1 Happy Easter Photo Card, Paper Culture
2 Eco Plastic Easter Eggs, Eco Eggs filled with jellybeans
3 Painterly Pastel Eggs DIY Tutorial, Papernstitch
4 Porcelain Egg Candles, Revisions Design Studio
5 Milk bottles, Acme Party Box Company with striped paper straws, Just Artifacts
6 Fun table setting with kraft table runner, chalk drawn utensils and colorful confetti
* To view images of our spring inspiration, visit our Pinterest boards.

For an eco-friendly way to set up a fun table setting, bring in Kraft paper as a table cloth that will entertain both kids and adults. Using chalk, you can draw utensil outlines as well as provide an artsy alternative for guests to draw on the paper. Scatter the tops with colorful confetti in spring shades of mint green, coral pink and canary yellow. Not only will this brighten up your Sunday brunch, but also your Easter egg dying station. For beverages and things, we like to reuse jars and bottles like the milk bottles from Acme and accent them with paper straws (always eco chic!) in the chosen color scheme.

A good way to emphasize recycling materials is to bring them to life in new settings. In addition to using eggs to dip and dye, try using them as candles. You can break them in half, pour in soy wax and light them. Or, if you rather save your eggs for your traditional hunt, go ahead and check out Revisions Design Studio’s porcelain egg candles with soy wax! They’ve already done the job for you so you can buy them as is and set them up for your tablescape.

As an eco-friendly business, we like to support all things that help out Mother Earth, so we were extremely egg-static when we saw these eco plastic Easter eggs from Eco Eggs, which are made with corn and are completely compostable. You can use them as favors filed with jellybeans for a more casual spring party or even hide them with little prizes and treats for the little ones for their Easter egg hunt. Cap off your party by sending your guests away with one of our fun spring themed Easter cards from your family thanking them for hopping along to your party to usher in Spring and to celebrate this season with all its promises of new life.

Photo by Tod Seelie

It’s been a tough couple of weeks for the East Coast. Residents of New Jersey and New York City are still feeling the intense effects of Hurricane Sandy. The devastating storm has destroyed entire homes in its wake. The hardest hit areas, including Rockaway, Queens, are still struggling to get heat and hot water. The freezing nor’easter last week just added salt to the wound. No matter where you are, there’s lots you can do to help. Recovery efforts have already revealed how strong we are as a nation to pull together after a disaster.

If you’re on the ground, consider volunteering time to help clear basements or distribute donations. You can find the most up-t0-date information at Occupy Sandy.

The easiest way to help out if you already have an Amazon account is to contribute something to the Occupy Sandy wedding Registry. Instead of cleaning out your closet to come up with donations consider fulfilling a specific request. People on the ground are constantly updating what is needed most. You can buy cleaning supplies, hardware, or baby items that will be delivered straight to relief efforts.

Architecture for Humanity is a global community that helps to rebuild spaces, often in green ways, in post-conflict areas.Their recent report just how much is needed to rebuild the coastline. Text REBUILD to 85944 to make a $10 donation.

The American Red Cross is on the ground feeding hot meals to people and distributing blankets. You can contribute directly on the website.

Did you know that 65 percent of kids entering school this year will end up working in careers that haven’t even been invented yet? According to Cathy N. Davidson of Duke University, that means the need to be creative in life is essential. The new site DIY.org makes it easy and fun for kids to start enhancing their creativity skills early on. The website and app presents a multitude of projects kids can create at home. Once they complete the project, they earn virtual skill patches, similar to a Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts badge. They can share photos or video of their project to further enhance the feeling of pride of a job well-done. The projects range from easy and homemade, like making pickles or a smoothie, to medium-skill such as making an animal mask or rock collection, to complex, such as knitting a scarf or even making your own bicycle fenders.

We love how fun some of the the projects are, such as a cardboard birdhouse, scary monster finger cookies, or a marshmallow shooter. It’s the perfect solution for a rainy day, or any bored afternoon when your kids are sitting around wondering what to do. Turn off the computer and turn on the DIY. The site even has a parental dashboard to make sure kids aren’t sharing private information. Kids can sign on with an avatar and nickname, to make the site even safer. If you’re looking for a painless and productive site online for your child, it’s hard to beat DIY.org. We love that it provides online information for real-world fun.

If there’s one thing we love it’s paper. And we especially love when people turn it into art. One new artist takes it well beyond origami, creating gorgeous 3-D art out of recycled paper. Ali Golzad is an artist living in Texas, originally from Göteborg, Sweden by way of Tehran, Iran. With a background as a graphic designer and creative director, his latest project asks us to question how we normally look at waste and see something beautiful: “Over the years I have developed my own technique using various mediums,” he says. “Aside from my formal graphic design training and time spent as a Creative Director you could say I am a self taught artist. My urge to create while still caring for our planet enabled me to look at ordinary objects in a new light and transform these commonly discarded materials into something meaningful.” We love the innovative use of paper techniques to recreate well-known figures. More pictures after the jump.

It started as a Kickstarter campaign. Designer David Mayer set out to create the perfect water bottle. The result is a square bottle that never rolls. Although the stainless steel bottle looks simple enough, it’s made from 16 different parts, in a process of 65 steps. Best of all, the bottle has a top and bottom lid that can be removed for easy cleaning. That comes in handy especially if you’re the type to tote around juice or smoothies and know the annoyance of washing a regular bottle.

