Most single women would give anything to start all the fun of wedding planning before she officially has the ring, so here’s your excuse to do so. If your personal values have led you to follow a more environmentally and socially conscious lifestyle, then your wedding will likely be no exclusion. There are literally thousands of ways to make your wedding more “green” and one in particular comes into play before he even gets down on one knee.

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Good news!  Angelina has an answer to that one too.  In this photo, you’ll notice that Angelina is devoid of any leather, but she is utilizing one style trick that can easily be transferred to the leather look.  This is her at the Academy Awards, can you pinpoint her secret weapon?

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Lavender is one of my favorite herbs, and the silk sachet created by Elena K is beautiful. It smells wonderful, and beaded adornment is really nice.  As my daughter says, “It smells goodie!”

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These earrings, made from recycled bottle caps, are cute and give you a chance to tell others about the cause. Says the artist:

My designs hope to spread positive messages not only in the image design, but with the interaction you will have with others when you wear them. More importantly, they are a small donation to Mother Earth by helping conserve her resources.

You can find tons of designs on her website, and the prices are extremely affordable. On top of being recycled, she donates part of her profits to The Adelante Foundation, which helps women living in poverty.

He talks about how the15 percent drop in diamond prices in the past six months is actually helping his business,

“There is an opportunity with diamond prices going down because we don’t hold a lot of inventory as those prices go down we can pass that on immediately to consumers, where a lot of our competitors in the market are holding inventory that they purchased at higher prices and can’t do the same.”

Venture gives BLOOMBERG TELEVISION(R) viewers an inside look at what it takes to be an entrepreneur.  The weekly half-hour program will feature interviews with entrepreneurs and small business owners, focusing on issues and policy that impacts the way Main Street does business.  “Venture” airs on Friday nights at 8:00PM ET, 11:30PM ET the show re-airs Saturdays at 1:30am, 3:30, 7:30am, 8:30, 11:30, 6:30pm and Sunday at 12:30am, 3:30, 6:30, 9:30, 12:30pm, 3:30pm.

“Venture” can also be seen on Bloomberg.com

Ahem. Um…I really like Craftster?

In my own challenges to work only within the boundaries of my ethical beliefs (I really do follow my green crafting manifesto), I find Craftster to be one of my best guides. Crafting from primarily recycled materials doesn’t often make working to a pattern or specific tutorial easy, but Craftster, with its indie spirit and overarching environmental ethic, provides a lot of both abstract and direct inspiration.

Here are some of my favorite of their projects, all utilizing primarily recycled components:

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This one had an extra day to percolate while I was on my way home from Colorado, the state where my environmental consciousness was born when I was in high school.

And though that means the Carnival is a day late, is by no means a dollar short.  So sit back and enjoy this collection of green and crafty goodness.

Before we begin, a few administrative notes: The eighth Carnival will be hosted at Things We Make, which is part of the Hallmark Magazine website! Send in your posts via the carnival submission form. The Carnival of Green Crafts home page has background info.

Now on to the carnival!

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The only difference is that mine is pre loaded with a wish. I’d tell you my wish, but then what if it doesn’t come true?

I adore Annatarian designs and it’s no secret that I’m a fan of these bracelets and I’ve given many to friends. They’re the perfect gift.

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Wal-Mart recognizes that our customers care about the quality of their jewelry and its potential impact on the world. With Love, Earth, customers are getting an affordable and beautiful piece of jewelry that also helps sustain resources and strengthen communities.

Unfortunately for Wal-Mart, the Center for Biological Diversity disagrees the mines are sustainable and busts the company for greenwashing:

“The mines in Utah and Nevada and the factories in Peru and Bolivia where Wal-Mart claims its gold for Love, Earth is ’sustainably mined and manufactured’ are not monitored or certified by any credible independent agent,” says a Sept. 11 statement from Global Response, which is based in Boulder. The retail giant is “taking advantage of people’s genuine concern for the planet and luring them into purchasing a product that … is extracted at great cost to the earth and to human communities.”

Image:  Daylife

Designer Hafsteinn Juliusson has found a compelling image for this series of designs of rings with living plants in place of precious stones or other mineral elements more typical to jewelry.

The designer says of the design, “The collection of this hand jewelry is designed for people in metropolitan cities and is an experiment in drawing nature toward man, as nature being the presupposition of life.”

Link: Hafsteinn Juliusson

Alabama Chanin creates an “array of limited-edition products for the individual and home. Using a mixture of new, organic and recycled materials our products are constructed with care by artisans who live and work in our local communities. All of the Alabama Chanin products lines are made-by-hand in the USA.”

A.C. has jewelry, interiors fabrics, t-shirts, home collections, a special organic series and more.

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I have a confession to make…I’m addicted to music. I guess it comes naturally, since that’s what I spend a lot of my time doing. So I always love it when I stumble across a craft project that uses music-related materials, like Kelly Rand’s recent article on things to do with old cassette tapes.

