I love a funky, unique, and greener business concept so when I was introduced to the Ecocessories jewelry line and the designer Jessica – I couldn’t wait to write about this awesome company that recycles jewelry. And with Valentines Day on the near horizon and everyone wanting to show their love and devotion with a more eco-friendly message this year, the timing is perfect.

An amazing aspect that owner Jessica has included in her business model is recycling jewelry and then passing savings onto her customers. Who doesn’t have some mis-matched single earrings, broken necklaces, or dated costume jewelry cluttering up their jewelry box? You mail it to Jessica and will receive 15% off a future order. And when you take a peek at her one-of-a-kind creations, you’ll be loving the savings and feeling great that 100% of your old jewelry’s components will be recycled into a new design.  Take a peek at these Valentine pieces any only one word comes to mind… “Swoon”!

I asked Jessica why so many moms, brides, and everyday women would want to purchase jewelry directly from a designer. I loved her answer and wanted to share. “A designer has paid the highest attention to detail in your jewelry design. A designer goes to great lengths to provide a high quality item, and will often stand behind that craftsmanship such as with Ecocessories lifetime guarantee. A designer has a low environmental impact and the products are created in favourable and fair working conditions. Designers are transparent about the creation of their items and the story behind a piece is part of its charm! We also deliver superior customer service with customization services available and adjustments to existing pieces if need be. Most of all, we care – about our products, our processes, and our customers!”

Jessica’s designs are made from sterling silver that is free from harmful metals and of the highest quality. Chemical-free alternatives in her silversmithing processes keep her designs not only lovely, but environmentally safe both in production and design. Working with a designer is the best-case scenario for those that love unique and one-of-a-kind pieces.  Jessica loves asymmetrical design and calls on her collection of recycled beads to assist in her inspiration, along with seasons and what is inspiring with fashion.

I personally am drawn to jewelry that represents interests or a story in people’s lives. What a magical concept to wear a piece of jewelry that not only tells a great story but also includes an earthy element. The Ecocessories online store and the ocean and Cypress jewelry collections really had me at first glance.  In my opinion, Jessica’s real specialty is her nature inspired designs that are artistically interpreted long before she starts to hand-forge shapes, signature clasps, and silver.

The above pieces are currently available on her site and are one-of-a-kind. They are named Antique Ocean Oval Pendant, Antique Ocean Circle Earrings, and Cypress Street Organic Bracelet. With names like that I wanted to hear the story behind the Cypress line. With many of you knowing that my beautiful Province of BC is hosting the Winter Olympics next month I thought the inspiration behind the Cypress piece would be fun to share explained by Jessica.”This line was inspired by many afternoons carving down the slopes of Mount Cypress in West Vancouver. I remember the first time driving up there, the road was lined with such vivid blues and greens. Then when we were almost at the peak, everything turned white as soon as we turned a corner. It was the most awe-inspiring moment, almost like the trees had been sprayed with whipped cream. I’ll never get over the amount of life and colour the forest and the mountains contain here in BC and often like to reflect that in my designs.

Have you already fallen in love with a piece and are nervous about the cost?  Go to the Ecocessories site and fall in love because they are affordable and offer a rich history with a wonderful eco-story standing behind each piece. Jessica is also offering Mommy Footprint readers a 10% discount on any Ecocessories order. Simply type MommyFootprint during step 2 of the online shopping cart after entering your address. Or just be direct and let’s call it ‘helpful’ and forward the Ecocessories link to you partner and make his Valentines shopping easy this year.

In researching ways to remove toxins from your bedding, mattresses, and bedrooms, I received tips from the co-founder at Sleepy Sheep and  Saplings that I wanted to share. These tips are things you can do immediately that will ease your anxiety level with dust mites, bacteria, mold, and chemicals. I appreciate that these two solid business owners would pass along product knowledge and freebies that can improve the health of our homes. Here are some tips you can implement tomorrow from the experts!

Chelsea from Sleepy Sheep told me that sunlight is a natural virus killer. To immediately de-tox your bed, pull your duvet down and expose pillows and sheets to sun light.  Open your curtains in your bedroom during the day as this allows moisture to evaporate from your mattress and allows sunlight into your bedroom, which helps prevent mold and fungus from growing.

