Click on each image for details

Click on each image for details

Click on each image for details

Photo by freshlyblended

Nestled in upstate New York with her husband and a mini-menagerie, Nicole Lecht runs freshlyblended, a one-woman studio that churns out elegant, nature-inspired journals and notebooks deftly assembled from found materials and post-consumer recycled paper. The talented and effervescent Nicole and I chatted about sustainability in crafting, how she became a “green” designer completely by accident, and where cork paper comes from.

1. How did freshlyblended come about?

Well, I actually went to college for Illustration (that’s what my degree concentration was) and graphic design, but in my last year of school, I took a bookbinding class on a whim and totally fell in love with the structural aspect of it. After graduating, I got a job as a book-cover designer for a publishing house, which opened the door even wider for me, so I ran with it and started to do some research about materials and business.

The word “freshlyblended” came about when I was in a local coffee shop sketching and reading the back of my coffee cup. It said, “… from a fresh blend of eclectic ingredients …” I didn’t hesitate with that name because, at the time, I was struggling over how to hone in on my multiple abilities and eclectic influences. freshlyblended represents just that.

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Photo from Sparkability

If you don’t want your chilluns getting their sticky fingers on your antique Victorian dollhouse, the Dutch-designed MobileHome is made from 100 percent recycled cardboard. Has 8 rooms, stair openings, and spyholes, plus an attic for storage. Another 10 smackers gets you a kid-size playhouse they can paint and decorate. ($35, Sparkability)

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Photo by Amy R. Singer

One of the surprises from Knitty.com’s Spring 2007 issue: The Everlasting Bagstopper, designed by the chief knitwit herself, Amy Singer. Using only two skeins of Hemp for Knitting’s allhemp6, the bag includes a drawstring closure for extra security, which is a nifty touch.

Related article:
1. Yarn Review: Hemp for Knitting allhemp3

Photo by Viva Terra

At the Union Square farmers’ market on Saturday, I saw a couple breeze through the crowd while carrying a basket much like the one by Viva Terra pictured above—incredibly stylish; far chicer than the medley of plastic bags the hordes of produce hunters were clutching. I found some really fetching fair-trade African baskets here, as well as a large assortment of styles handwoven by a woman in Vermont.

Tip: When buying bread from your farmers’ market, take with you a used bread bag (from your previous supermarket loaf) so you can save some extra plastic.

Related posts:
1. Big Brown Bags
2. Neither Paper Nor Plastic: An Ecological Intervention
3. Plastic Bag Ban: Friend or Faux Pas?

Photo by Remake at Etsy.com

I’m going weak at the knees just looking at Remake’s recycled paper goods, made from mostly salvaged materials, and screenprinted and assembled by hand. Business envelopes are turned inside out, exposing their patterned interiors; discarded folders, alphabetic dividers, and ruled paper are bound into notebooks; everything old is made new again. (From $5, Etsy.com)

Photo by Remake at Etsy.com

Photo by Remake at Etsy.com

Photo by Remake at Etsy.com

Photo by Interweave Press

On sale now: A special felt issue by Interweave Press. As a free online bonus, the editors have thrown up their own favorite ways of recycling and reusing old wool sweaters, including repurposing a “shrunken disaster” into a teddy bear, house slippers, and even a yoga-mat bag.

Photo by Interweave Press

Related articles:
1. One-of-a-Kind Woolen Gifts
2. Recycled Wool Felt
3. Recycled Wool Blankets, Scarves
4. Cozy Up
5. Better Latte Than Never
6. Hello Cupcake!

Art by Anne Johnson

Inspired by coastal and tide-pool inhabitants, artist Anne Johnson’s beautifully embossed note cards and gift enclosures are printed on recycled and tree-free papers, using water- and soy-based inks. Ten percent of each sale goes to wildlife conservation.

Johnson’s objective is to connect with people through her art and to inspire them to protect wild places and creatures she believes are worth saving before it is too late. Treading lightly upon the earth, she believes, is more than right and responsible—it is the path to the future. ($14.25 for a set of five, PassionFly; $16 for an assortment of six, The Succulent Wife)

Art by Anne Johnson

WW@TH: Color My World, But Make It Forest-Friendly

Photo by Day-Lab.com

This vintage Distlefink tray totally takes me all the way down to funkytown. I just needed to say that. ($12, Day-Lab.com)

Photo by cruadin, under a Creative Commons license

In the “Ask Martha” column of August’s Martha Stewart Living, one reader asks for ways to banish flies and mosquitoes in her yard without using chemicals.

