Sending the gift of flowers from seeded paper since 1995
The Seattle Bride Magazine just shared a link on Facebook that talks about an article we contributed to, and they called us “experts”.
Ha! We fooled them, didn’t we?
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Of-The-Earth/
Here’s a direct link to the article.
http://seattlebridemag.com/expert-wedding-advice
We come off sounding pretty good actually. The quote is taken from a larger message they asked us to contribute last year. You can find the complete message here on our blog if you do some digging.
We have been getting ready for a new partnership with a company looking to promote our papers. You may have heard of them; scoutmob.com. They find companies they like to feature their goods and tell their story which hopefully leads to selling their products. We are excited to see what the response is from their customers. They have asked us to share a bit about our work which triggered an impromptu photo shoot. I thought it would be fun to share that shoot here on our site so you could see what they do with the raw files. I will add a link here to the scoutmob sales feature when it is online. They will be offering discounted retail prices off of the handmade paper and bags they have selected.
Here’s the link – They are now live http://scoutmob.com/seattle/of-the-earth
They chose some of our seed papers and some non-seeded lotka papers, some papers that we make here in Seattle and some from our facility in Nepal. We are looking forward to see what the scoutmob customer finds interesting.
Here is a look at our latest additions to our lotka paper line. We hope you like these new designs. These should just whet your appetite however as we are looking to add many more designs as we stock our new retail store in North Seattle! We are excited to keep taking small steps to our grand opening celebration.
We will keep you posted as we creep closer.
The papers below are all ready for the holidays. We have them in 20″ x 30″ sheets in our light weight (20g) material. These papers can be used multiple times if you are one of those people who carefully lift the tape rather then tear your packages open.
Let us know what you think!
We just added new photos of our latest product to help in this economic recovery. Our seed paper DIY kits are prepared with a cut edge finish to save on the hand tearing labor common to our other invitation styles. We also have included felt finish recycled paper invitation envelopes in place of our more expensive seed paper envelopes. This swap has brought the cost of these invitations down do just $1.00 for a fully do it yourself print at home Eco-friendly marvel. The kits are sold in packs of 25 for $25 and can ship with first class mail to you for about $4. Each invitation is meant to be printed at home using an inkjet or laser machine one piece at a time through the envelope feed mechanism. The envelopes have a great raised texture and pair nicely with the handmade stock. There are five colors to pick from. The colored sheets are all dyed with earth friendly vegetable dyes and are ironically named after trees (as they are entirely tree free).
We make these kits in our Seattle paper studio and ship them worldwide, typically within 24 hours. The paper twine used to hold the pieces together can be swapped out for different colors to create more combinations than we show here: http://www.earthinvitations.com/
Our papers contain a blend of wildflower seeds which include varieties that grow in all the growing regions in the US. Read more at www.flowerseedpaper.com
I was recently asked on our Of The Earth Facebook page if we would have a problem working with a couple from the LGBT community. For those of you who don’t know that stands for Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender.
Here is her question:
I want to share your page because I think this is pretty awesome but I need to know if you have a problem with doing invites for LGBT before I do. I would have in boxed but I couldn’t. So you can delete this and inbox me. (I’m not starting trouble, just don’t want to promote to my friends who are in the LGBT community if you don’t offer them services). Thanks.
And my reply:
Just wanted to share with you photographs of our seed paper invitations display at the January Seattle Wedding Show. Wallflower Photography came by our booth and wanted to snap a few photos of our display, we of course said yes! They just sent these to us and we love them!
Please note how much better professional photographers can capture our handmade invitations – even without studio lighting. If you look at our earlier post you can see a dramatic difference. Think about that next time you are shopping online; how bad photos can really impact your impression of a product.
Thanks so much for sharing Wallflower Photography! We love your work!
You can find the full set of photos from the Seattle Wedding Show on Wallflower Photography’s special wedding show photography webpage; the direct link to the 2013 SWS photo gallery is www.wallflowerphoto.com/weddingshows/galleries/SeattleWeddingShow2013.
If you want a sample invitation to hold in your hand so you can see the difference between your screen and the real thing, just visit our sample request page so you can get yours for free! Be sure to tear off a bit and plant it to watch what grows. Our unique blend of seeds that are embedded in our papers is listed below.
Our North American wildflower seed blend paper contains all of the following wildflower seeds:
Perennial
English Daisy
Perennial
Tussock Bellflower
Annual
Lilac Godetia
Annual
Monkeyflower
Biennial/Perennial
Foxglove
Annual
Dwarf Spurred Snapdragon
Perennial
Showy Evening Primrose
Annual
Red Corn Poppy
Biennial/Annual
Catchfly
Perennial
Creeping Thyme
This blend is specifically designed to be mailed and planted in all growing regions of North America. With the proper care some of these flowers will thrive from New Mexico to New Brunswick.
