I’ve always sort of wondered about cradles and bassinets.

Adorable, yes, but you can’t really use a cradle for much, after the baby gets a couple months old and starts moving about.

What then? Pass it along, practically new, to someone else… Or find a place to store the extra bit of furniture until another baby comes along?

This is obviously the dilemma that the makers of the sustainable cardboard Eco Cradle had in mind:

Designed for the first few months in the home, the Eco Cradle is safe, light, easily assembled and disassembled and is made from over 60% recycled material.

The entire structure can be put together and taken apart again in a couple of minutes making it perfect for travelling and visiting the grandparents or family.

The Eco Cradle comes with European safety standard certificates. The structure is also protected by an eco-friendly non-toxic fire retardant.

Bonus, it should satisfy your inner puzzle-maker! Notice how the cradle comes apart to store flat? We may be seeing more of this sort of construction, to meet the needs of changing families, a green-leaning marketplace, and small living spaces. Find it (new!) at www.ecoutlet.co.uk.

Trophy hunting goes guilt-free, green-ish and animal-friendly, when it’s a whimsical Cardboard Safari.

Cardboard Safari is a tiny little company located in Charlottesville Virginia. Drawing inspiration from nature and through the use of sustainable materials, Chris Jessee and Luis Rodrigalvarez strive to design fun and fascinating products for your enjoyment.

Precision laser-cut cardboard puzzles of deer, moose and rhinoceros heads? Why not!

First there’s the fun of assembly (remember those balsa wood dinosaur puzzles that used to be all the rage?) and then there’s the fun of display. Classic in the traditional Kraft-paper brown, true, but my fingers just itch to decoupage a moose head with handmade rag paper and a few tiny deer-fly images from a vintage science text…

[via designspotter]

If you’ve ever wondered what to do with all those empty cardboard egg cartons, besides:

(a) using them to organize your craft stuff or jewellery or coins,(b) tearing them up to put in the compost,

(c) crafting up some rather peculiar cardboard tulips, or

(d) planting flower seeds in them…

Here’s an elegant alternative — (e) for egg carton? — to fire up your imagination for creative recycling projects:

Artist Inna Alesina makes her Good Egg footstool from 100% recycled paper pulp egg cartons, and colors them with a water-based fabric dye in terra cotta, green, blue, or beige.

As a footstool it can be used upright or on its side for a relaxing rocking motion; it also makes a sturdy base for a coffee table. To clean, just vacuum. Place out of bright light to preserve the intensity of the color.

Sturdy?

Inna’s own personal egg-carton footstool has withstood use by two adults and two small children for six years — and it “still looks good.”

[via The Eco-Modernist]

If you happen to be lucky enough to be owned by a cat, you’ll know how much the furry little demons like to tuck themselves up for sleep. Kittypod is an “environmentally thoughtful design” by Elizabeth Paige Smith, but I think a cat had its fine paw in the planning.

The elevated cat bed is multi-ply cardboard construction up top, with all non-toxic adhesives, on a maple wood base for stability.

The curved egg-shape pod creates an interior form-fitting bed for cats of all sizes. The texture of the corrugated cardboard provides a surface that is soft, breathable and durable for scratching, making the Kittypod the absolute choice nesting spot.

I can’t think of anything else that might tempt Cat Himself away from trying to stuff his entire 15-pound bulk into a standard Kleenex box for a nap.

Remember that amazing DIY cardboard castle playhouse? It’s fabulous! But perhaps just a little, er, large?

If you’re looking for a smaller project for your young Shining Knight and Little Princess, Enchanted Learning offers free instructions for making a box castle that’s a simple construction on a much smaller scale. Use anything from a cardboard grocery box to a shoe box, depending on how big you want your cardboard castle to be.

4orMore‘s cardboard box ideas page suggests adding cardboard tubes for turrets and towers — you know, like a Disney fantasy castle. And of course, decorating the castle with paints and markers is half the fun.

Perfect for school projects on the Middle Ages and unlimited tabletop games of make-believe— and it’ll fit onto your child’s toy shelves when not in use!

The only thing as cool as a playhouse made of milk jugs is probably a cardboard castle that you can make yourself, then paint up in faux-stone effects to look like the real medieval thing!

How to build a cardboard castle:

First, get yourself 8 of those big cardboard boxes that refrigerators come in. Mr McGroovy (of www.mrmcgroovys.com) will tell you how to get your boxes for free, and even how to cut them down properly to bring home in a small car.

Then, you just follow the step-by-step instructions for cutting it out. There are plenty of clear illustrations to keep the project on track…

In fact, if you’ve ever put together an IKEA bookshelf from all those mysterious pieces, there’ll be no trick to building a castle from cardboard boxes!

Mr McGroovy was inspired by plans found in an old Boy’s Life magazine, back in February 1967 — and you’ll be inspired by Mr. McGroovy, if your inner child is allowed to have its way!