So help your neighbors and shop small this Saturday – you will love the experience! 

You can click here to find participating businesses in your area.  While you are there, you can register to use your American Express card at that business to get $25 back on your statement.  Check out the site for details.

Don’t forget to log on to your favorite small business, www.Fabricwrapper.com!  We have a fantastic $5 sale going on with FREE SHIPPING to any order over $50.   Reduce waste this holiday with our beautiful reusable gift-wrap. 

Thanks and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

As part of Fabricwrapper.com’s commitment to being a responsible company, we joined 1% for the Planet when we began our company in 2008.  As part of our pledge to 1% for the Planet, we have been donating to New American Dream for the past three years. 

New American Dream just launched a new website, and I want to pass on some information from them in hopes that many of my readers will take a look at their site.  There are some great ideas for making simple changes in your lifestyle!

Message from New American Dream:

“If you are like us, you may find yourself strung out at times. Long work hours, money pressures, not enough time for loved ones, lost connection to the outdoors—is this the American Dream? Maybe it’s time for a “new dream,” one with a better work/life balance and more value on nature and sustainable living.

At the Center for a New American Dream, we believe it’s important to focus on more of what matters—and less on what doesn’t. That’s why we’re excited to announce the launch of our new website, www.newdream.org, designed to inspire and show how you can create a meaningful life for you, your family, and your community.”

Check them out!

Furoshiki is a square piece of cloth, whose name literally means “cloth for the bath.” It came into wide use in Edo period (1603-1868) in public bathhouses for spreading on the floor while undressing and for wrapping bathing articles. In other words, the furoshiki started out as the cloth in which people carried their clothes and toiletries, but later it came to be used to carry (or wrap) just about anything.

The Ministry of the Environment in Japan issued the folding instructions included on our site to their citizens. The revival of the furoshiki is being promoted as a means of protecting the environment, coupled with a new respect and re-evaluation of the values of Japanese traditional customs. A number of new and innovative uses of furoshiki have been proposed on top of ancient, conventional techniques.

Today, the modern furoshiki is made out of many materials and textures and is being embraced by eco-conscious gift givers all over the world. We call our product an “ode to furoshiki” as a nod to the original silken version of the past.

Check out this awesome way to wrap!  Wrap techniques are on our site.

Every year I celebrate Earth Day, and even give some cool facts on ways we can reduce our carbon footprint and be more earth friendly.  Last year I pondered the meaning of Earth Day and why we have celebrated it for over 40 years.

Chances are that if you are reading this, you are already eco-conscious, already aware of our impact on the limited resources we have been given.  So I simply say, “Play outside!”. 

The more we enjoy and appreciate the outdoors, the more we are  determined to preserve the beauty we find here for generations to come.  I am posting a few pictures taken in the last year while my family and I were playing outside.  Happy Earth Day.

By the cash register in most big box stores, there are lots of cute labels for all of your Christmas gifts.  Their colorful variations on “To” and “From” scream “Buy me!  You need me to make your gift look special!”  But before you buy, think to yourself… what do I already have at home?

Every year we save our Christmas cards and store them with the holiday decorations.  I’m not ready to throw them out right away because I enjoy getting them so much and most hold pictures of dear friends and family. 

Christmas cards, as a side note, are something I struggle with.  Most are not recyclable and the amount of paper and transportation energy used to carry on this tradition are staggering.  And yet, I really enjoy receiving them.  Our family has sent a Christmas email for the last two years.   I put more time and energy into the email than I ever did on my cards, carefully constructing a full letter, a collage of pictures showing our year, and even a link to my kids on video.  It is something I would enjoy receiving from friends, especially those whom I don’t see as often as I would wish.  And yet this act has inspired friends and family to be apologetic for sending us a card… as though by our choice, we are signaling a guilt trip over their choice to send a card!  Oh no!  I would love comments on how to overcome this.

When I get out the cards the following year I can enjoy them all over again before I cut them up.  Yes, I said cut them up!  I reuse them as that year’s gift labels.  Each card is colorful and has a holiday salutation that I make into a label and hole punch for attaching to our Fabricwrappers.  They look fabulous and much more personal than the store bought kind.  If you see your family’s card being “reused” in the attached picture, thanks for the card and the label!

Fabricwrapper customers are a loyal bunch.  We want to thank you for loving our reusable gift-wrap and for coming back every holiday season to add to your family’s collection of Fabricwrappers.  This is the third December we have been in business, and we are thrilled to continue to offer a sustainable alternative to traditional paper gift-wrap.

