Black Lives Matter, how 2020 changed this small business

Black Lives Matters Seed Paper Heart Shape

               For 25 years we have been serving the wedding industry.  2020 was a year like no other in our lifetime.  Our biggest lesson was not about how to pivot when events are cancelled.  Unlike many of our industry partners, we thrived last year.  Our greatest physical challenge was filling a record number of orders of our handmade goods, while our staff all stayed safe at home.  What we learned last year was not about our work, or just how many consecutive hours and days we can work without a break (a lot more than you would think). What we learned was that we were not doing enough for our community.

               While we marched for George Floyd, we kept cranking out our handmade goods, made paper late into the evenings, raised two high school students in a pandemic, built a backyard shelter for safe Covid gatherings, and knew we had to contribute more.

                So we read So You Want To Talk About Race? and other resources to understand what, as privileged white middle class folks, we have not had to pay any attention to: more than simply nodding in agreement with and shaking our heads at the difficulties faced by people of color.  It was very easy to be grateful that those struggles were not our struggles and know that we were not contributing to racism.  Life is tough enough without adding someone else’s worries to our day.  We never hurt anyone, so we are not guilty, right? Wrong.

               The murder of George Floyd at the hands of our police was impossible to turn away from.  It demanded action.  We will never be able to do enough.  What we will do, continues to evolve. 

Black Lives Matter message printed on a heart shape embedded with wildflower seeds.

               Since last summer we have included a token of support for the Black Lives Matter movement with every order that we ship out.  Each invoice, receipt and packing slip contains a silver dollar sized seed paper heart with a printed message that shows our support for BLM. This small message, and the signs in the windows of our home and our factory store have helped us to grow, and reinforced our commitment to helping.

               While we will now get back to posting and promoting our earth friendly products, we will continue to search for ways to help the black community; to have difficult conversations with people who call us to let us know that “All Lives Matter”; to demand equality for all.

                We encourage you to join us.  Our BLM hearts are available for sale here for $14.  $12 from the sale of each 50 pack is directly donated to the NAACP.  You can make your own donation here: https://naacp.org/

Client Creativity with Seed Paper

Here at Of The Earth, we love to celebrate makers, creators, and artists. The creativity and skill that our customers exhibit with our paper and silk products never ceases to amaze us.

Seed paper tags customized by client
 

I’d like to shine a spotlight on Allyson of Daily Magic. You can visit her shop at www.livedailymagic.com. 

Allyson is using our seed paper tags as backing cards for her beautiful jewelry designs.

seed paper squares

Here you can see our new 2″ square tags with pink watercolor. The Daily Magic logo was added with a stamp, which is a great and easy way to personalize our handmade seed paper goods.

Large seed paper tags with blush pink dip dye

These are our large, 2.5″ x 3.375″ handmade paper tags, embedded with wildflower seeds. These tags are gently dipped into surplus fabric dye from our hand dyed silk ribbons.

Handmade seed paper with recycled fibers

Here you can see our large seed paper hearts. These particular hearts are made of our #47s paper, which contains recycled lotka fibers and even pieces of junk mail!

Thanks again to Allyson for her beautiful photos and wonderful feedback.

 

 

 

Watch your love grow with personalized wedding favors!

One of the most common questions that we hear at Of The Earth is whether we can print a personal message on our handmade seed paper goods. We do accommodate all kinds of custom orders, and we love these requests.

Handmade Seed Paper Personalized Heart

We are introducing more products that help streamline these requests, by using customizable templates. This allows the favors to ship more quickly, within three days, and eliminates proofing costs.

Personalized Seed Paper Circles

These personalized  seed paper circles have room for both the bride and groom’s name (or, of course, both brides or grooms!) as well as the wedding date.

Customized seed paper favors

For a simpler favor, we also have seed paper circles available in three colors with custom initials. These favors are also extremely affordable, starting at just $0.58 apiece.

Customized Seed Paper with Initials

Another option for personalized favors with initials are these cute 2″ seed paper squares with a frame of watercolor branches. These are printed on the back with planting instructions.

