Seriously adorable right!? I love it. It looks so professional and so very in season, yet you could do this at home with recycled and scrape materials. BETTER YET you could so adapt this for any holiday or reason. Like I’m thinking a cool blue and green hanging globe ordeal for Earth Day. It would also be perfect in birthday colors for a pretty decor touch above the birthday table or cake.

Learn how to make this project from one very talented mama, Heather.

[image via Hello my name is Heather]

The Fresh Ideas Group’s 2009 Consumer Trends Forecast is worth checking out if you’re interested in what’s hot and not on the green scene for 2009.

They sent me a nice little chart with the basics:

While I can’t say that I agree that recycling is out of style, and I’m so not jumping on the boxed wine train, it’s an overall good list. The actual forecast piece goes into much more detail and it’s an interesting read.

Check it out.

Source: The Fresh Ideas Group

Looking for fun treats for Valentine’s Day that won’t crush the planet’s heart? Try one or some of these ideas…

Any of the lovely cookies from Beautiful Sweets – Their treats are all sustainable from the baking to the packaging, and they ship their pretty Valentine’s Day organic cookies all over. Some examples…

Read more

• Skip diamonds (for the most part) and give eco-friendly jewelry instead.
• Serve organic treats, wine, and champagne.
• Give organic flowers.
• Green that night o’ love and recycle your unmentionables.
• Get sexy and stay green.
• Make your own cards – more special than store bought and you can reuse supplies you’ve got around the house. Or be sure to buy Valentine’s Day cards made with recycled materials.
• For romance light organic soy or beeswax candles.

Looking for kid specific green Valentine’s Day ideas?

Coming up I’ve got some specific examples of the ideas above.

[image via stock.xchng]

Make this Valentine’s Day green – you can love on the earth and still love on your kiddos.

• Give organic and Fair Trade treats. Chocolates, lollies, punch, cupcakes and more are available in organic versions.
• Give long-term gifts like an organic stuffed friend or a game vs. little plastic toss away toys. Wrap said gifts in recycled gift wrap.
• Make homemade decorations out of recycled materials.
• Make homemade Valentines with recycled materials. If you want new, buy Valentines made with recycled content.
• Skip balloons – most can’t be recycled, and when let loose aren’t so great for the animals in your community.
• Use treat bags that are reusable instead of plastic or paper.

For more ideas read Celebrate Green.

Coming up; eco-Valentine’s Day ideas for adults and some specific examples of the above list.

[image via stock.xchng]

I’ve been wanting to do a post on better looking recycling bins for a while now. However, there’s not much coolness out there in the recycling bin market. There’s some decent recycling bins, but nothing that was making me drool. However, I got lucky this last week, and found some really nice and stylish bins for the home.

Why bother with nice looking recycling bins?:

You can use anything for a recycling bin – an old box, an ugly bin from your local recycling company, even just a bag on the floor. However, it’s worth the money in my opinion to find some attractive bins. If you have attractive bins you can keep them out in public. Recycling bins that are tucked away in your garage or on the porch are far less likely to be used to their maximum potential. Families who work recycling into their home decor scheme are just more likely to recycle. These bins may cost more in the short run, but in the long run they’ll last and last, and you’ll feel really happy using them.

PLUS you may be able to convert non-recycling friends once they see your pretty bins. I think that the bulk of icky looking recycling bins give recycling a bad name. This year, if you can, pick up a more attractive system. Ideas below.

The best recycling bins for your home:

Simplehuman is my new obsession, mainly because they’re rocking the recycling bin market. Seriously they have some of the best looking bins I’ve ever seen. Like this fingerprint-proof rectangular recycler below. If you lined two of these up, you’d have enough space for recycling categories and trash.

Read more

You have to see this great video created by the nonprofit group Kitchen Gardeners International, who are running the “Eat the View” campaign. The campaign’s goal is to encourage the return of edible landscapes on the White House lawn. This goal is seeking backing by President Obama. If he makes a change, and replants America’s garden, the theory is that this will inspire citizens to grow healthy and environmentally responsible food as well. This video is also a great simple history learning tool for kids – perfect for homeschooled kids too.

“Eat the View” is coordinated by Kitchen Gardeners International, a Maine-based 501c3 nonprofit network of 10,000 gardeners from 100 countries who are inspiring and teaching more people to grow some of their own food.”

If you want to get involved, you can sign the White House Victory Garden Petition. The petition will be delivered with a collection of heirloom seed packets to the Obamas.)

Visit Eat the View to learn about how you can plant smart, sustainable gardens in your home and community.

In case you caught that post where I mentioned an upcoming giveaway, I have good news and bad.

First of all, the bad news: due to technical issues (behind the blog), there’s not going to be a giveaway this month as I said.

The good news: Barring tech issues that just keep on going (doubtful), there will be two giveaways to kick off the month of February here. I’ve got two different and interesting prizes lined up for a total of four readers, so stay tuned.

Mainly, I just wanted to give you a heads up, but not to waste a post, I thought I’d share three cool links too.

Yesterday, we looked at how to reuse toilet paper tubes, and so I thought I should mention that another way to green your toilet paper use is to put the roll on the toilet paper holder correctly. According to TreeHugger, there IS a right way and a wrong way (someone actually did a study about it).

Junk Creation has a clever Prescription Bottle Reuse idea – it’s a sort of ah ha moment.

Mother Earth’s Garden has a homemade recipe for Horehound Drops. You could easily make these completely organic and natural. Plus, there’s no packaging like typical throat drops, so this is a very green remedy choice.

Remember my green New Year’s goals? One of them was to actually recycle those pesky toilet paper tubes. Well, I had a thought. Maybe I could track down some ways to actually put them to good use. And just maybe, these tips will help you too. I know we have a few other tube slackers here.

First I came up with some of my own ideas (using that old cerebral cortex)…

Baby safety: You probably know this one, but if it fits in a tube, it’s too small for a baby. This has got to be the cheapest child safety tool ever.

Cat safety: Um, Peggy and I chat often, and sometimes, sadly, compare cats to babies. She’s into cats. I’m into tots. In any case, I was thinking, if cats are so much like babies, and something fits in a tube, maybe your cat shouldn’t have it either. Other cat use – rolling toy!

Cord keeper: Roll your electrical cords up, pop them into a tube, and you’ve got a cheap and easy cord keeper.

Make kid gear: Need pretend binoculars, a telescope, a big ol’ marble run? You can make all these and scads more with toilet paper tubes. All you need is a little imagination.

Casual napkin rings: I’m not a napkin ring user. Frankly, I think they’re overkill, but you could make some.

Get published: Not typical, but since we’re talking tubes, I figured I’d mention that I wrote an entire post about toilet paper tubes here, and guess what? Someone put it in their book. Yup, it’s true. Write about tubes and maybe get in a book. It could happen. At any rate, if you like me, it gives you a reason to pick up the book now.

Then – I ran out of ideas, so I looked to the web (more brains, more ideas): Read more

Yeah, I know we don’t have a soap of the week here. But this week we do…

Way to send the message home right? I love it. Also, it’s made with organic aloe vera juice so your bubbles will be just as ethical as your actions.

Get some Save Water Soap at Plum Party Supplies.