Sunflower Stationery and Paper Goods

The stationery and paper goods on this page come from the Zazzle, print-on-demand site.  The stationery, or writing paper, can be customized, or changed as needed.    Text is easy to change in the template sections.  Sometimes the images can be deleted easily to change the look.

Each sheet of stationery measures 5.5 by 8.5 inches.  Images, lines, and text are printed on one side of the paper only.  The reverse will be blank and will show as the color of the paper type chosen.  (Example: basic white paper will be white, felt paper will be ecru color.  The speckled paper option still shows, but has not been available for years.)

There is a 10 sheet minimum order, with discounts starting at 25 sheets of paper.  As with most every customizable item, do not let any text get close to the edge of the paper, or it may be cut off in printing.

I am a backyard gardener, so I've never grown fields full of sunflowers.  You probably realize that each seed, when planted, will grow a new sunflower plant.  When looking at the abundance of seeds produced in the center of each sunflower, that's a lot of new plants!

But...I've discovered that it's not that easy.  In the past, when I've planted my own sunflower seeds, the squirrels come along and dig them up and eat the seeds before the plant can grow.  What I do now, is let volunteer flowers spring up randomly from seeds dropped over winter, when I feed store-bought sunflower seeds to the birds.  It works out better that way for me.  You can see in my picture how the sunflower has sprung up among the tomatoes and nasturtiums in my garden.

Unfortunately I only grown one kind of sunflower, but there is a wide variety of types to try.  I don't have the space, but the shorter variety is pretty to grow for cut arrangements.  Those can often be found in summer at farmer's markets.

The sunflower is a symbol of summer.  It's a beautiful garden flower, either growing in large groups in a field, or interspersed throughout the vegetable garden.

It's oily seeds are nutritional for birds and rodents, and it's leaves and petals make a tasty treat for grasshoppers.

If a bear gets a whiff of the sunflower seeds in your feeder, or the container holding your bird food supply, things can get messy.  I've lost more than one feeder to black bears in spring when I've left my feeders out too long.  (I live in New England.)  But more importantly, you don't really want bears in your yard.

Many people eat sunflower seeds as snacks to gain the health benefits.  Unsalted, shelled seeds are low in sodium, and provide the body with magnesium, potassium, vitamin E and protein.  They contain a lot of fat, although it's the 'good' fat, but still can pack on the pounds if eaten too often.

This 4 pound bag of Food To Live Organic Sunflower Seeds (Raw, No Shell) is USDA certified organic. The raw seeds are unsalted, and therefore naturally low in sodium.  This is a non-GMO product.

Sunflower seeds are easy to eat as a snack, or use in recipes.  Add them to breads, cookies and bars, and sprinkle them on salads and rolled sandwiches.

If you are a member of Amazon Prime, this item will ship for free.

The paper plates and napkins at Zazzle are fairly new items.  

One set of napkins contains 50 pieces. The base napkin color is either white or ecru, and the styles are standard or coined (with a ridged edge).

The paper plates come as 7 or 9 inches in diameter, in quantities of 50. 

The set below has a pretty, dark teal blue background color, which is easy to change.  Use the 'customize it' blue button on each item's product page to get to the color chart.  From there select your favorite background color.  Coordinate plates and napkins for a party theme.

High quality wrapping paper on a roll is now available from the Zazzle site.  This sunflower print coordinates with other sunflower paper goods and is perfect for wrapping gifts in summertime.

Your paper options are matte, glossy, linen and Tyvek, with five different lengths to choose from.  The paper is 30 inches wide.  

I buy organic sunflower oil to use sometimes when cooking.  Look for the 'high heat' type of oil if you want to use it for frying.

Sunflower oil is one that is relatively good for you, like olive oil.  It contains no trans fats, and is high in monounsaturated fat.  Many plant based oils contain a combination of fat types, with the poly and mono unsaturated fats being most beneficial to health.  This type of oil can help lower cholesterol.

It's a better choice than saturated fat, but may not be as good a choice as some of the other plant-based oils.  Do your research and use it sparingly if you like the taste.

Sunflower oil, along with sesame and coconut oil, can be used in the practice of 'oil pulling', which involves swishing oil in the mouth for 5-20 minutes.

Summer is the perfect season to send greeting cards and note cards with the sunflower image.  There is no shortage of cards with all types of designs containing this popular flower.  

Special events and weddings taking place in the country love sunflower stationery.  Thank you cards can be customized with text for many events, and make a big impression if they are personalized for specific people.  Zazzle is a custom site, and finding some pretty sunflower cards to use won't be difficult.

Postcards are very inexpensive to buy, and cheaper than cards to mail.  Some have custom text, and others are blank, but all can be used for any occasion.