Save the Date for building a Green School

I designed this "save the date" card for The Waldorf School of Orange County, CA. This event spearheaded their fundraising efforts to purchase land and build a "green certified" school for pre-K through high school. This plan would also include a bio-dynamic farm for the students to tend-to.
In two years, this campaign has raised close to $2,000,000 in funds and pledges!

Sustainable graphic design with New Leaf

New Leaf paper has a new and improved website. It's great, you can do an Eco-Audit, find a local printer, and watch a counter of resources saved by New Leaf's eco-practices. In an age of information sharing, I will share with you some information on SUSTAINABLE DESIGN that New Leaf shares, which was borrowed from ReNourish.

What is sustainable graphic design?  

Sustainable graphic design aims to eliminate the negative immediate and future social, economic, and environmental impacts of the printed and digital material produced by the profession. Paper fiber, the substrate most used by the graphic designer currently, should be collected, recycled and injected back into the market as a post-consumer product in order to move towards a sustainable industry. Ideally disposal of paper fiber will be eliminated altogether and instead a Cradle-to-Cradle practice of manufacturing and recovery will be utilized. Sustainable graphic design considers the impact of its creations on communities where materials may be sourced, and aim to support a local economy by working with vendors in their region to increase prosperity and minimize their environmental footprint. Global interdependence, environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and economic viability are the goals of the sustainable graphic designer. Achieving these goals will thereby improve our quality of life overall.

Re-Purposed "wrapped-up"

My daughter was invited to a birthday party for one of the boys in her class who is turning 11. I knew I wanted to wrap his gift (gift certificate to local book store, Inquiring Minds) with Re-Purposed materials, but I wanted it to look a little less "green" and a little more edgy. I got my inspiration from a bag my husband brought home from the liquor store (he should know better!).

I then headed to the garage and poked around and came across some gray plastic netting I found. The color was a perfect match to the gray stripes on the bag.

I wanted a contrast in color, so I headed to my daughters crafting materials and found blue duct tape. The result was quick and simple, but I think it will stand-out.

Creative kids Rock!

My 11 year old daughter came home last week with a pair of socks she knit in Handwork class at school. These socks were knit with 100% wool, hand dyed with vegetable dyes. You can read more about Handwork in Waldorf Schools from the  AWSNA site.

Almost FREE EcoWrapping

My daughter inspired me when she brought me this beautiful bouquet she collected from the yard. Pussy Willows, a sure sign that Spring is around the corner! (yes, that is snow holding the bouquet together).

So, for my next "wrapping" I will Reuse a brown paper grocery bag. This bag from Stop and Shop actually has a nice printed graphic, it has a "hand-stamped" texture in person. The cloth bag is from a set of organic cotton pillowcases I purchased from Target. I've Reused the bag to hold the hand-made artist book I purchased as the gift.

Now going back to the Pussy Willows. I put the cloth bag in a recycled box and wrapped it with the brown paper bag. Then, I used jewelry wire to connected the pussy willow twigs and wrapped them around the wrapped box. 

The brown twigs and the brown paper needed a little color for contrast, so I added-in some green moss. Once this is dissembled, the pussy willows and moss can make a nice natural accent on a book shelf, table, or framed in a shadow box.

Hand Made Birthday invitations

Here are a few Birthday invitations I've done for my girls over the years. Each one follows the theme of the party; an animal theme, fairy party, princess party, horseback riding, and tea party. I've always tried to stay away from buying pre-packaged invites and stuck with making something with the crafty supplies I have on hand. 

 

The "Zoo" party invite was my favorite. This invite I used fabric left-over from a dress made for my daughter (that she wore for the party). The party was a zoo. To add to the festivities I made cookies from Martha Stewart's "Noah's Ark" cookie cutters for all of the little guests.

Look to the past for inspiration.

We can often find solutions to current problems by looking to the past for insight. In the early 15th century Gutenberg revolutionized printing when he produced his 42-line Bible. Gutenberg was famous for his breakthrough in movable type, but his experiments with ink are less well known. At the time water-based inks were being used. Gutenberg found that the water-based inks were too fluid, so he adapted techniques used by artists of the time and began to use oil-based inks made from linseed oil (veggie-based inks are not something new!).  It wasn't until the growth of the petrochemical industry in the 1940's that we began to introduce petroleum and toxic solvents into our printing. (until the middle of the 19th century, the main ingredient of paper was cloth rags, hemp, and grass. Using wood for pulp is relatively new, but that's another topic) Fortunately, again the printing community is embracing soy & veggie-based inks for their environmental benefits, vibrant colors, further spreadability, and for making paper easier to recycle.
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Looking to the past often creates insight, or gives us a new perspective on a current issue. I have several "artist books" I made years ago out of used and re-purposed materials. When I've been doing a lot of computer work, I like to take-out my old projects for tactile inspiration.

Green Printing on a budget

 

 

I am currently finishing up a card for a local Acupuncturist, Therese Sibon. We are just about ready to print. These cards will be printed at Greg Barber Co. on Neenah Environment 100% post-consumer recycled paper. Greg Barber offers an environmentally friendly, cost effective solutions for short run printing-
QTY: 500

Price: $75.00

QTY: 750

Price: $100.00

QTY: 1000

Price: $125.00

This is an excellent example of how printing "green" does not need to cost more. 

Greg Barber Co. is featured several times for their environmental printing in the book, "Big Book of Green Design". This is a great resource for finding green printers in your area. This is how I connected with Greg Barber!

Therese Sibon is an amazing Acupuncturist serving the Hudson Valley. She has an office at Water Street Market in New Paltz & one in NYC. She also does hospital work in the oncology units. If you're looking for a holistic treatment that focuses on the Body, Mind, and Spirit, make your appointment with Therese today!

I just love chipboard!

 

 Check out the final printed version here.

The team at Pinball Publishing once again exceeded my expectations! Thanks Pinball for being so great to work with.

I know many of you think of chipboard as cliché, but I still can't get enough of it. I remember in the early 90's when I would cut-up brown paper bags into 8 1/2 x 11 and jam them through my printer. I loved it then & still love it today. Now we can find many sophisticated lines of chipboard in various thicknesses & textures from many of the leading paper companies. Neenah is one of my fave's, their Environment line "dessert Storm" has the look of chipboard, but with a smooth-refined finish. Check out Neenah's environmental commitment & test-out their paper calculator.