Wash your pillows monthly to keep dust mites and other allergens at bay. A clean pillow improves your sleep by helping you breath properly while you sleep.

When taking your bedding (or clothes for that matter) to the dry cleaner, try to find a cleaner that markets themselves as green. Why? Many dry cleaners will use a chemical cocktail to finish your items called sizing. Ask that this step not be used to finish your bedding so that sizing or Teflon agents aren’t being added to your ‘cleaned’ bedding.

Chris from Saplings Sustainable Kids Decor offered some great tips for removing common toxins from your bedroom starting with wall decals. These popular wall stickers are the hot decorating choice with parents because of their convenience and versatility, but most on the market are made from PVC (poison plastic that off-gasses chemicals). Look for decals that are stamped vinyl-free or PVC-free and are made from polypropylene or fabric.

One of the easiest ways to improve the air quality in your child’s bedroom is to use VOC free paint. Chris recommends the new Natura line from Benjamin Moore and Yolo Colorhouse in rooms they have done….both brands have great quality and are a safer paint choice.

Smell your room! Basically, your sense of smell is one of the best things you can rely on when safeguarding your room. If you are using anything that has a strong smell, be it your paint, bedding, decor ~ be cautious. Anything you put in your child’s room should be odour free straight out of the package (** great tip **)!

The last tip from Chris can be read in it’s entirety from this article and the great thing about it is you probably have most of the ingredients at home! A recipe to decrease chemical residues and smells from dyeing process and use of conventional scented detergents &/or fabric softeners:

Wash several times or soak overnight in a tub of water with one of the following:

1/2 cup of vinegar
1/2 – 1 cup of pickling salt (don’t use in an enameled tub as it will cause it to rust)
1/4 – 1 cup of baking soda (will have to rewash several times to remove residue).

For any and all organic bedding & decor requirements, the owners at Saplings are ready to answer your questions. They’ve done the research and put together their site to keep the confusing nature of shopping for organic bedding simplified.  Two of my favorite rooms from their site are below.

Looking for more information on PVC? Check out the category on Mommy Footprint called PVC Info. Discover why this plastic doesn’t belong in your bedroom or anywhere near children.

A disturbing subject and confusing topic for parents is the toxic sleep environment their children’s mattress or pillows might be creating. I’ve avoided writing this article for many months because I wanted to properly research and frankly, my head couldn’t take any more surprises. I regret procrastinating for so long because once you read this article, you’ll want to make changes.  After spending hours talking with Chelsea, the co-founder of Sleepy Sheep, I have valuable information that can help you determine, rectify, and shop for healthy alternatives if you want your beds to become a truly healthy place where your children, babies, and family can get a restful sleep.

If you are purchasing duvets, mattresses, pillows or simply checking labels on current products in your home, 3 main categories need to be looked at – especially with researching mattresses and pillows! Questions to ask include what materials are used in the production of the ‘outside’ of the product, ‘inside’ of the product and ‘treatment’ of the product – and I don’t mean asking it how they are feeling… <grin>  I mean if the product has been chemically treated.

Outside:

The slippery coating on the outside of a crib mattress could be PVC, otherwise known as vinyl. This coating will off-gas because phthalates and plasticizers have been added to the PVC to make it bendy.  Phthalates are problematic within your baby or child’s bed because they are toxic to human health, can cause reproductive complications (developmentally in boys and fertility in both genders), and cause life-long allergies or asthma problems that begin as babies.

Inside:

What is your mattress, duvet, or pillows filled with? A popular material inside all mattresses, including crib mattresses is polyurethane foam.  Don’t let another long ‘p’ word from the plastics world confuse you. Just think of polyurethane foam as plastic, made with petroleum that is highly flammable. I was having a hard time picturing this material and then I knew how to explain it to parents.  Most or you have received or purchased a Disney licensed foam chair or fold out couch. We’ve had a Pooh Bear chair for years and once had a Sesame Street foldout couch. The foam chairs are fuzzy on the outside, and then you notice the breakdown of yellow chunks coming out the bottom as the foam breaks down… this is polyurethane foam and it’s really disgusting. Not only highly flammable, polyurethane foam off gasses VOCs (volatile organic compounds), especially toluene, formaldehyde which are toxic chemicals found in stinky nail polish.  And with the flammability issue being a problem with fire regulations and the government – question number 3 comes along about what the filling is treated with.

