Recycled Flower Pot

This green project keeps plastic milk jugs out of the landfill and provides and pretty and useful pot to plant flowers in.

What you'll need:

Plastic milk or juice jugs
Fabric or scrapbook paper scraps
Felt in coordinating colors
Scissors or a craft knife
Soil
White craft glue
Water
Bowl
Paintbrush
Potted flower

How to make it:

Cut the top off of the plastic jug, just under the handle. Save the handle to make our Bouquet Holder craft.

Turn bottom of jug upside down and have an adult poke 4 small drain holes in the bottom. (See photo.)

Cut fabric or tear paper into 1” squares. (See photo.)

Mix 2 parts glue and 1 part water in a bowl.

Paint glue mixture onto one side of the outside of the milk jug. (See photo.)
Decoupage the fabric or paper all over the sides of the jug, applying glue onto the jug first, then over the fabric or

paper to adhere. (See photo.)

Cut 1.5” wide strips from felt, enough to go around the opening of the pot. (See photo.)

Glue the strip onto the lip of the pot, overlapping both sides, inside and out. (See photo.)

Add a handful of gravel or small rocks to the bottom of the pot.

Add a small amount of soil then add the potted flower.

Fill pot with soil, carefully but firmly patting down the soil around the flower.

Water your flower and place near a sunny window.

Tips:

This pot makes a lovely accent to a patio table; however the decoupage will be ruined should it rain. To avoid this, before adding gravel, soil and flower, place the pot inside a clear plastic bag. Insert the overlap of the bag inside the pot, roll up the side if needed, you don’t want the plastic blocking the drain holes.
Place your pot on a plate before watering to catch any water that may drain out the holes.
These make great pots for herbs as well!

This craft was originally posted by Amanda Formaro on http://crafts.kaboose.com/recycled-flower-pot.html

Store Review: Goddess Gear

Goddess Gear is an outstanding store. All of there products are eco friendly but not boring. All of their products come in great earth tones and they have an assortment of materials they are made with. As the name implies Goddess Gear caries all woman's clothing and it's very high quality.

I tried the Corduroy Cargo Pant and the Scoop Neck French Terry Top before I even put them on I discovered they were top of the line. Both of the items are constructed to last made with strong durable fabric. Goddess Gear's apparel also washes very well. Some clothes tend to fade or just not have that new look to them but this didn't happen with the corduroy pants or the scoop neck.

I loved the feel of the clothing as well. I expected it to be a little stiff like some eco friendly clothing can be but Goddess Gear's clothing is very soft and feels great to wear. I also got a lot of complements on the clothing.

Goddess Gear has clothing for all area's of your life I would defiantly recommend them to anyone that cares not only about the environment but how they look.

Toxic Beauty

This article was originally posted on care2.com posted by Natieka Samuels Jan 13, 2010 3:18 pm

It all started with vanity: I hadn’t meant to change my purchasing practices or become a “label-reader,” that’s just how it turned out.

One day I decided that I wanted to have my dream hair: long, full, and healthily growing out of my own scalp. I did some research and joined an online community of women interested in growing longer and healthier hair. Naturally, much of the discussion on these forums is about the various products and concoctions that have worked or not worked on each person’s “hair journey.”

There was always a new ingredient to look for, or rather look out for, and soon a list of products containing said ingredient would be compiled. Soon I began to notice that women were looking for “paraben free” products. Not knowing what a paraben was, but assuming it couldn’t be good, I did a quick Google search and found that parabens are cheap preservatives used in cosmetics and personal care products, and that exposure to its various forms have been linked to breast cancer. Taking a look at the commercial hair products I already owned, not a single one was free of parabens.

The search for “sulfate free” shampoos was another common source of discussion on the hair boards. Sulfates, such as the popular sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), sodium laureth sulfate (SLES), and ammonium laureth sulfate, are detergents: they create that satisfying foam and lather you get when you brush your teeth, use soap, do laundry, or wash your hair.

