Monthly Archives: November 2010
Green Holiday Guide: Snail’s Pace Giveaway *Closed*
| November 30, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Giveaway, Green Holidays |
Snail’s Pace has beautiful gift bags, tags, wrapping, note cards, notebooks, and other wonderful gifts that are made from recycled materials and soy inks, using renewable energy. The products are made at the Saint Meinrad Archabbey the on-site printing facility, Abbey Press. Saint Meinrad is home to about 100 men who have dedicate their lives to prayer and work. They believe in serving the greater good and caring for God’s creation. Isn’t that an awesome message for this holiday season?
I was able to review some of their products and they are wonderful. While I would love to see less packaging, the plastic film they use is made from plants and is certified compostable so a lesser evil for sure. I was able to test out some wrapping paper, gift bags, cards, a journal, and a to-do list pad, here are my thoughts.
The holiday cards they sent are beautiful and nice and thick. They are also made from 100% recycled materials and use soy-based inks. I also like that on the back they ask people to please recycle.
The wrapping paper is also lovely and heavy duty. It’s great for people like me that try and save it, much to my husband’s dismay. Like with all their products the paper is 100% recycled and printed with soy-based inks.
My favorite product they sent would have to be the gift bags because they are so easy to reuse. They are simple but pretty and seem quite well made so they should hold up well.
The journal and notepad they sent would make lovely gifts year round. They are beautiful and useful which is important to me. Snail’s Pace is a gem, I encourage all of you to check them out! And this is your lucky day because Snail’s Pace is giving away a wonderful prize pack to one lucky reader. The prize includes, ten holiday notecards, a holiday gift bag, and holiday gift wrap. All of that will come in handy so be sure to enter.
And now for the rules-
1. Post your e-mail!!!!! Every time people forget, you can’t win if you don’t leave an e-mail address. (if you have a blogger account that has your e-mail that works as well, or if you fill it out in the info, just somewhere please!)
2. Go to Snail’s Pace and tell me what your favorite item is, this is the mandatory entry.
3. Enter by December 7th at 11:59 p.m.
It’s open to anyone in the continental US.
Extra Entries (post separate comment for each):
1. Blog about the giveaway, post link.
2. Post on Twitter, post link.
3. Add me on Twitter @retrohousewife5, leave username in comment.
4. Follow me, let me know which way you are following. (Google, NetworkedBlog, E-mail, other)
5. Add my button to your site. (the button and code are on the right side of the page) Be sure to leave a link for where you put the button.
6. Like Retro Housewife Goes Green on Facebook.
7. Like Snail’s Pace on Facebook.
Remember post a separate comment for each of the above ways to enter! They will only count if they are separate.
*This giveaway is sponsored by Snail’s Pace. The prizes comes from them. I was not paid for this post, however I was given a couple of items to review. These are my honest views on the product.
Green Holiday Guide: Lucky Crow Giveaway *Closed*
| November 30, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Giveaway, Green Holidays |
Lucky Crow is a Portland based company that is working to help reduce all the wrapping waste. They make dozens of beautiful cloth bags that are made in the US and can be used over and over. These bags are high quality and after trying out two of their bags I’m hooked! It’s a quick and easy way to wrap without all the waste.
These bags are one thing you can re-gift without guilt. They are machine washable so no worry about keeping them clean. They are also made of high quality fabric that will last for years. The best part about these bags is that Lucky Crow is going to give one lucky reader a set of 5!
And now for the rules-1. Post your e-mail!!!!! Every time people forget, you can’t win if you don’t leave an e-mail address. (if you have a blogger account that has your e-mail that works as well, or if you fill it out in the info, just somewhere please!)
2. Go to Lucky Crow and tell me what your favorite fabric is, this is the mandatory entry.
3. Enter by December 7th at 11:59 p.m.
It’s open to anyone in the continental US.
Extra Entries (post separate comment for each):
1. Blog about the giveaway, post link.
2. Post on Twitter, post link.
3. Add me on Twitter @retrohousewife5, leave username in comment.
4. Follow me, let me know which way you are following. (Google, NetworkedBlog, E-mail, other)
5. Add my button to your site. (the button and code are on the right side of the page) Be sure to leave a link for where you put the button.
6. Like Retro Housewife Goes Green on Facebook.
Remember post a separate comment for each of the above ways to enter! They will only count if they are separate.
