You All Know how I love Birds, Right!?!

These beautiful Jewelry OOAK pieces
are from Streetnoodles. Ellen has a
beautiful shop, in 1000 Markets!
Please take a few minutes and check
it out! She has so much to look at.
Here are a few of my favorites, this is just
a small sample of what she has in her 'Bird
Series'
My Favorite! Partners Brooch
Brown Bird

Strawberry Bird's Dream

Bluebird Brooch

Ellen is also a very creative writer,
I love her blog on 1000 Markets!
You'll also find her blogging here!

Winter Feeding Birds~Our Little Wildlife Habitat!

Our pond is totally covered over
with snow, so Mr.BBB puts water
out for the critters often (at
times it freezes quickly), he
does this whenever he's out
and about! The critters watch
for it, and appreciate it too!

Seconds after Mr.BBB starts walking
away from our feeding station, the
birds swoop in!

We buy volume at Costco, besides our
large bird population, of course
we have squirrels and our huge
resident racoon that dine here too!

Mr.'BBB' out clearing our winter bird feeding station!

A Prized Possesion of mine, 'reused' as a Christmas ornament!

It lost it's mate years ago, but I realized
it was the last of something very special!
When my son was a young boy, my mom, his
Nana, made him several pairs of mittens!
Like all young boys, he played hard and
loved the snow days, like the kids today!
He'd come in dripping wet and we'd dry him
off and he'd want to go right back outside!
Luckily, he had several pairs of these mittens
his Nana had made him! As time went on, he'd
lose one or leave a pair behind somewhere and
finally we were down to this precious
'Onsie'!!! I recognized it's importance and
stored it away, until the next Christmas
and now it has a place of honor on our tree!!!



I've hung this mitten every year since my
son was a young boy, he's (34), and my mom's
been gone for over 15 years. 'Handmade',
has always been important to my family!
Notice the baker's clay, cowboy ornament
to the left of the mitten. My son made
that when he was in 2nd. grade (8).

THE ECO MALL, FOR EARTH FRIENDLY GADGETS!

GREEN GADGETS FOR THE HOLIDAYS
If you plan to give someone a new gadget to replace an older model, consider recycling the old gadget as part of the gift. Many companies refurbish older electronic devices, salvage the usable parts, or recycle the toxic component. earth911

Eco Team Member, Lisa of Lilfishstudio, 'FEATURED SELLER' on Etsy!!!

I love her work, but these little acorns are
my absolute favorites, adorable!!!

Lisa Jordan of lilfishstudio is
Etsy's Featured Seller!!!
Congratulations Lisa, it's a wonderful interview!
Please readers take a couple of minutes
and read about this creative artisan!
lilfishdesigns!!!

Congratulations on your big event,
soon to be happening!!! I was so
happy to see that those big brothers
are going to have a baby sister!!!
I'll bet 'pink' is a very welcomed
color to your family!!! How fun,
for all of you to spoil that little
girl with love!!!
(I also was the only girl and the 'Big' sister
to my 3 younger brothers! :)

Eco Friendly Shops (Part 5)

DebbyAremDesigns


anniessweatshop

iWunder

1) Katie Kat, from LiLMonsters!

Okay you (almost) last minute shoppers!
Have I got an idea for 'YOU'!!!

We live in a world of buy it now, cheap,
who cares where it came from...Or do we?

I've had to rethink how I do things.
LIKE, what I want for my granddaughters...
First health, then happiness, and of course
I want them both! Haven't I always
wanted this for the girls...OF COURSE!!!
But now, I have to think of what
I buy, as something that could
potentionally make them sick? Are 'YOU'
kidding me? Why should I ever have
to worry about such a thing? I won't
get into the political aspects, or what
I think of 'OUR' huge companies jobsourcing
out to (China)oops, and other countries...

Nothings being sent to ---- or anywhere else,
it's "handmade" with 'Love'!!! :)
So please, dear readers, check out TeamEcoEtsyfor your gift list and the knowledge that what
your doing is helping an artisan as well as
the peace of mind buying an earth friendly gift!

Don't we want kid friendly, earth friendly gifts
that I don't have to worry about! This is
why I'm featuring my EcoEtsy Team!!!
They're all about being earth friendly, by reducing,
reusing, upcycling, repurposing and recycling!
Here are a few of my team members shops and
some awesome gift ideas!!! Enjoy~

1) This is one of Janes shop's! LiLMonsters!
This shop is full of darling one of a kind
little monsters, your lil darlings will
just love! Her items are made from recycled
materials and she gives 10% of her profits
go to support free arts programming for
inner-city children at Patchwork Central-
learn more at www.patchwork.org.
Jane also has a second shop it's having
a sale!!! She has awesome OOAK jewelry
there! It's called, LostAndFoundObjects2!

2) My next shop is called iWunder
I have always loved her beautiful
OOAK scarfs! She uses 'hand dyed yarns',
You'll have to hurry and order, she's
going away for Christmas! So hurry!

3)I love this anniessweatshop, she has the most
adorable pet items that could put your
dog on the "Who Who's" List! Her fleece
is derived from recycled plastic (PET).
Her shop was just featured by Inhabitat!
Check it out!!!

4) Wow, this shop is so unique!
DebbyAremDesigns If you have a
hard to buy for person on your list,
for lack of a better word...'Geek',
you must check this shop out!!! You'll
definetly find a fabulous unique gift!
She also has two other shops you'll
have to check out: ForeverInStyle, and EurekaEureka!