Christmas is just a week away and when the festivities and visits
with family are over, the realization hits you. It’s January and that
spring wedding you had so much time to plan for is fast approaching!
Before the panic sets in check out invitation DIY kits by Of The Earth. Both of our DIY kit collections contain seeded paper which, when planted, will sprout a bouquet of wildflowers.
Of The Earth DIY invitation kits come in many different sizes and paper styles. All of
the paper is handmade, biodegradable and environmentally friendly. Choose
from handmade papers produced in Nepal to papers made by local artisans in our Seattle, Washington studio, made the same way as when we started 17 years ago!
The Nepalese paper, we call Lotka paper, is made from the bark of the Daphne bush. Harvesting the bark does not kill the plant, it 6-7 years the still living root ball generates another harvestable crop naturally making this a great renewable material. The Lotka DIY kits come in five different colors and 8 different sizes ranging in price from $57.40 to $88.25 for 25 torn edge invitations and handmade envelopes.
Lotka invitation kits contain 25 seed paper cards, cut edge overlays,
online instructions, templates for punching and folding (if needed) and enough Eco-twist to assemble the entire order. All of the components are biodegradable and the seeded paper will bloom when planted. These invitations range in price from $2.30 -$3.53 each set.
The cotton DIY kits are made from paper produced in our Seattle studio.
Each sheet is individually made then the invitations are hand torn in our studio. The
Cotton DIY kits come in 5 different seeded flower paper options and 8
different sizes.
The cotton kits contain 25 seeded hand torn cards, cut vellum overlays,
online assembly instructions, templates for punching and folding (if needed), envelopes and enough Eco-twist to assemble the entire order. All of the components are
biodegradable and the seeded paper will bloom when planted. These kits also
contain enough supplies to make 25 invitations, ranging in price from $47.29-$112.46.
Both the vellum and seeded overlays can be printed on your home computer.
By doing the printing and assembly at home you are saving significantly over the printed and assembled invitation costs. The kits containing gate-folds and bi-folds come with a folding template. All of the printing and assembly work is done at home.
The staff at Of The Earth is available Monday-Friday form 8:00am-5:00pm Pacific time to answer any questions or assist you with assembly concerns. We can also be reached from our customer service page on www.custompaper.com.
Our invitation kits typically ship on the same day you order or within 24 hours. If you would like to order custom printed or assembled works we are happy to help you with our speedy one week production time.
Last month we got a call from the feature editor Mallory Hamel of Standard magazine, a prominent, celebrated design powerhouse. They found our seed embedded wrapping paper and asked if we would send them samples to photograph. We were flattered and excited and of course sent the stock and hoped for the best. The feature turned out so much better than we had imagined. You should have a look here
We love how our wrapping paper can be used and saved, reused and finally planted to add oxygen to our environment, closing the circle of life by nurturing new plants from the embedded seeds. Not only is our paper tree free and recycled, it is decorated with vegetable dyes and just right for the holidays. You must have that one (just one?) family member that is hard to shop for. Wrap their gift in our paper and like that kid who plays with the empty box, your friend will spend more time with the paper than what was inside. Come spring time this wrapping paper can be potted or planted outside and with constant watering will produce a garden of wildflowers to celebrate the next season. You can order the gift wrap here
These compact gift bags are the perfect fit for a container of your favorite coffee or tea that you want to share with your friend. The bags measure 7.25 x 4.75 x 3. They are not only earth friendly because they can be used over and over again before before it is time to retire them: they do not contain fiber from a single tree! This 50% recycled content paper is made from the bark of a common shrub found in the foothills of the Himalayas. The shrub is part of a farmed plant that will regrow from the root ball and be ready to harvest again in 7-8 years. And that is not all! Once you are ready to retire this paper the careful gardener can coax flowers from the embedded seeds and generate oxygen once the sprouts bloom! Please visit this page to order yours for just $2.50 each! http://www.custompaper.com/Shop/Earth_Friendly/Holiday/holiday_bags.html
We have been in this great Seattle location now for three years, it seems time to post a photo of our space! Located in the flight path of Boeing Field we had President Obama flying overhead twice last week for campaign fundraising events. We are so close to the end of the runway, he was literally within 250 feet (straight up). We can always tell something big is up as all other air traffic stops in advance of a presidential arrival.
If you have the chance to visit us, you should be sure to take a look at the other great Georgetown curiosities. Fantagraphic Comics, All City Coffee, The Hangar Cafe are some of our favorites. Here is a link to an article in the NY Times written in the month we moved here http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/travel/01Surfacing.html
We hope you can stop in and see our hand dyed silk ribbon and paper making efforts.