Etsy Monday ThePersonalized Gift Does Father's Day

When I was about 9 or 10, I gave my father a cigar box wrapped in velvet to hold his "things".  Many, many years later, when we were going through his condo after he died, there it was -- sans velvet, but still with things.

This Etsy shop has the same idea, but maybe a little fancier.

The shop offers custom engraving options

You can engrave both sides.

They offer other personalized gift options for inside -- cufflinks and tieclips are some of the nicer options.

Happy Mother's Day To Me!

When I started this blog, it was mainly to share pretty gift wrapping ideas.  As time went on, I became more and more interested in practical yet pretty ways to be more eco-friendly with gift wrapping. Since then I have featured many gift wrap makers who use recycled paper and ink, shown ideas on how to re-use gift wrapping and featured a lot of alternate materials.

One idea that really captured my imagination was a gift box that could be re-used to send gifts back and forth between family or friends. Something that could turn into a family heirloom in itself.  So imagine how thrilled I was when my husband made a prototype for me for Mother's Day!

 Here's the before:

A candy box.

Kevin had taken some classes with Charles Douglas Gilding Studio. Gilding is an old art, which involves applying metal foils with brushes to all sorts of things. While I thought he might use some of the decorative finish materials he has used before, this was a great and special choice. He applied gold and copper foils.  Here are the afters!

He used gold and copper foils. I love it so much!

The box actually opens up with multiple levels.

So question -- what do you think of the idea of heirloom gift boxes? if we were going to market these, how much should we charge? Let me know in the comments!

And finally I hope you had as amazing a Mother's Day as I did. Between my lovely children, fur-babies, and my incredible husband, I am simply beaming!

Norine

Wrapper of the week: Smock

There are many, many good reasons to support stores like Smock.  I don't think I can describe them better than they do themselves:

"This is how we do business.

We print sustainably; doing things all responsible printers should do. We use only  vegetable oil based and low-Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) inks. We use low-VOC and citrus-based solvents. We recycle our photo chemistry, film, paper offcuts, and photopolymer printing plates. Empty ink cans and old rags are kept out of landfills. We recycle and compost our waste. We use recycled packaging materials and reuse packing materials from our vendors. We donate surplus paper and envelopes to our local public schools.  We package our custom work in keepsake boxes made in NY  from 100% post-consumer recycled materials.

We print on Bamboo paper. Bamboo is a truly sustainable and renewable resource, generating up to 35% more oxygen than hardwood trees, and absorbing 4 times the carbon as well. It’s the fastest growing plant on this planet; it grows without pesticides or fertilizers; and it requires very little water to grow. Bamboo also makes the prettiest paper out there. Today, we partner with a historic New England  paper mill to develop a pesticide-free, fertilizer-free, fine artisan paper just for us. Our bamboo paper is extremely soft, luxuriously thick, and elegantly textured. It’s also perfect for letterpress. 

We actively work to reduce our carbon footprint and are entirely wind-powered through Native Energy. We offer bus passes to employees to encourage public transportation usage. We subsidize Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) memberships with a local organic farm, because we believe our food shouldn’t have to travel 1,500 miles to reach us."

Their choices in gift wrap are beautiful and beautifully done. I particularly like their double sided options, as they say, all printed on bamboo paper.

This two sided "ink" gift wrap is beautiful.

Eco friendly, sustainable gift wrap

2 sheets, each 24 " x 36"

They also have gift boxes. I was just thinking about how gift boxes were probably the best possible solution for wrapping. Easy to use and much easier to re-use, beautiful gift boxes justify investing a little more in something that can get used again and again for the best possible presentation. Swap in some beautiful ribbons and gift tags and you are done!

I love this option! It's like a gift around your gift!

Their tags are beautiful too.

Pretty and special.

All of the short sighted things done that have led to climate change were motivated at least in part by economics. Somewhere, consumers wanted better hairspray, or cheaper energy or something and there were those ready to take advantage of that.  So why don't we, the consumers, take control of that cycle and support those willing to invest in trying to do things the right way.  It is a small action that can add up to a big influence.