Our Children's Earth

Happy Earth Day Everyone!

ourchildrensearth — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:41:47 +0000

This is such a busy time of year for us…wonder why Earth Day would be busy for an Eco Friendly shop….lol. Since Earth Day is one of our favorite holidays, we have a great coupon code for everyone!! Get 25% off by saying that you LOVEGREEN when you see us at Earth Jam next weekend. Not to forget those that are far away….you can also use the the coupon code LOVEGREEN on our Etsy site for 25% off. We have two of our favorite shows this time of year. Last weekend we were at the Ogden Nature Center’s Earth Day Celebration. Here is what they had to say about the celebration on their facebook page: Earth Day Celebration Today from 12-4! A native plant sale, great food, workshops, animals, gardening, and lots of fun for the kiddos including a rock climbing wall, llama rides, head wreaths, puppet shows and more! Artists, entertainment and green gurus from all over Utah! Come learn and play! To find out more about this amazing place you can find them at: http://www.ogdennaturecenter.org/

We did have a great time this year. Usually I take a ton of fun pictures to share with everyone but this year we had rain and lots of it. So I would set up the booth and then pull everything into the middle again as the rain started again. I did not even think about pictures until it was over and I was taking my tent down…a duh moment! So all pictures in this post are from facebook or google. It was a brilliantly beautifully day because of the rain. It was cool and refreshing and I am so grateful for my good friend Athena from Simply Eden Goat Milk Soap. She let us borrow two of her extra tent sides so we did not get anything ruined (why we did not bring our own on a day like this could be added to the duh moments…lol). We love her and adore all of her amazing products! You can find her at: http://www.SimplyEden.com

Yes, these soaps, oils and lotions smell and feel as good as they look!!

She raises her own goats and they are so cute. She brought them out to the Earth Day Celebrations and all the kids loved them! We went out to her house a few weeks ago and had so much fun playing with her goats and their babies. Future pictures to of that.

Tonight we are going to go and help clean up the Earth. One of our very favorite local shops, Green The World, is hosting this amazing event. Here is what they have to say about it on facebook:

Please join me for a Beautiful Walk on the evening of Monday, April 22nd to pick up some trash and enjoy the scenery along the Ogden River Parkway.Meet at my store at 6pm and we will walk along Lincoln Avenue towards the Ogden River Parkway and head west. We will be picking up all trash along the way and ending up back at SLACKWATER Pizza & Pub. Green The World will offer FREE appetizers to all who helped and hopefully you can purchase a drink and support Slackwater as well.AUTOLIV has offered to help support this event and will be giving gloves and trash bags to all who come and help.We will have a small raffle at the end of our walk with several local artisans and businesses donating….Baby Bump Maternity, Debbie Warren (Wool Dryer Balls), Our Children’s Earth, All About Socks, Laylee Beads (Silverwear Jewelry) and Bravura Boutique and more to come.Please spend an hour and come out and support. All are welcome, bring your children, spouses, friends, anyone who wishes to help “Green The World”

If you live local and want to help, you can find out more at: https://www.facebook.com/events/398098643622608/

One of the reasons that I started my own business was to be able to donate and give to causes I believe in. I for sure believe in helping the Earth so we have donated some fun items to tonight’s get together.

This weekend we will be participating with Earth Jam down in Salt Lake City. This is always a fun event with amazing music, great artists and of course the coolest people to come and see everything. Here is what they have to say on facebook: Earth Jam Productions is a non-profit organization that comes together every April in celebration of Earth Day. Our annual Festival is held in Liberty Park located in Salt Lake City, UT. We offer a variety of different activities that all help educate on bettering the environment and bringing people and community’s together. Earth Jam is a FREE FAMILY EVENT

The music of Earth Jam is the heart of the organization. We have 2 stages The Earth Stage, The Fire Stage, that we fill with local talent, performing arts, and speakers

Please visit www.earth-jam.org

We hope that you have an amazing Earth Day and find something fun to help make the world a better place

Earth Day 2013 (betsywild.wordpress.com)
The Importance of Earth Day (18 Days Away!!) – April 3 ’13 (divamoms.com)

Recycled Containers Into Toy Containers

ourchildrensearth — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 21:19:19 +0000

Do your kids love to collect little toys? My boys do! Lately they have been collecting these cute little ninja’s that needed a home so I can quit stepping on them. They are almost as painful as a legos to step on. But where to put these little guys??? As I am pondering little toys on the floor I see my stack of coffee containers from my Mother-n-law. These will be perfect for their toys and what a fun craft project to do with the kids.

