One of my favorite parts of elementary school was lunchtime. I always looked forward to my sack lunch.  My friends and I would compare our goodies and trade, as well as feel sorry the kids stuck with an overcooked, bland, awful school lunches.  Of course, I didn’t have a cool organic lunch tote, but I had one of those retro metal boxes, I think it was Scooby Doo.  Families today have more choices then we did in the Seventies, especially when it comes to eco-friendly lunches.

Print*Pattern*Paper offers many unique eco-friendly products from recycled stationary to totes. I especially like the Lunch Pack.  The Lunch Pack comes with a darling organic cotton sac, a matching organic cotton napkin, a bamboo plate, and bamboo utensils. The bamboo utensils are really cool, as I have never seen them before, but the spoon is rather shallow causing my four-year-old son to spill lots of yogurt with it.  The whole set makes a nice presentation, and for endurance sake, the bamboo plate and utensils may be better suited for dramatic food play.  The organic napkin and lunch sac are very hardy though.

Print*Pattern*Paper is a divison of Art and Philanthropy and features handmade art and textiles by founder, CEO, artist, and designer Rebecca Peragine.

A gifted artist, Ms. Peragine, uses her skills and talent to teach crafts to the women of the Manos Unidos co-op in Mexico through her company, Art and Philanthropy.  In addition to art, Ms. Peragine also teaches business and marketing, providing the women with skills needed to earn a living wage.

Committing the exclusive use of eight images to the co-op, Ms. Peragine returns to Mexico frequently to teach the women how to translate her images onto textiles, creating marketable products for the tourist population and generating much needed funds for the co-op.

Rebecca’s artwork is delightful in what I would consider a sophisticated folk style. Her prints would look beautiful in a child’s room and originate with “found papers, usually from magazines, newspapers, foreign text books and other findings I obsessively collect.”  Creating art from paper waste and philanthropy makes Print*Pattern*Paper a unique online boutique.