Regardless of how you enter the region, you’ll soon understand why this 300 miles of Pacific coastline, with only a few fishing villages and not one mega-resort, is considered Mexico’s ultimate “green” destination.

The settlement of Costa Careyes was founded in 1968 by Gian Franco Brignone, a groundbreaking artist, architect  and entrepreneur from Torino, Italy, whose dream was to create a resort that honors the authentic beauty of Mexico and allows guests to embrace the Italian ideal of sensuality, “La Dolce Vita.”

Over the past four decades, Brignone has limited growth on Careyes to one beachside hotel with 48 rooms, 36 casitas on a hill above a cove, and 50 villas. Every castle at Costa Careyes boasts cliffside infinity  pools and open-air living spaces with walls painted  hot pink, shocking yellow and deep blues. These casitas and castles, with their unique  signature  design and brightly painted  exteriors adhering  to Brignone’s late ‘60s and early ‘70s vision, created the vibe and style now widely known  as Pacific Mexican Architecture.

Low-density buildings  with palapa roofing and cross-ventilation minimize need for air conditioning; roads were hand-built from rock and dirt (no asphalt); nighttime lighting is limited for enhanced stargazing; food and garden waste is composted; and solar panels provide energy.

Long breakfasts in the villa can be followed with activities such as rescuing sea turtles, beach- combing, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, polo, tennis, golf and watersports.  Private yoga sessions are offered in the villa or on the beach, and end with a walk through the labyrinth to spend time with a fallen meteor or meditate  in the bot- tom of a huge man-made bowl, which sits at the edge of a rocky peninsula.

Costa Careyes attracts international travelers and expats from Europe, Mexico, and the United States and beyond. Movie stars, fitness gurus and the world’s top designers thirst for the bohemian luxury lifestyle that the creators of Careyes have cultivated. Expect late night parties (don’t miss the yearly Chinese New Year celebration)  that will segue into beachside brunches at Playa Rosa, the casual beach and restaurant, which serves fresh Mexican-inspired dishes based on daily catches and seasonal local ingredients.  At Playa Rosa, you can connect with others and enjoy a leisurely margarita  at the bar, Careyes’ answer to the town social hall, and a boho chic answer to the yacht club beaches of St. Tropez and St. Bart’s. careyes.com

Unlike conventional textile manufacturing, digital printing entails very little waste of fabric, ink, water or electricity. Spoonflower uses no additional chemicals in their eco-friendly, water-based pigment inks while offering natural fiber options like 100 percent organic cotton certified by Global Organic Textile Standards, linen-cotton canvas, upholstery-weight cotton twill and 100 percent silk—fabrics that can be used to make anything from couch cushions to lingerie, all for an average of $27 per yard.

Creating, organizing, and filtering designs in collections is all done from your computer with Photoshop or Illustrator, but the site also has its own easy to master program. Still, there are some things to keep in mind: Good contrasts on dine details print well; dark colors that are similar to each other may blend together without enough contrast; there are no white inks so there’s no way to start with dark fabric and create a lighter colored design on top of it, and black backgrounds have to be sprayed onto white cloth which is not as effective as dying.

Not an artist? We suggest looking into your own photos and the mega-database, copyright-free online catalogue of Vintage Printables (vintage-printables.com) for inspiration or just comb through Spoonflower’s site and pick a fabric someone else has designed (they receive 10 percent of the sale). If you’re not sure how something is going to look, order a test swatch, they are inexpensive and delivered quickly. spoonflower.com