Friday Eco-Fabulous Seller - Mary Ellen from Mary Zoom Boutique!

Mary Ellen sells handmade accessories that are not only functional, but sustainable.
Her designs are all handmade out of reclaimed natural fiber fabric that is 100% cotton, wool or linen. "As you can see from my shop, I repurpose thrifted and cast-off garments that would otherwise be destined to landfill oblivion."

As for her business practices, she has made the commitment to use what she already has. From Wrist Cuffs made out of recycled t-shirts to felt coasters made out of recycled sweaters, she offers a wide variety of sustainable product.

When shipping her products, she keeps pride in her presentation while still being eco-friendly. She uses sewing pattern tissue for wrapping paper and ties the package up with a pretty bow made from thrifted and reclaimed ribbon. She also makes stickers from out-of-print garden magazines and give them as a thank you gift.

Mary Zoom is currently having a sale from now until August 31. Buy any item from her shop at regular price and receive a wrist cuff wallet of your choice for 50% off PLUS free shipping.

Check her out now!
http://www.maryzoom.etsy.com

Friday Eco-Fabulous Seller - Natalie from Recupe Fashion

Natalie from Recupe Fashion recuperates old, unwanted , end of the line stuff and turns them into new and beautiful items. Everything she sells is Earth Friendly. She takes old material and turns them into new items ... now THAT is recycling! She will repurpose everything in order to give a second life to another item. It is beautiful! Her shop has a lot to offer with a large variety of recycled goodies!

You will find Tea Wallets and hankies (made from vintage shirts and sheets), little fabric bags which are great for jewelry storage and gift wrapping (also made from recycled fabrics.) Her headbands and key chains are a unique find made with fabric left overs. "When I make aprons it's the same, I use some shirts, sheets, or whatever I can find that I think will be useful for me in the fabrication of the aprons."

Natalie loves to crochet and offers a variety of these things also. "I love to go hunting to buy some cotton yarn, weather I buy it in balls from left over projects, or take shirts apart. I do roam flea markets and yard sales like crazy and support Etsy shops by buying from sellers who supply what I need."

She also makes silk tie purses with all the silk ties she can come up with. They are her favorite items (and mine too!). She carries some really cute bags made from recycled sweaters and embellishes vintage purses to make them look great again!


Not only does she sell all of the above but loves to throw in spa bath sets every once and a while. Her sets include bath puffs, facecloths/dishcloths, eye make up remover or face scrubbies. With these lovely items comes a bar of soap that she makes herself or buys from another Etsian artisan.

"I create new wonders. Whatever my hands may fall on I will create something from it. I'm always coming up with ideas. Can't stand still, gotta keep busy."

Check her out at http://www.recupefashion.etsy.com

You can see her other two eco friendly stores here

http://www.recupefashionnstuff.etsy.com

http://www.beautyrecycled.etsy.com

Friday Eco Fabulous Seller - Melody from Kinder Cotton

Melody from Kinder Cotton makes eco friendly baby items. She sells bibs, shoes, burp cloths, hats, hooded towels, washcloths and wipes.

Her items are adorable, super soft and high quality. Most importantly, all of her items are made from fabric that is organic and fair trade certified.
Organic cotton is grown without the use of chemicals or pesticides. Traditionally grown cotton accounts for 25% of the worlds pesticides.
Although fabric with a continence costs a little more, you can be rest assured that 'the people who produced the fabric we paid fairly and not exposed to harmful pesticides, fertilizers, or dyes.'

Melody is a work at home mom who started sewing for her baby when she wanted her to have cute, organic baby products. "I love the creative process and working with the fabrics, which meant that I kept sewing once I had plenty of supplies for her. I know that sewing your own isn't an option for most moms, so I hope that I can provide cute, practical, durable items for your baby, too!"

You can check out Melody's store at
http://www.kindercotton.etsy.com
Her prices are extremely reasonable, especially for using organic cotton!

The wonderus mysteries of Vinegar!

Yummy. Vinegar on French fries. One of my favorite things! Not only do I love vinegar for my food, but it is a great natural ingredient that helps eliminate all kinds of scary toxic cleaners, and does other amazing things too! Here are some of my favorite tips.

Cleaning

1) I think everyone knows by now, that vinegar is a great glass cleaner. It rarely leaves streaks, and does an amazing job! This method is cheaper, more effective, and better for the environment than using any generic glass cleaner.

2) Vinegar is great to run through your coffee machine. It gets rid of all that gross mineral buildup and you don’t have to worry about chemicals getting into your coffee system!

3) Vinegar is also a great disinfectant. It is a great replacement for bleach or any harsh cleaning products.