Most disturbing, the power of SLS as a detergent is so strong that it is also used as an engine degreaser. In addition to being very harsh, drying, and sometimes irritating to the hair and skin, sulfates have been linked to some pretty scary health effects.

SLS is in a class of chemicals called endocrine disruptors, which are chemicals that mimic the activity of sex hormones, such as estrogen. These chemicals interfere with the sex hormones in your body and are associated with male and female infertility, male sex organ abnormalities, early onset of puberty in females, and increased rates of breast, ovarian, and prostate cancers.

Of course, it doesn’t stop there.

Many nail polish brands contain formaldehyde, and many shampoos and conditioners contain formaldehyde-releasing chemicals. Even many products labeled “botanical” or “natural” contain toxic or irritating chemicals, usually in the form of detergents, preservatives, or the mysterious “fragrance,” which can refer to a myriad of different compounds and chemicals not required to be disclosed as they are considered a trade secret.

Furthermore, there are toxic chemicals that can affect your reproductive health and fertility hiding in the things that you use almost every day, such as your plastic tupperware, water bottles, canned foods and beverages, vinyl shower curtains, and disturbingly, even in your wine. Yes, your wine. Plastic stoppers in wine bottles can contain BPA, but also, wine ferments in vats that are often lined with resin or epoxy.

Epoxy (and the resin that lines metal cans) contains a toxic chemical called bisphenol-A (BPA), which is also an endocrine disruptor. Just as with canned foods, BPA leaches into the contents, but the acidic nature of wine allows toxins to leach into the liquid more rapidly than if water were in the same container.

Upon discovering this information, my first thought was, how can this be? If these chemicals are known to cause harm, why are they allowed to be used in the products I use every single day? Surely, I thought, the government had rules about this kind of thing.

It turns out the current law, known as the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), has not been updated in 33 years and does not give the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority it needs to oversee the safety of chemicals in everyday products or to hold industry accountable for testing the chemicals they manufacture. The result: many of the chemicals used in our everyday products have not been tested for safety and continue to remain on the market.

TSCA reform is desperately needed because, as you’ll discover when you take a look at the ingredients lists in your bathroom and kitchen cabinets, you can’t shop your way out of exposure to toxic chemicals, especially since manufacturers aren’t required to tell you what’s in their products in the first place.

Since the FDA, not the EPA, regulates cosmetics, regulation of many of our personal care products would not be improved by TSCA reform alone. In order to have more comprehensive reform, we need to also ask Congress to give the FDA the authority to ensure that our cosmetics are safe. More regulation from both the EPA and FDA is needed to ensure that consumers are safe when using all products, whether they are necessities, for personal hygiene, or purely cosmetic.

Change needs to come from the companies themselves, and they aren’t going to make any changes unless the government or your absent dollars tell them to.

To give credit where credit is due, there are a few companies that dedicate themselves to natural, non-toxic ingredients, such as Giovanni Cosmetics, Aubrey Organics, and Dr. Bronners. To find out more about the safety of your cosmetics and personal care products check out the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, or the Skin Deep Cosmetics Database. For more information about the movement to strengthen chemical policy, check out Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families.

It’s hard to believe that the search for the perfect conditioner led me to so much information about the dangers of everyday products or to changes in my personal life. These days I try to be as conscientious about my purchases and practices as I can. This means seeking out more natural (and often inexpensive) alternatives to commercial products, such as using apple cider vinegar to prevent razor bumps, using extra virgin pure coconut oil as a skin and hair moisturizer, or using concentrated castile soaps to create my own shampoos, body washes, or even laundry soap.

When possible, I make sure not to reheat my food in plastic tupperware, and I keep a reusable stainless steel/BPA free water bottle with me in my purse. When I do buy new products, I always check the label first. I’m not perfect, and every now and then I do purchase products that contain some not-so-great ingredients because I haven’t found safer replacements for them.

