmas tree choice may be to purchase a live, potted tree, which can be planted outside after the holidays. Evergreen varieties such as pine, spruce, and fir work well in many regions.
3. Lights -Switching to LEDs is 90% more efficient than incandescent lighting. LEDs don’t get as hot as traditional lights, lowering the risk of fire, and if one bulb goes out, the rest of the string still works. They last longer, too.
4. Decorations - From bamboo placemats to homemade napkin rings, make a commitment to go green by decorating with an eco-friendly touch. Making Christmas decorations at home is another way to get the whole family involved in a creative project.
5. Gift Wrapping - Get creative with your gift wrapping. Make the wrapping of the gift part of the gift, something that can be used for another purpose afterwards, like a scarf, reusable bag or even a tablecloth.

Happy Holidays!

Posted in Family, Tips | 3 Comments »

It’s Thanksgiving week! What better way to celebrate than with green DIY crafts. If you’re looking to green up your table decorations or just have some fun with the kids here are some eco-friendly Thanksgiving craft projects.

Top 5 DIY Thanksgiving Crafts

1- Upcycled hand print turkey shirt

2- Corn husk recycled jar candle holder

3- Turkey made from toilet paper rolls

4- Biodegradable Thanksgiving placecards

5- Thankful turkeys containers

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted in Family, Green Crafts, Recycling | 4 Comments »

Switching to LED (light emitting diodes) light bulbs is one of the easiest ways to lessen your carbon footprint & save big bucks on your electricity bill.

SuperBrightLEDs.com is a St. Louis, Missouri based online company that offers all sorts of LED bulbs for the home, office or vehicle.

One of the most popular bulbs SuperBrightLEDs.com offers is the 9 watt Globe LED Bulb, which is available in both warm white (like a traditional bulb) or cool white (white with a tint of blue that actually puts off more light). The light output is comparable to 55 – 60 watt incandescent bulb, but consumes just 9 Watts of power.

Priced as affordable as possible, SuperBrightLEDs.com extends significant savings to their customers. Plus their bulb comes with a standard 2 year warranty, however the bulb should last way longer than that.

Top 3 Reasons to Switch to LED Light Bulbs:
1- LEDs are much more efficient than incandescent lighting.
2- LEDs don’t get as hot as traditional lights, lowering the risk of fire & burns.
3- LEDs last way longer than conventional incandescent lighting.

Buy Now!

Posted in Eco-Products, Energy | 3 Comments »

Most cat owners use traditional clay based cat litters because they are so easy & convenient. Unfortunately, these litters are not very kind to our planet or the health of your furry feline. But there are other options out there that are just as easy and convenient, plus they smell a little better, like World’s Best Cat Litter.

World’s Best Cat Litter uses the natural absorbency of whole-kernel corn to deliver hassle-free cat care that doesn’t harm the environment. Their formulas are made of 100% all-natural ingredients and contain no synthetic chemicals, additives or artificial perfumes. So it limits odors, clumps fast, scoops easy and is pet, people and planet friendly.

World’s Best Cat Litter Eco-Features…

• Outstanding Oder Control: World’s Best Cat Litter is the only litter made from whole-kernel corn. That means it has a naturally microporous structure that keeps nasty odors and smells inside the litter.
• Quick Clumping: World’s Best Cat Litter traps the liquid and limits the wetness from seeping, sinking to the bottom or sticking to the sides of the box.
• Easy to Scoop: With its patented formula and quick-clumping abilities, World’s Best Cat Litter is easy to scoop. Cleanup is a breeze!
• Long Lasting: Quick clumping keeps the rest of the litter dry. As a result, one 7-lb. bag of World’s Best Cat Litter may last one cat more than 30 days. That saves you time and money!
• Pet & People Friendly: Because World’s Best Cat Litter is made from all-natural ingredients—with no added chemicals—it’s safe for cats. And unlike clay litters, there’s no silica dust for you or your cat to breathe.
• Planet Friendly: World’s Best Cat Litter isn’t made from mined, drilled, or artificially made ingredients. It’s milled from renewable whole-kernel corn.

Buy Now!

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Halloween is almost here! Just a few more weeks. Are you all ready? Do you have your pumpkins carved? Do you have your costume picked out? Don’t worry, you still have plenty of time & we’re here to help.

Here are the top 5 eco-conscious Halloween tips for 2011:

1- Buy your pumpkins from local farms
2- Create your own party decorations to reuse year after year
3- Make your own costume from recycled materials
4- BYO trick or treat bag
5- Create a compost pile for your pumpkins on November 1st.

Posted in Family, Green Crafts, Tips | No Comments »