4) Have pets? They have accidents too, just like children! Spraying Vinegar on pee spots (especially on carpets) and rubbing it in with a rag eliminates the yucky odor and helps get rid of the stain. Helps eliminate harsh carpet cleaners.

5) Have a stinky smell in your house/apartment/room? Fill up a bowl or glass with vinegar. Put it in a safe place (where it won’t spill) and watch it suck in the odor (the color will eventually turn from clear to yellow or brown) while giving off fresh scents of vinegar!

6) Want to avoid using wasteful SOS pads? For stubborn baked on foods/grease, soak dishes in 1/4 cup of vinegar, and hot hot water. Soak for an hour. Come back and see the grime almost lift off the dish.

7) For cleaning interiors of stoves and stove racks, use 1 cup to 1 ½ cups of vinegar mixed with hot water. This eliminates using harmful aerosols.

8) Putting a bit of vinegar in the bottom of your garbage bin can help keep pests and insects away.

9) Did you get annoying glue stuck to your hands? Wash them in a bit of vinegar. It will help the glue soften before you use soap and water.

Natural Medicines

1) Suffering from a migraine or a headache? Put some vinegar on a wash cloth and place it on your forehead. It will make you feel a lot better.

2) Feel like you have an ear infection? Swimmers Ear perhaps? Swimmers Ear is a fungal infection, and almost every type of fungus is quickly and effectively cured with vinegar. Try making a solution of 50% water and 50% vinegar. Drop it into your ear and wiggle it around. Make sure it gets all the way in. Results happen fast.

3) Do you get clogged sinuses? Boil some vinegar and place in a cup or a small bowl. The vapors will help un-block the infection due to it’s aroma.

Feel free to comment on any of these tips! Let me know if you have tried any of these techniques and how they worked for you! Also, feel free to add some more!

Friday Feature - Eco Fabulous Seller Lolaness

Lolaness is an online boutique through Etsy that provides creative, custom Etsy kits and graphic design products created by a professional graphic designer. They sell everything you could think of to make your etsy shop and products as beautiful as can be. From stickers and labels to customized shop banners, this is definitely a shop worth checking out!

Lolaness makes their boutique green by printing every product on a minimum of 50% PCW (Post-consumer waste), and recycled paper. They also focus on offering products that require no shipping at all. If you have a good printer at home, you can "get away with printing your own packing slips and mailing labels from a beautiful custom design that was emailed to you rather than having it printed and shipped. It eliminates all the waste involved in shipping a product."

If Lolaness has to ship something, they always use recycled packaging in the form of recycled boxes and repurposed containers. They avoid using Styrofoam peanuts or other non-biodegradable materials.

Check out the Lolaness blog at
http://www.pixelboutique.blogspot.com/
You can also follow her on twitter at
http://twitter.com/lolanessdesign
And of coarse their shop
http://www.lolaness.etsy.com

Friday Feature - Eco Fabulous Seller Rachel From Sew Good And Trendy

Rachel makes beautiful, trendy, functional eco friendly bags!

Her mission is “To show the world that environmentally conscious choices can be made without sacrificing convenience and personal style.

Bags from Sew Good and Trendy are as green as they can be. Rachel does everything she can to use eco-friendly materials. All fabrics used in production are natural, organic, or reclaimed. Buttons used for these fabulous bags are tagua (a natural vegetable ivory), reclaimed, or made from other natural materials.

"I even use a recycled soda bottle/cotton mill scrap canvas for interfacing. My bags look beautiful and I hope people feel great using them knowing they have as little impact on our planet as possible!"

In addition to using green materials, her purses come with a reusable shopping bag that is super cute and folds up into a pocket in the bag so you never leave home without one. Her most popular tote/shopping bag is called the Chic Sack. "This bag actually fits onto the typical plastic shopping bag stand for easy hands-free loading. Not to mention the bag is lovely, made from all eco-friendly fabrics, is reversible, and rolls up into it’s inside pocket to make for storage or a perfect travel pillow!"

Rachel also practices her business in a green manner as well. She recycles shipping materials such as recycled paper, tags, mailers, etc.

I love her products! They are very cute and trendy! This is a store you must check out! You can shop for her products at http://www.sewgoodandtrendy.etsy.com
For more information about her store, product and practices, check this website out!
http://www.sewgoodandtrendy.com
Want to keep up with her environmentally friendly updates? Follow her on Facebook
www.tinyurl.com/sewgoodandtrendy (face book fan page)

How to recycle coffee grounds

Let’s face it. Life would suck without coffee. The person who invented coffee is a genius. Not only is coffee great for waking up our tired minds, but there are many things that can be done to recycle the coffee grounds which usually end up going in the garbage.
Try out these fun tips! You will be surprised…..

