happy earth day.

image found here

This made me giggle and I just had to pass it along.  At dreamscapes design group caring about our impact on the environment is a way of life.  From recycling almost everything to hosting our web sites with renewable energy, we believe in protecting the world we are fortunate to inhabit and offer a variety of green options to many of our clients in both our graphic design and online services.

In honor of earth day, let's all make a commitment to do our part to preserve our resources and live more environmentally conscious and sustainable lives.  Even small changes today can have an enormous impact on our future.

A healthier tomorrow for ourselves and our children... that is something to celebrate!

rachel | ernie

green friday, green wrapping.

image found on how about orange

January has been a busy time here at dreamscapes, {thanks to all our amazing clients!} and while that is very exciting for us I have missed the frequency of our dream journal blogs! One of my favorite days of the week is green Fridays.  Came across this amazing idea via how about orange.  They posted an article on how to make bows using magazine pages and one of their readers sent in these photos of the bows she created.  Can you stand it???? This gives recycling a whole new meaning!!!

rachel | ernie

green friday, green tags.

Images like these can be found on a cool website GraphicRiver.net where designers can buy and sell layered photoshop files, vectors, icons and more. Prices start at around $1 and are very useful when designing increasingly popular green websites.

image and info found on you the designer.

rachel | ernie

green friday, greener paint.

After painting wall after wall, room after room in my new house (thank you Ernie!) if you didn't realize before you definitely understand why using eco-friendly paint is so important.  In addition to caring about the environment, I also care about being able to wipe down walls after dirty, sticky little hand prints, mud splattered from the dog running through the house, and just plain durability.  Do you really want to have to paint that room again to freshen it up in a year??

Kudos to Benjamin Moore (whose paints I have loved for years) for creating two lines of paint that give us sustainability without compromising quality. Aura interior paint is their highest quality paint delivering remarkable durability with exceptional color for walls that are gorgeous and washable in any sheen. It is low VOC and low odor and was my choice of paint for my heaviest use rooms such as the kitchen, entrance and hallways.

The Natura line is where they really blew me away.  Virtually odorless, Natura is the greenest and safest paint on the market having the lowest (zero) VOC emissions of any national paint brand.  It is quick drying, covers beautifully and is also washable.  This was my paint of choice for all the bedrooms, living room, dining room, etc... 

Finally, paint that allows my house to look like a designer home while living a chaotic family lifestyle!

rachel

green friday, green gardening.

image via ffffound

Yup.  Rain again.  If I had a garden this year, I guess I wouldn't mind so much but due to the move I haven't been able to get my garden established yet and so it just seems like another wet, dreary day. (Although I just finished having the existing gardens here cleaned up, defined and mulched and I am excited about the blank canvas in front of me. Many thanks to my dear friends at Wertheimer & Associates who have been gardening with me for almost 9 years)

This is one of those days where you don't feel guilty curling up in a cozy spot and getting lost in a good book.  There are so many beautiful garden books out there to turn to for inspiration and my shelves are packed with numerous favorites on topics ranging from planting a vegetable garden to designing intimate gardens for small spaces.

image found here

One favorite has recently been updated and deserves mention.  I purchased The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch in 1996 when planting my very own first garden.  Her book is my garden bible and not a season goes by without me referring to it.  My old copy is filled with highlights and dog eared pages to the point where the entire book seems to be marked!  Always one to resist new editions, when I heard she printed a second edition last year I was hesitant to even look, however her new edition is incredible with an enormous emphasis on 100% organic gardening.  From beginner to master gardener, her book is filled with useful information and is an absolute must own.

rachel

green friday, green tea.

This isn't green living for the environment, this is green living for your body. We are completely addicted to green tea. And not just any green tea, but two in particular. Envy by Tazo and Organic Green with Citrus and Ginkgo by Harney & Sons. Both of these teas have the most delightful flavors, are completely organic and deliver all the health benefits of green tea. We swear you will actually feel healthier after a cup of one of these teas. (That is personal opinion...not medical fact!)

So the next time you have that deadline you are racing to meet or the creative juices just aren't flowing and you are thinking of grabbing that fourth cup of coffee.....reach for one of these green teas instead. Your mind, body and soul will thank you.

rachel | ernie

green friday, green hydration.

Ernie says I don't have enough posts with skulls incorporated.....

Being the forever people pleaser, here is something that not only fits with our green fridays theme but also appeals to Ernie's edgy side.

You've heard it before and we are going to tell you again - STOP using those individual plastic water bottles you buy from the store. You can't possibly by now not know how bad that is for our environment. Why should those 8 to 10 servings of water you are trying desperately to chug down every day to do your body good, come with an after-taste of guilt??

Stay hydrated, express your personality and show how eco-fab you are by using a hip and stylish aluminum bottle from Siggs. They come in over a hundred styles to fit any personality (including kid size and sippy cups for our youth green trendsetters!) The bottles are 100% non-leaching, 100% recyclable (after incredibly long lives), virtually unbreakable, taste and scent neutral, bacteria resistant, designed by 30 independent artists from all over the world, and are so incredibly cool they were incorporated into the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in NYC. The interchangeable tops are completely leak proof allowing for over 1,000 possible combinations.

