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Author Archive | Jennie Lyon

Green Your Holiday Tree.

December 14, 2009 4

What type of holiday tree do you have this year? Where did you purchase it? If you purchased a cut tree, how will you dispose of it in an Eco friendly manner?

This year we decided to purchase a trio of live potted trees that can be planted in our yard once the holiday is over. They are working out really well and we like them a lot more than I thought we would. I would highly recommend this option to anyone who has somewhere to plant the tree.

If you purchased a cut tree, please recycle it when you are finished with it. You can find recycling centers in your area at Earth911.com. In the past when we have hiked and cut down a tree at our local sustainable mountain farm, we have taken our tree to our local gardening center and had it made into mulch that we used in our yard in the springtime.

If you are interested in a fake tree, I have seen quite a few very nice ones at our local thrift, check yours out and see what you can find.
Did you know, you can also rent a live tree? Yes, there is a Portland, Oregon based company called The Original Living Christmas Tree Company that will deliver and pickup your tree for around $80. Fab, fab, fab.

What type of holiday tree do you have?
How will you dispose of it?
XO.

Earth Friendly Etsy: Lulu Bug Sustainable Jewelry Giveaway

December 13, 2009 46

I am a huge fan of beautiful, sustainable jewlery. My favorites pieces of jewelry are made of recycled metal and when I found Lulu Bug Jewelry, I fell in love instantly. Lulu Bug Jewelry is owned and designed by Sue Urquhart. Sue has a day job working in jewelry design and manufacturing and also runs Lulu Bug Jewelry in Sonoma County, California on the side.

Sue takes her own artwork and makes etched brass plates which she uses to print the textures and images onto the metal pieces. Cool. Sue uses precious metal clay to create her beautiful nature inspired pieces of jewelry. Lulu Bug Jewelry’s line (named after her beloved Shar Pei) includes fabulous necklaces and earrings with beautiful flora, animal and nature designs. She does amazing custom work and is able to transform a picture of your beloved pet into a beautiful piece of jewelry. Sue rides her bicycle to her day job, (which I think is fantastic!) she says this gives her more time to dream up her creations since she is able to enjoy the scenery around her.

My favorite pieces from Lulu Bug Jewelry are the concrete flowers necklace in aqua and little bird necklace that is featured. Sue has been so lovely to offer one of her beautiful little bird necklaces to ONE of my fabulous readers.

How to Enter

 

2. Visit Lulu Bug Jewelry and leave me a comment telling me which piece of jewelry you love.
3. Complete this form.

Contest ends May 20th@ 12am EST. Winner will be chosen at random using a random number generator and will be announced the following day.

* Update: Winner:: Aimee. Congratulations.

Green Tips:: Spice it Up.

December 13, 2009 4

Jayson does all of our cooking here at Casa de Sweet Greens {thank goodness}. He is the type of person who can whip up a gourmet meal in a 1/2 an hour and have it look at taste like something from the Food Network. He loves to cook with exotic spices and flavors. Since he does all of the cooking, he also does all of the grocery shopping. {thank goodness again}. Whenever he is in need of spices, he takes our reusable containers to our favorite grocery store and refills the containers in the bulk food section. Loose spices are not only more affordable, but you eliminate the need for any type of disposable packaging that will end up in the landfill. I think large glass jars full of spices look fab in any kitchen. What do you think?

Do you buy your spices in bulk?
What is your favorite spice?

xo.

Earth Friendly Etsy: Willow Creek Sparrow Black Crow Giveaway

December 12, 2009 71

We did it! We spent all day last Sunday decorating the inside and outside of our home for Halloween. We decided to get an early start on it, because Jayson’s lovely brother and nephew are coming this Friday to stay with us for a long weekend. Jayson’s brother’s son is the same age as Eben so we thought it would be fun to have everything decorated before they arrived. My favorite Halloween decorations are the ones that we made ourselves or picked up at vintage stores. Have you started your Halloween decorating? Need a little inspiration?
This week’s Earth friendly Etsy shop is Willow Creek Sparrow. Willow Creek Sparrow is a lovely little shop full vintage and handmade goodies. Willow Creek Sparrow is owned by Laurie and her two lovely daughters. All three of them love to shop their local flea markets, thrift stores, estate sales, trunk shows, antique and vintage boutiques and their shop is a collection of all of their wonderful finds. My favorite items at Willow Creek Sparrow are things for the holidays. I am in love with their upcycled pillows, bags and other decorations, with my absolutely favorite being the Love Potion #9 Witch.