1) When times are tough, re-freeze used coffee grounds and then use them again to make another pot of coffee. This can be done up to 3 times. (The more they get re-used, the less strong your pot of coffee will be.)

2) Coffee grounds can be used as a natural fertilizer. They increase the nitrogen balance in your garden. Put them in your compost. Not only do they help break things down, but they help keep smelly odors limited, and keep skunks and pests away.

3) Add coffee grounds when planting or replanting plants, trees or shrubs. The coffee grounds help keep the moisture contained in the plants, and help the plants seek moisture when dry due to lack of rain or watering.

4) Coffee grounds make a great organic cleaner! Put the coffee grounds down your drains, sinks, toilets, tubs, sewer drains etc. They will help pull out hair, buildup, grease, etc. What the coffee grounds will do is cling or coat to the gunk, which eventually sucks it down the drain. This is a great way to reduce nasty harsh household chemicals.

Feel free to comment and add to the wondrous list of things coffee can do!

Friday Feature - Eco Fabulous Seller - Mary from Herban Lifestyle

Mary sells high-quality herbal bath and body products (salts, balms, soaps, creams, and more) that are handcrafted in small batches using natural and organic ingredients, pure-essential oils, earth-friendly packaging, and made with Love and Gratitude.

By using 'Natural and Organic ingredients', it means all of her business' products are made from organic, fair trade and/or ethically wild-crafted herbs and essential oils, organic fabrics and fill. "We never use artificial preservatives, artificial colors, fragrances, or surfactants, synthetic, petroleum-based or other chemical ingredients."

Herban Lifestyle adheres to these standards as a signer of the Compact for Safe Cosmetics. They always follow standards to Whole Foods' Premium Body Care Standards. They are also certified CRUELTY FREE by the Leaping Bunny!!

Herban Lifestyle is green in many other ways. When they are packaging their product, they use only 100% recycled paper labels, and all packaging and shipping supplies are recycled, recycleable, and/or biodegradable. "To ship, we only use the US Postal Service; did you know that the USPS holds “Cradle to Cradle”Certification at the Silver level for human and environmental health?"

To further ensure environmentally responsible business practices, Herban Lifestyle always offsets 100% of their carbon footprint through purchase of CleanCurrents and CarbonFund RECs, and they are an Environmental Protection Agency Green Power Partner, which means they purchase green power in amounts that meet EPA’s requirements.

"In the everyday running of our business, we are conscientious about being green as well. We use fuel-efficient vehicles, compact florescent bulbs, cloth bags when shopping, and we reuse, recycle and compost everything we can, from paper, ink cartridges and packing peanuts, to herbal waste and compostable trash bags!"

Herban Lifestyle is also a member of Green America and the Sustainable Business Network of Washington. They pledge to practice ethical business and labor standards. Everything they sell is handcrafted in Falls Church, VA. They do absolutely no manufacturing! In their efforts to be conscientious members of their community they also donate 5% of gross revenues to charity, including Feeding America (formerly America’s Second Harvest), Sierra Club, Herb Research Foundation, and Martha’s Table. They donate goods to local charities (such as EcoVentures and Common Good City Farm) for their fund raising efforts. They additionally purchase their 800 number through Earth Tones, where 100% of their profit goes to grassroots environmental causes. Their website is hosted using 100% solar power via AISO.net. Solar-powered servers use 60% less energy and generate 50% less heat than conventional servers.

This is definitely a shop worth checking out. Not only are their products sustainable, but they are committed to practicing a green lifestyle through their business endeavors.
Check out their yummy goods here!
http://www.herbanlifestyle.etsy.com

AND THE WINNER IS....Drum role.....

Thank you to for everyone who participated in my June Giveaway! All names were placed in a hat and one was chosen at random....the winner for June's Free giveaway is...Trenda Plunkett! Trenda won a Planet Playground dress valued at 9.75. She picked 'Cotton Candy' as shown in the picture above!

Congrats Trenda!!

Product Review - Conscious Boutique

After blogging about the Eco Friendly Etsy store, Conscious Boutique, the owner, Jason, was very kind to send me a little gift from his store. I received the coolest notebook ever! I am so impressed! It is so well made! Mine is in a pastel green, and has a lovely upcycled picture of some flower buds and butterflies! It is the perfect size - I can slip it into my purse (the big purse or the small purse LOL!) yet it is still big enough to make notes - whether it be inspirations, important information, or sales tracking for when I am at craft shows!
The packaging it came in too is so unique! It came in a pink fused plastic envelope! Instead of using wasteful tape to seal it, it has been stitched together! It was so pretty and thoughtful that I didn't want to open it!
These little notebooks are not only great for fellow crafters, but would also be great for gifts (everyone always needs stationary!)
A highly recommended Etsy shop!
Check his store out here at
http://www.consciousboutique.etsy.com
You'll be glad you did!