Customized Hexagon Favors

These customized seed paper hexagons pair our handmade seed paper with a modern calligraphy font. They can also be printed with a variety of font styles.

Personalized Seed Paper Hearts for Wedding Favors

This is our newest customizable design for seed paper hearts. The botanical print has several options, as does the font used for the names of the bride and groom. These can be ordered with or without the planting instructions on the reverse side.

The best feature of all of these favors is that your guests can plant them afterward to sprout wildflowers, and watch your love grow and bloom.

Seed paper sprouting

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be-leaf in yourself! Die Cut Seed Paper Shapes with messages you will Fall for.

Plant Me Leaf 60S
Printed Seed Paper Leaf Shape in 60S

Washington might be the Evergreen State, but we are definitely starting to see some autumn colors here in Seattle! Fall is one of the most beautiful times of the year in so much of the country. If you love autumn leaves as much as we do, here are some of our products that would be perfect for a fall wedding or event.

Maple Leaves
Pressed Japanese Maple Leaves

The crafting possibilities are endless with these pressed red Japanese Maple leaves. Attach them to paper goods for decorations or use them in resin art. We also offer custom invitations with pressed leaves added to create a unique and memorable invitation for your wedding or other event!

Red Japanese Maple Leaf invitation
Custom invitation with Maple Leaves

Maple Leaf Accent Invitation
Custom Lotka Invitation with Maple Leaf

We also have a whimsical leaf die cut shape, which is available in a variety of our seeded papers in printed and blank options. The leaf shown below is made of our handmade, #12S seeded paper which contains kenaf fibers.

#12S Leaf
Seed Paper Leaf Die Cut in #12S

 

You can also get creative this fall with our pressed oak leaves, available below:

Oak Leaves
Pressed Oak Leaves

Does autumn inspire you to stay in and get crafty as the weather gets cooler? Show us your projects or contact us with ideas for custom printed items!

Rainy Days – Seattle weather inspires paper and silk artists to create “mood goods”

Seed paper cloud 34S
Seed paper cloud  in paper 34S

It’s officially fall, and here in Seattle that means the rain and clouds are back after a warm, dry summer. Here at Of The Earth, we’re experiencing the rainy day blues in a more positive way – inspiration!

“Into each life some rain must fall.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This collection of our lotka paper, handmade in Nepal, fits right in with the mood and weather we’re having. This is a lightweight paper with many decorative and artistic uses, including wrapping gifts.

Blue lotka handmade paper
Seattle Blues Lotka paper collection

Any discussion of color and mood would be incomplete without mentioning our Earth Silk Ribbon. These hand dyed, rich colors pull me right into a relaxed, rainy-day attitude.

Earth Silk 085
Earth Silk Ribbon 085

Grey Earth Silk Bouquet Cascade
Grey Earth Silk Bouquet Cascade

Earth Silk 531
Earth Silk Ribbon 531

Our seed paper cloud shapes are available in a variety of our seeded and petal papers, with or without printing. You can also create a custom design to be printed on them for your business or event.

Seed Paper Cloud 04S
Seed paper cloud in paper 04S

 

Stay dry out there!

 

Summer 2019 Of The Earth customers showing off their many talents with our handmade seed paper and hand dyed silks.

hand holding a jute wrapped dishtowel with a green gift tag

Of The Earth customers had a busy summer. Here are some images that they shared recently of how they used our products.  They include wedding invitations, delicate jewelry, custom art, seeded goods and more!

Wedding Suites:

image of candle, wax seal and a card
photo: A. Brauer

Customized seeded wedding card

pink toned wedding invitation with sweet peas and ribbon
photo: Kristin Paige

Blush toned Earth Silk

purple colored gift wrapping
photo: Carrie Anne Fox

Purple Earth Silk

Gift Giving:

hand holding a jute wrapped dishtowel with a green gift tag
photo: Amelia Reddick

Green Seeded Lotka gift tags

three lavender flower pots on a glass table with dirt in plastic bags and flower seed paper butterflies attached
photo: Jen Noguez

Little seeded butterflies with blue larkspur

Artwork:

picture of orange flowers printed on white paper
photo: Marissa Kay

Printed on lotka paper

close up of botanical pendant
photo: srod2448

Queen Anne’s lace blossom used as flowering tree design

Fairy Glen and Handfasting Wedding Ceremony and Celebration Traditions

printed hand dyed silk ribbon

Hand dyed silk ribbon with hand lettering
Studio Chavelli hand lettering on silk ribbon

At the end of winter, a petite curly haired woman came into our shop looking for special paper to print her friend’s painting onto. It was an image of Fairy Glen in Scotland. She planned to use the image in her wedding invitation.