Laurie & her daughters @ Willow Creek Sparrow have been so sweet to offer TWO of my readers a Love Potion #9 and lovely little crow. You heard right, we will have TWO winners this week. Yay! Love Potion #9 is a sweet little handmade & upcycled 19″ tall witch. She is perched upon a wooden base, complete with her flowing plaid skirt, love potion #9 necklace and her best friend the crow. The lovely little crow is handmade from an upcycled wool sweater. He has a lovely key and heart necklace, button eyes and is perched upon his wooden stand. He would look so lovely as the centerpiece in your dining room.

How to Enter
1. Subscribe to Sweet Greens (if you haven’t already) and click confirm in the email you receive from FeedBurner. {leave one comment}

2. Visit Willow Creek Sparrow and leave me a comment telling me which item you love, love, love. leave another comment

**BONUS ENTRY:: Leave me a comment with your favorite Halloween decoration.
leave a 3rd comment

Additional Entries
Please leave a separate comment for each below thing that you do.

* Share Willow Creek Sparrow on Twitter and follow @Sweet Greens.
{You can tweet daily, just leave a separate comment each time you do.}
* Share Willow Creek Sparrow on Facebook and join Sweet Greens Facebook Fan Page.
* Kirtsy, Digg or Stumble Willow Creek Sparrow.
* Add Sweet Greens to your Technorati favorites.
* Add Sweet Greens to your blogroll.
* Email a friend about Sweet Greens: Earth Friendly Etsy:: Willow Creek Sparrow.

Rules for Entry

* Please leave a way for me to contact you if you win. You do not need to leave your email address if don’t wish to share it. Just make sure to check back at the bottom of this post after the contest ends to see if you won.

* Contest ends October 14th @ 12am EST. Winner will be chosen at random using a random number generator and will be announced the following day. (I will announce the winner, if I do not hear from you within 72 business hours, I will pick another winner.)

* You must leave a comment telling me which item you love in order to qualify.

A big thank you to Willow Creek Sparrow and Good Luck and Enjoy.
**UPDATE:: WINNERS:: #17 Jen won the little witch and #61 Anne J won the little crow. Thank you for leaving your comments, it was a lot of fun to read about your fave Halloween decorations.

Fab Green Find:: To Go Ware {Coupon Code!}

December 11, 2009 0

My least favorite part of going out to dinner is feeling like I have too finish the entire meal because I don’t want to use the to go packaging that the restaurant offers. Luckily, Northern Colorado is pretty Eco friendly, so most of our fave restaurants have to go boxes that are either recyclable or compostable. My problem though, is that to go boxes are still well, to go boxes and they have to be disposed of, in one way or another, all of which are not Eco friendly. We live in a to-go culture so innovative products that provide an Earth friendly solution is what the world needs.

I recently found To-Go Ware. To-Go Ware is a fab line of reusable food and beverage containers that allow you to take your meal to go without the waste. How fabulous is that? To-Go Ware’s founder, Stephanie Bernstein, was a college student in 1997 at the University of Michigan when she was inspired by her fellow college students who diligently carried their reusable coffee mugs around with them. She believed that you could encourage people to expand this practice and use more durable and reusable containers for the on the go convenience.

To-Go Ware offers a wide assortment of reusable containers, so you are sure to find what would work best for your family. To-Go Ware’s collection includes food carriers, utensils, carrying bags and beverage carriers. The stainless steel products are 200 grade stainless steel. To-Go Ware is committed to participating in creating sustainable, local economies.

We received the To-Go Ware 2 Tier Stainless Steel Action Pack which includes a 2 Tier Stainless Steel Tiffin Set, a sidekick, a Bamboo utensil set and a sling bag. I love that the sling bag is woven from cotton scraps collected from recycling sites throughout Ghaziabad, India, then dyed with natural dyes, cut and sewn. The 2 Tier Stainless Steel Tiffin Set is perfect for our family of three because we don’t usually have that much leftover when we go out to dinner. We liked how everything fits and locks inside the tiffins and the sidekick is perfect for leftover sauces or dressing. Jayson liked that the sling bag kept everything warm until we were able to get home to put the leftovers in the refrigerator. Jayson also likes to use the To-Go Ware 2 Tier Action Pack to take his lunch to work because it holds a lot of food and is easy to use, not to mention is is really cool looking.

Do you want to take your dinner to go in a To-Go Ware Tiffin Set. You can receive 20% off with the coupon code SWEET20. The coupon code is valid from today through October 31st.

What do you think of To-Go Ware?

Enjoy.
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