Create and Eco-Luxe Nursery for $20 or Less

It's not much of a brainstorm, but I'm always thinking about ways to share some easy, yet savvy and affordable sustainable design ideas. At Satsuma Designs we create all natural gifts and gear for baby and home in organic materials. We focus on soft goods - bamboo baby bedding, organic cotton burp cloths, bamboo hats, onesies and more, but we know as well as any parent that cute bedding is NOTHING without a great bed to complement. Likewise a green nursery doesn't have to look like you appropriated garage overflow to baby's room.

With a few updates, each for less than $20, we'll help you create a one of a kind, superb looking nursery that will please even your toughest critic, baby, of course! So, stay tuned for this series that I hope you, dear reader, will enjoy and put to good use.

String Beans for the Long, Lean and Everyone In Between

Leave it to moms to find a solution to anything! Two northwest moms in search of pants that fit their long, lean and growing kiddos launched String Beans Clothing Co. This adorable site features a few styles of pants sure to please young and older shoppers.

What's more is their sustainable approach to clothing. They invented cufflinx(TM) shown here to give their pants or any pair an extra l-o-n-g life. The no-sew solution adds a great looking cuff to any pair of pants. In a couple of dozen print options there's something for every style seeker. It's so green!

Photo courtesy of String Beans Clothing Co.

NEVER Sleep Train Again!

No more 'cry it out'. Want to know how? I thought so.

Bamboo Velour Crib Sheets, of course!

Satsuma Designs has just launched one our newest products for the eco-luxe enthusiast. We know it's a splurge, but this crib sheet, which fits all standard and deep crib mattresses with and without piddle pads is DURABLE, naturally antibacterial, CRAZY soft, absorbent (possibly a moot benefit now that tears are in the past), and easy to clean.

Sweet dreams!

If the weather outside is frightful...

My favorite and greenest mode of transport is walking. I like it because I feel better for it, breathing fresh air makes me happy and I get to keep the car parked on the curb. But as a Seattleite I face the now almost daily drip, drip, shower, squall, drip of our overcast and soupy skies.

I thought it might be helpful to pull together a short checklist of Must Haves to keep you and the kiddos on your pegs (and in the stroller) in spite of inclement weather.

- Stroller hood - doesn't have to be a fancy rain guard, consider jury-rigging an old folding umbrella to the side of the stroller. You'll look thrifty and hip. Others will wonder if that's some great new, but retro mommy-gear. Check out Portland's Shedrain!

- Raincoat with hood or raincoat without hood and hip waterproof hat. And consider making your own up cycled rain slicker from old plastic bags. Found this wicked site that can help you do it - Craftzine.com.

- Boots - check out Hunter Wellies made of 100% recycled material. This pair benefits the earth! Try swapping for a pair on MamaSwap or other barter/consign site.

- All weather blanket for babes. check out Tuffo and WooBee all weather blankets from Rain or Shine Kids (love this company name!)

- To-go cup of Joe and you're ready to rock and roll!

Yummy Teething Relief

Being a baby is hard. I know it's hard taking care of said baby too, but consider the changes for the little one, a la producing teeth! Here's an organic teething treat to soothe even the fiercest snaggle tooth babes.

Satsuma Designs Tasty Teething Pops:
You'll need:
- 1 soft banana
- 1/4 c organic blueberries, washed
- 1/2 c plain yogurt (we go full fat FAGE for my beanpole - working to fatten her up)
- food mill/grinder (KidCo's is great. $15.99 at Happy Baby Products)
- small bowl
- spoon
- small sized ice cube trays - holes should measure <1" Munchkin mesh teether - $7.59 for a pair at Amazon. Available with PRIME too - free shipping with annual fee)

Please:
Send banana and blueberries through foodgrinder, mix with yogurt. It should be juicy enough to then spread out in ice tray (do that). Freeze until hard (couple of hours). Pop out fruity cubes and insert into mesh teething/snack pouch.

Enjoy the gummy bliss!

New Baby: Green of the Green

Whether you're waiting for the arrival of your first and checking out some green parenting tips here, or have a brood of little green kiddos at home, you'll likely remember the last days of pregnancy in one of two ways. Total recall or complete mental block. I find myself in total recall as I'm 1 days into being overdue with our second child. So fun!

