Crafters & Artists - look professional AND be green!

Hey all!

For those of you who use clear cellophane sleeves and bags for a professional finish to your ATCs (altered trading cards), prints, greeting cards and other original crafts, I have great news for you!

ClearBags, the company from which I purchase my packaging, recently introduced biodegradable bags™. Because these new bags are made from a component of corn, they are a compostable alternative to traditional packaging. Clear Bags offers almost 20 stationery sizes from which to choose, and you have flaps/no-flaps and adhesive/no-adhesive options.

Of course, this sounds really awesome, but there are a couple of things to note before jumping on the biodegradable bandwagon:

• they have a different feel, texture, and durability than the standard polypropylene bags; and
  
• they are not archival-safe (made using lactic acid from corn), but could be used in place of otherwise temporary disposable bags (greeting cards, prints to be framed, non-fabric/non-paper items).
  

If you're interested in checking the material out in person, ClearBags.com will provide a free sample of the material upon request. They are also running a 5% retail discount through the end of the month on the new biobags and on certain recycled paper envelopes (discount code: 156842).

I'll be looking into these myself and will give you a review on the product once I've had a chance to check 'em out.