For these cute containers you need the following items:

~old coffee containers, or you can use any old containers that are safe for kids to use

~scrape book paper, old wrapping paper, newspapers or anything that your kids will like to decorate their containers with

~scissors

~glue gun

~marker

First you need to pick the kind of paper you are going to use. My boys had a fun time looking through all the paper and finding patterns they liked.
Then you have to trace the size of the patterns on the paper that will fit your containers. If your kids are old enough they can cut the patterns out themselves to work on cutting skills.

Then take the paper and glue gun to glue it on the containers. We glued it on the top and the side. My one son decided to add extra fun to the front with a cute cut out.

Here you go, you have your fun containers to hold your toys. Now no more excuses for little ninja’s on the floor. These would also be cute for gift boxes, food containers or a variety of things.

Homemade Toys (treemama.wordpress.com)
Crafts for kids- Make a roll back can (craftsdigitalscrapbook.com)
DIY Toy Block Spice Racks – This LEGO Seasoning Container Can Be Your Next Project for the Kitchen (TrendHunter.com) (trendhunter.com)

Recycled Memories from Times of Past while Planting your Tomatoes

ourchildrensearth — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 02:14:52 +0000

One of the most amazing things about having Grandparents is that they can share their old memories and we can recycle them into new ones or use them just the way they are. I love my Grandparents and my children’s Grandparents. They are full of ideas from a long life fully lived. I thought I would share some of these great ideas in my blog from time to time.

English: My Grandparents Bill & Binkie Loxton in the 1970′s. From our Family Photograph Collection. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Since it is Spring I thought I would share one of my Grandparents ideas. They have been life long gardeners and have many to share with me. One that I am going to get ready to use has to do with planting tomatoes.

Beautiful Red Tomatoes are Healthy (Photo credit: epSos.de)

They swear by adding eggshells to your tomatoes before you plant them. First you dig a hole put your crushed up egg shells in the hole then plant your tomatoes on top of them. They say it helps them to be healthier and helps keep the bugs away. I started looking around on the web and everywhere I looked they agreed with my Grandparents. Here is a great site: http://voices.yahoo.com/the-best-growing-tomatoes-eggshells-for-5992370.html with further information about what the egg shells actually do to help your plants grow.

Good luck with your tomato plants and a Happy Spring!

How to Prune Tomato Plants The Right Way? (cindyhelens.wordpress.com)
Organic tomatoes contain more vitamin C, carotenoids, and polyphenol then conventional tomatoes (organicfoodsandyourbody.wordpress.com)

Upcycled Toys turns Mason Jars into Awesome Jars!

ourchildrensearth — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 15:36:17 +0000

Making your shelves look cool with this super easy Mason jar project:

Things you will need:

1. Enough Mason jars (or old glass jars from jam, spaghetti sauce etc..) for all of your nuts, grains, flours, snacks or whatever items you want to put into them.

2. Get old toys that will fit on the lids of the jars you are using. I found the kids old animals but you could use anything: old superheros, blocks, legos, letters…the possibilities are limitless.

3. Paint so you can make all of your animals match. You could leave them the way they are also….your house, your style, your decision on what works best. Oh and you might want to wash them before you paint them.

4. Glue to attach the animals to your jars. I used my glue gun on this and would recommend using another glue since they can be knocked off on occasion.

5. Set your jars out and see the smiles on peoples faces when they look at them!

Here we go:

Do your children have a room full of toys? Why not upcycle some of them into super cool things and help them clean their room faster at the same time. Here are some of the toys that my amazing sons donated to this cause:

I have been using Mason jars to store my grains, nuts, flours etc in for the last few years. So I did not have to collect any I just used the ones I already had.

