Stationery Scoop

Recent work: plantable give-away

Thanks to clients InCourage for choosing Botanical PaperWorks for this recent project. The back of this piece has some great stuff about the company's values, principles and vision.

Plantable boxes - pack n' grow

If you love their cakes, you're going to love the latest edible eco-offering from Lilyfield Cakes. Isca Shortbread (part of the Isca eco line) is two pounds of organic, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread made from a cherished family recipe of founder Heather Stewart.

Each order comes packed in a plantable, wildflower-seed embedded box made by Botanical PaperWorks which grows wildflowers when planted and is made with 100% post-consumer waste.

And a great thing about supporting this product is that a tree is planted with each package sold and a note sent to the recipient from the Manitoba Forestry Association as part of the UN Billion Tree Campaign.

Plantable promotion for Galeries Rive Nord

Botanical PaperWorks produced this very special custom Plantable Flat Card for the upscale shopping experience Galéries Rive Nord. The plantable flower is embedded with wildflower seeds, so when the lucky recipient receives the piece, they can follow the planting instructions on the back of the card and grow a pot of wildflowers. Read about how it works.

The Gift of Flowers

A life full of flowers - isn't that a life worth living! My daughters gave me these flowers for Easter and we continue to be blessed by their color and vigor. Even as the snow continues to fall, this touch of Spring reminds us that warmer weather is just around the corner.

With each plantable, seed-embedded card, invitation and favor that we ship from our facility here in Winnipeg, we too are sharing the gift of flowers. It's exciting to imagine the hundreds of thousands of wildflower patches that are thriving in gardens around the world.

Attendees to the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles will soon be receiving this special gift from Botanical PaperWorks. As with all of our paper, the lucky recipients can plant the paper and grow wildflowers, creating their own little gardens to herald the start of Spring.

Have a wonderful day, whatever the weather in your area of the country.

Fabulous Feedback Friday

We love getting feedback from our clients - especially the good stuff! Here's a delightful email from Ryan that thrilled the socks off our team.

Can I just say... WOW...  your idea is one of the most uniquely creative that I have seen in a long time! I saw your ad online while checking my gmail, immediately clicked on it and must say, I absolutely love it!!!

Stick with it and you'll no doubt be immensely successful (if you aren't already :-))

Go Get 'em!

Ryan

Thanks Ryan!

We also SO MUCH appreciate the support of the online community, and were super excited to be featured on the eco wedding blog Portovert.com. Portovert has been called the #1 Green Wedding Website by Martha Stewart Weddings. Read the post called "DIY Seed Favors" and learn about how you can submit your images of blooming Garden Greetings™ plantable paper to Portovert and be featured on their website.

Customer Focus: Flowering Corporate Give-Aways

Botanical PaperWorks produced this special corporate give-away for premium home builder Pulte Homes. Printed on 100% post-consumer waste and embedded with wildflower seeds, this Garden Greetings™ plantable paper card is used as a special marketing piece for the company. When the lucky recipient plants the card, it recycles into wildflowers leaving no waste. What a great way to send a message and make a memorable impression!

Planting instructions are printed on the back along with a special message regarding the charitable donation Pulte Homes is making. The inside is also printed in full color.

Plantable Eco Calendar for National Geographic Channel

If you're lucky enough to be associated with the National Geographic Channel, you will have received one of these custom-designed, 100% plantable eco calendars. Each month is printed on paper embedded with wildflower seeds and made with 100% post consumer waste. Plant the paper and wildflowers will grow.

The keepsake tin contains 12 months of single calendar pages, enough to grow a large garden or to share with neighbors. When you're done with a month, just plant it and wildflowers will grow.

National Geographic Channel did a lovely job of designing unique artwork and copy for each month and the belly band around the tin gives the recipient complete planting instructions on the back.

To everyone around the world who received a National Geographic Channel eco calendar, we hope that you enjoy it and that you surround yourself with the beauty of wildflowers in 2008!

Welcome new vendor: cry if i want to

Shoppers and party planners in Toronto are in for a treat at local shop cry if i want to. Owners and sisters Rochelle and Allison offer contemporary party decor for modernists who love to entertain with style.

cry if i want to has a showroom and retail space in Liloo at home featuring home decor and party planning accessories.  And we're thrilled to announce that Rochelle and Allison offer Botanical PaperWorks' plantable, eco cards and stationery.

Best wishes to Rochelle and Allison and your clients especially during this very busy holiday season!

Some favorite projects

I was digging around in some old boxes today and came across some work that we did back at the start of the millennium. So I scanned a few of them to share.

This 2003 annual report from the Scripps Howard Foundation was amazing. The band encircling the report is our Garden Greetings™ seed paper, printed in green ink with the names of the many different projects that Scripts Howard does, including "National Journalism Awards" and "Literacy".

Behind the band, the front cover says "Seeding the Future". The inside page has a quote from Thomas Carlyle:

All work is seed sown;
it grows and spreads,
and sows itself life anew.

This little shot is of a wedding program that was custom designed for a special couple. The wedding theme was the aspen leaf. Artist Dianne Thompson drew the leaf which we then scanned and screen-printed on the front cover. The paper stock is Abaca handmade paper and the inner pages are printed vellum. The results were elegant and understated.

Abaca paper is made from the abaca leaf in the Philippines. Every year, the crop is a slightly different color, so some years, it's a warm light brown, other years it is a darker mocha.

Abaca handmade paper is a dream to print and this last sample is a 1998 annual report from Cambrian Credit Union. Also printed on abaca paper, the design team used letterpress printing and an embossed leaf to accent the front.

The Wire-O binding compliments the warm hues of the abaca paper, and the inner pages are printed in a warm cocoa color. The results were very distinctive. This is one annual report that the directors were sure to keep for years to come!

Client spotlight - Soybeam

We love working with companies who share our values, so today I'm putting the spotlight on our valued client, Soybeam. Soybeam specializes in beautiful, aromatic candles. Soybeam candles are made with "green" ingredients - recycled glass, soy wax, organic essential oils.

And as shown in the above picture, each and every candle comes with a plantable paper seal. The seal covers the candle to protect the wax and preserve the aroma. After you peel away the seal, you can plant it and grow wildflowers.

Read about Soybeam's story on how they got started and their mission. And support their efforts by buying and enjoying a candle and the plantable seed paper that is included.