We have a winner on "The Looking Book" giveaway!

We had a giveaway following to review of "The Looking Book" - the green book we recommended as a gift for parents, and we have a winner!

We asked you to share with us your experience on what's the best way to get children to play outside and we got great replies, both here and on Eco Children's Play, where the review was re-published.

And our winner is Melissa, who wrote the following:

My children LOVE to play outside, but sometimes it can be hard, one way is to give them bubbles, or balls, something that is more of a no no in the house, that usually gets them outside for me. Also sometimes we have picnics and they LOVE that, getting to eat somewhere other than the table, its a great way to get them outside and using their imagination too.

Congrats, Melissa! You won our review copy of the book, and we'll also plant a tree for this book and add our "One tree planted for this book" sticker to the book!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

Green printing tip no. 27: Can you save money on paper on your next greeting cards order?

We're back with another tip on our weekly series of green printing tips, where we bring you information on green printing in collaboration with Greg Barber, an experienced eco-friendly printer.

Today's tip is about greeting cards, and even though you probably won't be able to implement it this holiday, there's always the next holiday waiting there.. The lesson we're learning today is that when it comes to green printing size does matter.

Can you save money on paper on your next greeting cards order?

Tip #27

The answer is clearly Yes. Here is my recommendation on what you should to trim your paper costs the next time you print greeting cards:

1. Contact your printer first, before designing your next print project. Did you know we can save you 50% on your paper prices, if you avoid designing a job that wastes a lot of paper?

2. Consider that the popular Greeting Card size 10 x 7, that scores to 5 x 7, may only get 2 cards up, when printing them digitally on a 13 x 19 sheet of paper. The 10 inch side can cut into the 13 inch dimension and the 7 inch side, cuts 2 out of the 19 inch dimension.

3. By changing to 9 x 6.25 that folds to 4.5 x 6.25, or slightly smaller than the 5 x 7 size above, we can cut the 9 inch into the 19" dimension 2 up, and the 6.25 inch side cuts 2 up into the 13" dimension. Two times Two equals Four is something we all learned, a long time ago...

So if you wanted 1000 greeting cards at the 9 x 6.25 inch flat size, we would use 250 sheets of 13 x 19 paper at 4 up, and yield you the 1000 greeting cards you need. If you held firm on
the 10 x 7 flat size, we would need 500 sheets of 13 x 19 to yield you 1000 greeting cards.

4. And the savings? Our cost on 100% post-consumer paper in 100# cover might be 25 cents per sheet on the 13 x 19 size paper, or $62.50 more paper. And, we would need to throw away a strip of paper that might be 3" x 5" times 500 sheets of paper waste. That alone is an awful environmental waste.

Call me before your next job, and I will advise you the size to run.

For additional information, please call Greg Barber at (973) 224-1132, or email greg@gregbarberco.com.

Also, if you have any questions you would like us to address in future tips please email us to info@ecolibris.net .

Latest tips:

Green Printing Tip #26 - What can we do to reduce the carbon footprint of direct mailing campaigns?

Green Printing Tip #25 - Can you Green your print advertising?

Green Printing Tip #24 - Can we be Greener in our use of Inter Office Envelopes, Presentation Folders, and Outgoing Envelopes?

You can find links to all the tips we published so far on our green printing tips page, which is part of our green printing tools & resources.

You can also find further valuable information on Greg Barber Company's website - http://www.gregbarberco.com.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting green printing!