My Newest Treasury!

As I was enjoying our first snowfall,
I happened upon Treasury West opening
and...SpArKlE "My Winter Wonderland", was created!

Proceeds of Promise~

What Proceeds of Promise Is
The EcoEtsy team is dedicated to making a
difference in the world. From the handmade,
eco-friendly products we produce and the
eco-friendly packaging we ship in to the
tips and guides we publish on our blog,
www.ecoetsy.blogspot.com, we try to make
an impact through our businesses. For the
holiday season, members of the EcoEtsy team
are working together to make a difference by
donating 10% of all proceeds made on sales
starting December 7th and ending on December
14th to Heifer International. What we hope to
achieve is both the promotion of handmade,
eco-friendly goods and to support an
organization that is working to end hunger
around the world.

PLEASE PLEASE READ THIS! Help Save Handmade Toys in the USA from the CPSIA

The United States Congress rightly recognized
that the Consumer Products Safety Commission
(CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to
prevent dangerous toys from being imported
into the US. So, they passed the Consumer
Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in
August, 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA
bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates
third-party testing and certification for all
toys and requires toy makers to permanently
label each toy with a date and batch number.
Please dear readers, take a minute of your
busy schedule and read this, fill it out
and send it on its way!!!

Many of our dear craft and artisan friends
will not be able to continue making their
'quality earth friendly toys'!!! They will
not be able to afford the testing!!!!

PLEASE PLEASE READ THIS:
and find out how you can help, by writing your
congress person or senator. They have a sample
form for us to use.

Please share this blog post with others or
send them this post:
http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/
Thanks, Debbie~

Eight Ways To Green Your Holidays!

I love earth911, there are always so many wonderful
tips of earth friendly ideas to learn and 'USE'!

Some of these we've been sharing in our ecoteam
messages, but for some of you readers, there may
be a new tid bit of info you can gleen!
Enjoy~

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Green Tree!

DO YOU HAVE A LIVE TREE, CUT TREE, OR A FAKE TREE?

I use to worry about cutting down a tree for
Christmas and then, I'd worry even more about
the length of time I kept it up!!!
It slowly lost needles and became dry as
the days went on, losing it's beautiful
aroma and increasingly becoming a fire hazard!

You see, I love Christmas and decorating has always
been a huge extravaganza at our house!!! My
birthday is the first of December, so as soon
as Thanksgiving passed, it was time to go up
in the attic and retrieve all the boxes
that have been collecting dust all
year, just waiting for this big event!

But first, out to the garden shed to get the big
box, that houses the 'tree'!!! Yes readers, I put
up a fake tree... When I bought
it, it was very beautiful and kinda pricey(the only
thing I disliked about it was 1.)the idea of it
being fake 2.) I have to spray it with pine scent!

I've always loved the fact that I'm 'reusing'my tree over and over, (even though I understand
that tree farming is a 'renewable'resourse).
When it came down to the decision of 'real
or fake' for my family tree, it was the worry
of a fire, that finally swayed my decision.
Yes, there has been a lot of guilt attached
to owning a fake tree. But it still stands
tall, goes up for my birthday and down New
Years weekend! Oh Christmas tree, I do love
thee!
So, now you know my dirty little secret.
I've lived with the guilt of a polyvinyl
artificial tree, and worse yet, what if I
did decide to get rid of it. Wouldn't it
be difficult to find a place to recycle it?
Absolutely!

So readers, I want to hear it...'Oh
Christmas Tree', beautiful tree, is
yours living or as fake as fake can be?

Eco Friendly Shops (Part 4)

Great Shops with Eco Friendly items
to help make your Holidays shopping
experience,'Earth Friendly'!

'La Pomme'
'Lolaness Designs'
'ecogeneration'

Here's a sample of what you'll find in our
FaBuLoUsL EcO FrIeNdLy ShOpS!

1)ecogeneration's shop is full of eco
goodness! I luvver these beautiful repurposed
beaded napkin holder rings! They would be such
a pretty addition to any table, what a great
gift to give a friend! Rosey also has a fabulous
blog at: http://ecogeneration.blogspot.com

2) You can't go anywhere in ecoetsy land and not
see the beautiful art of this talented artisan!
Lolaness Design is full of the most beautiful
Graphics and Printing! Hmmm, that reminds
me,(note to self,order some business cards from her
shop, before I forget again!!!) Great shop to add
to your Christmas list,(maybe even for yourself)!!!

3)La Pomme's shop is so unique! I love her
little plushies(and her stories too)! Her colors
are bright and cheery however, sometimes she
chooses beautiful clean white on white!(I'm into
the cottage look, so I luvver her white/white)!
Who could resist this bunch of plushie flowers?
What a fabulous Christmas gift they'd make!!!

Brighter Planet, allocating offset shares!

Brighter Planet has automatically dontated 136 pounds of offsets in my name because
of my past with their 350 Challenge!They're also offering it to 25 of my friends!
So of course the first people I thought of that
would enjoy this opportunity, was my ecoetsy teammates!
So, if you're interested read on and the first 25 of
you will recieve this too!

We'd love for you to help spread the word, so
we've allocated 25 One Day gifts for you to divvy
out. Paste your special link below into a blog
post, twitter, facebook, email, etc. Just be
sure to tell everyone that it's first come,
first serve.

Five 'NEW' Teamecoetsy shops Featured!

Check out the new Eco Friendly Shops
in Part 3 of working towards a greener
holiday season!