The grand dame herself—or some lesser mortal on her staff—replies:

Birds are the best insect control nature has to offer. They’re much preferable to chemical sprays and bug zappers. Swallows, in particular, subsist mainly on winged insects. A pair of swallows can eat thousands of mosquitoes in a day! That’s one reason I keep so many birdhouses on my properties. Swallows are common all over the United States. They like open spaces, so hang your birdhouses—ideally bluebird boxes with an entrance hole of one and a half inches—near fields and lawns, rather than in heavily wooded areas.

Banishing creepy crawlies and fliers is one thing, but you can also help stem the dangerous decline in once-common backyard birds, some of whose numbers have fallen more than 80 percent in the past 40 years, according to the National Audubon Society. Here are sustainable birdhouse and bird-feeder options (besides thrifting or making your own, natch) that will garner you some frequent-flier privileges of your own.

Sanctuary, sustainability, and self-sufficiency are the cornerstones of the vocational training at Brown’s Foster Home for men with developmental disabilities. The residents hammer out hundreds of birdhouses each year from reclaimed materials, including rusty hardware, driftwood, and 200-year-old barn boards. Aside from providing some income, these birdhouses are also a source of accomplishment and dignity. Each house is numbered, dated, and cataloged. ($35-$75, Recycled Reflections)

Untreated cedar, salvaged from a local Portland contractor, was used to shape the classic lines of this handmade birdhouse, which will fit wrens, chickadees, bluebirds, downy woodpeckers and other similar-size birds. The overhang helps with drainage, and the door flips open for easy interior cleaning. “Most birds prefer untreated wood because it allows their claws to grip the naturally rough walls more easily,” says Emily, the store’s owner. A percentage of the profits go to the Nature Conservancy or the Portland Audubon Society. ($12, PaperSeed Shop at Etsy)

The birdhouses and feeders of this family-owned business are constructed by hand from wood reclaimed from fallen barns in northwestern New York. Natural cracks, splits, nail holes, peg holes, insect damage, knots, and warping from age lend each birdhouse distinct characteristics that make it a unique piece of American history. Includes a decorative grapevine wreath wrapped around the exterior of each mini abode. Bonus: Free shipping within the United States. (From $19.99, Poppy’s Birdhouses)

Smaller birds such as finches may prefer to mob around this recycled-plastic bird feeder, which comes with multiple perches. Shatterproof polycarbonate windows ward off feathered troublemakers, while spelling long-term durability. This Smith & Hawken exclusive’s regular price is a somewhat steep $49, but it’s currently on clearance for half that. The company also sells a matching window-mountable birdfeeder ($33.99, clearance), so you can peer in on the action and drive your cat batty at the same time. Eat your heart out, Animal Planet. ($23.99, Smith & Hawken)

I’m a tad ambivalent about PopOutz’s birdfeeders. On the one hand, they’re lightweight and can be flattened to save space, lowering their fuel and transport demands. But while the company fashioned its feeders out of 100 percent recyclable polypropylene plastic, it could also have done one better and used recycled plastic, as well. The low, low price of two bucks could go either way—ubiquity or disposability. You gotta admit they’re cute, though. Comes in six colors. ($1.80, Unipeck of America)

Photo from Buy Olympia

Photo from Buy Olympia

New from Tenth and Grant, six new notebooks based on the above designs, printed with soy inks on recycled paper and chipboard. Tip: To recycle retired spiral-bound or ring-bound notebooks, simply separate the metal spines from the pages before chucking into the appropriate bins. ($12 each, Buy Olympia)

Related article:
1. Previously New at Tenth and Grant

Graphic from ReadyMade

ReadyMade, my favorite mag “for people who like to make stuff” has generously opened up its print archives online. You can search past issues by keyword or browse the archive by issue (although the latter function is less user-friendly). You only have to part with your e-mail address, but that’s hardly a sacrifice when you can learn tricks such as how to transform a pillowcase into a pencil skirt, how to commandeer the contents of your recycling bin for your garden, and how to turn a pair of metal file cabinets into an island for your kitchen.

Photo by Hammocks & High Tea

I’m quite mad for the sharp, clean lines of Hammocks & High Tea’s notecards. Inspired by the “life and culture of the tropics,” the cards are screenprinted by hand with nontoxic inks on recycled white paper. ($4 per card; $18 for a box of 6, Hamoock & High Tea)

Photo by Hammocks & High Tea

Photo by Hammocks & High Tea