“My goal is really to get people thinking about bottles not as these clunky, utilitarian pieces, but as statements–in the same way women think about handbags and shoes and that we all think about our clothes, watches and sunglasses,” he told Co.Design. “The bottle is one of the most visible things we use–there is absolutely no reason that it shouldn’t be beautiful, iconic and send a message to people about who we are.” Retailing for $40, the Square is an ultra-premium water bottle. It’s pricey, but if it’s the last water bottle you’ll ever need, it will be well worth it over the years. The BPA-free bottle is leak-proof and guaranteed for life. Check it out here.

There’s no shortage of portable speakers on the market. But it’s hard to find ones that aren’t bulky or battery-draining. Designers Lin Nien-An and Cheng Ya-Fang have found the answer, creating the funnel-inspired Green’s Voice Speaker System, that turns any empty plastic bottle into a party. It’s the perfect picnic accessory this fall.

Just screw the rubber cradle onto the top of a used bottle. The speaker creates a beautiful low-tech sound, using the bottle as an enclosure to amplify the sound. The Green speakers are made from an environmentally friendly, biodegradable plastic, and the long-life battery lasts 10 times that of an average lithium battery. These smart speakers give a whole new meaning to music on-the-go. Keep them on hand, and you’ll be prepared for any spontaneous party that comes your way.

If you find yourself sitting in front of a computer for eight hours a day or more, longing to be out in nature, perhaps a desk makeover might help lift your spirits. The new Orée Board is an eco-designed keyboard fashioned from a single piece of wood, offering a warmer desktop experience for the user. The name has a double meaning: “the outer edge of the forest” and “the brink of something new.” Orée chooses wood varieties from sustainably managed forests, offering natural and renewable material sources with each product. Each board is cut into three sheets to preserve the wood grain and minimize waste.

But as outdoorsy as it looks, the Orée Board is highly functional, powered by a Bluetooth 3.0 chipset to link to your computer. You can even customize the keyboard by choosing a unique font. In a world surrounded by technology, sometimes it only takes a few details to bring us back to nature. Try adding a few eco-friendly products to your work station along with a selection of desktop plants. The constant influence of nature throughout your workday will do wonders for your state-of-mind, and serve as a gentle reminder that it’s time to get outside, as often as you can.

Did you have time to get a vacation in this summer? If not, that’ll give you all the more reason to visit one of our National Parks this fall. The amazing Sierra Club has put together a fun subway map depicting all of our country’s great treasures. How many stops have you made along the way? Unfortunately, getting around our parks isn’t nearly as easy as this map would have you believe. However the clever design reminds us just how rich our country is in natural wonders.

There are the over two million acres of Yellowstone, home to Mammoth Hot Springs, Old Faithful Geyser, Yellowstone Volcano, each a destination in its own right, not to mention grizzly bears, bison and wolves. Or take a visit to the Everglades, with over a million acres of protected area. This tropical paradise is home to mangrove and cypress trees, the endangered Florida Panther and Indian Manatee, and of course more than a few alligators and crocodiles.

The Sierra club has been working to protect our national parks for over a hundred years from the Everglades to the Grand Canyon to Redwook National Park. Now our future generations can enjoy them in their natural state. Plan a trip today and use the above map for inspiration.

Back in the day, being eco-friendly often meant automatically having a flagrant disregard for good design in favor of a more hippie aesthetic. Today all that has changed. Indeed, to earn the title of eco-design today, a product has to not only be good for the environment, but also look great in the home, in your wardrobe, in the school or office. A new trilingual handbook, Ecodesign: Ecofriendly Objects for Everyday Use, written in English, French and German by Silvia Barbero, Brunella Cozzo, Paola Tamborrini serves as a guide for designing with an eco-conscious today.

The book provides ten practical approaches to sustainable design production, ranging from green technology to eco advertising to zero emission design. True ecodesign must take into account the entire lifecycle of a product from design to disposal (or reuse). The best products are multifunctional, flexible and recyclable. The book is full of rich images showing everyday products such as household objects, furniture, clothing and toys. There are many products that will be familiar to you, but also a wealth of surprises. It’s a must for anyone serious about ecodesign to learn the history of the movement and start designing for the future.

Pope Benedict XVI made waves last year when he took a ride in the first green Popemobile, a Mercedes M-Class hybrid. Now His Holiness has gone a step further, with two fully electric vehicles designed and gifted by Renault. It’s not bad being the Pope. Renault made one car, based on the Kangoo maxi Z.E., specially for the Pope for travel at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo. The other gift is a blue, bulletproof version, to be used by the Corps of Gendarmerie Corps of Vatican City for the Pope’s security.

The Pope has been dubbed “the green pope” for his efforts in implementing solar power throughout the Vatican. It’s a good example to set. Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and CEO of the Renault Group said: “This donation to His Holiness is a means for Renault to reaffirm its strong and durable commitment to sustainable development and respect for the environment.” The biggest critique of electric vehicles has been their failure to drive extended distances without recharging the battery. In the tiny Vatican City it makes sense that these are the vehicles of choice. But as more and more companies perfect their electric vehicles, the driving range is quickly increasing. We hope to see in the not-so-distant future more people swapping their traditional tanks for an electric vehicle.