Make a Messenger Bag Out of Trash Bags!

This video from Make Magazine shows you how to fuse plastic together and then make a bag out of it! All you need is an iron, plastic bags, sewing machine, and some straps and buckles.

Renewable Dress Design by Fernando Brízio

If you’re tired of how your dress looks, don’t throw it out! Instead, wash it and draw on a new design!

That’s the concept behind Fernando Brízio’s renewable clothing line. The video below shows how placing colored felt-tip pens in the pockets of a dress changes its appearance over time. Within one hour, the colored ink bleeds into the fabric and creates a one-of-a-kind design for each occasion. The owner can then clean the dress and color it in a different way for each time they wear it.

No word yet on whether the dress is made from sustainable fabrics or if the ink is eco-friendly but it’s a good start toward some innovative green design!

Summer Rayne Oakes at the Green Inaugural Ball

For more about Summer, see our “Hottest Girl in Green” post with lots of photos!

Simple, Natural Earth Surf Jewelry

Eco-friendly jewelry isn’t just about conflict-free diamonds. Using sustainable, natural materials in everything we put in and on our bodies is a goal for a lot of us (still working on finding sunglasses not made in China, though!).

When it comes to earth-friendly jewelry, Earth Surf really has it down to a science: there is so much beauty in the simplicity of sea glass taken straight from beaches all over the U.S. and in Barbados. Jennifer Stone Gonzales, founder and jewelry artist, takes the sea glass she finds on the beach and drills a hole in it for stringing – she doesn’t machine-tumble it, polish it, or alter it in any way. Sea glass is, of course, fragments of glass that have been smoothed naturally by the ocean surf.  The pieces of sea glass used in Earth Surf jewelry may have once been a beer bottle, an ink bottle, a drinking glass, a vase or part of a fisherman’s glass boat.

What results is a wide variety of recycled treasures in colors ranging from amber and cobalt to leaf green and pale sea foam. Jennifer hand-strings these beautiful pieces of sea glass on leather and silk cord, and secures them with sailor’s knots rather than metal clasps. Each piece is completely unique.

Check out the Earth Surf website for more info about how Jennifer finds her sea glass, or browse the selections available at the Earth Surf Etsy Shop.

Link [Earth Surf] + [Etsy]