Go brown or go home

"... brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favourite things..."

Hands up, how many times have you heard this?  "My favourite things" is a lovely and extremely catchy song (I'll have trouble all day getting rid of it). And all of a sudden it's true! All the packaging is brown! To be eco friendly and recycle, it must be brown. The string must be brown, too! When did brown become so important?

It may be a bit hypocritical of me to be complaining, really. I love most things brown. Trees, clothes, packages, string, you name it. I was just surprised to find that so many others do as well. Starting up a crafting business ain't easy and I've been combing through Etsy's Seller Handbook religiously. Most of the examples of good packaging were eco-friendly and, you've guessed it, brown! I'm all for it. It looks neat and pretty, but really, if we all tie up our brown paper packages with brown string, does it stop being special and become commonplace?

I have yet to figure out my packaging idea. I've started with parts of the box my cupboard came in, but I'm not quite happy with the result. It doesn't strike me as very sturdy and most definitely isn't water resistant. When I find a design I like and which is functional, I will look back on this poor cardboard and string box I've made now and laugh the mighty laugh of experience and point and say "Lo, 'tis the lowly box of yore. How much more awesome my current packaging is!" I won't actually say that, but I will post a side-by-side shot of both. See how I didn't say "how much more my package is"? D'oh!

Everybody does haul shots. Why? Because the mighty hunter-gatherer in our brains wants to show off? Though I don't think showing four packs of pretty rocks is quite as impressive as lifting a slain mammoth over your head. Especially if you can lift a whole mammoth. That's impressive as hell! But back to the baggies. Some people buy drugs, I buy art supplies. They make me happy and when I want to try and make something, I don't have to panic about what I'm going to use. This line of thinking, unfortunately, produces a lot of clutter. But look at them! They're so pretty and shiny! Who knows what potential lies there! Not sure why I named them. Maybe I've been looking at Pac Man ghosts too much lately...

- Tasha