Designarchy Joins Co-op America

We are delighted to announce that Designarchy passed the screening process and is now a member of Co-op America, a non-profit business network of socially and environmentally responsible businesses. Co-op America's website and resources promote the connection between green businesses and consumers to forge a more sustainable world. They have long been instrumental in my own education about green alternatives. Check out their website at www.coopamerica.org

Designarchy gets certified by Green-e

Designarchy is also proud to announce that we are now certified by Green-e, the nation's leading voluntary renewable certification program, for our use of green tags to offset 100% of our gas and electric consumption. This is a third-party program that helps consumers choose green energy alternatives by promotion, education and outreach and verifies that businesses fulfill their claims of green energy consumption. Designarchy has increased the purchase of green tags and now purchases 13.2 MWh from 3phases to cover both gas and electric, which prevents the emissions of 18,216 lbs. of carbon dioxide or 1.7 cars from the road each year. Check out Green-e at www.green-e.org.

Latest Pro-bono Work: "Be Kind" artwork

When Colleen from Compassionate Cooks asked me to come up with a design for the phrase "Be kind to animals, don't eat them" for a CafePress apron, I thought it could be really fun to have 2-3 animals in a row and the type being playfully arranged. So I had a little cow illustration already in progress for a personal project, but I felt like she was perfect for this project and I added a couple more farm pals, a chickie and a piglet to keep her company. Since the artwork for the apron was created, Colleen has also added some more items at her CafePress store and we're in the process of changing colors too. You can visit her website at www.compassionatecooks.com

Hemlock's Offcuts for Charity

Hemlock Printers has a program called "Offcuts for Charity" (OC4C) which offers to qualified charitable organizations unused space on the existing 4-color press sheets, or what they call "share the ride". The charities they focus on are in the areas of children welfare, public health and the environment. The four size formats they offer are a rack card (4" x 9"), a bookmark (2" x 7"), a postcard (3.5" x 5.5") and a square card (3.75"). The materials cannot be time-sensitive since the pieces will go on press whenever room is available, but it's worth the wait because they are great printers and committed to sustainability. They do prefer to work with customers who have an account with them. For more information, contact Ann Worthington at ann@hemlock.com

We want to volunteer with SFROMP to foster orphan baby raccoons this summer. Our donation covers the cost of materials for the enclosure panels that they prepared for us. If everything works out, the babies will arrive sometime this summer. If it doesn't work out, we will donate the panels to other foster parents. This is an amazing work that prevents the euthanization of these orphan babies. Through the developmental stages of their young life with limited human interaction, they will learn the skills necessary to survive on their own, and get released near where they were originally found. Check out SFROMP.org for their amazing work.