Finding new and fun ways to recycle old things is a hobby of mine, and I have just discovered some great new books that would make terrific gifts for any creative recycler on your Christmas list. Or don’t wait, buy them for yourself.

This book is so much fun, even the cover is interesting:

Eco Books: Inventive Projects from the Recycling Bin

Here are 40 innovative book-making ideas using recycled and green materials! More than just earth-friendly, they’re also beautiful, clever, and witty, stitched with traditional binding techniques. Egg cartons, wood, beer cans, and cassette tapes morph into covers, while brown bags, coffee filters, and discarded newspapers are transformed into pages. Create a boxed set of cereal box books, an exposed stitch sketchbook out of cardboard and remnants, and even a faux leather journal made from teabags.

In addition to how-to drawings, close-up detail photographs, and simple stitch diagrams, a gallery of eco-books from an international roster of artists provides inspiration.

Re-Bound: Creating Handmade Books from Recycled and Repurposed Materials
Re-Bound is a beautiful book on bookbinding with a fun green twist-all the projects use recycled and upcycled materials. This book shows you how to take everyday materials from around the house, flea markets, thrift stores, and hardware stores and turn them into clever and eye-catching hand-made books.

Rejuvenated Jewels: New Designs from Vintage Treasures
In this book, readers learn where to find fabulous vintage jewelry, beads, and artifacts, and how to create stunning one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces using these amazing finds. Rhinestone beads and clasps, mercury glass beads, oxidized metal chains, rosary beads, tiny book charms and more are retooled into fabulous statement pieces that can be worn every day.

Semiprecious Salvage: Creating Found Art Jewelry
Semiprecious Salvage shows readers how to think beyond the techniques taught in traditional beading and jewelry books in order to create found art jewelry. Mixed-media applications like sewing, plasterwork and altering found objects tie together to create jewelry pieces such as brooches, pendants, necklaces, earrings, bracelets and belts. In addition to thought-provoking stories on the origination of some of the found items, Stephanie provides the reader with practical jewelry-making techniques that they can incorporate into their own inspired pieces. A simple, organic approach gives the reader limitless ideas for crafting their own jewelry as well as ideas for locating found items whether it be on a nature walk, one’s travels or in the comforts of home.

Each one of these books would be a terrific gift for someone creative on your list.  And there are more similar books.  If you click through the links for each book you will find more books listed underneath each main title on Amazon.

The Body Shop® offers a full assortment of naturally-inspired products, including bath & body, men’s and women’s skincare, and creative gift ideas for a variety of occasions.  They also offer classic and unique fragrances, home fragrances, makeup, and accessories.

Right now in anticipation of the winter holidays, The Body Shop is offering the following specials (click on any of the following links):

• All Body Butters are 2 for $30 at The Body Shop.> – Oct. 19 – Nov. 8
• Free shipping on all orders over $60 at The Body Shop.> – Oct. 19 – Nov. 8
• Free Shipping on all Love Etc… purchases at The Body Shop.> – Oct. 19 – Nov. 8

For those of you who love The Body Shop products, this is a great time to pick some up. This way you can check one thing off your list, and save money on shipping.

Here are a few of my favorites:

The Body Shop Nutmeg and Vanilla Bath & Shower Gel
Best if you want to: Pamper your skin and indulge your senses with fragrant skin cleansing shower gel that gently lathers on application to leave skin feeling cleansed, soft and cared for. Best for: normal skin How it works: Nutmeg extract adds a warm, nostalgic fragrance. Community Trade organic honey moisturizes and conditions skin

The Body Shop Nutmeg and Vanilla Soap
Best if you want to: Cleanse and moisturize your skin with a beautifully embossed soap that contains particles of ground nutmeg to gently exfoliate the skin as you cleanse. Best for: normal skin How it works: Nutmeg extract adds a warm, nostalgic fragrance. Community Trade organically grown soya oil, rich in essential fatty acids, helps to restore the skin’s natural moisture barrier. Derivatives of sustainable palm oil and glycerin cleanse and condition skin.

The Body Shop Mango Foaming Bath
Best if you want to: Soak in a moisture-rich bath filled with a creamy lather and fresh mango fragrance that leaves your skin soft and lightly scented. Best for: very dry skin How it works: Mango extract moisturizes the skin. An ingredient derived from Community Trade cocoa beans creates foaming, cleansing bubbles.

With the colder temperatures starting, people will be spending more time indoors. This year, it seems that with the higher risk of catching the swine flu, it would make a lot of sense to think about the quality of the air we were breathing in our home or office environments.

Swine flu is not quite the epidemic it was last year, but just as an example, one local school shut down just last week because they had 100 cases of swine flu. This will become more of a problem when people are forced inside breathing more of each other’s air. Winter forces closer contact with other people, which is one of the reasons we see so many more colds during the winter time.

This is a good time to think about an air purifier for your home. There are many types of air purifiers, some for just a room, and others for the entire home. The need becomes even more critical if you have someone in your home with a compromised immune system from another condition or disease. Or if you have a family member recovering from surgery.

I went looking today, and noticed that eBay has a very good selection of name brand air purifiers. One of the best brands that I have been reading about is BueAir air purifiers. Here are a couple of them that I found on eBay today.

F/S Blueair 250E Digital HEPA Air Purifier 250
Blueair is the system for people living with allergies, asthma, or other respiratory conditions, or for anyone who wants cleaner, more breathable air. The 250 effectively purifies air in rooms as large as 200 square feet. It uses patented three-stage HEPASilent™ technology to capture 99.97% of the tiniest .1 micron particles, including allergy-provoking pollen grains, dust mites, mold spores and pet dander particles.

