An ecojot love letter.

penny love letters by gingerlillytea

About three weeks ago Mark of ecojot received the following email titled "A word from a happy customer."

With all my chatter about spreading the ecojot-giving word as my February Giveaway, it only seemed appropriate to share this ecojot-loving letter!

To: Mark and Carolyn Gavin

Hello!

I am writing to share with you how much I truly enjoy the existence of your ecojot line of products. I first discovered your notebooks in a shelf at a national bookstore, and among the other excellent designed booklets and notebooks in that shelf, a cardboard bird-themed spiral notebook stood out. At the time I was not aware of your company’s background, but the first impression told me that you cared about making something simple and beautiful and that you wanted to share these beautiful, useful things with others.

It was that notebook, among other things that inspired me to follow my passion: graphic design. I stood in front of that shelf looking at your notebook for a few minutes, and when I realized how happy looking at this notebook made me, I decided to take it home.

I have been a faithful user of your notebooks ever since, and it was about time to share with you the thoughts of one of your customers, it may not mean much, but I thought you and your sister would like to know that if I’m ever in a class and feeling down, I look at the cover of my notebook or down to the center of the page and it makes me feel happy.

Thank you for that.

Sincerely,
Sarah D. A.

P.S. If you could tell me if there is any way in which I can become involved with the creation of your awesome products, you would make my day!

Thank you for sending your letter, Sarah. I was as touched as Mark and Carolyn to hear your kind words.

Don't you just love receiving love letters no matter what time of year? Happy Thursday!

xo,

ej

Homemade ecoLOVE

A special thanks to d'angelo for suggesting this Homemade ecoLove Valentine's Day gift idea for a yogurt container... A heart-shaped cookie cutter!

1. Simply cut off the bottom.
2. Bend it into a heart, leaving one end a bit longer so you can make notches to hold it together :)

As d'angelo points out, it's "great for getting cookies out of people or homemade love!"

I certainly think the "Green Police" would approve... Have you seen this Super Bowl commercial...

Pretty funny!

xo,

ej

PS - Many thanks to those who've begun spreading the ecojot giving word and in turn entered my February Giveaway: Giving is LOVE! As is sharing it :) Contest runs till Tuesday, February 23, 2010. Please keep spreading the ecojot giving love!

February Giveaway: Giving is LOVE! As is sharing it :)

+Simply love+ by ~mARTy---

Is Valentine's Day really only 5 days away?

I must admit I've been a bit distracted by my recent apartment move, which I'm happy to report went smoothly by the way... Now I must just finish unpacking =/ But I shall stop whining 0;) and get back to Valentine's Day, giving, sharing and LOVE instead!

As you may or may not have noticed I have been excitedly trying to help promote ecojot's awesome new "Buy One, Give One" campaign. In fact, the new section titled "Our Give Campaign" on ecojot's website (that I designed) is now live!

So here's what I'm thinking for my February-Valentine's Day Giveaway... Help me spread the eco-giving love for a chance to win! It's such a fantastic new cause that helps a child in need simply by purchasing a jumbo journal, journal or sketchbook for yourself or someone you love! What's not to love about giving one for one?

So what do you say? I could really use your help spreading the word that ecojot isn't just about helping Mama Earth but directly advocating for children's arts and literacy in developing countries now too!

Simply...

1. Twitter about @ecojot's new give campaign, by including the following link in your tweet: http://ecojot.com/give_campaign.aspx
2. Twitter about this contest by retweeting me @ecojotter ;)
3. Spread the word via Facebook by posting http://ecojot.com/give_campaign.aspx on your wall.
4. Spread the word on Tumblr, DIGG, LinkedIn you name it!
5. Send a friend an ecojot ecard telling them about ecojot's new give campaign!
6. Or even simply tell a friend about in person... After all there's nothing like real word of mouth, right?
7. In fact, tell me what you think about the new campaign as a comment too!

Do any or all of the above, and each indivdual act of helping me spread the ecojot giving word = an entry! Just remember to post a new comment for each entry =)

By now you're wondering but what can I win?

Well I was thinking it only makes sense for you to have a chance to win 1 jumbo journal, 1 - 5x7" journal and 1 - 9x12" sketchbook, so that your win also means 3 notebooks (as shown below) for 3 children who otherwise can't afford school supplies!

So what are you waiting for? To sweeten the pot, winner gets to pick the design covers of his/her choice!

Thanks in advance for helping me spread the ecojot giving love! Can't wait to read your entries!

xo,

ej

PS - Contest open to US and Canadian residents only, and to run until Tuesday, February 23, 2010. Good luck!

Belated HAPPY Groundhog's Day Everyone!

amigurumi groundhog
Originally uploaded by planetjune

From the looks outside here in Toronto, all three groundhogs were right... We've got six more weeks of winter coming our way... It's snowing out! You know that perfect light powdery snow that gracefully floats to the ground?

