Talking Squid is not just saving the planet by recycling t-shirts, they’re also helping you save money with their huge 50% off summer sale.  Yup, half off!  So, what could you spend half as much on??  Well, they’ve got an outstanding assortment of rugs and pillows made of hand dyed old tees that are hand sewn onto canvas.  I’m totally digging this green number that is so reminiscent of grass that it makes me swoon!  Talk about bringing the outdoors in…  I’d love to have this rug for right in front of the kitchen sink.  Soft and cozy on mama’s tender tootsies after a long day of chasing those kiddos.

Their pom pom pillows can really help spruce up a boring couch as well.  I can only imagine how soft and comfy these pillows would be — just as soft and comfy as your old favorite tee that’s perfectly worn in.  They’d also be great in a reading nook, bedroom or kid’s playspace.  Can anyone say pillow fight??  lol  My kids would be fighting over who would get the pom pom in the great continuing saga of Pillow Fight Wars 2011.  Yup, we are rampant pillow fighters around here.  Only to be interrupted by the occasional tickle fight.

These are a great way to repurpose all of those old tees that clog up vintage clothing stores and even worse, landfills.  Stylish, classy, soft and fun…Definitely worth checking out for your Christmas shopping this year!!

I totally dig the ribbon cable earrings that could signify your love of colour, electronics, geekery or even symbolize your support for the gay and lesbian community.  At only $18 these are surely a conversation starter that not every other person will be wearing.  Want a choker or necklace to match?  No worries — they’ve got that too!

The artists are the Girl Geek Boutique are actually engineers so if you want to know exactly how the electronics in your piece would work, they encourage you to ask.  That way you can add more geek to your chic when people comment on your fantastic piece.

Another piece that I’m over the rainbow about are these cascading resistor dangly earrings.  At only $39, they’re a great option for gift giving as well.  I think these would make an awesome gift for women working in the electronics industry and am definitely going to have to recommend this store to all the guys at my Dad’s electronics company.  Not to worry though, they have pieces suitable for men as well including business card holders, rings and cufflinks that will scream geek and tree hugger all at the same time!  Two of my favourite things all rolled into one:)

The antique wood is lovingly cleaned and sanded to become something entirely different and altogether new.  The previous life of the piano’s musical past shines through the pieces as well as the mechanical and architectural feel of the pieces themselves.  Great gift for music lovers, music learners, piano teachers and even engineers.

The owl pictured on the left shows the artist’s general feeling of whimsy and the wisdom inherit in reuse while the heart shaped pins with figures pictured on the right show that the pieces truly could become a new part of your everyday existence by being worn day to day.

Remember to shop Etsy to support local artisans working on a small scale to produce uncommonly unique pieces that are built to stand the test of time.  Shopping with your heart can really make a difference when done on a global scale as producers will only make what consumers will buy.  If we stand up to big box stores and refuse to buy their goods which are made with unfair wages in unfair conditions overseas, they will eventually stop making it.  Companies will only do what is profitable.  Let’s make shopping small, fair trade and eco-friendly the only way that companies can produce.  Look for organic, recycled and natural products instead of just buying whatever is cheapest:)

Many of their pieces involve the use of watch movements being repurposed into the focal point of the entire piece of jewelry.  They’ve got a fantastic selection of rings available on their site featuring many different kinds of watch movements.  One thing that I really like about this site is that what is pictured is exactly what you receive.  It’s not similar to or like what’s pictured, it really is the actual item.  This means you know exactly what the piece you choose will look like!

They do custom pieces or you can choose from their ever expanding selection available in their store.  I use the term “store” loosely as they claim this is not a business.  Just two young people working together developing their craft!

The pieces are quite affordable as well.  The ring pictured here is priced at $35.  It’s a 17 jewel watch movement attached to a filigree adjustable band.  That’s a steal of a deal for the huge statement that such a piece would make!  The ring prices vary in range but all are extremely budget friendly.

They’ve also got a variety of necklaces, cufflinks and even earrings for sale that utilize various watch movements.  My favorite necklace is the one pictured here with the black flower.  What a stunning accent piece that would look good in everything from casual wear to the office to a beautiful necklace to go with that little black dress.  It uses a vintage watch movement mounted to a vintage silver setting.  The black rose is what really set it off though.

This is definitely an Etsy shop worth checking back into again and again.  It sounds as though items are added almost daily.  They currently have 273 items for sale and I love almost each and every one.  Some of my favorites are the Lolita gothic hair clips that they have available in vintage silver settings.  Absolutely adorable!!  I love the flower designs and the skull designs.  You can even have them made in a different color to match a certain outfit!!

Does your spouse have a bunch of dress shirts in his closet that he no longer wears??  Try sending them to Etsy seller allthenumbers.  She’ll take that little worn shirt and turn it into a dress your daughter will love to wear!  She even suggests that this would be a great gift for a new Dad or a Dad to be.  How about a Christmas gift for that new father on your list?  One day she’ll be big enough to steal his shirts from him anyways!

This Etsy seller has a ton of great listings for little girls on her site including peasant dresses or shirts that I absolutely adore, some beautiful A-line shift dresses that any girl would love, reversible pinafores that are as practical as they are gorgeous, some fantastic quilts (some include vintage fabrics!) and a range of ultra girly and comfy upcycled dresses.

This Etsy crafter is clearly gifted in the area of sewing and isn’t exactly a slouch in the creativity department either!!  It takes both creativity and skill to see these beautiful dresses from men’s shirts.  If you don’t happen to have any shirts laying around for your little one to wear, contact allthenumbers as she seems to be collecting them for just such an occassion!  She even has a few Mariachi tuxedo shirts around to make the dresses out of.  These are just simply adorable!!  These dresses are definitely going on my daughter’s Christmas list this year!

