Today I was going to post about our lovely little Christmas tree that we decorated with silver birds, reindeer and stars, glittery icicles and other cute things in theme of silver and white. But before I managed to take the picture, the attached lights started malfunctioning, and the dear husband tried to fix them - and managed to break the base of the tree. So out came the decorations, and the poor tree shall we recycled to tree-less backyard with outdoor lights (as the base can be poshed into the grass).

And now we are looking with kids an alternative activity for the day - such as crafting a cute little table-top tree from egg cartons... albeit these look a bit challenging for the 3-7 age group, but one can always try... 

Cute idea of glittery table-top egg carton trees with step-by-step guide from Shakti Dove 

We got some egg cartons stashed away, but sadly not enought to try to this fabulous tree... 

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Now I like this idea I saw at a school in California - the kids had created flower planters using plastic bottles and hung them planter style with strings. If one refines the idea it a bit, and it could be a really beautiful way to display flowers (not that this isn't pretty, I certainly think it looks great). And using some green thinking this is a great way to recycle plastic bottles also... Kids have the greatest ideas!

How I love these pretty creative eco-friendly gift wrappings. Admittedly some of them take quite a lot of time to complete, but the end results are so cute. I am hoping that I will have enough time and energy next year to do all presents this way, but this year it's just going to be wrappings for grown-up that will get a special treatment.

Of course i am hoping to stay inspired the whole year and practice my skills on every opportunity a gift needs to be given! Happy wrapping time everyone - make it enjoyable with a nice glass or wine, glogg and some Christmas treats!

The classic use-an-old newspaper one with self made tags. I think a good newspaper to use would be Wall Street Journal or similar as there are very few pictures there...

This is a fun one - use old denim as a bottle wrap!

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Classic brown paper with colour ties

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Recycling old maps with burlap wrap

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Cardboard, book pages and ties with buttons

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Brown paper and multiple ribbons create a colourful and sophisiticated end result here (latter depending on the ribbon colours of course)

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This idea is cute, but should not be finished too early or the pretty green bits will start wilting

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A new dimension for brown bags wirh pretty accessories

Brown paper and cut-outs - something that smaller kids can also craft easily!

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More on the accessorisig the brown paper ideas. They are all so beautiful!

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This is a great idea instead of gift tags that might fall off - I am definitely going to try this one

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Recycled, reused, reclaimed. Here are some cute, greener picks from Etsy - they are certainly pretty unique presents, which have that special feel good factor too!

Reclaimed wood Love sign for $130 at PBJstories

Tea light holder for $35 at DecorDesignNW

Custom-made chaclkboard $140 at GabrielAbregoDesign

Industrial console table for $495 at UrbanWoodGoods

Large magnetic keychain holder for $35 at FinickyFair

Bottoms up branded jar sconce for $27.95 at GettingWeddy

Large reclaimed coffee tabel for $625 at natureinspiredcrafts

Beam shelves for $175 at TheSteelFork

Red bird reclaimed wood coat rack for $68 at RusticWoodOriginals

Modern dresser for $1075 at robrray

I love this idea and have already added a package in my shopping cart: uber-cute Eco Stilettos People towels - reusable and eco-friendly hand towels. The kids are consuming so much paper at meal times and when we travel, so I am hoping we can turn this into an eco-friendlier habit. I hope that the promise of these towels drying instantly is true, as I don't want to ruin my handbag with dirty little towels.

They are available via OpenSky (invitation link attached if you are not a member yet) - one of those curated website (I confess I have probably joined them all for finding one-off treasures and great sales!) for $30 at the moment, and I joined they offered a $10 credit, so even a better deal! And should I mention that EcoStiletto has a lot of other cute little things too on offer! 

Review addition: we have thoroughly enjoyed using our reusable towels and after lots of chocolate smears and washes they are still clean and cool-looking. The added benefit of course is that we have cut down quite a lot our disposable kitchen paper usage, so this is truly a greener act, although is a small scale, but every little counts...

With twins it was expected to have the girl start her toilet training before the older (my 1 minute but still...) brother. Miss C. sort of started it herself by having dry nappies (aka diapers) at the nursery, so we just decided to take them off. And it's been smooth riding ever since with just a few little accidents. The brother has been asking to go potty at all hours too (especially 5am! when we are not that keep) - I think it is great, but despite trying hard I think most of the times he's request comes a few minutes late...

Anyway, the process of toilet training is there, as they both can go to bathroom solo, know how to use the paper, flush, wash hands with soap, dry them, and in miss C's case apply some nice smelling hand lotion once or twice on every trip too. We haven't been giving the kids any pressure on this, but since the young lady seemed ready we have moved onto the next stage - naps and nights without nappies - and this certainly is much harder. The outcome highly depends on how much she has to drink later in the evening, but she is happy and proud of her progress.

