A handful of exceptional skin care lines has made it easy to be earth-friendly from head to toe by providing organic and natural alternatives for many of the products we use everyday. Here are ready-to-go gift ideas for the health and earth conscience.

Korres Limited-Edition Sugar Plums Set

Korres Limited-Edition Sugar Plums Set

This limited-edition nature-inspired kit has all you need for a fresh and flawless look. Korres Sugar Plums Set comes with a lip butter, lip gloss, and a shimmering eyeshadow. The Plum Lip Butter is a mix of Shea Butter and Rice Wax that will melt on the lips and provides a shiny, tinted finish which will hydrate and add softness.  Plum Cherry Lip Gloss is a sheer, high-shine, color lip gloss.  Cherry oil hydrates the lips while vitamins E and C offer antioxidant protection. The Plum Shimmering Eyeshadow is very easy to apply and is infused with sunflower and evening primrose oils to nourish the sensitive eye area.

LAVANILA Three Wishes Healthy Body Trio

LAVANILA Three Wishes Healthy Body Trio

The trio of 100% pure Shea and cocoa butters are infused with super anti-oxidants Goji Berry and Kakadu Plum, for a healthy dose of 30 essential vitamins & minerals and 19 amino acids to feed the skin.  These naturally formulated and rich body butters deeply nourish and repair the skin. 

The LAVANILA Three Wishes Healthy Body Trio comes with a Pure Vanilla Body Butter, Vanilla Grapefruit Body Butter, and a Vanilla Blossom Body Butter, all in a beautiful signature gift box.

Tsi-La Organic Eau De Parfum Mini Collection

Tsi-La Organic Eau De Parfum Mini Collection

Delicate, sophisticated and 100% organic. Untouched by alcohol, preservatives, artificial fragrances or colorings, the Tsi-La Organic Eau De Parfum Mini Collection uses a moisturizing base of select coconut oil infused with botanical extracts of pink orchid flowers.

The 4 miniature bottles are perfect for travel and come packaged in a black lotus signature box. 

Comes with four fragrances: Fleur Sauvage, Kesu, Ilang Ilang , and Kizes.

Burt’s Bees Men’s Natural Grooming Kit

Burt's Bees Men's Natural Grooming Kit

We didn’t forget the men!  This collection of men’s grooming necessities is the perfect gift for guys on the go. Burt’s Bees Men’s Natural Grooming Kit is all you need to cleanse, moisturize, shave and invigorate your skin with natural botanicals including Sunflower, Coconut, Cyprus and Fir oils, Aloe and Vitamin E. Each kit contains aftershave, shave cream, body wash, bar soap, and a lip balm all in a men’s travel bag.

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Do you have any earth friendly bath & body products you would like to recommend?  Please leave a comment and share any ideas you have.

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Some of us call them collectibles, some others call them handcrafted toys.

But no matter what you call them, they have the same effect on you: they make you smile!

 About the Artist

The creative mind behind all these unique products is Ms. Heidi Kenney. She finds inspiration in ordinary objects of every day life or nature and turns them into extraordinary pieces of art. Ms. Kenney regularly participates to Craft Shows and Galleries; you can check her upcoming shows on her BLOG.

 About the Artwork

They are all made by hand; the main material is soft and colorful plush. Most of them are intended as toys; however, there are a few pieces  of furniture (pillows), too! What I love the most about all these products is the character and colors.

I have to say that I had a hard time trying to decide which pictures I wanted for this post as they are all cute and special. You can see the whole collection and read more at MyPaperCrane.com. You can even BUY some of them. MyPaperCrane Store is updated every month with new, ingenious items.

And because they are so cheerful, I would recommend them as GET WELL gifts! Also, I would recommend the unique pillows as a perfect gift for a FIRST TIME HOMEOWNER.

 Let’s Talk

I’d love to hear your experience with this type of gift in comments below. Would you offer it to someone? Or yourself? And why. Happy reading!

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This is one very cute gift for babies!

It comes in pastel colors for baby girls and white - blue for baby boys. More surprisingly, the sections are made of essential products for babies: a 100% cotton blanket, a terry hooded towel, a quiltet tote bag, a quiltet changing pad, a terry toy and a wrist rattle.

The packaging is absolutely adorable! They may not want to unpackage it!

The Baby Carterpillar gift set is a great start, especially for first-time parents!

Price: $64.99
Today ON SALE for $54.99 (You SAVE $10!)

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Tea anyone? Well with this cute little tea for one, you won’t have to share your beloved tea anymore. This is a great gift for a woman who needs a little Sereni-Tea in her life. A cool idea to add a personal touch to the tea gift is to fill the inside of the tea pot with the person’s favorite kind of tea.

The Tea Talk Sereni-Tea for One set comes with a teapot and a tea cup. It has the cunning phrase “sereni-tea: n. the absence of stress while drinking tea”, written on the cup. It also has a clever topper in the shape of a tea cup, how cute! The beautiful black and white color makes it easily adaptable into any room decor. An ideal set for the tea fanatic in your life.