I love the erotic and retro nude pin-up girl used on the card the brooch is clipped to for sale.  It’s intriguing that the naughty bits of a book is covering the pin-ups naughty bits!  This etsy craft rescues books from dumpsters, yard sales and library sales to make these sexy pins. 

She also makes a line of wallets and purses that re-purposes books in bad condition as well.  These sorts of second life products would make great and original Valentine’s gifts that will declare your love (& desire!) for your special someone as well as your love for the planet.

The brooches come in a range of phrases that are carefully cut from trashed trashy books.  This ensures that the pin you receive is a virtual one of a kind creation which is mounted to wood and varathane to ensure that the pin is protected.  There are pins listed such as “being deep inside”, “slowly stripped off” and “her orgasm hit”.

For review, they sent me these beautiful recycled glass earrings called Cobb.  These earrings look absolutely gorgeous on and I always get compliments when wearing them.  They are light, easy to wear and match with practically anything!  I am 100% behind eco-friendly jewelry but it still needs to be pretty and fun to wear — that’s absolutely no problem with these earrings or any of the other great designs that they make!

I would definitely recommend following both their facebook account where they announce some incredible sales and joining their mailing list for a $10 off coupon!

Want to try out a pair of their earrings for yourself?  Moonrise Jewelry has graciously offered a pair of pretty earrings called Abilene to one of my readers!  They are made of fair trade silver beads on sterling silver posts and feature purple lace agate.  I absolutely adore these earrings!  They would look great with everything from jeans and a tee shirt to a business suit and everything in between.

To Enter (One Time Only):   Leave a comment on this post about your favorite design at Moonrise Jewelry.  Good luck picking only one thing!  So many of their designs are eye catching.

• *Become a fan of Moonrise Jewelry on Facebook.
• *Join their mailing list (you’ll get a $10 coupon!).
• *Enter one of my other giveaways and leave a comment telling me.
• *Tell me how you heard about this giveaway.
• *Follow Green Colored Glasses on Twitter and ReTweet this giveaway RT @Green Colored Glasses Giveaway – Eco-Friendly Earrings From Moonrise Jewelry Giveaway (you can Tweet this once a day for Extra Entries)
• *Become a Fan of Green Colored Glasses on Facebook
• *Blog about this giveaway with a link to this post
• *Suscribe to Green Colored Glasses by RRS Feed

My mother-in-law loves collecting stamps from all over the world.  Recently, she just got back from Antarctica.  She sent us a few postcards from there which we’re saving the stamps from.  I’m not sure if she would love this jewelry or absolutely hate it because she couldn’t save the stamps but it definitely reminded me of her.

These pieces are amazing in that they show off the range of colors, patterns, designs and variety found in stamps.  The artist of Fox Glove Accessories has a great eye for deciding which part of the stamp should be featured and how it should be displayed.  Working out of Chicago, this artist is working her way through a huge collection of cancelled international stamps that she’s upcycling into gorgeous jewelry pieces.

The multicolor necklace featured on the left is definitely one of my favorite pieces.  The colors are extremely vivid so you can be sure that people will notice your handcrafted piece.  From this necklace, it’s almost hard to tell whether it is money or stamps underneath the resin of the pendants.  Absolutely gorgeous and would go with virtually anything.

I also really love these teardrop shaped earrings.  Each pair is made out of 8 different stamps which have been mounted and laminated to sturdy cardstock.  Each shape is individually cut by hand and strung through sterling silver hoop earrings.  There are a ton of different color combinations available in the store and each pair is completley unique.  These are waterproof, super lightweight and subtle enough to blend in with whatever you may be wearing.  However, the original life of the stamps can clearly be seen upon examination of the earrings.  That’s my favorite kind of upcycled product — on that shows it’s previous existence.

Lastly, I wanted to show off the gorgeous rings that are also available at this store.  I mean, what else are you going to wear with the earrings and the necklace, right?? I think the simplicity of some of the rings is simply stunning.  Many of the designs have been cut in such a way that it’s nearly impossible to tell that it used to be a stamp.  It might be fun seeing the look on people’s faces when you revealed what exactly your ring used to be!

There are also bracelets, cufflinks, stud earrings, drop earrings, a variety of necklace designs and some strand earrings (on sale for only $10 right now!).  Remember that supporting handmade is a way for you to stand up against mass production, mass consumption, waste and it’s beyond fun!  You can get a unique item made especially for you that no one else is likely to have anything like.  No more “twinsies” with your BFF.

The talented crafters of this shop have decided to giveaway this ring to one of my lucky GreenColoredGlasses readers!!!  The ring won’t be exactly as pictured but will be the same band and be very similar.

There are lots of easy ways to enter and support handcrafted and upcycled jewelry.  The giveaway will be open to people WORLDWIDE as LondonGate graciously didn’t want anyone to be left out.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry.  The first entry is mandatory and there are many bonus entries available.  I’ll choose with a random number generator on March 31, 2010.  Good luck and get entering!!! PS…Don’t forget to include your email address so that I can easily contact you if you are the lucky winner.

To Enter (One Time Only):   Leave a comment on this post about your favorite design at LondonsGate.

Bonus Entries:

• *Become a friend of LondonsGate on Facebook.
• *Tell me how you heard about this giveaway.
• *Purchase any item from LondonsGate and get 5 additional giveaways!!  (Please comment once for each entry)
• *Follow Green Colored Glasses on Twitter and ReTweet this giveaway RT @Green Colored Glasses Giveaway – Steampunk Ring by LondonsGate (you can Tweet this once a day for Extra Entries)
• *Become a Fan of Green Colored Glasses on Facebook
• *Blog about this giveaway with a link to this post
• *Suscribe to Green Colored Glasses by RRS Feed