Hand dyed silk ribbon with black print
Printed silk ribbon

While she found our lotka seeded cardstock to be perfect for her project, she was also enchanted by the idea of using our hand dyed ribbons for a #handfasting ceremony. I told her that we can even print her and her fiance’s names on the ribbon. I hope we see her in the shop again soon because that would be a fun project.

Printed silk ribbon with white lettering
Hand dyed silk satin ribbon with holiday message

The green and gold ribbon image was posted in Pinterest by Studio Chavelli, one of our customers. It features hand-calligraphy for a bouquet. The pink and red images are printed here in our shop. So you can get a custom message printed in black or white.

You are welcome to come visit our shop in Seattle and find inspiration for your next celebration.

Here are some links to details about #FairyGlen and #Handfastings.
Handfasting
Fairy Glen

SeaTac Airport Seattle Made Store Opening!

New airport shop

The SeaTac Airport C Gate could be renamed the “C is for Craft” Gate.  In May 2019 a new shop opened there in partnership with Seattle Made that offers locally-made products for travelers.

New airport shop
Sea-Tac Seattle Made shop

Only in C Gate will you find Of The Earth seeded paper cards featuring photos taken by our own Kevin Graham.

card rack
Seed paper goods in Sea-Tac Seattle Made shop

 

 

logo for Seattle Made

Of The Earth is a member of Seattle Made, a group who work together to grow their production businesses. The mission is “to grow and support a diverse ecosystem of urban manufacturers and producers that expand opportunities for local ownership and meaningful employment, build our region’s long-term resiliency, and celebrate Seattle’s unique cultural identity.” Of The Earth’s business aligns perfectly with this effort and we are fortunate to have our products featured in the airport store.

shop photo

Next time you travel by air via SeaTac’s C Gate, stop by the Seattle Made shop to buy a card, or other locally made gifts, and take us with you!

handmade cotton seeded paper card with image of the Space Needle

Iconic Seattle image printed in color on handmade seeded paper.

cotton seeded paper card with image of the Space Needle

 

Green Babies Seed Paper Onesie Plant Me Wildflower Shapes

seed paper onesie

We’re having fun with our new shape: a onesie that can be printed and personalized on many of our handmade seeded papers. Ideal for a #babyshower, #namingceremony or a #birthannouncement.

When choosing favors for your next party, keep future celebrations in mind. We want to ensure that the next generation of babies have plenty of wildflowers and nature to enjoy during their precious #mudpie making years.

Of The Earth strives to leave only baby-sized carbon footprints.

Earth Day 2019

seeded paper globes in outstretched hand

Seeded paper globe image

Soon  Earth Day will be here again. I’m excited to share a fun product that you could hand out to friends in celebration of this important day. Wee seeded paper globes that will sprout wildflowers if tended well and kept moist.

seeded paper globes in outstretched hand

He’s got the whole world in his hands.

We have two inch circles and tinier 1.5″ circles. Above is an image of the owner’s hand holding the tiny kind. Keep in mind, he is tall and they are massive!

white circle with text

We can print on the back side of these circles so if you have a special message you want to share with friends and family, we can do that. The printing should not negatively affect the ability of the seeds to germinate. The most important thing is to water it every day during the first month or so.

seeded paper globe shapes

However you choose to celebrate Earth Day 2019, please keep faith that our planet is worth fighting for. Scientists have agreed that humans can’t operate on auto-pilot like most of our time here.  Consequences of our actions are becoming evident, both for good and bad. So let’s plant some seeds, reduce our use of electricity and water and cause good results to blossom next season in the form of wildflowers. Of The Earth believes Earth Day is important and we hope you do too.