Leave it to Google to help ease my pain. If found a great list of 101 things to do when you're overdue (or close). Robin Elise Weiss, LCCE of About.com is right on! My first pick was number 14 - recalculating your due date. I figured, hey, science and the highest grade electronic baby imaging machines might be wrong. Sadly, I found out the due date calculator put my due date one day BEHIND. Calm.

Guess next I'll tick of #69 and avoid #67.

Oh, and check out The Gift Idea blog where you'll find gift ideas like this fun and zany plush toy.

Enjoy!

Say Happy Holidays in Green This Season

If you haven't started the annual hunt for your clever, elegant and amply photo-holed holiday card, it's time dear friends. Yes, mid-November is a great time to start searching for designs that inspire and holiday cards that are clean and green.

I was excited to find a pretty large range of 100% recycled paper options in beautiful card stock, along with vegetable and soy based inks, topped off by shops that use 100% renewable energy. That does make for a bright holiday season!

Check out Paper Shouts' holiday collection. Cards are printed on 100% post consumer waste (PCW) recycled paper and ship with envelopes in 50% PCW. You can do better than that for envelopes, but it's a start. Prices range from $1-$2/card.

GORGEOUS Chicago-based Snow & Graham stationers has an elegant offering in which they use 100% PCW paper and vegetable based dyes.

And RedStamp.com has a great custom card offering using 30% PCW paper made by 100% renewable energy. They don't saw what kind. Could be offsets, but something's better than nothing.

Now, warm up those fingers, get clicking and practice your penmanship.

Happy green holidays!

How to Adopt a Green Attitude (and Drain)

Getting your family and little ones excited about evironmental stewardship doesn't have to mean sacrifice and Saturday's spent with other volunteers hauling away debris from parks, etc. What it can mean though is taking an active role in your micro-community or neighborhood to ensure that green stays green.

A couple tips to make it happen.

- Always pick up litter you see on the sidewalk or roadside. Keep a couple of recyclable plastic bags in your jacket pocket and car so you'll always have something on hand to carry away garbage. Always be careful with what you pick up and let junior identify the litter while you handle it.

- Adopt a Street or Drain in your neighborhood. Seattle has an excellent program that's becoming very popular to protect the over 78,000 storm drains in our city from clogging after our what seems weekly torrential downpours. Participants are asked to adopt at least 4 drains to keep free of leaves and debri. The city provide reflective vests, rakes, yard waste bag and pick up services in return. GREAT idea for a neighborhood group or a few families to undertake. Same thing for adopting a street.

But look, you don't need a bureacracy to get help the environment. If your city or town doesn't have a program in place, make your own program and promote it on local mom blogs, your Facebook page, a flier at the organic produce market you frequent and anywhere else you can reach an audience. Thanks.

So get out there, enjoy the fall colors by adding a little green to the pallette. Stay dry!

Capturing Junior's FIRSTS the Green and Easy Way

There's no greener way to capture your little one's FIRSTS than through digital media - photography, video, and more. But if you're like me, you're overwhelmed with all of the tools and services available to shoot, edit, share and print (on recycled high quality papers) junior's life affirming antics.

Now there's Media Mamas to help you find your way one click or deleted file at a time. The company was founded by four media savvy mommies and is committed to "...supporting healthy families by using technology as a tool for self-expression, communication, and advocacy. " Nice.

They've just debuted their Seattle-based series of workshops from Video Shooting and Editing 101 to one on how to blog your heart out. The classes are great for beginners through power users. Let's hope they start some online sessions too.

Enjoy!

Satsuma Designs' founder speaks out about important parenting topic

Yes, best practices for this oh so green and natural ritual - cutting baby/toddler nails! Read on and enjoy.

You Know You're a Parent When...

You find a nice, half eaten strip of bacon camouflaged in your dark brown family room rug. Yum!

You know you're a parent when...

I'm easy to please in general (not really, but I can dream) and find myself chuckling (yes, chuckling) now and again (mostly again) when I realize how different life is with kids. This cliche opening litteraly runs through my mind when I'm struck by an example - you know you're a parent when...So I've decided to make it a bit of running commentary, mostly for me and if you enjoy it - I want to hear about your 'you know you're a parent when...' I'll post and we can chuckle together. fun!

Here goes. The curtain rises.

You know you're a parent when...

You discover a breast/nipple leakage pad (oh, and I'm sure they're green) attached to the back of your favorite black hoodie as you pull it from the drawer. When faced with the mystery of 'how the h***?' you realize it's the crack organizing and laundry sorting of your two year old. (btw, nothing is folded in that drawer either).