Pretty Packaging: 2010 Calendars

The calendars themselves were a Zero Dollar project, so I was definitely not spending any money on the packaging.

At my office, we FedEx and UPS a fair amount of documents. About halfway through last year, I started collecting the brown paper backsides from the airbills. An airbill is what you slip your shipping label into and stick on your package. Below is one for your reference:

Of course I looked like a freak with a stack of brown paper slips on my desk. But I told everyone I hated to see them go to waste and was sure I'd find a use for them.

Thus, the calendar wrapping was born.

For each calendar, one of the larger (UPS) brown paper backsides was used.

I trimmed it to fit the height of the calendar, wrapped it around all 12 pages and secured it in the back with a brown sticker from my stash.

Here is where the only expense came in, the new PrettyLittleMess Product stamp. I ordered this from the stationery store in the ground floor of my building. They do engraving for the White House . . . and now stamps for my little projects. The stamp was $15.

I tied a piece of bakers twine around the package to keep the pages enclosed in the wrapping. The tag was made using a manila folder, corner rounder and hole punch. I already owned the tree stamp and ink.

The literal definition of "brown paper packages tied up with string".

Just a few of my favorite free things.