Who: Little Sapling Toys – Sheboygan, WI

What: Organic Driving Toy

Where: etsy – $32

Why We Love It: With all the plastic around us, it’s comforting to find good solid hand-crafted toys back en vogue. Ones made of natural materials and not concocted in some chemical lab. Designers Nick and Kimber Christensen, the duo behind Little Sapling Toys, clearly feel the same way too. They’ve got a sweet collection of wooden toys with everything from bowling pins to rattles to teethers to puzzles to memory games to this rugged car and truck set. Love that the kit comes with hills and mountains for climbing and a handcy cotton drawstring carrying pouch for toting.

What we love even more about Little Sapling toys is that they are green inside and out. All are made from FSC Certified hardwoods (maple, cherry, or walnut) and finished with locally sourced beeswax and organic jojoba oil–except for the teethers, they are unfinished. The hardwoods they use don’t splinter when finished properly, so are safer for kids. In addition, the company itself makes strides to conserve energy and promote conservation; planting a tree through Trees for the Future for each toy sold–to date they’ve funded the planting 20,000 trees!–and participating in a local green power program to offset their energy use, to which we say ‘thank you!’

Who: Core Bamboo – New York, NY

What: Mortar + Pestle

Where: Macy’s – $24.99

Why We Love It: In this fast food world we live in, it’s good to take a step back and celebrate the ritual, the flavors, and the health benefits of a home cooked meal. As food critic, Mark Bittman, will attest, it doesn’t necessarily take much longer to prepare a thoughtful meal and you may find the ritual of cooking to be quite satisfying, more so, perhaps, than the meal itself.

Maximize flavor by grinding whole spices, fresh herbs, garlic, and more with this functional, durable, and colorful mortar and pestle. A traditional tool with a modern pop, it’s hand-crafted from 100% organically grown bamboo and comes with all the benefits of this fast-growing plant–it’s naturally antimicrobial and it’s one of the strongest yet lightest materials around. Core Bamboo uses food-safe water based adhesives, natural oils, and lacquers made from natural cashew trees.

Who: Inhabit – Indianapolis, IN

What: Statement Outdoor Pillows

Where: Inhabit – $45, also available in orange, sunshine, lime & more!

Why We Love It: Always nice to have a little extra inspiration when you are lounging on the sun porch lost in contemplation. These bold graphic pillows share motivational messages from ‘Change the World’ to ‘Why Not Today’ to ‘When Was the Last Time You Did Something for the First Time?’ (Answer: last week – tried stand up paddling for the first time!).

Each pillow is handprinted and handmade in the USA using VOC-free water-based inks and 100% certified PET recycled polyester from pop bottles for both the outer fabric and the pillow inserts. Inhabit has done a great job ‘greening’ all aspects of their manufacturing process. The power used in manufacturing is purchased from a local Green Power Initiative that sources electricity from wind mill farms throughout Indiana.

Who: Hile – Helsinki Finland

What: Kapu Coffee Scoop & Bag Closer

Where: Finnish Design Shop – $26

Why We Love It: Simplify your morning routine with this coffee scoop and bag clip in one. The tong-like clip keeps an airtight closure on your coffee to help maintain freshness, that m-mmm aroma and best of all to put an end to hunting around for your coffee scoop; you’ll now find it securely fastened to your favorite roast. And a most useful and unique hostess gift for coffee lovers (clipped to a bag of beans, of course)!

The clever design was created by Teemu Karhunen for Hile. The entire production process from sourcing, the crafting to packaging, all happens within 60 miles of Helsinki. Each clip is handcrafted out of locally sourced birch plywood using traditional techniques. They are then coated with a special food grade oil to protect the wood. You’ll want periodically treat your scoop with oils to renew the wood finish and ensure longevity.

Who: Gina Michele – New York, NY

What: Whiskey Rock a Roller Bag

Where: Gina|Michele – $198 (also available in vibrant grape suede, on sale for $148)

Why We Love It: Skip black and neutral bags this summer and opt for a pop of tropical ocean, perfect sky blue with this deliciously slouchy tote – it’s pure joy. It’s your something old, something new, something blue, that’s likely to be something borrowed quite frequently….

Crafted entirely from upcycled fabrics – super soft vintage suedes and leathers recovered from old jackets, silks salvaged from vintage shirts – it’s topped off with a hand dyed rope strap for a touch of laid back beach style.

Who: Re:Tread – Cheshire, U.K.