*This giveaway is sponsored by Lucky Crow. The prize comes from them. I was not paid for this post, however I was given a couple of bags to review. These are my honest views on the product.
Green Holiday Guide: Green Your Wrapping
| November 30, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Green Holidays |
Christmas generates around 300,000 tons of trash each year, a large amount of that being wrapping paper. That’s a lot of waste for something we use for just a few minutes. There are many great options to help reduce the amount of waste you create this year, here are a few.
Each year I save as much of the wrapping I end up with as I can. You can see some of what I saved last year in this post. You can also wrap your gifts using things like magazines, brown paper bags, and even newspaper.
If you want to use new wrapping paper be sure to look for recycled paper. Here are some favorites:
Snail’s Pace has beautiful gift bags, tags and wrapping that is made from recycled materials and soy inks using renewable energy. The products are made at the Saint Meinrad Archabbey the on-site printing facility, Abbey Press. Saint Meinrad is home to about 100 men who have dedicate their lives to prayer and work. They believe in serving the greater good and caring for God’s creation.
CrinkleCo has recycled gift wrap kits that come with everything you need to wrap your gifts this year, including the tape! You can also get gift bag kits and pillow box kits, both are super cute.
To help get you started with your greener wrapping I’m hosting three holiday gift wrap giveaways! You can enter to win a prizes from Snail’s Pace, Lucky Crow, and ChicoBags. Go check them out!
How are you going to wrap your gifts this year?
*I was given samples from Crinkle Co., Snail’s Pace, Lucky Crow, ChicoBags, and Fish Lips Paper Designs to be able to review the products. I was not paid to post this or any other post. Thess are my honest thoughts and views.
Green Holiday Blog Carnival
| November 29, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Green Holidays |
Well the holidays are here and while for most of us this is a happy time it can also be a very wasteful time. Bloggers are coming together this year to encourage people to have a greener holiday season. Why is this so important? Well from Thanksgiving to New Years household waste increases more than 25%. We consumer a large amount of stuff this time of the year, Christmas cards, wrapping paper, packaging, food waste, ribbons, decorations, and so on. In comes this carnival, these posts are from bloggers all over the web that have found great ways to have a less wasteful holiday season. Here is what they had to say.
Christmas Decor
Laura from The Mindful Merchant the waste that comes from having a Christmas tree and a neat alternative.
Rob from Rob’s World shares a great way to store your delicate ornaments in a very eco-friendly way.
Shannon from Working Mom Goes Green talks about buying upcycled gifts and even includes gift ideas.
Kellie from Greenhab talks about gifts that give twice by helping donating to causes and helping those who make the items.
Betsy from Eco-novice is talking about wooden toys and is even giving away some!
Beth from Fake Plastic Fish gives tips for buying green this year.
The Rainforest Action Network has a pocket guide to help you have a rainforest safe holiday.
Nancy from Surviving and Thriving on Pennies shares how to save some money for this Christmas.
Wendy from My Green Side shares her green shopping guide for this year.
Deborah from Notes from Dry Creek Farm asks “How do we get back to the kind of Christmas that everyone can enjoy without the dread of January’s credit card dangling overhead? Why do we continue to participate in this decadent madness? When did oranges and good wishes stop being valuable?”
Lynn from Organic Mania talks about slowing down and enjoying the Advent season.
Lynn from Organic Mania also talks about the commercialism of Christmas sneaking in earlier and earlier each year and what we can do to stop it.
Lynn from Organic Mania talks more about rethinking Christmas and making it more meaningful this year.
Cinella from The Mommy Blog shares a guest blog from Calley from The Eco Chic. The Eco Chic shows how to make a super cute magazine tree.
Cindy from My Recycled Bags shows how to make a cute Christmas purse out of plastic bags.
Tania from Pure Natural Diva shows how to make your own waste free wrapping this year.
Abbie from Farmer’s Daughter is hosting a Christmas cookie swap. Cookies are a great gift for the holidays and means less waste and more love.
Rob from Rob’s World shows us the super cute bottles of homemade vanilla he has been making.
Tania from Pure Natural Diva shares a recipe for a healthier version of spritz cookies that look super yummy.
Lisa from the Lazy Budget Chef talks about eating Tofurky for Thanksgiving and what she thought of it.
Leslie from Recycle Your Day gives tips for making your baking this holiday season a little greener.
And last but not least, Brenna from Almost All The Truth shares tips for greening all parts of the season.