To avoid the huge amount of laundry that comes with accidents I decided to use the moisture-absorbing topper on top of the sheets and it's been a great success. We first got to test Innobaby's Sleeping Smart organic crib sheet topper and have absolutely loved it. (If you have seen my previous posts it is quite obvious that we love in this household Innobaby's products, such as the Din-Din steel platter and the Packin Smart containers). I wish we had these when the twins were small as they would have been perfect for little cribs, but at least we got them now. You can tie the sheed form each corner so it stays well in place in a bigger toddler bed and it's perfect for travelling (wish I had these on our mountain trip when we got wet sheets in the hotel!). I love the fact that on top of being so absorbent and waterproof, these sheets are also organic and soft. A big winner compared to our other toppers! So once again Innobaby has come out with a lovely product that I would definitely recommend.

Disclaimer: I have received a free sample, but I have not been otherwise paid for writing this post, and all opinions are my own.

Our family has become lately such a great tester family, and especially the kids love testing as they get some cool new things to try on. Last time the lucky one was little Hugo, who got the Din Din steel bus platter from Innobaby (link to car-fanatic boy and bus platter). He's definitely become a better eater - and he's been a real gentleman by letting his sisters take turns and use that cool platter too.

We had some more green products to test from Innobaby and this time I thought the lucky girl would be Celeste, but it turns out that kids have become such good sports that they all just happily shared their snacks and things with each other. And that makes mom happy too. What we got to try was the Packin' Smart Zoo Animals stackable containers in Strawberry Sorbet colour. Our container had three tiers, but there are also 5-tier containers available.

The verdict was very positive - both from the kids and mom, especially the mom I should say. I have been using resealable plastic bags (not very green I know) and sometimes little plastic containers with lids, but somehow most of the raisins, goldfish or cheerios end up crumbled in the lunch bag, or even in the backpack among the schoolbooks. As we have had some ant issues (building site next door!) I am desperately trying to prevent crumbs outside the kitchen, as these ants just smell them instantly! What is so great about these containers is that when stacked and the lid is on, they don't open up magically by themselves. And if you happen to knock over the little container just one or few items will spill out and onto the floor (and not the whole bag) - depending on the size of the snack you have packed into these containers.

Miss C. loves carrying her stack of containers around like a handbag and she also learned quickly to stack and open the containers by herself. I love the reduced mess and the fact that I have less crumbled goldfish and Cheeries that I need to throw away. This stack is easy to take on a trip and then share among everyone. And for school I am planning to start packing each kid their own container once I have ordered some extra lids (the stack comes with one lid) as this is a perfect snack size for them at the moment.

This certainly is yet another step for our family to become greener while reducing disposable waste (plastic bags). And just like other Innobaby products, these containers are safe as they are free from BPA, Phthalates, PVC and Lead - and can go to the dishwasher, freezer and microwave.

So our verdict of Packin' Smart containers is that they are very functional, cute, safe - and fun products, and therefore recommended for families with kids (or no kids if you are looking for cute and fun snack container for yourself)!

Our cute 3-tier pink Zoo Animals container set

Once containers are stacked, they don't open up by themselves. Smaller round opening on top ensures that everything won't spill out if you knock over the containers (but little fingers still fit in fine and kids think that it's a lot of fun trying to fish out the snacks!)

Spill test in progress - resulting in 1 loose goldfish as well as 1 loose dried cranberry and a sunflower seed. As Cheerios are smaller one can expect to loose 2-4 Cheerios if they are knocked over. Still not bad if compared to full plastic bag or other open container spilling everything on the floor on in the car...

Single pack - 3 tier is perfect for us for getting each kids their own container with its' lid for school. You need to buy separately additional lids though

What's also important is that the kids containers are easy to clean - and here the inner lid (the top of the container) can be pulled off, which makes the cleaning job easy and ensure that nothing is left in the corners of the containers

Two of them happily sharing the snacks - and just one cheerio has escaped by far despite containers being switched back and forth all the time

Three of them happily sharing and still just 3 cheerios have escaped on the table...

Packin' Smart containers come in different, sizes, colours and themes and now it's also possible to buy additional lids and create separate single containers

Slowly and surely this household is moving to a greener direction. The latest aim I have is to reduce the plastic in the kitchen, namely in containers and plates. Therefore this week we are testing something cool again - the lucky tester is Mr. Hugo, the older half of my twins. He started out as the taller of the two, but the more willing eater Miss Celeste has long ago past him to the point that people now think she is a year old than her brother (difference of well over 2 inches - 6 cm at the age of 2+). Hence the question how to get him eat better?