What: Recycled Tyre Planters

Where: Amazon.com – $14.99-$69.99

Why We Love It: Finally a tire suitable to display on your front lawn… Am always somewhat ‘eh’ about upcycled tire products, but these are actually really cool and just the kind of hardworking rugged container to house garden plants and flowers. A lot less fragile than the terra cotta pots that need to come in from the cold every year. Thinking this filled with our old Charlie Brown Christmas Tree from last year would be quite handsome on our front porch.

Re:Tread salvages old beat up tires and inner tubes for their handcrafted modern home accessories (their picture frames are pretty awesome). The frost proof planter is hand crafted from 100% recycled tires for a super strong container that will not rot. Re:Tread also makes some pretty awesome picture frames entirely out of tires. Tire treads vary from piece to piece as does the size, albeit slightly, so you’ll have a unique garden piece. Also great for indoor use as well, a little something unexpected!

Who: Blue Lotus – Soquel, CA

What: Blue Lotus Green Bags

Where: Nubius Organics – $5.95-$14.95 in s, m & l

Why We Love It: Now that we – finally! – remember our reusable grocery bags on 9 out of 10 grocery store visits, we’ve turned our attention to eliminating the pesky (and wasteful) produce bags still plaguing us! Low and behold, we found several options for reusable produce bags online. Some of our favorites? Blue Lotus’s organic cotton canvas bags – plain or with some super cute prints (printed with non-toxic, water-based inks, of course…). Ideal for stops at the farmer’s market.

Now we can finally leave the grocery store feeling like we’ve really minimized our impact on the Earth. Pick up a few and stash them in your canvas grocery bags, your backpack, or your purse.

And for those messier produce purchases we really like the mesh bags that Flip & Tumble offer. You can wash and dry your veggies right in them – brilliant.

Who: Patagonia – Ventura, CA

What: Women’s Kamala Skirt

Where: Altrec.com – $47.19 – $59.00 (free shipping)

Why We Love It: You know how we love a 2-in-1 piece! This versatile garment transforms from a long flowy skirt into a knee-length halter dress and it’s wrinkle-free which makes it an ideal, care-free piece for summer vacations. Love the purple stripes, but this breezy skirt is also available in black, smoke, white stripes, and two floral prints.

It is made of a blend of 55% organic cotton and 45% Tencel® and can be ecycled through Patagonia’s Common Threads Recycling Program. Tencel is an environmentally friendly cellulose based fiber that has natural wicking properties, but because it needs to be mechanically broken down, yields a lower quality fabrics when recycled. Take a look at Patagonia’s Footprint Chronicles for more information on the eco-footprint of this product from waste generated to distance traveled to CO2 emitted. Pretty interesting.

Who: Nanimarquina – Barcelona, Spain

What: Digit Rug

Where: Spacify – $3909.11

Why We Love It: Designed by graphic artist Cristian Zuzunaga, this bright graphic rug reads like an optical illusion (see also the more muted, monochromatic version). Change your perspective, your proximity or the light of day and you’ll notice different patterns jumping out at you, different groupings of pixels rising to the forefront. It’s really very cool. Cristian has used this same technique of ‘decomposition of color through pixels’ to design sofas, pillows, bedding, wallpaper, scarves, too, and now he can add rugs to the list.

Working with Nanimarquina, a renowned Spanish rug manufacturer devoted to promoting sustainable ethics in production, design and fair labor practices. Many of the rugs are biodegradable and masterly handcrafted using traditional techniques in their Fair Trade facilities in India. The Digit rug is made from hand-knotted wool sourced from New Zealand.

Who: TryCycle Glass – Wrightsville, Georgia

What: Nico Bottles

Where: TryCycle Glass – $14/pair

Why We Love It: If only we discovered TryCycle when we were on the hunt for a simple, functional, pair of rectangular olive oil and vinegar bottles which you’d think would be easy to find, but no…. TryCycle makes just the right pair for your olive oil and vinegar (or simple syrup or soy sauce or liquid soap… ) and it’s made of 100% recycled glass, 100%!

Inspired by a trip to Europe and the signature ‘green’ glass found there, TryCycle created a line of glass bottles, jars, carafes, tumblers and more, all with classic, simple silhouettes, all high quality, all affordable, and all handblown in Spain in one of the few factories in the world that can produce high quality recycled glassware. The glass itself is recovered from European recycling bins, and that signature, subtle green hue is a result of the recycling process.