Didn’t get your post sent in, in time? Post it in the Linky below. Just put the title of the blog for the name and a direct link to the post in the spot for a URL.
A More Meaningful Holiday
| November 28, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Green Holidays |
My brother, husband and I went to Norman/OKC on Black Friday, we left later in the day hoping the shoppers would have been back home. For the most part the craziness had died down and we were mostly wanting to eat and do just a small amount of shopping at the less busy stores (mostly locally owned stores).
After lunch we drove by a group of about a half dozen homeless people. I really wished I had gotten my leftovers to give to them or had some kind of food with me, it was such a sad sight. This group was near the mall that was packed and I had to wonder how many people going to the mall, to buy gifts that would be forgotten about in a few weeks, even gave those people a second thought. While people waited in lines for hours to get some cheap piece of plastic crap these people were going hungry and living in the below freezing temps.
While I don’t think we should have to forgo all gifts this holidays, I think that our focus should be on other parts of the season. I believe we all could do with a little less consumerism this holiday season and a bit more love and meaning. Here is a video that while made for Christians I think we all can get a good message from it.
Powerful isn’t it? We could do so much with the money we spend on gifts that will be forgotten. I’m not saying we shouldn’t buy any gifts this holiday seasons, there are already some under my tree but I think we should think more about what kinds of gifts we give and give less stuff and give more of ourselves. Here are some ideas on how to make this holiday season more meaningful.
Watch Your Favorite Christmas Movie Together
My family has watched It’s A Wonderful Life for as long as I can remember. I think we all know every word. My husband and I have also been making a point to watch at least one Christmas movie together a week.
Bake Together
My husband and I like to make gingerbread cookies each year. I guess I really bake them but we eat them together. Even if only some of the family is doing the baking the smell of the baking is likely to make everyone happy!
Make Decorations
Making decorations can be fun for adults and child. So far this year I made a rag wreath and plan to make some other things as well. Keep watching here for ideas and also a quick Google search will find you lots of great ideas.
Give Back
Giving back can be very rewarding for your family as well as the one you are giving to. You can sponsor a kid from the Salvation Army Angel Tree, help at a soup kitchen, volunteer at a local animal shelter, make scarves and blankets for your local homeless shelter, the ideas are endless.
Have a Handmade Christmas
Make a rule that at least one gift for each person has to be handmade. This can mean either by the person or from a store like Etsy. It can be fun to see whatever one comes up with. I try and do as much of my shopping as possible from stores like Etsy and also from handmade Fair Trade goods that help those that are making the items.
The traditions don’t even need to be normal holiday traditions. Last year my family went to a Flaming Lips concert on New Years Eve as part of our Christmas. Just do something together and have fun, you will remember the things you did together more than the gifts.
Have you started any green holiday traditions? Will you be starting new ones this year?
Also here is a beautiful song that goes right along with this topic.
Green Holiday Guide: Late July Holiday Cookie Giveaway *closed*
| November 27, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Giveaway, Green Holidays, Review |
Late July is a family owned company that makes organic snacks. Even though I mostly cook from scratched I have enjoyed Late July’s snacks as special treats. Part of me is glad that this latest product they have come out with is a limited edition, because they are almost to good. The limited edition cookies are their Vanilla Bean with Green Tea Sandwich Cookies covered with dark chocolate and crushed candy canes.
Late July sent some of these to me to try and I have to say I tried one right away and wanted to eat the whole box. When my husband got home I gave him one to try and he grabbed several more and asked where we can get more. The only cons are that you want to eat all of them at once and they are individually packaged in plastic. I would love to see these back next year but with better packaging.
Now you guys are lucky because Late July is offering a box of these limited edition cookies for one lucky reader. If you don’t win or you need more than a box (trust me you may haha) you can also ordered them on their site along with other tasty organic treats that are great for the holidays.
1. Post your e-mail!!!!! Every time people forget, you can’t win if you don’t leave an e-mail address. (if you have a blogger account that has your e-mail that works as well, or if you fill it out in the info, just somewhere please!)
2. Go to Late July and tell me what other snacks you would like to try.
3. Enter by December 4th at 11:59 p.m.
It’s open to anyone in the continental US.
*This giveaway is sponsored by Late July. The prize comes from them. I was not paid for this post, however I received a product for a review. These are my honest views on the products.
