At the Vermont state fair, Rutland (LOC), originally uploaded by The Library of Congress.

Topping the week of with one of my very favorite things in the world : Feed Sacks. I love them for their patterns, obviously. I love them for their stories, their history, their perseverance.
Most known for the depression era, people were poor and quite resourceful. They used EVERYTHING at least thrice. Animal feed came in reusable cloth sacks so families could feed the farm, and then make clothes and linens, hence the feed sack moniker “chicken linen”. Upcycling is a buzz word today – the cool and responsible thing to do, back then it was absolutely necessary. In this photo, you can see three of the sisters have a dress of the same pattern. Women would collect and trade feed sacks in order to get enough of one pattern to complete their projects.
All of this and sheer brilliance in packaging. Packaging today needs to become this smart once again. I’d love to know the percentage of packaging that contributes to our landfills. I’m sure it’s staggering. Recession got you down? Innovate.

This wedding reception is going to be a real picnic! In the interest of an extremely short timeline, and a desire to make little impact while spending little money, … we came up with a combination of photopolymer plates that I already had from previous jobs, French Co. 100% recycled paper that was off-cut from another project and my newly acquired vintage wood type for a fresh look on a low budget. We created something new, using what we already had! Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Word of mouth is my bread and butter. When I did this wedding last year, I not only got two great clients – Sabrina & Max – I lucked out with with Max’s sister, Elli and Lucas too. All wonderful to work with and trusting of the creative process. Elli and Lucas had a great idea to send 10″ swatches of fabric to their guests for them to decorate with well-wishes and return with their response card. They will sew them together to make “prayer flags” to hang at the site of their nuptials on their wedding day. In the spirit of this wonderful, hands-on concept, I decided to engage the guests even further with an interactive and green RSVP process. Accept/Regret stickers, perforation, kraft paper address labels and instructions all eco-efficiently packaged – a little upcycled craft project for each guest to honor their connection with the bride & groom.