Christmas is a wonderful time to show our love and appreciation to family and friends through heartfelt gifts. We see the decorative, costly, torn and crumpled wrappings piling up in a corner and think, good thing we recycle! Well, here are some jarring statistics to make us think twice about the way we wrap presents.

38,000 miles of ribbon are thrown out annually. That's enough to tie an artificial bow around the Earth!

25% more trash is thrown away during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays than any other time of the year. Landfills are stuffed with shredded wrapping paper, empty gift bags, and broken toys.

The 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the U.S. could fill a football field 10 stories high.

All it takes is a little extra thought and planning to green our holiday wrapping this season. Using items we already own - like those beautiful Christmas cards we received the year before - turns a gift into something extra special and reduces holiday waste and expense.
Gathering together with family and friends and pooling wrapping resources is a great way to share the holiday spirit and have fun at the same time. Giving kids the raw material to wrap their own gifts makes them feel special and is a gift all its own. If you're thinking: I'd love to do it, but I'm just not that creative! Keep reading for ideas to get you started.

Eco-Friendly Holiday Wrapping

You know the shows that make us laugh when a person opens their over-stuffed closet and the contents tumble out all over the floor? Waste in the form of too many belongings isn't funny when we're talking about eco-living, but the idea of storing items that can be recycled or reinvented into a gift or pretty, festive wrappings is a good one. In fact, once you get started, it could be addicting - just perfect if you're a pack-rat!

Found Art: Save beautiful artwork and illustrations from magazines you especially love, your kids' art, and the Christmas cards and gift wrap you received last year, and use them to make cards, gift cards, or wrap small presents.

Home Made: Use brown paper bags to wrap gifts, or the backs of posters or paper, and stamp, colour, draw, use your kids' or pets' footprints dipped in eco-friendly paint, or a photograph of your kids for grandma and grandpa.

Reuse: Reuse worn clothing with pretty or festive designs, or cut out designs and glue onto blank sheets of paper, brown paper lunch bags and boxes.

Get Crafty: Crochet or knit ribbon and bows out of leftover yarn. Crocheted and knitted flowers are gorgeous and fun to make! Raffia, string, lace, pompoms, little knickknacks and treasures are all possibilities for decorating a package.

Reinvent: Canning jars (baskets, flower pots, bowls) make handy containers for all kinds of presents. Add raffia or handmade ribbon, and you have a beautifully presented, reusable gift.

Themes: Theme presents are always nice. Wrap up a loaf of spice bread in a pretty dishtowel, or embroider, paint, draw on a flour sack dishtowel and wrap up in that. Tie the ends around a wooden spoon or cinnamon sticks.

Trinkets: Buttons, string, dried flowers, leaves and berries, herbs, spices, postage stamps, beads, old keys, broken typewriter keys (the newest thing in jewelry! Could you imagine them spelling out a name on a present?), broken trinkets from barrettes and jewelry... The possibilities are endless!

Taken from the latest edition of Mi-Time published by Organic & Natural Enterprise Group

The truth about SLS

SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulphate), it is a foaming agent used in cleaning products, shampoos, cleansers and even toothpaste. Manufacturers use it because it is cheap but suds well making you think you are getting a better product.

It is also used as an engine degreaser. Imagine what it does to the natural oils in your skin and hair!

It causes skin and eye irritation and can lead to eczema and acne.

It accumulates in the body's organs such as liver, heart and brain.

It can lead to cateracts in the eyes and poor eye development in babies and children.

Because it does microscopic damage to the lining of your mouth when used in toothpastes, it allows bacteria in leading to mouth ulcers. A study of toothpastes made without SLS lead to a 60% reduction in mouth ulcers.

Long term exposure to SLS in shampoos caused damage to the hair follices leading to hair loss. It also causes dandruff, which often leads to more frequent shampooing, increasing the problem.

On a scale of 0-8 of surfactants with 8 being the highest, SLS rates 5.2 - extremely irritating.

The Manufacturers Material Data Safety Sheet on SLS is horrific.

Often SLS is altered to make it less abrasive and foam more creating Sodium Laureth Sulfate SLES. 1,4-dioxane may be created during this process, contaminating the product. 1,4-dioxane was one of the principal components of the chemical defoliant Agent Orange.

What's really in your toothpaste?