Then I took the animals outside (in the snow..lol) and painted them all silver.

I liked how they looked before but after I added the animals to them I was like WOW…these are awesome now!

I like how the variety of sizes makes them all unique looking. I also love the silver and how it works together with the lids.

Here are some of my jars put away on a shelf in the cupboard and here are some on the shelf looking awesome!

I cannot remember where I saw this idea originally but have searched my magazines and pintrest….no luck. If I do ever find where it came from I will come and post thie info here. I just remember seeing a picture of these and LOVED them! Have fun using your imagination with this easy project!

Upcycled Decor: DIY Stained Mason Jars (ecosalon.com)
Trendspotting: The Mighty Mason Jar (zazzle.com)
Repurpose junk into toys (nourishednuggets.com)
DIY Photo Jar Album (bellesofbeirut.wordpress.com)

Our Etsy shop and Supporting Artists Team was featured

ourchildrensearth — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:08:18 +0000

Image via CrunchBase

We are so excited that one of our favorite Etsy teams that we are on: Supporting Artists team (https://www.etsy.com/teams/8735/supporting-artists-team) was featured by Etsy. They say that we are a team with Spirit. Then if you go to the article there is our shop…so awesome!

Look for the red roses to find us:

https://www.etsy.com/mailinglist/email/RjF2OVlJMlBPOFU4VnU2RkdpWmgwS1BaZXg4V2k5MlFuVGN4WHI3YWF0RT0uLjEzNjMwMzkzNzg=

Etsy….Who are you and why do I love you so much…… (uprintpartysupplies.com)
Working at Home, a Conversation (vintagepoetic.wordpress.com)

New place selling our Steampunk items…..

ourchildrensearth — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:08:39 +0000

Steampunk Lady (Photo credit: globalreset)

English: Steampunk image of author G. D. Falksen Français : Photo de l’auteur G. D. Falksen habillé en style Steampunk. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We love making Steampunk items. It is fun to recycle old watchs and jewelry and come up with something totally amazing! We were very honored when we were contacted about being part of this amazing web site called Gussy and Grymm. They are still creating their site but you will soon be able to find our jewelry on their site. Here is what they have to say about themselves:

Something Old, Something New, Very Vintage, Very You!

In an era where technology and innovation are the heralds of our society, we felt it neccesary to create a shopping experience that speaks to the whimsical, offbeat personalities among us that we love so much.

We are a collection of designers, artists and merchants and wedding experts that feel a call to such timeless trends as corsets, spats and unique timepieces. We invite you to get “Gussied Up” in our Emporium, be it for your wedding or just because.

Browse our shops, get to know us, and find your inner vintage!

Here are a few of our items you will be finding on their site:

I hope that you come and check them out, we are really excited to be a part of it!

Steampunk subculture’s appeal varies among followers in Eastern Iowa (thegazette.com)
Steampunk Wedding Fashion Show! (bohemianromance.wordpress.com)
Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing (tor.com)

Featured in Upcyclers Blog

ourchildrensearth — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:33:37 +0000

What an awesome surprise to wake up to. We are featured in the Upcyclers Team Blog for our Recycled Sweaters:

http://love2upcycle.blogspot.com/2013/02/monday-finds-sustainable-march.html

Here is our Recycled Sweater Jacket featured in it:

There are other amazing items from other shops featured, we highly recommend you go check them out.

Upcycled Fashion (revivefashion.wordpress.com)
Upcycling & Reducing Landfill (pastimehobbyist.wordpress.com)
Upcycling-Turning Garbage into Something Useful (wachurecycle.wordpress.com)

Ogden Nature Center Winter Holiday Bash 2012

ourchildrensearth — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 19:47:15 +0000

I always say, better late then never…right? So here are the pictures of the Ogden Nature Center Winter Holiday Bash. This happened in December 2012 but like I said, never late then never. I love the Ogden Nature Center. It is such a magical place to be in nature, right in the middle of the city.

