Great Green Goods - Shopping the Eco-friendly Way!

A shopping site for the earth friendly consumer

Recycled Bicycle Window Art

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27″ or 700c in size these colorful works of art are perfect for the bicycle lover in your life! They are made to order, so get your request in quickly to be able to deliver before the holidays. Recycled bicycle parts such as gears, cogs, chain and spokes which are beautifully welded together. Then traditional stained glass methods apply with select sections of gears and cogs accented with multi-colored pieces of hand cut glass. Created by artist, Brian Echerer from VeloGioielli. He has other bike-inspired jewelry and gifts in his Etsy shop.
VeloGioielli Etsy Shop

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Recycled Necklaces

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If you want to break free of the “same-old, same-old,” I encourage you to check out Novica.  Novica is somehow connected with the National Geographic and it is a website full of fair trade treasures.  They work with artisans around the world helping them bring their crafts to a marketplace and earn a sustainable living.  On the site, there are loads of interesting, unusual jewelry, clothing, handbags and some gift items.  For example, I saw many chess sets and desk accessories.  Here’s some of my favs:

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This necklace is centered by a cow bone pendant surrounded by terracotta and sese wood beads. Colorful beads recycled from plastic bottles and vinyl discs. $34.99 at Novica

 

 

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The necklace is crocheted by hand with beads recycled from plastic bottles and vinyl records.
$67.99 at Novica

 

 

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This stylish sophisticated necklace combines sleek glass beads crafted of recycled glass with recycled plastic disks.

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Artist self portrait from recycled bottle caps

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Mary Ellen Croteau – Artist and Agitator. (love the tag line, I can tell already that we’d be great friends). Working in Chicago, she created this self portrait titled, “CLOSE”, 8’x7’ which was created from 7000 + plastic bottle caps, 2011.
Visit her website: http://www.maryellencroteau.net/

Mary Ellen Croteau is an artist whose work directly addresses the absurdities of social norms, and lays bare the underlying bias and sexist assumptions on which our culture is constructed. She currently works with non-recyced plastic waste, in an effort to demonstrate the huge amounts of trash we are consuming and sending into the environment.

Limited edition archival prints are available of this closeup shot:
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She has even provided a “how to” in case you are inclined to try this project at home. Interested in the abridged version? It is much harder than it looks! Click here for the instructions>>

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Recycled Robots – for your inner automoton

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Found art with personality! First up is Etsy artist, Ken Swallow who creates his “KenBots” in his “Bot Cave” down near Tampa, FL. His artwork runs the gamut of creatures, motorcycles, and ROBOTS. Many of his pieces have a steampunk influence. Very creative and wonderfully inventive! Check out his website at www.kenbots.com or his Etsy Store at http://www.etsy.com/shop/KensArt

 

 

Next stop is artist Branimir Misic from Sherbrooke, QC, Canada. His bio mentions that he is a mechanical engineer and has been working on mixed media sculptures from recycled objects for over 30 years. His creations are true works of art. Check out his Etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/BranMixArt

 

 

Next up is Will Wagenaar from Reclaim2Fame who has been featured on GreatGreenGoods previously. He is a Floridian who has been creating with recycled re-purposed materials for more than 30 years. His work always communicates the powerful message of creative reuse. You can view his creatures on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/willwagenaar/ or read his blog at: http://willwagenaar.tumblr.com/. You can view his Etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/reclaim2fame

 

 

Cheri Kudja from Hollywood FL loves to tinker with small found objects, hardware & jewelry scraps and has a special fondness for spark plugs & lugnuts. Her creations generally contain at least 75% of recycled or upcycled items. LOTS of personality in these robots! She can be found on Etsy at BittiBots: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ckudja

 

 

From Erica Elgin who has a degree in sculpture from Portland State University. All of her robots have names and a backstory. Her site is bubbling with enthusiasm. Erica obviously had a lot of fun making these creatures. Her Etsy site is here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/enca

 

 

Want to create your own robots? Buy the book!
Available on Amazon

Holiday Cards – Eco-friendly options

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Ordering holiday cards online is getting better every year so that now it is has evolved to be the easiest fastest and most painless process! There are many great companies to choose from.

Many people sing the praises of Minted.com They have a unique approach where they hold monthly design challenges amongst graphic designers from all over the world and their community selects the best designs. This guarantees you’ll always be presented with the best hip and happening designs as well as the old tried and true. You can choose between several paper choices with a premium 100% recycled thick paper being among the choices. Options include using your own photo(s) to create your card or choosing from one of the over 240 non-photo cards. Postcards are also available at Minted.com

 

 


Night Owl Paper Goods is another online company worth checking out. Their designs are cute with a distinctive vintage look. They also have many designs available to work around your photo(s) as well as many “no photo” options. The unique feature is their materials …your cards can be printed on wood (eco-friendly sustainably-harvested birch) or paper (eco-friendly, FSC certified paper made with zero-emission wind-generated power). Either choice is sure to be a holiday hit. Many of their designs are created to be reused as holiday tree ornaments which makes them even more precious to the card recipients.