That gives you zero reasons to not make the switch. With all the gripes out there about how it isn't easy to live green, this should be an easy one to swallow.

rachel | ernie

green friday, green kids.

image by Jenn Pentland

Our generation has had to recognize the impact our actions are having on our planet and change our ways of thinking and living. We all know it takes a desire and effort to change our bad habits. As a parent, I recognize the importance of teaching my children at their young age about environmental awareness and the significance their behavior has on their lives and future generations. So I was thrilled when I saw this list of 10 green books on treehugger that parents and preschoolers will love to read. Pick up one or two and enjoy a little reading and cuddle time with your future environmentalists.

Have You Seen Birds? by Joanne Oppenheim and Barbara Reid

Living Sunlight by Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm

On Meadowview Street by Henry Cole

The Boy Who Ate the World by Don Gillmore and Pierre Pratt

The Legend of Honey Hollow by Jeanne McNaney

Why are the Ice Caps Melting? by Anne Rockwell

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein {who doesn't LOVE this book??}

The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

Farewell to Shady Glade by Bill Peet

rachel

green friday. green font.

Loved this font found on green is sexy. Created by a Dutch design firm, SPRANQ, this ecofriendly font uses up to 20% less ink when printed than other standard fonts. You can download this ecofont for free and start saving your ink cartridges immediately. Good for the environment and good for your wallet. Now we're off to solve the rest of this country's problems....

rachel | ernie

our latest launch.

We just launched the new website of one of our favorite clients, A Thyme to Cook.  

Having worked with Linda Sample and her extremely talented team for over 8 years at the winery where we hosted numerous weddings and events, it was a fun change to collaborate with her and her Senior Event Coordinator, Gina, on this updated look.

Our green hosting of the site fit perfectly with their entire green philosophy and efforts to source locally...often from their own garden!

Celebrating a life moment? Visit them at www.athymetocook.com

rachel | ernie

green friday. green art.

These unconvential mandalas crafted from used plastic bags with familiar logos and slogans are just the eco-happy inspirations we need to start the weekend off right!  With the use of vibrant colors and unexpected patterns, the artist brilliantly transforms everyday waste into beauty.

View the artists website to see some of her public work and to truly appreciate her medium.

art by Virginia Fleck 

found on Great Green Goods

rachel | ernie

green friday.

We all love Fridays!  dreamscapes design group is dedicating our Friday blogs to green inspired themes.  Hopefully these tips and ideas will give you some inspiration to live your weekends a little greener and thus a little happier!

So our first green suggestion while not glamorous is certain to make big difference in your office practices.  Get ready to be the office hero Monday morning!

Workplaces can now replace conventional petroleum-based toner cartridges with eco-friendly soy-based toner.  Not only does every pound of soy-based toner save two liters of petroleum from being used, they also prevent the release of harmful volatile organic compounds and other petroleum byproducts that damage our environment.  Need another reason to make the switch? In product testing, SoyPrint cartridges performed similar to or better than comparable conventional brand-named toner cartridges.

Check out these and other groundbreaking green products at The Green Office.

rachel | ernie

a must read.

Being in the design field, we try and read whatever we can get our hands on related to design.  The book Green Graphic Design by  Brian Dougherty is a must read to get your green creative juices flowing.

The author fills the book with explanations on how simple eco-friendly changes in design, paper choices, printing, binding, shipping and packaging can greatly effect the meaning and profitability of any project.  The book also includes an extensive index of  resources to help you in your green transition.

Good for the environment.  Good for your business.  Good for design.

Who says it's not easy being green?

rachel | ernie

why host green?

dreamscapes design group is committed to hosting as many of our clients through the use of green energy as possible. 

What is green web hosting and why is it so important?

We are fortunate to be entering an era where "green" is no longer associated with a lack of quality and where educated individuals are not only looking to make their mark on the world, but are also thinking about how our actions, purchasing habits and businesses can positively or negatively impact our world.  In the design world this has shown itself in the use of eco-friendly papers, inks, recycling practices, sustainable product design, and green web hosting.

Green hosting is when  your website is hosted by a company that uses 100% renewable energy (provided by wind, solar, etc...)  instead of utilizing traditional power.  Using clean renewable energy benefits the environment and reduces the emissions of greenhouse gases. dreamscapes design group hosts with a company named HostPapa, which is one of a few companies that can boast that their servers and company use 100% wind generated power.  When hosting with these companies you can put one of their "go green" tags on your website to let your visitors and customers know that you not only care about your business, but are looking for alternative ways to give back to our environment as well.  When our environment is protected, we all prosper.

For more information on how dreamscapes design group can help you make the switch to green, email us at info@dreamscapesdesigners.com or call 860.367.2985.

rachel | ernie