Treatment:

Now that we’ve determined that the filling is flammable, what is it treated with? Besides the chemicals that are already in the filler (polyester, polyurethane foam, etc.) it is now also treated with flame retardants. We are protecting our children from a flammability issue by adding very toxic chemicals to our bed. Our mattresses and pillows are off-gassing us while we sleep. Exposure to flame retardants are so toxic they are a known cause of cancer – just Google brominated flame retardants and ask yourself if these chemicals should be anywhere near a child – especially a baby.  I was shocked to find out from Chelsea that wool is naturally flame retardant and therefore is not subject to chemical flame retardant treatments when it’s used to create mattresses, etc.

I know, I’ve stressed out every parent reading this. If it makes you feel better, I flipped over the queen mattress my younger son has slept on for the last 4 years and everything I’ve just written about was confirmed with reading the mattress tag…polyurethane foam as the only material listed. I also rounded up pillows until I found one with the tag still on it and saw 100% polyester. My nemesis of late – polyester!  Meaning we’ve all had our heads on plastic that has flame retardants in my house!  So trust me that I feel your pain and have equally stressed myself as well.

But all is not doom and gloom since I had several light-bulb moments while talking with Sleepy Sheep’s co-founder yesterday.  Chelsea gave me two very easy and low-cost steps you can make right away that will assist every bed in your home to become a healthier place….without having to budget for a wool mattress (not yet anyway).

Did you know that wool is naturally anti-bacterial, naturally flame resistant (!!), naturally breathable, and a natural allergen prohibitor because it’s a bad host to irritants such as dust mites?  Wool is the superior material used in organic or natural bedding, mattresses, and pillows because of these wonderfully natural properties. I find it so hard to believe that chemical flame retardants could be eliminated in our beds if they simply contained wool, rather than synthetic materials. I loved learning that if Chelsea could recommend one change for a family to improve the ‘health’ of their bed it would be to replace your pillows with wool batting interior. And really, that makes a lot of sense. Think of the hours you spend with your nose and mouth inhaling the material of whatever your pillow is made from. Most pillows are made with polyester fill (plastic) which is not healthy and Sleepy Sheep sells pillows made with wool balls called knops. These are little balls of wool and you can choose your level of fullness and voila ~ you’ve made a very inexpensive change to creating a healthier sleep environment.

Another great insight from Chelsea was that their number one selling product are organic mattress toppers for crib mattresses and adult size mattresses. That tells me that people at some level know how disgusting the inside of a mattress is and want a barrier between their bodies and a traditional mattress.  Check out this awesome tidbit from Chelsea – organic mattress toppers allow airflow around your body and because the interior of the topper contains wool, it’s fibers wick away a person’s sweat, and this moisture actually absorbs toxins that are off-gassing from a traditional mattress and causes the toxins to evaporate. I thought this was cool! The seal between your body and the traditional mattress is not 100% of course, but this alternative is obviously better than continuing to sleep on a mattress that is toxic to your heath. These toppers are a great alternative for parents just not ready to commit to the financial investment of an organic mattress.

When talking about a crib or child’s mattress, I really believe there is no financial compromise with their health. When new parents are spending $500 easily on strollers, I don’t think $250 is expensive for a healthy crib mattress where your baby will spend most of it’s time. Especially for a first baby – I think an organic mattress needs to be at the top of the list for people having baby showers. What better gift for a baby than the gift of health and a truly restful place to sleep.

I have more information that I will save for Part II and III of this series of toxic beds. There is a lot to learn and I encourage you to post comments to this article and share what you discovered once you started reading mattress, pillow, and duvet tags.  Let’s try to get through the information together.