So what’s the buzz this holiday?  Fabricwrapper has been in the news!  If you haven’t seen our holiday 2010 press release, it is all about the hot item of the year: furoshiki.  And our new line of furoshiki in jewel tones are gorgeous for the holiday or any other occasion.  Do you want to try one for free?  The New York blog Pretty Little Green Things is sponsoring a giveaway of a Fabricwrapper furoshiki this week.   Please check out the beautiful pictures and great interior design advice on the Pretty Little Green Things blog.  Our next giveaway will be with GreenTalk.  I can’t wait to see them review our Fabricwrapper on video next week! 

Fabricwrapper has hit the news each year over the holidays and this Christmas was no exception.  Our friends at World of Green showed off Fabricwrappers on the Pittsburgh News.   Our Fabricwrappers will be featured at World Of Green every September through December.  Check them year-round for awesome sustainable products.   

Public Relation Divas played santa this year by sending a huge list of celebs eco-friendly gifts all wrapped in…you guessed it… Fabricwrappers!  We’ve never seen over 200 Fabricwrappers under one tree… wow, that will be cool!  We’ll post a picture as soon as it is available.   In the last month, we also connected with a neat team at Celebrate Green and they evaluated multiple reusable gift-wraps, including Fabricwrapper.  The picture of our medium plaid gift bag looks great in their newsletter.

The biggest change for 2011 is the number of wholesale accounts underway.  You can always find Fabricwrappers on our site, www.Fabricwrapper.com, or on Amazon.  But coming soon we will list a number of new retails stores, large and small, that are carrying our products across the country!  If you have a store you would like to see added to that list, please leave us a comment and we will get in touch with them.

Wishing you and your family a healthy and happy 2011 filled with sustainable cheer!

I walked into a small store in Costa Rica to buy a coke.  It came in a banged up glass bottle, and when I paid for it I had to drink it on the spot or leave a deposit on the bottle.  This is a nation that values its resources. 

Whether you are a seasoned recycler who wants to influence your neighbors or a rookie who has been making excuses for years, it is time to get serious about our consumption and recycling of resources.   “America Recycles Day” was formed in 1997 and even has it’s own website with a good links page for how to find recycling centers in your area.

Reusing items  or finding plastic-free alternatives should be our first thought, but if it can not find another use, then try to recycle it.

Throwing plastic, glass and newspaper in the bin is usually convenient, but what about other items?  I get confused about what can be recycled or even what is dangerous to throw away (what to do with all those batteries?!). 

  Recycling Revolution has some great stats:

Pass the message on… let’s all get serious about protecting our limited resources!

Fabricwrapper Furoshiki on display at a local retailer

Those of you who have followed Fabricwrapper for a while know that we have resisted packaging for a long time.  Everything we do as a company is focused on the reduction of waste, so for two years we have not packaged our products.    Now we have found a compromise for our larger wholesalers!

We are pleased to announce that not only is our manufacturer set up to handle large orders, but our distribution is ready too.  If you are the owner of an eco-friendly store please see our wholesale page for more details on how you can get our fab product into your store.  And if you are one of our loyal customers, contact us to let us know a store near you where you would like to see Fabricwrappers featured.

Thank you all for your support.  Let’s all help reduce waste with reusable gift-wrap from Fabricwrapper.com this holiday.

October 9th a few green sponsors have put together a national “Costume Swap” day.  What a wonderful idea! 

You know from our past post about “Putting Re-use before Recycle” that this is an issue close to our heart.  Check out these cool facts from Kiwi magazine:  ”A costume swap not only means that fewer resources are used to make new product, it also equals less packaging, less transportation for the clothing, and less waste (costumes often are trashed as soon as Halloween is over). In fact, swapping the costumes of only half of the children who celebrate Halloween would reduce annual landfill waste by 6,250 tons, equivalent to the weight of 2,500 midsize cars. And that doesn’t even address adult costumes!”

Check this post for more tips on how to green your Halloween.

Picking fruit can be fun for all ages

You’ve heard that tune, “Summertime, when the living is easy”?  Well this is one season when it is also easy to eat local. 

I really look forward to summer meals… everything is so, well, FRESH!  Whether you are picking from your own backyard garden, or you have joined a CSA (the video in the link will tell you all about CSAs and how to join), or just frequent a farmer’s market on Saturday mornings, you can be eating food that is day(s) from the dirt. 

Not only does eating local food save fuel useage and help your local economy, but it usually tastes better since it is picked when ripe.  Getting the experience of picking on a farm yourself is priceless, and a really great way to entice kids outside.   If you have not already read The Omnivore’s Dilemma, check out our previous post.  The advantages to knowing where your food comes from are countless for your health as well as the health of our earth.

Watch out, though, because you (and your kids if you have them) will eat local fruit like candy.  We can’t get enough of the sweet blueberries this year… yum.