I've noticed that there is a trend towards 'herbal' toothpastes on the supermarket shelf lately. As with most personal care products, this is just a ploy to make you think you are buying a product that is better for you. A quick look at the label will tell you that the active ingredient is the same as with the regular toothpastes on the supermarket shelf.
So what is actually in the toothpastes?
There are no regulations in Australia that state a manufacture has to list all the ingedients in toothpastes. All they need to list are the active ingredients. Only a small portion of the total.
The most common active ingredient used in Australia is sodium monoflurophosphate (a form of fluoride). There are actually no conclusive studes to show that the addition of fluoride reduces tooth decay.
The following information is taken from the book "Dangerous Beauty"
The largest US study of 39,000 school children found that the decay of permanent teeth was virtually the same in both fluoridated areas and non-fluoridated areas.
In the United States, the FDA now requires a warning on all fluoridated toothpastes as follows: "If you accidentally swallow more than used for brushing, seek professional help or contact a poison control centre immediately".
Other common ingredients in toothpaste are saccharin, sodium lauryl sulphate, glycerin, triclosan, propylene gycold, glyceryl nitrate, fragrance and colour. None of these have any funtion in dental hygiene. Some of these ingredients have been found to be more toxic when ingested via the mouth than when taken intravenously.
Makes you think twice next time you brush your teeth doesn't it!

Miessence toothpastes stocked by Green Chickadee do not contain fluoride, aluminium, artificial sweeteners or detergents. Nothing but natural ingredients. Available in Mint, Anise or Lemon.

Preservative Free Cordial

I recently wrote to P & N Beverages regarding their decision to add benzoate preservative back into their cordials. Their's was previously the only cordial avaiable that did not contain benzoate preservative and coal tar dye colours.
This was part of a compaign being run by Additive Alert. Here's the link
The preservatives used are 211 and 223. Both of these preservatives are not recommended for asthmatics, and 211 is also linked to hyperactivity and adverse behaviour effects in children.
I received a response today which basically said that the preservatives met requirments set by Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ).
NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!! Just because FSANZ approves the use of these preservatives doesn not make them OK. Buying cigarettes is not illegal for adults but we still know the health effects associated with smoking.

Following is a PRESERVATIVE FREE Cordial you can make yourself

INGREDIENTS:
6 Lemons or Oranges
2 cups Sugar (can be raw if you like)
1 teaspoon Citric Acid
1 Litre Water
Juice the oranges and lemons well. Place juice in a
large saucepan and add the water and sugar. Slice
4-6 rind segments off the juiced oranges and add
to the saucepan (being careful not to use the pulp
or white part of the citrus)
Bring the mixture to the boil. Then turn down heat
and simmer for 35 minutes. Add the citric acid.
When cooled, strain the cordial and carefully pour it
into a bottle. Store in the fridge. Serve diluted.
NOTE: Citric Acid is sold as a powder and can be
found in the baking section of the supermarket.

Update

My blog has been sadly neglected lately :(
Last month was very busy with the Great Down Under Nappy Hunt. Always a lot of fun. Spent WAAAAYYYY to much time hunting myself but I really enjoyed looking around at all the talented WAHM's out there and their websites.
At Green Chickadee I've added some more new products in the household cleaning section. We now have soap nut powder as well as the soap nuts themselves.
I found the best way to use them is to make up a liquid by putting the powder in my washbag I got with the unground nuts (you could use a stocking or old sock instead). You then put it into a jug of boiling water and leave overnight. Use 2 teaspoons of powder for every cup of water. It gets the good stuff out without leaving any residual on your clothes and the liquid can also be used for other cleaning like floors, bathrooms toilets. Use 1 cup of the liquid for a full load of laundry.

Also now in stock are Enviroballs. The Washball lasts for 1,000 washes (costing only 5 cents per wash) replaced laundry powder or liquid and elimates the need for fabric softener.
Their dryer ball naturally softens clothes and cuts down on drying time reducing energy consumption.
I'm in love with the stainstick. Smells loooovely and works a treat on my 7 year old son's school skirts which come home in a disgusting state!
With all the testing of soap nut powder and the Enviroballs that have been happening in our house over the past couple of weeks my laundry pile is gone!!!!!!!!!

adopt your own virtual pet!

Green Chickadee has just adopted Andy Pandy the Panda. Feel free to feed him as much bamboo as you like by clicking on the 'more' button. Just remember to leave some bamboo for me to use in my cloth pads :D

Voting is now open for the Connect 2 Mums ausMumpreneur Awards.

Green Chickadee is nominated for the Eco Award, For Women Award and New Mumpreneur Award.

Vote and you could win a Sesame Street Pavement Cycle values at $49.99, plus they are giving away 5 Sesame Street Novelty Rompers valued at $24.95 each.