I love blocks and if there was only one toy a child could own I would recommend building blocks. Even babies love to chew blocks and knock over anything mommy or daddy builds.  Toddlers are so incredibly proud of themselves when they manage to stack a few blocks before they tumble down. And older children, even my 7 year old, creates amazing designs from his imagination with blocks. They are a classic toy that should be a staple in any child’s closest.  Here are 3 amazing sets of blocks – all different – all with serious WOW power.

Ukoonto Blocks

Canadian manufactured, produced, and distributed, these blocks are made by hand (yes that is correct!!) by Hans, the founder of Ukoonto. These blocks are made from never-used, recycled Maple wood. The blocks are untreated and contain no toxic materials making them safe for teething gums and all children to explore. Each of the 50 blocks included in a set are hand-crafted by Hans – what a different experience than traditional painted blocks that are mass manufactured in China. Available through Pedagogy Toys – call and order with contact info on their website:

Tree Branch Blocks:

The creativity of nature is abundant with this next set of blocks. Made from Alder trees, these blocks are kiln dried with a wax finish. I love that Natural Pod has sourced this product local to their home base on Canada’s West Coast ~ Vancouver Island. These blocks are sold in 3 different sets of sizes – with a great scale in price. Tree branch blocks are like functional pieces of art for children.  A magical gift idea for kids of any age.

A Little World

Here is a little gem that reached through my monitor and just made my heart so happy.  These blocks are truly special and creative, made by an Etsy artist that is simply brilliant with their design concept of little Christmas house blocks made with felt.  Are they not just the cutest?

Obviously for the younger crowd, but what a wonderful, heirloom, unique gift these would make for an expectant mom or baby’s first Christmas this year. While you are at A Little World’s Etsy shop – check our the mobiles for babe (the sheep are my favorite). . . simple, modern, and fun designs!

Whether you prefer traditional, nature, or artistically inspired designs, building blocks are a classic, timeless gift for all children. If you are looking for ideas this Christmas – these three featured products are just the ticket. And yes with Halloween only hours away, it’s officially time to start Christmas gift planning for 2009 – Santa has started listening.

We are such big fans of Piggy Paint at my house – the twins squeal with delight when I ask “who wants their piggies painted?!!” It’s wonderful to use a nail polish on children that doesn’t have an odor and was created without chemicals.  The slogan for this all-natural nail polish is ‘Natural As Mud’ and it’s very accurate since the product is actually biodegradable! I’ve written about the ingredients and details of this amazing product line before, the purpose of this post is to let all of my fellow Halloween fanatics know it’s time to start preparing for the best holiday of the year!  Today marks the first day of October’s magical month of fun to start! And for those of you that don’t believe in decorating quite yet - just paint your toes, it’s okay, it’s Fall ~ nobody will see them.  =)

‘Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun’ is the 3-polish gift set that has arrived just in time for October and includes Sleepover (black), Glass Slippers (white), and Mac-n-Cheese (orange).  Order from the Piggy Paint site and have fun with your little monsters all month long.  While you’re on the Piggy Paint site, read Melanie’s tips on Piggy Paint as a learning tool. Very cute ideas to spark some new ideas for moms while bonding and painting nails.

Green Planet Parties is also carrying the individual Mac-n-Cheese color and has brought in some green items for extra Halloween magic this year. Add some sustainable Halloween zip with our 10-flag banner (perfect for a kid’s party or classroom event) and cotton tablecloth with 12 felt bat appliques that sprinkle like reusable confetti. Never buy plastic buckets or bags for kids to collect candy again because we’ve got low-priced cotton trick-or-treat bags that glow in the dark and are the size of the old pillow cases we used as kids. Skully hair accessories and organic candy like the newly arrived snack size gummy bears complete this unique and fun category.

Let the fun begin!  October 1st marks the day that my family no longer looks kooky for already having our house and yard decorated for Halloween and I can talk openly for my love of the pumpkin patch, hay rides, Nightmare Before Christmas, and planning costumes with my husband and kids. Enjoy what is truly the most wonderful time of the year.