But I shouldn’t have to be an amateur chemist to buy laundry detergent: chemicals that are thought to be harmful should not be able to make it to our grocery store shelves. Stronger chemical laws will keep me, you and our families safer. So, together, let’s send a message to Washington and demand chemical policy reform.

And in the meantime, take action to protect yourself by banning these seven ingredients from your bathroom.

Natieka Samuels is a recent graduate of Princeton University and intern at the Reproductive Health Technologies Project in Washington, D.C. Her other interests include social taboos surrounding sexuality, and how messaging in the media can reinforce or change social norms.

Press Release: Blue Dominoes Finger Paint

Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TAKE MATTERS INTO YOUR OWN HANDS!
ECO-FRIENDLY, GLUTEN-FREE, ALL-NATURAL FINGER PAINTS ARE HERE!

No harmful chemicals, free of the eight most common allergens and thoroughly tested – perfect for all the little children in
your life!

January 11, 2010 – San Diego, CA – Finger painting is a wonderful and therapeutic way for people, particularly children to express themselves and have fun. However, if children are sensitive to the ingredients being used in some finger paints
such as: gluten, wheat, toluene, synthetic chemicals and dyes – they
cannot participate in the activity and that is NOT fun.

Bluedominoes Safe Art™ Finger Paints are made from food grade ingredients,
free of the eight most common allergens including gluten, wheat
and soy, made with all natural colors, laboratory-tested to be free of
heavy metals such as lead, mercury and arsenic and is free of chemicals
such as toluene. In addition, the Finger Paints have been certified by the
Celiac Sprue Association and accepted by the Feingold association assuring
the products are free of gluten and do not use artificial colors.

Debbie Lindgren and Linda Manaster founded bluedominoes after Lindgren’s
younger son reacted to art supplies being used in his Kindergarten
class. “His teacher realized he reacted to art supplies with yellow and red pigments –
particularly modeling products and paints. We together took steps to make his environment
and those of the other children in the classroom safer by identifying and
providing alternative options,” states Lindgren, who brought in her own formulations
for the classroom. Lindgren and Manaster eventually assembled an expert team who
aid in the identification of ingredients and product development. The team previously
developed Safe Art™ Activity Dough, which was recognized in Dr. Toy’s Best Picks
Children’s Products – 2009, and was selected as Most Innovative Product by the San
Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.

“Since children are tempted to taste art supply products, we felt it was necessary to use food grade ingredients in our art supply products aimed at younger children. In addition, toxins such as toluene and lead are both absorbed through the skin as well as through ingestion, so we took steps to use ingredients that do not contain these substances and to have our products independently tested by highly respected U.S. laboratories.” Though not legally required, bluedominoes lists all of its Safe Art™ Finger Paints ingredients on the package.
By complying with rigorous standards, bluedominoes Safe Art™ products are the first to receive certification from the Celiac Sprue Association and acceptance by the Feingold Association. Bluedominoes has a complete line of Safe Art™ products in the pipeline, and the company is committed to the same level of purity, safety and integrity for all of its products. All
bluedominoes Safe Art™ products are developed in San Diego, and all of its patent-pending formulas are manufactured in the USA. Products can be ordered by visiting www.bluedominoes.com.

About bluedominoes, inc: bluedominoes, with its highly informative website and safe children’s art supply products, is the go-to resource for parents and teachers to keep their children safe and the Safe Art™ brand manufacturer that parents and teachers trust. For more information about bluedominoes green children’s art supplies, including our award-winning Safe Art™ Activity Dough and trusted resources to keep your family safe, visit www.bluedominoes.com.

Bag Reviews: One Bag One Earth Bags and Sacs

OBOE has an amazing product. I know everyone is buying those cheap unstylish reusable bags at all the stores, OBOE offers you an alternative to those.

