Win a copy of the EPIC movie and Learn How To Be Green at Home

Epic will be on blu-ray and DVD on August 20th. There is lots to learn from this movie for both children and adults. These five simple steps inspired by the movie will help us toward becoming "epically green" in our homes.

Learn How to be Green When School Starts

My children enjoyed watching EPIC when they were flying to Asia this week and excited that the Blu-ray and DVD will be out on August 20th.

Soon our children will be heading back to school and will be excited to see their friends and experience new things. The new school year is a new beginning filled with new teachers, experiences, and lessons. We can start off in the right direction by being environmentally friendly in our preparations for this school year. 

Strawberry Banana Milk Bars

With the summer heat we are always looking for ways to cool down, so I made this delicious milk bars or popsicles with strawberry and banana. In June when it was strawberry season in Ontario, it has become our tradition to take the kids and pick our own strawberries in a local farm close to home. I usually remove the top and cut the strawberries into two and freeze it. 

Green products are better for us and the environment

Happy Earth Day to all of you. Today many of us are thinking global and green. With this thought, I think we need to make lifestyle changes and use greener products, which are better for the environment and us.

Our Experience and Pictures from the Green Living Show 2013

We went to the Green Living Show 2013 that was held at Direct Energy Centre from April 12th-14th. This is North America’s largest consumer show dedicated to simple solutions for leading a healthy and sustainable lifestyle. This family event offered us lots of inspiration as it featured innovative products, educational demonstrations and fun activities. 

There were over 400 companies present at the event that taught and showed their automotive/innovative technology, health, beauty, fashion, home products and services.

Cashmere EnviroCare dress and What is truly "green"

Cashmere EnviroCare has made the first ever children's dress crafted from 100% recycled bathroom tissue by designer Izzy Camilleri.
White Cashmere Collection was revealed in celebration of Fashion with Compassion to raise awareness for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.  
We can contribute to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation by casting a vote for our favourite dress. For every vote, Cashmere will donate $1, up to $10,000, in the winning designer's name.  
To vote, all you have to do is visit votecouture.ca or Facebook.com/Cashmere and select your favourite design.  All voters will be entered into a draw for a chance to win one of four $2,500 shopping sprees.

Recent research conducted by Kruger Products show that people want to buy green products, but they rarely actually buy.  Many people are confused about what elements differentiate truly 'green' products from the ones that claim to be 'green', therefore not knowing what to trust as credible.  Here is a link of the results from the research.

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Omee's boutique

Omee's boutique has beautiful handmade gifts for moms and babies.  All the products are made in a smoke, fragrance and pet free environment.  Omee Bubu, the owner of Omee's boutique carries a wide range of products for eco-conscious people such as bibs, reusable sanitary pads, blankets, wash cloth, bibs, burp cloth, nursing pads, changing pads and blankets.

The eco-friendly  3" by 10.5" long cloth menstrual pads are soft, light and thin.  The pads are made with 1 layer of absorbent terry and 4 layers of flannel stitched at the top layers to prevent leaking.  The wing on the pad has a snap closure.

  

The cute cheerful bibs are 8" x 12" made with soft terry back that absorbs well without soaking through.  There is a snap closure on the back.

The flannel wipes sold at Omee's boutique can also be used as washcloths and napkins.  These double layered wipes are made with soft absorbent flannel.  It is stitched to prevent fraying.

The oversized double layered flannel baby blanket is soft and thick made with 100% cotton snuggle flannel.  It can be used to swaddle little ones, during play time, tummy time, at picnics, for a quick car window cover, car seat cover or as a nursing cover.  This handy 37" x 40" blanket folds to fit into bags/ backpacks.

All clothing can be machine or hand washed and tumble dried or hung to dry.

The products from Omee's boutique can be given as gifts or bought online for everyday use.  We can also make custom orders with our choice of fabric.

Do take advantage of the spring discount using the code SPRING.  If you live in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) you can make arrangements to avoid shipping; here are the details regards to shipping, payment etc.  The products are shipped to anywhere in the world, check the site for special deals.

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Bento boxes

Reuseit has a wide unique selection of eco-friendly Bento boxes.  This company started in 2003 and has benefited more that 285000 customers who have stopped throwing away about 1 billion of use and toss items such as plastic bags, bottles/cups, paper towel, straw, utensils, wrapping paper, toss food & lunch containers etc.  

Reuse it products are environmentally friendly, innovative and practical.  They even have eco-friendly toothbrushes.  The products such as the ones in Reuseit will benefit all of us and save money.

I tested this Box Appetit Lunch box and Lunch pot designed by Black + Blum London.  These containers are dishwasher and microwave safe.  We can microwave with the lid open for up to 2 minutes; don't over heat because the food can become dangerously hot.  If the container is tight and hard to open use the spoon to let out air and turn.

These containers are conveniently designed to hold a reusable utensil.  The strap on the Lunch pot can be tightened so its like a carry handle.

I like the colour combinations, white/ green and red/ black in this selection. Compartments in this bento style Lunch box can hold dip, snack, salad or sandwich.  The Lunch pots can carry soups, rice and noodles.  The top container of the Lunch pot holds 10 fl. oz and the bottom holds 18.5 fl. oz.

