Happy St. Patty's Day, everyone! And in the spirit of being green, thought I'd take a little turn and discuss an issue that any designer or crafter should be aware of.
The past few years, I’m really intrigued by the effort people have made to help the environment. Such schemes have not only made the public more aware, but made recycling trendy! Look at companies such as Good One, upcycling old clothes without making them too hippie like.
Last December, an article ran in the the Sunday Times Style magazine on alternatives to Christmas wrapping-methods like spray-painted brown paper and such, but I was most intrigued by the use of magazine pages. From working in a store during the Christmas season, it’s incredible how much resources are wasted, not to mention so much money wasted. There are so many ways to make the outside of a gift a work of art!
By choosing the right image, with a fun color palette, you can have a brilliant and original way to wrap gifts from magazine pages, such as cover shoots or perfume ads (I myself collect to decorate my closet door). While flipping through the Mark Montano book, I thought of using the same method, but with greeting cards. Montano’s book offers a brilliant template for an envelope with a small plate for a message itself.
With mother’s day, and a couple of birthdays coming up, I make a mock up of Montano’s original outline for the envelope, then went through my stash of magazines until I found a great cover shot for the front of the envelope. I added on two one layers for the inside of the message, one more from a magazine add, but the other out of some bright colored paper.
It’s not a stylist job, but I strongly encourage eco-friendly folk and crafters alike to consider this as an alternative to rushing out for every birthday, anniversary etc. and get another big name greeting card company.
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