They are growing on their roof, how cool is that!

turkeys are running around, it is awesome

Education Building all built Eco Friendly

Awesome ladies and jewelry at Moonlighting Mermaids. We love Lisa and Julie and all the amazing items that they make. They will custom make your jewelry for you while you wait…now that is AWESOME!

The most amazing smelling Pinecones to light your fire!

Amazing items!

The coolest ornaments and sayings by Nature Babbles (Susan) and gotta love Stephanie’s Sparrows and Owls! We had so much fun being by this ladies!!

One of our all time favorite customers and friends Victoria!

And our booth:

Mighty Machines Fruity Fun on Snow/ Rainy Days or Birthday Parties

ourchildrensearth — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 17:42:56 +0000

As you can tell from our Recycled Cardboard Mighty Machines post we had a Mighty Machines Birthday party for my little guy. This was one of the activities that I came up with to do…….the kids made their own Mighty Machines out of fruit. This would also be a great snow or rainy day activity to do with the kids. They had so much fun being creative and using their imagination.

Cover of a Mighty Machines DVD. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

To start this I got together a variety of fruit, marshmallows, peanut butter (to use like glue), toothpicks (for the older kids to use to put their Mighty Machines together with) and plates for them to display their masterpieces on.

Here is one of the amazing Mighty Machines they created:

And another one with a cool grape driving it:

More Mighty Machines on display. Here is a Front End Loader, Truck and Race Car:

They had a great time with these and one of the best parts is getting to eat them after you make them…..YUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYY!

Thor Party Ideas (birthdayinabox.com)
Thanks to Curious George and Mighty Machines One Gets Checked Off The Sandbox List (thewishfactor.wordpress.com)
Mariel’s Picks 2012 ~ Gifts for Boys Ages 3 to 6 (oneshetwoshe.com)
Green Party Ideas (birthdayinabox.com)
9 Inspiring Birthday Party Ideas (redtri.com)
Green up every celebration & holiday in 2013 (celebrategreen.net)

Hello New Year……Pay-it-Forward……

ourchildrensearth — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:10:52 +0000

Happy New Year 2013 (Photo credit: Mark Kens)

Happy New Year to you ALL! I can’t say thank you enough to all of you that have supported us over the years. A very big heart felt thanks to you ALL. You have all helped us to be such a success this year. We love you all and appreciate you all. To those of you that helped us recycle items by donating your trash to us, to those of you that love to buy from us, for those of you that sell our items in your shops, to those that help us set up at boutiques and festivals (or helps us take our tent down) and all of you that have offered kind words of encouragement over the years…again we send you all love and thanks for a wonderful 2012!

As part of our way to say thank you we are offering a pay-it-forward on facebook. I love to pay-it-forward and share kindness with others. Here is what we said on our facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Our-Childrens-Earth/109367279088893): 2013 Creative Pay-It-Forward… the first 5 people to comment on this status will receive from me, sometime in the next calendar year, a HOMEMADE gift. The catch? Those 5 people must make the same offer in their FB status…….so you can head on over to facebook and comment and get something free from me as my way to say thank you!

Our family and our business loves to pay-it-forward and do nice things for people….some of the fun things that we did in 2012: went into a fast food place and ordered all of the staff working one of the pies on the menu and then gave them to them, donated items to a huge variety of organizations, went through a drive thru and paid for the persons meal behind us (my kiddos love this one), donate our time to participate in activities that we believe in helping out, do pay-it-forward listings in our Etsy shop etc..

Let us know what you did to pay-it-forward this year?

Pay it Forward Listing: Yarn! (witchcrafts.wordpress.com)
Free Cycle Won’t Let Me PAY IT FORWARD! (godgoseonablinddatewithscience.wordpress.com)
Pay It Forward 2013 (featherblues53.com)
Paying it Forward and Pics of the Week 36: Winter Chinese Garden, Unusual Lunch Break, Catch the Wave, Magic Door #11, Release and Outside the Touch of Time (zenandgenki.com)

Our Children's Earth

Happy Earth Day Everyone!

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