Little Hugo is a huge fan (with capital H) of cars and trains - so much that in the nursery the cars go everywhere - and even at home one can hear his cars revving up under the comforter at bedtime and they get washed at bath time. So Hugo got this cool new plate -the stainless steel Din Din Smart bus platter from Innobaby. It's cute, fun and also it being stainless steel it is nontoxic and durable.

The first meal was a huge success, and I hope the future ones will be like that too. The favourite car found a parking spot on the platter too, which meant that he didn't leave the table in the middle of the meal to park it elsewhere. Happy boy and even happier mommy! The lingering question though now is what kind of eco-plate to get for the twin-sister. She was asking about bunny and car-shaped plates. Good ideas - anyone? Innobaby, are you going to make a bit more "girly" plates too (I'm not talking about princesses and fairies here but what about some animals, or house-shaped plates)?

Cute, non-toxic and durable stainless steel bus platter from Innobaby

This bus is ready to go - first we target to empty the wheel and then tackle the "fruit and veg windows"

Yay - it's working well! Meal one started (and finished) successfully and today's favourite car has found its pole position on the platter too (the British Airways airport runner)

Ever since I burned my leather trunk coffee table with a hot teapot while living in the first House of Anaïs I have been a great fan of coasters and hot pads for my cups, mugs, plates and pots. I have a collection of all kinds of coasters - there are the wooden ones, plastic ones, glass ones, leather one, cork ones... And now I have finally silicone ones.

But both the wooden and leather ones don't like moisture too much, plastic ones are generally great and were my favourites (especially these Marimekko ones) before discovering silicone but sometimes they bend and often cannot be unbent, glass ones are cute but break easier, and cork ones - even when coated go bad so easily - just like the Christmas-themed one here. So I was happy to try the silicones ones.

These Coaster Notz cuties come also from Modern Twist - just like those eco-friendly colorable kids placemats that have a been huge success in our household(link here). This means that they are also eco-friendly and part of the proceeds are donated to good causes. Silicone can resist heat well, they are flexible and work especially well for me as little note cards on the run (I always seem to loose my notepads and post-it notes).

The same goes with the hot pads - I have metal ones (work great but hurt if dropped on feet and are heavier), fabric ones (they get dirty and even burned sometimes), cork (works well, but isn't the prettiest thing in the neighbourhood). This orange cutie called Trivetz is great to look at, has been easy to clean and can be used with other to make a larger surface if needed (and I keep it n my counter as it is great to look at unlike the fabric and cork ones).

My verdict:  lots of love by far for all Modern Twist products. I like my things cute and functional and if they are also eco-friendly and recyclable that's really great!

Part of my coaster collection consisting of all sorts of materials

The eco-friendly silicone coasters - easy to clean and can we written on and wiped off easily - so can be used as place cards too!

The cute hot pad, also made from silicone. This also comes from Modern Twist selection and is called Trivetz

Coasters in cute patterns and colours

A selection of the cute silicone coaster patterns (mine are the purple ones pictured here and I am thinking of getting those cute grey ones with the lime green leaf type prints)

Cute hot pads from Modern Twist that can be combined together

bottom images Modern Twist

I know we are not the greenest family in the country, but we are trying to do our fair share on recycling, walking, shorter showers (miss Anaïs so enthusiastically uses her water timer for everyone) etc. We also try to live a relatively healthy lifestyle by eating more local and organic produce, avoiding PBA and other chemicals and so on - and I recently also blogged about my quest for safer equipment in my start of the school year story. Basically we updated the kids school kits to these cute and eco-friendly lunch bags, food containers and water bottles (link here).

So recently we were asked if we wanted to test some environmentally-friendly products and the whole family was very excited to try some out. The kids selected these cool placemats from Modern Twist - made out of food-grade silicone (they are very flexible so none of those bent corners that normally happens to our plastic placemats). What is so cool about them is that you can colour them - and immediately I was thinking of long car journeys, sticking them to my handbag when going for restaurant meals (double benefits for being able to scrap all that falling food back to the place and entertaining kids as non-chain restaurants don't normally have activity packs for kids and the waits time are long). We'll see soon how all that works as we are heading on our Yosemite road trip!

Oh how they loved colouring these placemats - for once they stayed in the table eating the dinner and then colouring their pictures. Poor little Hugo got sidelined a bit as his rather artistic daddy wanted to also have a go too when enjoying his sushi. My tip would be to get one of these whiteboard erasers as it makes the cleaning of the placemats really quick. I also liked their colouring pens as they are child safe - and easy to wash off from clothes if an accident happens (unlike some other pens...)