Friday Feature - Eco Fabulous Seller Jeanna From Beans Things

Jeanna sells One of a Kind (OOAK) nature inspired jewelry and home decor.
All of her images included in her items are upcycled from various printed venues. "I constantly keep my eye out for anything that I think would make a great pendant or magnet set. When I find something that works, it is like Christmas morning for me! I choose each image thoughtfully and spend much time on each item from start to finish."
Jeanna is flexible with custom orders and encourages them. "It is so great to see the creative process unfold…it all starts with an image from a magazine/catalog and ends with a beautiful nature inspired piece of art!"

Jeanna has been creating since she was a child. "At a very young age I was made aware of the impact that we have not only on our environment, but to our earth’s animals too."
She re-uses all shipping materials and sometimes makes her own shipping envelopes out of cereal boxes. "All of the wrapping I use to wrap my items after purchase have been up-cycled as well. I re-use everything!"

You need to check out this store! Prices are extremely reasonable (From $1.50 to $12.00)and her items are truly unique and inspiring!

See her Etsy store at: www.beansthings.etsy.com
See her ArtFire store at: www.BeansThings.artfire.com
See her Facebook Fan club: http://tinyurl.com/d2z6x3
Follow her on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/beansthings
See her Flickr at: www.flickr.com/beansthings

Green Living Tip

Each American throws away 160 pounds of food EVERY YEAR!!
Why not try composting your plants with your left over scraps? Not only can you do this with your gardens, but your indoor/outdoor plants as well!
Composting allows the nutrients from your scraps to turn into plant food.
For more information, check out this website for tips on composting.
http://www.idealbite.com/tiplibrary/archives/scrap-happy

Friday Feature: Eco Fabulous Seller Jason from Conscious Boutique

Jason, from Conscious Boutique has always been into making things.
A few years ago, he began a quest to minimize his personal impact on the earth. This led him to the wonderful world of recycling, upcycling, and making things out of
discarded or surplus items.

His shop features bags made from recycled billboard vinyl and notebooks made from discarded office supplies, surplus paper, and images clipped from old found books.

His shop motto is "Handmade. Responsible." His goal is to think about
every aspect of the things he creates, and to be as responsible as he can
possibly be when creating them, from the materials, to the tools, to
the process.

"My current passion is to reinvent things we use everyday so that they
are made from recycled material. This is something that lots of
eco-etsians have done. Etsy has become the Wal-Mart for recycled
everyday products!"

He happens to live near an amazing source of surplus materials, The
Black Hole (http://boozhoundlabs.com/grothus/). This is a Mecca of
materials for the nerdy maker of things. "Every time I go here, I am
inspired to create something new, or to use a different material for
something I have been making."

Jason would love to sell something to someone who is not a personal friend or relative. (I think every etsy seller has been there at one point!!) He has great plastic fused mailers that he has made himself from scratch, and is super excited to use them!!

This is a store you really want to check out as there is a lot of thoughtful products. The prices are very reasonable, products range from 5.00 to 40.00. These eco friendly products make some great gift ideas!
Lets show some support to eco-fabulous sellers like Jason! See his store at
http://www.consciousboutique.etsy.com

Ashley Markus - Off The Hooks

GREEN BUSINESS OF THE WEEK!!

Off The Hooks sells a variety of items such as crocheted and knit accessories, yarn and eco friendly goodies!

Shop owner Ashley spins her own yarn, often from local producers and farms. She upcycles and reclaims a lot of yarns for many of her items. She takes unwanted fabrics and turns them into "fabric yarns". She hand dyes her fibers and yarns with non-toxic dyes. She also uses minimal packaging when shipping her product, and loves to reuse packing materials. Not only is this shop eco-friendly, but it supports the local economy!!

Off the Hooks is participating in the YART SALE on Etsy sponsored by Team ESST. Art + Yard Sale = Yart! Check out her YART SALE section in her store!
http://www.offthehooks.etsy.com

How to get stains out of silk

Here is an eco friendly way to get *some* stains out of silk. All you need is
1) 1/2 a cup of laundry detergent
2) 2 teaspoons of white vinegar
3)8 cups of cold water.
Mix the ingredients well. Put the silk in the solution, but do NOT soak it. Rinse it well. Roll the silk in a towel and iron it while it is still damp. Hang to dry.