Check out there site for a wide selection of bento boxes.

Use this code FIVEMORE to receive a $5 off at checkout in orders over $50, which is valid till August 31, 2012.

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Green Living show 2012 experience

We learned about eco-friendly products and ways we can to be part of sustainable living at the Green Living Show, which will be held at the Direct Energy Centre CNE from April 13th till April 15th.

At the show, we got to know about free services such as getting rid of our garbage in an environmentally friendly way. For example, using TerraCycle. Once, we sign up and tell which type of the waste we like to get rid of, we can start collecting and then send it to TerraCycle using their free shipping UPS slip. The materials that are collected will be used to create new products. TerraCycle operates all over the world. Recycle your electronics is a service that helps us get rid of office and home electronic products. Orange drop can be used to safely dispose our hazardous waste free of charge. Household hazardous wastes should not be thrown in the garbage or down the drain. We can take it to municipal HHW depot collection event or take the paint and batteries to a retail drop-off location. Put your postal code on the side bar and search for the collection depots. 

There were other companies that offer eco-friendly options and ways we can make our home greener, for example using rain barrels, solar powered panels, roofing, green windows, water systems, and more. They had a variety of gardening products and tips. There were many products related to fashion, beauty and clothing which were made using natural organic material such as pure cotton and bamboo. The show had companies and business that taught about healthy living by adding yoga and exercise to our daily routine. The electronic cars on display looked really cool.

There were lots of things related to bio-diversity such as plants, seeds, flowers, planting with Rona and Rouge park and magazines that has tips on how we can be part of cultivating a green city.

We spent a lot of time at the Eco-zone which had lots of hand-on children friendly things to do. They had reptiles to touch. There were lots of playhouses and toys built with cardboard. Children mixed clay, soil and wildflower seeds and made seed balls to plant. I found out that there was corn-based glue from Elmer's. The ROM had organized a booth where we learned about some creatures found in the oceans in Canada.

We made cool fish using paper plates. The paper plate fish were made using...

paper plates

googly eyes

glue

markers

yarn to hang

Cut a triangle shape on one sides of the paper plate for the mouth. Staple this triangle piece on the opposite side, horizontally from where the cut was made for the tail.

Glue the googly eyes and decorate the fish. Punch a hole to hang the fish using yarn.

There were lots of organic and healthy food to taste. They had mushroom growing kits at the Organic Garage so we can try our hand at growing our own oyster mushrooms at home.

I was happy to see familiar products such as Green toys, Kicking horse coffee, Organic Meadow, Three Farmers Camelina oil, TIFF, Rough park, ROM, WWF, and RONA. 

Organic and eco-friendly products have so many benefits to all of us, however they aren't very accessible. My hope is that it would become wide spread so people would be able to purchase these regularly for a reasonable price. Although, paying the extra cash makes us reluctant to take a step towards eco-friendly options, at the Green Living Show we felt that the long term cost would be less and the impact on the environment would also be less when we use eco-friendly products.

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Green living show 2012

The Green living show, North America's largest green consumer event will be held from April 13th to 15th at the Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition place. There will be over 400+ exhibitors and companies in Canada that will exhibit all types of product categories; energy, food & beverage, health & wellness, home & garden, transportation, eco-tourism & recreation, fashion & beauty...

Here is the schedule

Friday April 13th 10 AM to 9 PM

Saturday April 14th 10 AM to 9 PM

Sunday April 15th 10 AM to 6 PM

Free admission If you bring electronic waste to recycle sponsored by Samsung and Sears. Children under 12 years accompanied by adults get in for free as well, a good opportunity to teach children about green living.

Elementary schools get in for free when they participate in the Passion for E-recycling school challenge.

Join other green-minded Canadians, learn and enjoy from these fabulous attractions. Some of the cool ones :)

EcoKids Zone sponsored by Earth Day Canada will provide entreating workshops to create crafts, seed balls, eco activities and live animal presentations.

Learn about the importance of birds for the ecosystem and watch live bird attractions

Interactive exhibition about Canada's oceans

Explore new innovative electric mobility technologies hands-on at the vehicle show and test drive environmentally friendly automotive.

Bring your bikes, there will be valet bike parking weather permitting.

Swap your pre-loved DVDs, Blu-rays, CDs

There will be a farm fresh fare with restaurant chefs making gourmet meals using Ontario grown ingredients. Part of the proceeds from the Farm Fresh Fare ticket sales will go to Evergreen's children's food program and Slow food Toronto's learning garden programs.

There will be an Eco fashion show, farmer's market, job forum and lots more...

Follow on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date. Looking forward to see you guys there :)

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Stained vase craft and Kinder® contest to win $500

The Family day long weekend and the March break is just around the corner. I am planning on spending some quality time during the day with the children making crafts and food. I am also looking forward to relax, stay close to home and visit local attractions like the Ontario Science Centre :)

Green toys

Green toys are safe, fun and good for the earth. All green toys are made with 100% recycled plastic milk containers which is already food safe plastic. Since these toys do not contain BPA, PVC, phthalates, coating, melamine or metal in any of their products, it makes me feel comfortable as my children handle and play with these toys.