Profiting from their passion - Gretchen Fleener

The creative amongst you might find some inspiration in the story of Gretchen Fleener, an artist and industrial designer from Minneapolis who says:

One day I got fed up with having to throw away yet another pile of unwanted junk mail and catalogs. So, I took the advice printed on my gazillionth credit card application envelope ("Please do not discard"), and I decided to do something creative and useful with it instead.       

I began by creating unique refrigerator magnets by gluing magnifying glass marbles over interesting patterns, shapes, and colors on catalog and magazine pages. I had so much fun making them that it was hard to throw away another piece of junk mail, and I made more magnets than I myself could use. So, rather than going back to throwing away more mail, I decided to start selling them!       

Since then, I have turned not only junk mail but also other "trash" into an array of treasures, including wallets, jewelry, handmade paper, and buttons, to name a few ! Check them all out in the product section!       

I also use shredded junk mail as packing material for orders, and pieces of business reply cards (and other thicker stock junk mail) to make my own business cards and hang tags for products.

Comments

[Patricia]

I always knew I could retire at a ripe old age, and become a magnet making marble-aire. You go grl. :).