off they go

 The Art-o-mat stones are finished.

The packaging has been stamped.

 And painted.

 

And stitched.

 The boxes have been assembled and the "about me" has been printed and folded.  

 

The stones have been wrapped and packed.

 

The boxes have been wrapped in acetate and packaged up and now off they go, to an Art-o-mat somewhere.

If/when I find out where, I'll be sure to spread the word.

Have a good almost-Friday everyone.

Playing With Packaging

I'm so excited about the new tags that I'm using for packaging my brooches that I just had to show it off.  A few weeks ago I found PulpArt's amazing plantable paper and featured it in my Sunday Window Shopping finds.  I knew immediately that they would be the perfect compliment for my brooches. 

They're handmade paper, made of recycled paper, and embedded with flower seeds so that once planted these tags will actually sprout flowers.  That just makes me happy.  I consider these a business expense, not a craft supply, so I have not nullified my New Year's resolution to buy no craft supplies for one year.  (yay me!)

I decided to do what I call a "poor man's" letterpress on them.  OK, OK, it doesn't really look like beautiful letterpress, but this is in my budget and the sort of imperfect nature suits me.  I have these metal stamps and used them to pound letters into this lovely paper. 

I just picked out my letters, lined them up on the paper, and...whack!  A couple of smacks with the hammer and I have my shop name down the side.  Pretty sweet, methinks.  There is also a little poem to go along with the tags.

If you haven't already, you should pop over and have a look at PulpArt's paper offerings.  Lovely stuff. 

So it makes me wonder, what kind of packaging do you like?  Have you seen something that really made you stop and say "wow" or "that's so innovative" or "that's really smart".  Have any eco-friendly packaging tips you'd like to share?

Speaking of eco-friendly packaging tips...I'm a member of the Eco Etsy Street Team and our team blog has lots of good information and tips so while you're at it, you should stop over there too.  :D

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Small things

There are "small things" we can each do in our lives to live a thriftier, more earth-healthy life. In looking at my own habits, I've identified some things that while not earth-shattering, have simply become a way of doing things for me. I thought perhaps I'd share some of these things weekly and hope in turn you'll share some with me.

Today's small thing is... re-thinking tissue paper. I haven't used tissue paper in a few years, that is, of the traditional sort. I happened upon the idea of using the tissue from sewing patterns while browsing my local thrift store. I like the way they look, they allow me to reuse, and I can find them affordably.

The extra paper from the pattern is used for envelopes, cards, and tags, with the excess paper being used to create handmade paper.

I'm sure there are other great ways out there to wrap without using new, bleached tissue paper. Perhaps small bits of fabric would be an option? Newsprint? Magazine pages?

What else are you crafty beings doing out there? I'd love to hear.