I actually wasn’t sure I was going to develop designs for Valentine’s Day this year. But love got the better of me and next thing you know I was designing away!

One of my favorite designs is an icon/slogan Justin and I developed that means “love makes the world go round”. Behind the icons we’ve translated love into 14 languages for a subtle graphic print. It’s a message that I hope lasts beyond Valentine’s Day.

Card: Love Makes the World Go Round

Here are some of our other designs for Valentine’s Day, using world inspired prints and global style. We’ve designed cards and gifts, from cute to sexy. See the entire Valentine’s Day gift collection here.

I’m still designing, so hopefully, I’ll have more v-day designs with global style to share with you soon!

Bags Recycled from Indian Trash and Festival Banner Bags

I was early for meeting the lovely ladies of Sublime Photography at Java Monkey (a local coffee shop). So I stopped at the import store next door, Mingei World Arts.

I hadn’t been there in ages. But I remembered I really liked their stuff: a great mix of Indian, Mexican, Chinese (and more) decorative arts, nick nacks and jewelry. So I’m walking around and everything is really pretty, including these nice decorated thai silks.

And then I noticed these really cool modern bags. Then didn’t really match anything else in the store, so I looked closer and saw there was a story. Apparently the Indian government gets people to pick up trash that was then turned into new usable items, in this case, these messenger bags.

You couldn’t really tell they were trash at first. But when I looked at them in more detail I saw that the flap of one of these messenger bags was newspaper and had been painted over in these really nice gray and green stripes. They had black banding at the seams and looked sturdy.

As I was leaving I told the shop owner how cool her bags were. She then showed me these huge tote bags made out of vinyl and canvas outdoor festival banners. She told me they were made by a Columbian refugee who is being resettled. And they are going to get more of these banners from the Atlanta Olympics and city of Decatur, Georgia, which if you are around Atlanta, you know has festivals upon festivals upon festivals.

In addition to being really cool these bags are eco-friendly and one-of-a-kind. They would be great gifts, including unique bridesmaid gifts.

I wasn’t thinking and didn’t take pictures while I was there. But I found these photos that give you a sense of what the banner bags look like at least, though the ones at Mingei are more rectangular and larger. I should swing back over there and upload some pictures before they’re sold!

Unique Bridesmaid Gift

recycled banner bags

Click the photos to visit the sites about these bags.