The mister keeps telling me that he is going to build us a house in the woods. I recently told him about a cob house that I had seen – he was intrigued. A cob house? Yes, cob is a centuries-old method of building with earth, straw, and other natural fibers. The cob is mixed by foot and applied in globs (a.k.a. cobs). Cob homes can be very creative because building with cob is so free form – think of a hobbit house. You can make arches and niches quite easily and the finished product looks so organic. Plus, it dovetails seamlessly with the other eco-friendly tactics we use to keep our carbon footprint down, such as utilizing different types of reusable bags and recycling. With a cob house, our efforts would be even more helpful to the planet!
I thought it would be fun to find an Earth Friendly Etsy shop that takes a found object that has no use anymore and upcycles it into something fantastic.
Debby Arem Designs has a collection of “geekery” jewelry and office products called three ring circuits (3RC). Three ring circuits is a line of recycled circuit board products that takes “found objects” and transforms them into something fun, unique and useful. The collection consists of jewelry, clipboards, key chains, magnets, bookmarks, picture frames, sun catchers and clocks.
Three ring circuits currently has several of their repurposed green office products on permanent exhibit at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry as part of their Smart Home 2009 Exhibit. Very cool. This exhibit is sponsored by WIRED magazine, and includes Three ring circuits pencil boxes, a circuit board clock, a mouse pad and several clipboards, all of these items are made using recycled circuit boards.
Your children would delight in a fab circuit board clipboard for back to school. These are very cool and will definitely be a conversation starter, which is always perfect for breaking the ice on the first day of school.
Debby Arem Designs has been so lovely to offer ONE of my readers a Recycled Circuit Board Clipboard.
How to Enter
1. Subscribe to Sweet Greens (if you haven’t already) and confirm the subscription in the email that you receive from FeedBurner. 2 . Visit Debby Arem Designs and leave me a comment telling me which item you would love to have.
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Rules for Entry
Please leave a way for me to contact you if you win.
Contest ends August 26th @ 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.
Good Luck!
UPDATE: WINNER:: Tom Tuttle from Tacoma #26. Congratulations and thank you again to everyone who entered.
I have a passion for only using products in my home that are non-toxic and eco-friendly. In fact, the first thing my family did when we decided we wanted to live a greener lifestyle – we ditched the toxic products. It is a simple step that has a huge impact on both the health of the environment and the health of my family. I have given you the health rundown of using green cleaners before here, but just to refresh, check this out:
The air inside most homes is 2-5x more polluted than the air outside.
Almost 70% of streams sampled in 2002 contained chemicals from household cleaning products.
10% of toxic exposures reported to the U.S. Poison Control Centers are related to cleaning products directly touching the skin or being ingested.
Most conventional cleaning products come in non-recyclable containers.
Recently, I had the pleasure of being introduced to ecoSTORE. ecoSTORE is a New Zealand based company that offers plant-based and mineral-based household cleaning products, that are free of toxic chemicals and will help you reduce your carbon footprint. “No Nasty Chemicals” is the foundation that ecoSTORE is built on – doesn’t that just sum it up? Check out their ingredient list and you will find this is true.
I have reviewed some of ecoSTORE’s products and have been very impressed. I love that their products are ultra-concentrated, so you only have to use a little to do a big job and all of their packaging is 100% recyclable and compact. I am really enjoying the front loader laundry powder – which I was surprised works when using only a tiny amount. Also, the Lemongrass soap is amazing, the smell will win you over as well as it’s wonderful creamy feel. Would you like to try some for yourself? ecoSTORE is offering ONE of my lovely readers a $25 gift card. They are also offering free shipping on all orders over $25 so this will be amazing giveaway.
Contest ends May 15th @ 12am EST. Winner will be chosen at random using a random number generator and will be announced the following day. * Update: Winner:: Lindsay. Congratulations.
How has your week been? Mine has flown by. This weekend, we are going to decorate for Halloween – we are so behind! Also, I will need to make more of my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies – since Mr. Sweet Greens and Eben eat them so quickly. {wink} Then, Eben and I are going to work on creating his Halloween costume – it seems that it will be harder to create than his costume last year. However, we are up to the challenge!
We will also be celebrating Mr. Sweet Greens’s grandmother’s 87th birthday. 87. Wow! Isn’t that fantastic? Any reason to get together with family is a good reason – but an 87th birthday party is fabulous!
The rest of my weekend will be devoted to time at the beach and getting my pictures and posts ready from my time at Cascadian Farm. I am excited to share with you all of the details from my trip.
While I wrap Nana’s birthday present, here are a few green things I have wanted to share with you:
– These famous mamas made me smile. {I love seeing mothers with their children} – If I were going to hold a business meeting, I would do it here. – I think seeing this art show would make a fun family Halloween activity. Agree? – With carve by number – I might be able to carve the perfect pumpkin. – It’s the perfect time of year for a pumpkin spice latte. – Courtney has a little challenge that can make a big difference. Check it out. – I am in love with these autumn shots. Get them while they’re hot!
I hope you have a lovely green weekend with your family. What are your plans? What do you have planned for the coming weeks and Halloween.
I love quilts – I have three antique ones that were given to me by my grandmother and the mister’s grandmother. Two of them were made by my grandmother’s great, great grandmother – how cool is that? I feel very lucky to have them and love that they were made before cotton was grown with the major amounts of pesticides and insecticides that are used today. Since conventional cotton is grown today using a cocktail of chemicals, you may want to consider purchasing an organic cotton quilt.
Becky Stone from Organic Quilt Company is this week’s Earth friendly Etsy shop – this beautiful cottage industry quilt company produces a line of luxuriously soft and ecologically responsible quilts, receiving blankets, bibs and other linens for your children and family. She uses only unbleached, certified organic cotton that is grown and milled in the U.S.A.
Organic Quilt Company offers a colorful range of organic fabrics dyed using low impact, fiber reactive or naturally sourced dyes. Aren’t the colors and patterns fantastic?
Becky at Organic Quilt Company would like to share ONE of her beautiful organic cotton bibs with one of my lucky readers.
