Making your own treats, cards, and gifts for Valentine’s Day is not only greener but a lot sweeter too. Even people who are picky about homemade gifts tend to melt a little when they get a nice handmade item on Valentine’s Day. Here are some cool ideas for you and the kiddos… OH and remember, even if it doesn’t say so, you can use organic ingredients in any treats and recycled paper or other recycled items for crafts.
Crafty Valentine’s Day Card & Paper Projects:

The project above is HUGE and will take some time, but it’s so cool – Homemade …read more

Today we have a special DIY homemade eco chic soap guest post from Anne-Marie, founder of Bramble Berry Inc.…

More and more families are growing increasingly concerned about their ecological footprint. In addition to taking less trips, recycling and planting more trees, there is an easy thing you can to help save the environment, improve your family’s health and save money in the process. Making your own soap is a great way to control the ingredients that go into your bath tub, onto your child and down your drain. And, bonus! It’s a fraction of the cost of store bought soap.
Eco …read more

Herbs are good for more than doctoring salad and fish; use them to get shiny great smelling hair too.

Gather up: 

Handful of fresh organic sage
Handful of fresh organic rosemary
Few leaves of organic fresh mint
Favorite organic pure essential oil, although I suggest one of the following: lavender (you can substitute fresh lavender as well, mix it in with the other herbs), orange, tea tree.
Small pot

To make:

Rub all the herbs in your hands for a few minutes – this releases the oils and scent.
Place all herbs in your pot and cover with water (about a pint 1/2).
Cover pot, bring to a boil, reduce …read more

Just stepped in to say angry chicken is sharing her homemade deodorant recipe.
Perhaps it’s time to try your own.
Image via flickr.
Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in July 2008

It’s a crazy week, so instead of sharing some of my recipes, I’m going to share some of my favorite recipe links. Now, here’s the deal. I don’t always find organic body care recipe links. Do I make the item organic – why yes, and you can too. Almost any homemade beauty care recipe can be converted to organic easily. Also, if an item in a recipe doesn’t suit me, I’ll change it up.
Don’t forget to read Homemade Beauty Products – Safety 101 before you get started.
My fave links:
Channel your inner princess with homemade body glitter: I don’t …read more

Strawberries have naturally high levels of salicylic acid – you know the stuff found in anti-acne creams, washes, and lotions. You can save your cash and use strawberries on your skin (cheaper than a tube of cream – that usually can’t be recycled).

Mash up enough organic strawberries for your whole face – or mash one for spot treatments.
Add a drop of tea tree essential oil (optional – but also an acne fighter).
Add a little cornstarch; about a tablespoon per 1/4 cup of berries. This will help it stick to your skin.

Wash your face. Apply the berry mixture and wait 10-15 …read more

Honey is awesome for most skin types. It leaves your skin feeling really clean, it can firm, its natural antibacterial properties make it great for blemishes, and as a bonus your skin smells great, very honey sweet, and the scent lingers.
Here are a few plain old honey skin applications. If you’re using it on your skin, I’d use organic.
Plain honey for the honey pat or tap: Pour a little honey into a cup, use your fingers to scoop honey onto your face. Tap your fingers all over your face until the honey stops dripping and becomes tacky (it will …read more

These are fresh face scrubs – meaning you make it, you use it or lose it. I suppose you could refrigerate for a bit, but not more than a day or so.
Both of these work on all skin types except ultra sensitive. If you have very sensitive skin you can omit part of the scrubby ingredients (i.e. almonds or bran) but try a little on your arm before using.
Almond, Apricot, & Honey Face Scrub
You need:

1/2 organic apricot at room temperature
1/4 cup ground almonds
1/2 tablespoon Honey
Optional – a teaspoon of dried lavender

To make:
Put everything in a blender and blend …read more

I’m a little obsessed with these cool lemon bath cookies I read about at Pretty By Nature. The recipe sounds awesome. Since I did see it there, I’m sending you over to Pretty by Nature to see the recipe link, but you won’t be disappointed with a couple of clicks. It sounds like a great morning pick-me-up sort of soap. Easy to adjust as organic too.
You also may be interested in hugging yourself a lemon tree.
Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in May 2008
[photo via stock.xchng]

In my recent post; 23 Refillable Liquid Hand Soap Pumps, a reader (and cool blogger I know – Angelique) asked:
“I was wondering if you (or any readers) knew of a cheap way to make your own liquid soap from all those crazy “soap slivers” that slime around the kitchen, bathrooms, showers and tubs?
There has to be a way to liquify them, right? Or am I in la-la land?”
Angelique is not in la-la land. I answered her question in the comments, but one I answered it with a short version (leaving out specific timing), and two, since maybe you …read more