OBOE's bags and sacs are slightly more expensive then those store bought ones but well worth the money. These bags are made out of a strong fabric that is able to carry your purchase. Other great thing about these bags is they have little sacks sown into the side of the bag so that you never lose the storage pouch for your bag. The pouch also makes them very easy to transport.

Another thing I love about OBOE is they come in an array of stylish colors and prints that will fit in with anyone's busy lifestyle. You can also get custom bags made for family reunions or any other event you might need some gifts. OBOE's bags are very well made this nice tight stitching to ensure they will last you a while, so you wont have to worry about them breaking like the cheap grocery store ones.

I also discovered while using my OBOE bags that I received a lot of complements on my bags. These are defiantly the next thing big thing in shopping! I love mine and I think they would make great gifts. OBOE offers 2 different types of bags, the bag and the sac. Now my personal favorite is the Bag. I use it for everything from shopping to traveling back and forth from work.

I strongly recommend OBOE!!

Craft: Trying to Get Organized? Try Tiled Tin Cans for Storage

Tile tin cans for personalized decor.Credit: L.Sikes

We've already shown you plenty of ways to makeover tin cans for reuse as organizers, chic storage, and other one-of-a-kind decor, but this Instructables tutorial gives cans an even more intricate look by repurposing another material you might have too much of: styrofoam.

The trick is turning the styrofoam into colored "tiles"—and since you don't want them to look too perfect, you don't have to stress about them being the same shade, size, or shape (stick with squares and rectangles to keep it simple, or add letters for a custom look). Glue the squares onto the can, keeping them 1/8-inch apart (or less), and then spread them with grout—just as if you were using regular tiles. After the grout is dry (this should take about 30 minutes), use a slightly damp sponge to take off the extra grout; then let your artwork dry fully overnight, and apply a layer of sealant the next morning for added shine.

When your work is totally dry, you'll have personalized containers that are perfect for any room of your home: for organizing utensils in the kitchen, keeping pens and pencils close at hand in your office, or separating toys and blocks in the kids' playroom. Make them for your coworker's birthday, your anniversary (with a bouquet of flowers, of course), or for a housewarming gift—and put your otherwise unwanted materials to good use.

This craft was found on http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/organized-tiled-cans-storage.html

Craft- Home Made Soap

Good Clean FunMake your own natural bar soaps for the perfect holiday gift. By Sara Snow

After years of taking a backseat to liquid pump options, bar soaps are finally making a comeback. Browse any specialty or gift shop and you’ll find a multitude of cleansing bars that are both beautiful and eco-friendly. Pump soaps require a lot more packaging—plastic bottle, plastic tube, plastic pump—than their old-fashioned friends, which usually come wrapped in a single layer of plastic or paper.

With the holidays approaching, now is the perfect time to jump on the bar-soap bandwagon and create your own fragrant works of art. Not only are bars of soap a good green choice for the home, but they also make special gifts when wrapped in brown or decorative paper and tied with a bow. Plus, by making your own soaps you can control the ingredients and keep the product natural for your friends and family.

For the soap recipes below, start with a basic soap and add ingredients from there. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can start from scratch and make your soap the traditional way, with fats, water and lye. Or you can do it easier (and perhaps safer) with our melt-mix-pour method. This will allow you and your kids to personalize the soaps you make by simply mixing your favorite essential oils, exfoliators, moisturizers, herbs and flowers into a basic store-bought soap.

Stellar Suds To create natural, gift-worthy soaps, choose one of our three recipes (below) and follow these instructions.

1. Start with a fragrance-free soap: glycerin, white or olive oil. (We used glycerin soaps in our recipes.)2. Have your child help you cut 8 oz. of the soap into small pieces, using a plastic knife or other safe utensil. Melt the pieces down in either a double boiler over low heat or in a microwave (take care to keep little hands away from the heat). Stir frequently. If using a microwave, heat on medium power in short time segments to avoid a mess.3. Once the soap has melted, allow it to cool slightly while stirring frequently. Help your child mix in ingredients and pour into the mold of your choice. Cupcake or loaf pans work well—a small loaf pan allows you to cut your soap into rectangular pieces, while a tube or a pipe (such as a piece of PVC pipe) creates beautiful rounds. A cupcake mold (mini or large) produces perfectly sized individual patties.4. Allow your soap to sit overnight. Once it has set, remove from the mold and slice (if necessary). For gifts, your child can wrap one or more soaps in recycled paper and tie with a ribbon. As an added touch, include a note explaining the benefits of each herbal ingredient.

