Tag: Eco-Friendly Greeting Cards

Saving Paper Twice: Using Environmentally Friendly Holiday Cards

Every year around the holidays, we all send out dozens (sometimes even hundreds!) of greeting cards. Usually, we save some, display some on the mantle or the fridge, but most of them end up in a pile to be recycled. I began buying environmentally friendly holiday cards in order to make my efforts to be festive a little more green, but I still ended up recycling so many holiday cards that I received. It seemed so wasteful that I had almost given up on sending holiday cards and decided to send e-cards instead. Then I went to a friend’s house during the holiday season, and she had streamers made of cards strung up throughout her house. At the top of every doorway and even hanging from one window sill, she had ribbons strung which were holding old greeting cards. I was amazed at her ingenuity in re-using old Christmas cards as decorations. Her idea only works for horizontal cards, however, so I began to give some thought to new ideas of re-using greeting cards to decorate. This is the list of ideas I’ve come up with over the past two holiday seasons:

•    Holiday Postcards:  If I receive a holiday card which only has writing on the one panel inside, I cut the front off of the card and use it as a postcard. I draw the lines and boxes on the blank side and leave the design from the front of the card as the front of the postcard. Then I can mail someone a Christmas postcard! It costs less in postage, too. If the card design is a photograph with no writing on it, many times it is suitable for all occasions, not just holidays.

•    Holiday Streamers: My spin off of my friend’s idea was to create streamers from all kinds of cards: vertical, horizontal, even photo cards. I simply punch a hole in the top and bottom of each card and string a ribbon through the holes. The ribbon covers the back of the card so that the front design can be seen when the streamers are hung. In order to avoid the streamers being too heavy, I usually cut the card in half if it is a folded card and use only the designed half. These streamers look beautiful all over the house, and they can be used year after year. The greatest part is that you’ll never run out of materials!

•    Paper Ornaments: For those of you who want to be even more creative, you can cut ornaments out of old greeting cards. Simply make a stencil of a holiday-related object, such as a candy cane, a stocking, a Christmas tree, a dreidel, a snowflake, or any object that relates best to your holiday traditions. Using the stencil, you can cut out many matching and non-matching objects out of received greeting cards. We decorated our tree with these paper ornaments last year and they looked beautiful! This is a great, easy craft to do with children, and then you can let them color on the blank side if they wish. You can even use a little glitter glue on the edges to make it extra special.

Being eco-friendly can be so much fun, and it can be a money-saving adventure in these trying times. Kids love craft projects, especially around the holidays, and even more so when they know you’ll be displaying their beautiful artwork around the house. These ideas are just a starting point. If you think of more great craft ideas to re-use recycled greeting cards, please comment below and let me know. Happy Recycling!

Environmentally Friendly Business Holiday Cards – An Inexpensive Way to Make a Statement

Remind the people and companies that you do business with that the environment does not take a back seat to your bottom line. And the festive holiday season is a great time to do just that! Consider sending environmentally friendly business holiday cards to your vendors, business partners and clients. Now, more than ever, they are an inexpensive way to make a statement that your business cares about the planet.

When it comes to holidays cards for business, to send or not to send shouldn’t be the question. Every business wants to enhance their current relationships, attract new clients and customers, remind old clients of their existence, and show appreciation to all of those they do business with.

It does not take much time to make an impact. Get on the internet and visit GalleryCollection.com. You will find plenty of holiday cards that are FSC certified, which means that the raw materials used to make the paper stock were harvested and replenished in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. The paper used to make these beautiful holiday cards is also made with wind power… paper made from renewable energy! Your customers, clients and business partners will be pleased when they see that you have not only reached out with warm holiday wishes, but that you did so in an environmentally friendly way. The icing on the cake is that you do not have to spend a lot of money to send out elegant, rich looking environmentally friendly business holiday cards.

C’mon People Now, Buy Environmentally Friendly Greeting Cards

C’mon people now, smile on your brother. Ev’rybody get together, try and love Mother Earth right now. Help commemorate Earth Day by buying environmentally friendly greeting cards. You can easily find eco friendly personalized birthday cards, holiday cards, thank you cards, sympathy cards and appropriately enough, eco friendly Thanksgiving cards. We need to be socially and environmentally responsible to our precious earth so that our children and their children and their children will be able to enjoy this magnificent planet for years to come.

We are stewards of this earth. We are only here for a short time. We need to care for our environment and protect our natural resources. Buying eco friendly greeting cards is a great start. The manufacturers of environmentally friendly greeting cards will usually advertise on each card the fact that they are eco friendly so everyone who gets a card from you will know that you too care for the environment. This makes a lasting impression. It may also inspire others to become more environmentally responsible as well. You can make the mountains ring or make the angels cry. It’s your call. But remember…Some will come and some will go. We shall surely pass, so when the one that left us here returns for us at last – how will you explain the footprints you left behind?

Business Greeting Cards: Harnessing Windpower

The subject of windpower greeting cards got me wondering about whether or not people think about eco-friendly production of greeting cards. When you get business greeting cards or even personalized birthday cards for that matter, do you immediately wonder about the green aspects of their production? Personally, my first thoughts are “What a nice surprise! What thoughtful people sent me greeting cards?” I usually open and close the greeting card a couple of times to repeat the pleasure of seeing its (usually) attractive face and reading its (hopefully) pleasant text. I don’t usually check the back of the greeting cards for an eco-friendly symbol unless the senders add a lengthy message.

It’s certainly great to use recycled paper but from a personal standpoint, I tend to have more concern for business birthday cards produced with windpower. I can “go ape” on the subject of the eco-friendly production of electricity versus the diminishment of limited-supply, pollution-producing fossil fuels. I believe my passion on the subject began because I was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, where hydropower at Niagara Falls has for so long been used to provide abundant and inexpensive electricity.

Because I grew up intrigued by the thought of harnessing the power of flowing rivers and ocean currents, I progressed quite naturally into wondering why there weren’t more windmills built to harness all of that amazing power in the sky. I have been delighted in recent years to see the development of windpower in the production of electricity. When I had the unexpected occasion to drive past a stretch of modern windmills, I was struck by the graceful beauty they presented.

All of this is leading up to tell you how proud I feel to know that my company, The Gallery Collection, is making increasing use of this automatically-replenished natural resource. The paper stock used in the majority of our greeting cards is manufactured in facilities driven by windpower, and our headquarters here in New Jersey also runs on windpower. Hmm…I wonder if my tiny backyard could hold a wind turbine and generator.