The Festival attracts over 150,000 visits and engages with hundreds of organisations and individuals to stage Australia’s largest and oldest sustainability festival.

The Festival’s expanded program engages individuals and communities across Victoria to host and promote sustainability events. Beyond this, the Festival is extending the reach of the sustainability message to the cities, suburbs and streets of the nation.

The Festival’s Big Weekend event at Federation Square in the heart of Melbourne will continue to celebrate the very best examples of ecological and social sustainability.The event embraces interactive workshops, talks, demonstrations, artworks, exhibits, films and live performances.Click here to see the program. 

Entries close 15th Feb.

Style is about more than conventional beauty. It’s about making choices in our daily routines that are healthy for our bodies and for the planet. Whether that means using eco-friendly beauty products, choosing sustainably-made clothing, or staying fit, they believe that the way we treat our bodies is directly related to loving ourselves and the planet.

At Feelgood Style, they want to explore that mind-body-Earth connection and what beauty really means.

Check this fantastic website out at www.feelgoodstyle.com.

Beads and Butterflies have created a range of bead boxes and kits for both girls and boys that can take the stress out of finding a great gift for your guests.

The bead boxes provide hours of creative play and will be a permanent reminder of your party.

You don’t need to save the boxes for the party bags – they are a great idea for party entertainment as well!

We stock them in : Candy Colours, Purples & Pinks, Stars & Stripes & Tropical Brights!

Click here to browse the Bead and Butterflies sets at cornflowerblue.com

Every year in Australia around 44,000 newborn babies require the help of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) or Special Care Nursery (SCN). 25,000 of these babies are born premature and up to 1000 babies lose their fight for life.

For families, the experience of having a baby come into the world not as expected or planned is life changing. Without support, this overwhelming and traumatic experience can have lifelong effects on the emotional well being of these miracle families.  It affects the entire family unit.

Since 2005, Miracle Babies Foundation has been passionate in developing and providing vital programs and resources to support and enhance a family’s experience from a threatened pregnancy, hospital journey with a premature or sick newborn, the transition to home and beyond.

Australia is home to 22 state of the art intensive care units designed to meet the unique and critical needs of our earliest and sickest babies. Working with health professionals on the joint agenda of better outcomes for families, Miracle Babies provides informative education and insight on a family’s experience and funding for equipment, resources and research.

CLICK HERE TO GET INVOLVED

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

• Cacao butter -  is the oil extracted from cacao seeds (and the main ingredient in white chocolate). It contains plenty of vitamin E to soften the skin, and stearic acid which helps with skin repair. It’s a little pricey, but most worthy as it doubles as a healthy alternative to butter in cake recipes etc.

• Coconut oil - contains all sorts of goodies (capric and lauric acids) that act as antimicrobial and antifungal agents, protecting your skin from microbes as well as dryness. This is especially good for lips!

• Macadamia oil - is an emollient, which means it reduces the evaporation of water from your skin, making it feel more conditioned and softer. It’s very stable even at high temperatures  meaning it won’t oxidise (go rancid) so is safe for your skin (and to cook with).

Make sure what you’re buying is cold-pressed and organic if possible.

    lip & body butter… in a reused blush container

First thing’s first, you need to get the consistency right-  cacao butter is super solid at room temperature but melts at body temperature. Coconut oil is sorta semi solid at room temperature, and macadamia oil is liquid pretty much all the time. So you mix all three at the ratios above to get a balm-y consistency that stays sorta solid at room temperature. Make sense? If you’re in a very hot climate, you might need to use a little less macadamia oil. If you’re in a super cold climate, you may need to use a touch more. I live in Melbourne, which can be scorching hot one second and 20C cooler the next, and I find these ratios keep the balm solid enough to store a small container of it in my bag without it leaking everywhere.

Quantities…

• I used about 3 tablespoons of cacao butter
• 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and
• 1 tablespoon of macadamia oil to make enough balm to fill a small emptied blush container, and a little left over that filled a small condiment dish (which I keep in the bathroom). So you make as much or as little as you like. Just work with those ratios and you’ll be right.

What to do…

• Melt a piece of cacao butter over a low heat.  Remove from heat.
• Add a tablespoon of coconut oil and melt through (the residual heat should be enough to melt it).
• Add the macadamia oil and stir well to combine. Feel free to use any other plant oil you like. Almond oil is nice. So too jojoba, or olive oil, or carrot seed…
• Want it smelly? Feel free to add a few drops of your favourite essential oil at this point. Totally optional.
• Pour the mixture into a spill-proof container and allow to set overnight on the bench (or you can speed up the process by popping it in the fridge).

Use the balm to condition your lips and skin. Also great for nails!

-Eco Nest