Recipes

Lavender Soother8 oz. melted soap1/2 tsp. lavender essential oil 1 Tbsp. dried lavender flowers
Lavender helps calm achy muscles, soothe colic and guarantee a good night’s rest. We mixed lavender essential oil with dried flowers for an effective and beautiful bar of soap.

Nori Cleansing Soap8 oz. melted soap 1/2 tsp. tea tree oil 1 sheet nori, cut into slivers
Nori is an extremely nourishing sea vegetable that can help with cell regeneration. Tea tree oil is naturally antifungal, antibacterial and antimicrobial. The combination of these ingredients makes this soap perfect for acne-prone skin.

Softening Oat Scrub8 oz. melted soap 2 Tbsp. quick oats (the pieces will be smaller than regular oats) 1/4 tsp. cedarwood oil 1 Tbsp. honey

The oats act as gentle exfoliators, while the honey soothes and softens skin. Once finished, this soap will be honey-brown in color. Since the honey and cedarwood oil are both gentle antiseptics, they’re great for oily skin. Also, try swapping cedarwood for birch sweet oil, another mild-scented essential oil.

Sara Snow is the host of Get Fresh with Sara Snow and Living Fresh, both on the Discovery networks. Sara also writes for CNN.com and Treehugger.com.

Site Update

Hello to all my readers.

I know I have been very quiet the past few days but that is do to Internet problems but a tech came out and took care of the issues I was having so now I'm ready to start kicking out some eco friendly information for you!

Some of the things we have coming up are a couple of contests and some eco friendly product reviews! I've gotten some amazing products in the mail and I can't wait to review them for you!

I also want to take a moment to welcome a new writer to Raven's Eco Planet Kim Aka Swamp Girl! I look forward to reading her contributions! We also have some new articles in the works by Matthew!

Make a toad abode for your garden

Toads are a very important part of the eco system and they can help your garden flourish. Did you know that one toad can eat up to 10,000 insect pest over the course of the summer. Imagine how much a couple of toads could help your garden, with out the use of harmful chemicals. Toads are very sensitive to chemicals and pesticides, so if you are going to do a toad abode in your garden your going to need to avoid using anything other then eco friendly pesticides.

Some of the things toads like are damp shady areas but they also need a home or toad abode! You can either buy a toad abode or make one yourself. I personally love crafting so I prefer to make my own. Once you have your toad abode your going to want to put it in your garden with some leaf littler lining the toad abode and since toads love water your going to want to have a little dish of water near the abode.

Now once you have your toad abode set up all you'll need to do wait for one of your area toads to move in. Wait for them to move in don't take toads from other area's or release pet toads into your yard.

For those of you that are crafty here are some ideas for making your own toad abodes! There are several things you can use as a base for your abode such as a piece of pvc pipe or an old terra cotta pot. Once you know what your going to use for your abode you can figure out how your going to decorate it. Remember this toad abode is also going to be a cute decoration for your garden.

If you decide to use pvc pipe your going to want to bury one end a bit into the ground giving the toad a hole type abode to live in. So just decorate the area of the pvc pipe that isn't going to be buried. If you decide to go with an old terra cotta pot your going to want to put the pot upside down so the top is actually the bottom of the pot, your going to want to put a small door in the pot so the toad can get in then decorate the outside to your liking. Another way to use a terra cotta pot is to turn it on it's side and partially buried, then decorate the rest of the pot.

Which ever design you decide to go with have fun with it!