About a year ago I heard rumblings of new biodegradable sleeves for packaging cards, but I could not find a supplier. Fast forward a year and Biodegradable Clear Bags™ debuted at the 2008 National Stationery Show and even won the Best New Product Award in the Think Green: Paper Craft/Scrapbooking category. My shipment arrived this week and I’m thrilled to be switching to these biodegradable sleeves. They are 100% compostable because they are made from corn (an annually renewable resource and therefore sustainable) rather than petrochemicals.

I had also been searching for 100% post-consumer recycled paper for the Sweetbeets envelopes. It’s surprisingly more difficult than it sounds as options are limited for 100% recycled paper, especially colored paper (most colored paper is at most 30% recycled). I’m happy to report that after a few hours reviewing all of the materials I picked up at the Supply Side at the National Stationery Show, I found the perfect paper for envelopes to accompany the A2 cards. It’s a smooth 100% post-consumer recycled paper with flecks throughout and the biscuit color will coordinate perfectly with all of the Sweetbeets designs. I tracked down the Canadian distributor for this paper, placed an order for the envelopes to be made especially for me (they are not a stock item!) and waited 3 weeks for them to ship from the manufacturer. The envelopes arrived this week and I couldn’t be happier. I never thought I’d be so excited about envelopes!