My Thanksgiving
| November 27, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
My Thanksgiving started this past Sunday, I went to my aunt and uncles house for a last minute get together. My brother, parents, grandparents and my aunt’s parents were also there. It was a nice relaxing afternoon and evening. I don’t get to see my aunt, uncle and cousins much so it was nice to get to spend time with them. Here are some pictures I stole from my mom.
Today my brother, husband and I went to Oklahoma City and Norman, no we did not go for the Black Friday craziness. We left later in the day and had lunch at a nice semi-organic restaurant called Sage, shopped at some local stores and a few less busy chain stores and had dinner. It was a nice day and I was able to get a cute fair trade sheep ornament, some organic fair trade socks, organic yarn (some of it is also fair trade), a magazine and a few other little things. The yarn was 20% off which was nice. Oh and I got an organic shirt which ended up costing me very little because I thought I just had a few dollars on a gift card and had over $50, that was great surprise haha. It was one of the nicer Thanksgivings I have had, I hope everyone else had a safe and wonderful holiday as well!
Green Holiday Guide: A Greener Black Friday
| November 23, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Green Holidays |
As most of you know the Friday after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday. A day people spend money they don’t have, on crap they don’t need, and go out unbelievably early. One group wants to change this to Buy Nothing Day.
Another move is to make it Green Friday. If you are going to shop why not shop green? Sure buying nothing is better than buying green but few of us are going forgo all gifts on Christmas so this is another option to at least reduce our impact.
To help drive this move to a Green Friday, LunaPads is offering a special 20% off discount code for the following stores-
Lunapads.com
Bamboobino.com
Earth Mama Angel Baby LLC.
NaturalPod.com
Reuseit.com
Customers can use the code GREENFRIDAY at the above stores to receive 20% off Wednesday (11-24) through Friday (11-26). Reuseit.com will also be offering free shipping Wednesday (11-24) through Monday (11-29) on all domestic orders over $50. During the duration of the coupon code, Reuseit.com will also be giving away one customer’s order for free each day.
If you are going out this Friday be sure to try and support your locally owned stores and skip the big box stores. The crowds are normally smaller and you will be supporting your community.
So are you shopping this Friday or supporting Buy Nothing Day? If you are shopping will it be a Green Friday?
Disclaimer: I’m an ambassador for Reuseit.com and I’m also an affiliate for Reuseit.com and Earth Mama Angel Baby. However I was not paid for this post and these are my own options. You can read my full disclaimer here.
Green Holiday Guide: Rag Wreath
| November 23, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under DIY, Green Holidays |
Want a reusable wreath but want to skip the toxic plastic ones? This wreath is easy and cheap to make. You can even use things you have around the house. What you need- a wire hanger, duct tape (or some other kind of tape), wire cutters, and around a yard of fabric.
Cut off the hook and form the wreath in to a circle. Put tape around the ends to hold the circle together.
Cut up fabric (or rip) in one inch by six inch strips, they don’t need to be perfect. Scrap pieces of fabric work really well for this.
Once the fabric is done tie the strips to your circle. Keep adding strips until it’s full. You can add a ribbon to the top to make a bow and/or hanger or use as is.
That’s it! Now you have a reusable wreath that is totally unique. If you make one share the picture, I would love to see it.
This is part of the Mixed Bag Monday blog hop. Go check out the other posts.
Green Holiday Guide: Silikids Giveaway *closed*
| November 21, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Giveaway, Green Holidays, Review |
If you are wanting to use real glasses this holiday season but are afraid of broken glasses with the younger guest, Silikids can help. Silikids was started by two mom’s that found silicone and glass was a safer option for their children.
These cute glasses are bpa-free, dishwasher safe and easy to sterilize. They come in great colors including green and red which would be great for the holidays. I tried out a glass and love it. I like the silicone for when I have a cold drink as it keeps my hands dry and warm. These glasses are a great addition to your holiday table!
Silikids has been kind enough to offer a 6 oz glass for one lucky reader. Go look at all their awesome products and then come enter the giveaway. You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.
1. Post your e-mail!!!!! Every time people forget, you can’t win if you don’t leave an e-mail address. (if you have a blogger account that has your e-mail that works as well, or if you fill it out in the info, just somewhere please!)
2. Go to Silikids and tell me what other product you like on the site.
3. Enter by November 28th at 11:59 p.m.
It’s open to anyone in the continental US.
*This giveaway is sponsored by Silikids. The prize comes from them. I was not paid for this post, however I received a product for a review. These are my honest views on the products.