By this point, I don’t have too many old tapes lying around, but what I do have is a lot of CDs–most of which I still listen to. But we all have those CDs that are too scratched up to play properly, or came free in the mail with unwanted software, or have those songs that seriously tempt you to throw the disc out the window if you hear them just one more time, if it wouldn’t be considered littering. So here’s a couple of ideas for things to do with them.

My first thought was jewelry, and it turns out that it’s pretty easy to transform an old CD into that. Here’s what you need for a very basic set of earrings and a necklace:

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But to make this good cause even better, Compartes Chocolatier has created an African Collection of chocolates to pair with each Relief Beads bracelet. The collection is made up of authentic African ingredients like cardamom, coconut, Grains of Paradise, caramelized plantains and so much more. You can buy a 5 piece set for $20 or 10 piece set for $30. I know this is more than what we usually pay for chocolate treats, but each purchase can give one child food for a week or life-giving heat on cold nights. Get your special Compartes gift packages online or at their boutique in Los Angeles!

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Additional popular items are wine corks, key chains, dice, dominoes, and chess pieces. Look further to find cane and umbrella handles, pipes, tiles, and sewing needle cases. Most pieces are results from the fine art of scrimshaw.

The green and reasonably soft nut from the hard casing has the consistency of Jell-O. Once the nut is ripened, it becomes very hard, so this is the time to shape tagua into different molds.

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The beach is such a wonderful place. The waves, the sand, the sun, the wind and the veritable treasures that the ocean provides is a wonderful sensory smorgasbord! I love tide pools and the small vignettes of life found within. I love picking up and looking over beautiful pebbles, shells and sea glass.

I usually don’t take any of the small treasures that I find, often admiring them then giving them back to the waves. But one time, I found this amazing piece of sea glass. It is small and rounded and it is tinted this great soft green. I’ve kept hold of it for a good long time in my jewelry box thinking that one day I’ll do something with it.

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I know spoon wear has been around for a while, but it’s one of those things that I always forget about until confronted with it. It is a very clever craft that recycles the ordinary and turns it into the extraordinary. Thinking that these rings are the cat’s meow I purchased a fork ring which now sits comfortably on my hand.

Want one of your own? A quick trip through Etsy brought up a couple of designers that specialize in this area and are doing a fantastic job of it.

LT Creates Jewelry makes many wonderful items out of cutlery. Rings, bracelets and even watches made from spoons and forks can be found in their shop.

Dank Artistry also makes spoon jewelry. Check out the rings, bracelets, earrings and even bell pendants made from the end of a spoon and given a clapper. I can hear the small ting, ting that it would make.

Have a piece of cutlery you wear? Tell us about it in the comments.

Image credit: LTCreatesJewelry

Men - take note - not only are these gorgeous pieces, but they are also guilt-free: as in, the designers source conflict-free stones and recycled gold material when possible. Not to mention the company supports local communities in Africa that are usually affected by poor mining conditions and where most conflict diamonds are a source of funds for civil war. Not exactly the image that you want to conjure when you are admiring your custom designed ring glistening on your finger.

Looking for alternative ways to recycle your beer bottles? I have good news.

The colorful piece of glass, once destined for a dump, can actually be incorporated into handcrafted designer jewelry. San Francisco based designer, Stefanie Wolf has decided to give traditional jewelery an eco-friendly makeover. Frustrated by the limited availability of gemstones that are guaranteed as ethically sourced, she recently turned her attention to a completely renewable resource: recycled glass.

Stefanie Wolf started her jewelry company as a good excuse for some healthy creative expression. Today, Stefanie Wolf Designs is a small, socially conscious jewelry company, which produces eye-catching jewelery from recycled materials. Her Recycled Elements line is made from recycled glass and reclaimed sterling silver from old jewelry that has been melted down, and from chemical processes such as film developing that leaves a silver byproduct. Stefanie is now working on new lines utilizing fair trade silver, vintage trade beads and locally mined and cut stones. Talk about being resourceful!

A healer by nature, Stefanie believes that since the beginning of recorded time, men and women have worn gemstones for their beauty, power and sheer endurance rather than just for pure adornment. Her commitment to healing extends beyond her personal needs to those of the planet. Stefanie’s business practices are all all about conservation and giving back to the community.

Check out Recycled Elements at multiple San Francisco weekend events. The out-of-towners can even purchase her jewelry online at www.stefaniewolfdesigns.com.

EverybodyGreen.com expands their celebrity-favorite “go! Green” line of eco-chic accessories with the addition of the highly anticipated new summer style: the SeedBead Necklace.

The necklaces are each three strands of beads made from cornstarch-based resin, and feature two 41 inch rows and one 36 inch row of 4mm “GreenBeads.” Each necklace sells for $18.00, and comes in a choice of five rich color combinations.

“We trust that our go! Green collection will demonstrate to consumers that it is fun and fashionable to choose green. It is imperative that people start to see every choice as an opportunity to help the environment, by choosing eco-friendly, fair trade, and sustainable,” comments Keith Berman, Director. “We are thankful that our green accessories have been so successful in raising awareness of eco-friendly alternatives and green practices.”

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