My verdict all in all- we all love them, they are very cute and safe and can be used for many purposes - highly recommended!

Miss Anaïs is so concentrated on her arts journey

Pensive miss Celeste is wondering what to colour next

And daddy gave it a try too

And this is how far the kids got after meal one - and can one tell a difference between a 2-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy? Or maybe he just has a very modern style...

Here are some of the placemats Modern Twist offers - I am thinking of getting the ABC one so that the twins can combine learning with art and eating (some multitasking tigermom thinking here)!

- As always all opinions are my own and I did not receive any money for writing this post

The kids just love being with the grandparents and learning all kids of new facts and skills. Today it's been all about picking berries - red and black currants and red and green gooseberries. Then the berries were boiled in the juicer. While that was taking place the kids were washing the plastic bottles and making labels for the concentrated juice.

Once the bottled juice cooled down the kids got to taste it and pour the rest of the bottles and put them in the freezer for the winter. Perfect day for kids with fun under the hot sun while helping grandparents and learning new skills!

It is harvest time. With all the rain recently our lettuce has just been speed-growing and is definitely ready for our dinner table. Still no sign of other herbs though! I think we might need to plant more seeds, but this is great start anyway.

Kids have been nibbling some in the garden while waiting for it to get ready, so that is good news. More green stuff for dinner table!

The Chateau in Malaysia will be the first organic spa in the world when it opens in July. Located 3000ft (915m) above the sea level in the midst of rainrofest it offers environmentally friendlier and holistic for the body in an exotic location - sounds perfect to me! Spa and beauty treatment (think of a salt pool mineral pooland relaxation in Swarowski crystal decorated mineral grotto), yoga, and all those outdoor activities such as hiking, biking, golf, tennis, botanical exploring and even organic farming are on offer. Something for everyone I would say.

The surroundings look great, lush and green and so relaxing. I am thinking this palce would be a perfect stopover following a busy city touring and shopping and a cultural holiday...

images The Chateau

Today is the 41st global Earth Day and our family pledged an activity towards the "Billion Acts of Green" on the official site. Since we already recycle, freecycle and try to save water and walk as much as possible to run local errands, we found a suitable pledge for us - to plant something green in the garden today.

Inspired by our recent success in the garden - our lettuce, herbs and peas are springing up, just the cantaloupes are yet to give a sign - the kids will plant a bit more so we can share with the friends also. How are you celebrating the Earth Day today?

We planted our Easter grass 5 days ago and to the delight of the children it started showing little signs of growth on day 3. So here we are on day 5 and the grass is just transforming in front of our eyes and it has started to turn green also. It must the tender misting the children keep doing a few times a day (in addition to the sweet sunshine).

As a summary we are definitely on the track to get our Easter grass thick and lust some days before the Easter. The same appears in the little garden despite the twins trying to dig the seeds out...

Here we finally go - the Easter Grass has been planted with the kids. It really is rather an easy process and only takes a few minutes.

And the easy Easter Grass steps are the following:

1. Get your tools out: you need a plate, grass seeds and soil. I dug mine out of the back garden, but you can buy a bag of soil for about $3 and grass seeds will cost you less (and this bag will last you a long, long time)

2. Fill your plate with soil. Plastic ones are good as metal ones might rust from moist soil

3. Sprinkle the seeds in, the more you put the fuller the grass will be

4. Cover the seeds with a thin layer of soil and moisture with water (not too much thought, you don't want them to be swimming in the water) - and keep watering every day

5. If you live somewhere with a climate a bit colder at the moment (below 60F- 15 c) I recommend using step 5 - cover the plate with plastic wrap and place it front of the window in direct sunlight (the collected heat and moisture will make the growing process faster). Since it's well over 80F (28c) outside here, I just put the plate out for the day. Don't let it get too dry though - and make sure birds don't eat your seeds!

You should have a lovely grass in less than 2 weeks for the kids to decorate with little eggs, bunnies and chicks. I'll keep reporting how ours grows.

It's official that green can be fabulous too. Here's a look into a prefabricated green house created by Italian architect Roberto Semprini - known for his futuristic style which promotes dynamic home design, being eco friendly and utilises the latest technology. Yet he still manages to create beauty while keeping balance and harmony integrated in the designs.

Note some great details in house such as the staircase that reminds me of pebbles on the beach, the gilded tiles in bathroom adding instant glamour and the curvy outdoor chairs and furniture. I also like how the kitchen is with typical Italian design style kept simple by storing everything, appliances included, in wall-to-ceiling storage while not being used.

images: Roberto Semprini