My first blog mention!

A blog other than my own, that is.

The folks over at SuperEco, a blog about green living, included my Recycled Stationery Sets in their green last-minute gifts post on December 18th. I'd have never known if it weren't for Google Alerts, so I'm grateful for that -- and for the fact that I have a new blog to check every day! (Like I needed another one of those.)

I hope you had a very happy Christmas or Hanukkah (or for some of you luckies, both), and that your 2009 is fantastic!

Furoshiki! and other eco-friendly gift wrapping

It's Christmas Eve-Eve and if you're like me, you are about to start wrapping your presents for your entire family before you leave tomorrow night for a six hour drive with your mother and tiny old dog leaving you no time once you're in New York to wrap them before Christmas morning. (OK, you may not be doing it exactly like that, but it's close.) I haven't got a ton of extra fabric that I need to part with, so furoshiki! (the exclamation is necessary) is not going to be my method of choice for last minute wrapping, but it is hella-cool. I imagine you could use some fabric presents as the gift wrap for others, too -- is anyone on your list getting placemats or towels?


Furoshiki Gift Wrapping - Funny videos are here

A pretty basket or box could be the gift wrap, too; everyone needs more storage solutions, and these can be found pretty cheaply new, or better yet, for dirt cheap at a thrift store.

If you are just looking for alternative paper, a newspaper with some ribbon makes quite a pretty picture (and if you don't believe me, I've seen similar at Anthropologie, and they know set-decorating like nobody's business). I'd recommend the classified ads, as all text with minimal disruption reads more like a neutral than headlines covering your presents. And colorful ads from magazines are good for small presents (tape multiple pages together for larger items).

This year, I'm using site plans from my office's recycling bins. I got ambitious last week and colored the fronts of buildings in the site plans with green garlands with red ribbons across the windows, but the black on white looks nice too. Last year, bus timetables taped together worked for me. (WMATA prints them in alternating hues of green, so it fit right in with my extended family's more traditional wrapping paper.) And don't forget just plain reuse of regular wrapping paper. We would use minimal tape and thriftily flatten the paper each year when I was younger to rewrap presents the next year, and it was not a big deal.

Hat tip to 365daysoftrash for the furoshiki! video. Quite a neat and thought-provoking blog he's got there.

The Moment You've All Been Waiting For

I'm sure that folks have been constantly refreshing their browsers, anxiously awaiting the official blog-unveiling of my newest product line. No longer! The time has come!

After amassing a huge collection of stationery as "The Queen of Correspondence" (according to my friends), I started making my own when I couldn't find exactly what I wanted already being made. Enter the Recycled Stationery Sets. They are made entirely from reclaimed, reused, and repurposed papers. Notebooks, old ledgers, and abandoned printer papers are some of the sources of the sheets, and the envelopes are a combination of old maps and reclaimed stationery from an out-of-business company. (Their return address was on the back flap of the envelope, but it is now covered by a plain white label [also reclaimed from the trash heap] that is stamped to coordinate with the rest of the set.) Each set comes with six sheets of paper (two each in three designs), three envelopes (one map, two plain), and assorted stickers and labels made from maps. I'm thrilled with how well they've turned out!
You can see more details about them at my Etsy page, but feel free to ask any questions in the comments section!
How do you keep in touch with faraway friends? And how do you reuse any paper you find yourself swimming in?

The Lovely "Lovely Design"

I planned for my next post to be about my ridiculously cute (if I do say so myself) stationery sets made from repurposed materials, but a troublesome camera and much more exciting news precludes that: Lovely Sharilyn of Lovely Design once again has her journey books in stock! For a long while, the only thing in stock has been the address file cards (which have totally been inspiring me; more on that later) because she's been busy raising her daughter, but we all benefit from these lovelies being back in her store. They're not going to last long, so if you want one, get it while you can!

She also writes a well-photographed blog; whenever it's updated, it's the best part of my blog-reading that day. Check it out!

I will update soon on the new-old stationery, I swear this time!

Weekend plans?

I first discovered the art of sprucing up vintage suitcases at the recent Crafty Bastards event that Washington City Paper sponsors. (I've been to all of the Crafty Bastards events since I moved here three or four years ago, and can highly recommend them.) Final Approach had a booth there and I fell in love with their stenciling and designing of the hard-sided suitcases. As a kid, I remember our family had a set of light blue hard-sided cases, and theirs just brought back memories of packing those up for trips to my grandparents' lake cabin. I adore their (sadly already-sold) Abe Lincoln one.


Turns out they are not the only ones making adorably painted suitcases for a living. Another place I found on Etsy was GreyBrocket's shop. This deer suitcase is begging to come home to me, but I'm trying to cut down on spending on myself before the holidays. Perhaps he'll prance over to your house? And GetReadySetGo is the designer of the adorable birdies on the little blue suitcase. They were just made for weekend getaways.

I'm trying to buy most of the holiday gifts (that I don't make myself) on Etsy or in thrift stores. There's so much cute stuff that already exists that it seems pointless to add to the craziness by buying brand-new corporate crap for people.

Migrating over here from LiveJournal

I'm going to be posting more regularly over here than I do at my current crafting blog. I'll put up stuff I'm working on for the craftgasm Etsy store, any upcoming fairs and shows where I'll be selling things, and general crafty awesomeness. Check out the old stuff at the old blog if you're curious, though, until new stuff pops up here.

Thanks for stopping by!