Add in the Tea Talk Sugar and Creamer set to complete the gift set. The creamer has tas-tea written on the pot and has the phrase “tas-tea: n. adding cream to enhance your tea” written around the rim. The cute sugar container has the appropriate term swee-tea on the front and the phrase “swee-tea: n. adding sugar to your tea” encircling the rim. A great addition to the tea for one. This creamer and sugar set is wonderful to always be out on display. All of these beautiful ceramic pieces make a great thoughtful gift. The Tea Set for One and the Tea Talk Sugar and Creamer Set each sold seperately are available at Wrapables.com.

Tea for One Set - 27.95

Tea Talk Sugar and Creamer Set - 18.95

 –Images belong to www.wrapables.com

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Today I’d like to talk about one of the most delicate artists I have ever met. Her name is Joanne Mannell and she is a California artist. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and at Art Shows across California. You can visit her website at www.MannellGallery.com

Her love of nature influenced her work  and is reflected in a huge selection of brilliant landscapes, soft florals and colorful seascapes. Ms. Mannell also makes custom work. All you have to do is contact her.

Some of her most famous floral paintings are beautifully handcrafted into Greeting Cards and come with their own envelope. The actual size is 5×7. The price is $3 each or $2.75 if you buy 10 or more. They also come in a Gift-Boxed Variety Pack of 6 for $25.

The beautiful selection is available online at www.MannellGallery.com

Ms. Mannell will be present at the Apple Hill Arts and Crafts Show, High Hill Ranch in California, starting August 30, 2008 till November 15, 2008.

Images belong to: www.MannellGallery.com

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 What little child does not love Curious George? The next time you are invited to birthday party or you want to make something special for your little one, why not give a cake. Cakes are always known for “get well soon” occasions or welcome gifts.

Here is one specially made for kids. The Curious George cake is a fun and creative gift that is sure to get screams and smiles of joy out of the little ones.

What you’ll need:

• knife
• rubber spatula
• muffin pan and cupcake papers
• chocolate cake mix
• well greased oven safe glass bowl, preferably 2 quarts
• wire baking rack
• caramel frosting
• 2 doublestuffed oreo cookies (minis if you can find them)
• small amount of red icing and black icing

Now you have all your ingredients, let’s get cooking.

1. Follow directions for mixing cake
2. Pour 2/3 of batter into the greased glass bowl
3. Use remaining to fill up the 3 muffins (3/4 full, each)
4. Put cake and cupcakes in oven and bake until done (cupcakes will cook faster than cake)
5. Once finished, allow to cool completely on the wire racks

Eveything must be completely cooled so that the frosting won’t get crumbs in it. Ok, everything is cooked and cooled. Let’s make us a Curious George!

Face

• Use the caramel frosting to make the face shape as shown in the picture. Like a large 8 for the upper and the bottom is simple. Make sure to come all the way to the bottom of the cake.
• Get the frosting as smooth as possible using the spatula.

Ears

• Put frosting on one cupcake using the caramel frosting
• Cut the cupcake vertically in half
• Put each half onto the side of the head using frosting to secure it

Eyes

• Take the Oreos apart
• Flatten out the creme into circular shapes and place accordingly on the face
• Use the oreo cookie part for the pupil
• Draw eyebrows using the black frosting

Nose

• Use the black icing to draw the nose and the nostrils as pictured

Mouth

• Using the black frosting, draw a shallow “U” about 1 1/2 inches below the nose
• Draw the bottom of the mouth, make sure to connect it to the top and leave room for the tongue
• For the tongue, use the red icing and make the tongue

Now you have yourself a pretty nice adorable Curious George. Plate it and it’s ready for any child!! You can box it up or leave it as is.

Image belongs to www.pbs.org

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“This is your life, mother”

 A great idea for this mother’s day is a scrapbook depicting your mother’s life up until this point. It’s like a chronological tour of her life ’til now. The hardest part of this book will be finding all the pictures and keepsakes you will need, but you still have about 2 weeks to gather everything you need from aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and close friends.

Here is a list of basic items to get you started (these can be personalized according to your mom’s taste):

• a scrapbooking kit (any craft/hobby store should have one)
• Mother’s day embellishments, stickers, rub-ons
• Memory and Date embellishments, stickers, embossing
• Personal pictures (from her childhood to current) school photos, high school prom, graduation, wedding, following baby’s birth, vacation pictures
• Mom’s favorite and best recipes
• Mom’s accomplishments
• Poem for first page that describes what your mother means to you
• Her ambitions from when she was young (”I want to grow up to be”) and then what she became
• Past cards from husband and kids (mother’s day, birthday cards, valentine’s, etc.)
• Personal notes to mom from family members, friends and you
• What your mom means to you page

The book should start from the earliest information you can gather to today. The setup of the pages will be left up to you, I use a similar setup as pictured above. The page arrangement in the book will depend greatly on how much and what information you have on each item in her life. This is a great site to get ideas on different layouts for your pages. This will be such a special from-the-heart gift, it is sure to be treasured and showed off over the years. Another cool thing to do, is every mother’s day from this point on, you could incorporate more parts of the book; displaying such items from the previous as vacations, special moments (births), valentine’s and Christmas. Once your book is complete, wrap it in your favorite Mother’s day paper and wait for the tears .

—-image belongs to www.cluttercontrolfreak.com

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