green wrapping & brown tagging

You're probably already aware of the huge waste produced during the holidays. If you Google "Holiday waste", you'll find hundreds of links to tips about reducing and recycling. I wanted to share my choice for gift wrapping this year. It looks a bit familiar to yesterday's post because I'm enthralled with burlap, as you know, but I have another love: brown paper. I try to put any paper bag that comes into my life to good use. Because I primarily use cloth totes for the market, these are getting scarcer. Brown craft paper, also known as postal paper, works as a substitute with the same aesthetic appeal. I've often used it for wrapping paper, but am trying to minimize that and opted for easy cloth gift sacks instead. This year, I'm using the brown paper sparingly for gift tags and look what I've come up with... I'm so excited with this technique that I had to show you right away! I love these gift tags so much, I might even give little stacks of them as gifts, themselves!

GIFT TAGS


- Use printer paper as a template, and cut out three sheets from a paper bag or craft paper roll.
- Iron brown paper until smooth and flat (have you noticed how I use my iron as much as possible?).
- Download these totally amazing and free tags and pear paper from three generous and talented designers:

lollychop's pear print
sugar loop tags
paperseed tags


-Print onto your brown paper and cut to size. I'm not sure how I will use the pear paper, but I couldn't resist it. A little bit here and there will go a long way. I attached tags to my gifts with garden twine (jute from the hardware store) . If you've bought any of my coffee sack buckets, this whole concept will look very familiar. My product tags are created exactly this way, but without the pretty graphics.

2 MINUTE GIFT BAGS

MUSLIN
- Fold a long rectangle of muslin in half.
-Cut the top with pinking sheers and sew up the sides.
-Turn so raw edges are in the interior.
-Pop in your gift and tie with ribbon or twine.
BURLAP
-Cut two identical rectangles of burlap (from recycled coffee sacks!) following the weave.
-Sew around three sides leaving a 3/4 inch seam allowance.
-Pull out strands of the weave on each side to create a neat, but frayed edge.
-Pop in your gift and tie with ribbon or twine.

If you must use wrapping paper, consider trying recycled newspaper. You can always use the funnies, but I prefer to give newspaper wrap a unique twist. Give it a wash of diluted acrylic craft paint and let it dry before wrapping the gift.

Incorporating little bits from nature is always a beautiful and green choice.
There are so many wonderful alternatives for eco gift wrap! This is what I'll be doing for the holidays... I'd love to hear some of your ideas!