I am however hoping it'll stop snowing by this evening because I'm moving apartments tonight! So keep your fingers crossed for me ;)

Just in case I'm not back blogging till next week due to the move, unpacking, connecting internet, etc... Just wanted to share this very cheesy, yet still very cute and well done video forwarded to me by my Uncle M (note: if you double click on the video, it will open in a new window and isn't cropped)...

Enjoy!

xo,

ej

PS - Watch out for a special Valentine's Ecojot Giveaway coming soon!

And my January 2010 Giveaway Winner is...

Congratulations montg ! I shall be contacting you (unless you contact me first ;D) to arrange shipment of your January 2010 Giveaway prize: a complete set of ecojot teatime collection... as in a jumbo journal, 5x7” journal and 3x4” pocket notebook! Aren't you glad you decided to send your mum an ecojot card last night? ;)

And remember, your win also equals two workbook donations to a child in need in a developing program with ecojot's new "Buy One, Give One" campaign (ecojot's new business model committed to directly advocate children’s arts and literacy in developing countries). For every jumbo journal, 5x7" journal and sketchbook purchased (or in your case won!) ecojot will donate a specially designed ecojot workbook.

Thank you to everyone who participated! It felt so good knowing you were all spreading a bit of ecoCheer these past couple weeks! Watch out for my February Giveaway!

xo,

ej

From clothes hangers to hangeliers!

What are hangeliers, you ask? Clothes hanger chandeliers of course! Having just blogged about how to make expensive clothes hangers out of plastic bottles, blogging about hangeliers next couldn't seem more appropriate! Thanks for the lead, Pat!







My only criticism is the designers at Organelle Design made the above hangeliers from off-the-shelf plastic and wood hangers rather than finding old, used ones. According to Inhabitat where they were featured last year, "clothes hangers are clogging our landfills at a rate of nearly 8 billion per year." That's a whole lot of hangers! They should have tried and used some of those 8 million!

My compliment is that other materials designers Alex Witko and Courtney Hunt used to make their eye catching hangeliers are salvaged repurposed found objects such as bike rims, chainrings, and zipties.

Even more inspiring was Organelle Design's BYO_ event as in "build your own ____!" event. Their slogan: "resist consumerism.... by reusing it's wasteful by-products!" Check out how it went here. Below is a shot of one of the event's results... a snazzy coffee table 100% made from salvaged repurposed found objects!

xo,
ej

PS - 3 more days till my special ecojot ecard January giveaway ends, so keep sending those ecards for your chance to win ;D

Introducing ecojot's new "Buy One, We Give One" campaign.

Have you heard? ecojot commits to giving one for one.

As I've mentioned, I've been busy helping launch an exciting new ecojot give campaign. In fact, we're currently in the midst of adding information to our main website. As a special sneak peek, here's the 411...

ecojot’s “Buy One, We Give One” campaign is the company’s new business model committed to directly advocate children’s arts and literacy in developing countries. In many poor areas young students cannot afford school supplies, nor are they provided them. In an effort to equip children in need with basic school supplies, ecojot will donate a notebook for every ecojot journal, jumbo journal and sketchbook purchased.

ecojot is partnering with three organizations to make this happen:

• Ve’ahavta - A non-profit Jewish humanitarian and relief committee whose mandate is to accomplish tikun olam, the betterment of the world

• Free the Children - The world’s largest network of children helping children through education.

• The Stephen Leacock Foundation for Children - Dedicated to helping disadvantaged youth in South Africa.

ecojot understands that the success of the campaign is dependent on ensuring that the notebooks are delivered directly to the correct recipients. Therefore ecojot’s first shipment will be sent in a sealed container via the Ve’ahavta KinderKits Program, along with medical supplies, already destined for Zimbabwe. Kenyemba Primary and Secondary Schools will be the first recipients of ecojot’s “Buy One, We Give One” campaign.

Mark Gavin of ecojot says...

“ This becomes a deeper purpose for our business, so we can play an active role in helping better the global village we all belong to.

Inspired by the Toms Shoes model and by Whole Foods founder, John Mackay’s new commitment to conscious capitalism, I wanted to have our business play a part. Being that we make notebooks, it was an obvious decision to donate these to help needy children become educated and literate. ”

While ecojot is officially launching their new give campaign this year, they have in fact already donated 4,000 to 5,000 school supplies so far, and plan to donate 20,000 to 25,000 by spring 2010. Read more about it in a recent CJN news article here.

So now every time you jot or sketch in an ecojot, not only will you feel ecoAwesome, but you will also feel wonderful knowing a child in need is getting a chance to jot and sketch too!

Can't wait to hear what you think about the new give campaign! Have a great week!

xo,

ej