This same filter technology earned the larger Blueair 501 Best of Class ranking in independent testing of Clean Air Delivery Rates. The 250 provides comparable performance for smaller rooms.

Value-added features include quiet operation, low energy use, steel construction and easy maintenance: simply open the front and slide in replacement every 6 months.

Blueair ECO10 Air Purifier
The ECO10 uses breakthrough technology to create the most eco-friendly air cleaner on the market. Consumes up to 95% less energy than other models in its class, saving you money while saving the environment as well.

The ECO10 is a breakthrough air purifier which produces a crisp and clean indoor environment, in an extremely economical and eco-friendly way. All of Blueair’s superior cleaning features are combined with remarkable energy savings over other similar air cleaners.

Environmentally Friendly – The World’s First Green Air Purifier

The ECO10 ultra-efficient EC fan motor is the star of this energy-saving design. This innovative motor functions with a CADR-per-watt ratio of 19.5, the highest rating ever recorded by the US Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Program – nearly 28% better than the next best room air cleaner. This energy savings protects the environment, as less energy consumption directly leads to less carbon dioxide emissions. In fact, this unit produces only a fraction of the carbon produced by other air cleaners. In addition, NO ozone by-products are created during operation. Following a long lifecycle, the entire unit, including filters, is recyclable.

Blueair Familiar Features

The ECO10 contains all of the Blueair’s award-winning design features:

* Create cleaner, more breathable air with Blueair’s state-of-the-art filters that remove 99.97% of the tiniest airborne particles, including allergy-provoking pollen, dust mites, mold and pet dander.
* Patented HEPASilent technology cleans the air using both mechanical and electrostatic filters – creating a system through with air flows freely and whisper-quiet. In fact, on low setting the unit creates no more noise than a desktop computer.
* The SurroundAir system achieves peak performance with no noticeable drafts, all while maintaining an exceptional air exchange rate. Air is drawn in from the sides and bottom and is released through the sides and top.

For more information and specifications on these models and others, follow this link.

It amazes me every time I research baby items for gifts or just for fun how many innovations have been made in baby items since I had a baby. My youngest is only 12 years old, so that wasn’t that long ago. Today I was searching for interesting baby furniture and came across the Cariboo line of baby furniture.

Cariboo’s line of furniture is very simple, sleek and modern looking and entirely functional. I would have loved to have had something like this in my home when I had my babies. Not only that, but they are made from sustainable wood.

“Cariboo is a line of children’s furniture that showcases elegant design with practical features. Designed and made in New Zealand, the Cariboo line is constructed of sustainable Radiata wood. The coordinating bassinets and changing tables blend easily with the most stylish home decor. Each piece will be a striking addition to any nursery or master bedroom.”

Cariboo Classic Changing Table
The timeless beauty of the Cariboo Classic Changing Table adds a touch of class to any nursery. The Classic Changing Table also has long term use as a stand for toys or books when a changing table is no longer needed. The Classic Changing Table is environmentally friendly, made from sustainable New Zealand Radiata wood. Comes complete with a changing table pad and fitted toweling cover.

Specifications:

* Dimensions: 35″ H x 32″ D x 33″ L
* Weight Limit: 45 lbs
Cariboo Folding Bassinet

The Cariboo Folding Bassinet is perfect for parents with little room to spare. Stylish and functional at the same time, this bassinet folds flat for easy storage or travel.

The Folding Bassinet is environmentally friendly, made from sustainable New Zealand Radiata wood. The stain is lead free and all materials are non-toxic and PBDE free.

Available in Teak or Mahogany.

Specifications:

* Dimensions: 36″ H x 27.5″ D x 34″ L
* Weight Limit 22 lbs.

You can purchase these and many other eco-friendly baby items at BabyEarth.

Did you know that you can buy EDUN LIVE t-shirts on Zazzle? Not only that but you can design your own EDUN LIVE t-shirt on Zazzle. EDUN LIVE Basic Tees are made 100% in sub-Saharan Africa with a mission to drive sustainable employment on the continent.

Zazzle is a print on demand company that is partnering with artists and companies to provide custom products including t-shirts.

Respect Earth Exclusive Earth Day T-Shirt by edunLIVE
Browse other This T-Shirts

For more information on Zazzle, follow this link.

For more information on EDUN, follow this link.

If you are a fan of local history or green living, then you should get to know the work of a local Cleveland, Ohio company called A Piece of Cleveland.

A Piece of Cleveland or APOC, is a both a company and a mission. This group is creating a demand for recycled wood in Cleveland, Ohio by creating beautiful wood furniture, accessories, and custom furnishings all out of wood from deconstructed buildings.

For more information on A Piece of Cleveland, follow this link.

From babyearth.com:
Babies grow up quickly and your beloved car seats, strollers, swings and highchairs end up as junk, collecting dust in the garage. Sadly, many of these items are thrown away, ending up in landfills. Well, not anymore. That’s why we’ve launched BabyEarth RENEW, a hassle-free baby gear recycling program.

The program is simple. If you’re done with your car seat, stroller or high chair, send it to us. We’ll make sure everything is properly disassembled and all usable parts are sent to accredited recycling centers. For example, fabrics will be shipped to developing countries, and metal, plastic and foam will be used for construction projects. In the spirit of renewing, if the item is in excellent condition it will be donated to and enjoyed by another family who needs it.

While you are on the site, you can also check out BabyEarth’s eco-friendly baby products like this organic mattress below:

Naturepedic Quilted Organic Cotton Deluxe Crib Mattress