Darling Deer Hat: A Custom Order

Oh deer!

 An adorable custom ordered deer hat for a return customer! Nothing warms me up more than having a customer come back for more. Except perhaps, when they come back in want of a custom order!

Right before the move, a customer contacted me on Etsy in want of a deer hat. This was in fact, the same customer who ordered this unicorn hat before Christmas. I was a bit wary to take on an order, considering the high rate of possibility that I could completely lose the project in the midst of packing and chaos. But this dear lady assured me she was in no rush to get the hat. So we settled to details and I got some yarn and started cracking!

Oh, and you get a sneak peek in these pics for tomorrows post! Hehe. Guess what it is?

 I cannot tell you how incredibly pleased I am with the outcome of this hat. She wanted the antlers to be felted, which I thought was super fun. I got to pop them in the washing machine and let the wool work its magic on the spin cycle. Easy peasey, with a super cute turn out. I could not help but take a few pics of the hat at this stage. I love it so much just plain like this!!

Such a cute lil Bambi.

The customer wanted some flowers as embellishments, so I may have gone a bit overboard. Not really, but them are some bold blooms, yo! The big one is deep purple with a faded pink center to match the two little flowers. I think it is super whimsical and romantic. Which is good. Yes.

I feel like you could wear this hat to a tea party. Flowery and cute.

I made up my own pattern for the flowers. Too fun!!

Dem antlers, yo. I love.

I really didn't want to take it off.

Hopefully she is just as smitten with it as I am. I love lovelovelove LOVE custom orders! Never know what sort of adorable things my customers will dream up. This hat has inspired me to work out a lil baby version of this Darling Deer hat. Keep your eyes peeled!!

Linkin' up at these fine sites!

My Priority is Mailing

Yesterday I sold an item on Last In Line's Etsy!! Yaayy!! I have been communicating with a buyer about a custom order, and I almost forgot to check my regular orders. Guess what? The Unicorn Hat was sold! (Which is kind of funny, because I'm working on a custom Unicorn Hat) That meant it was time to get out my supplies and pack that hat up!!

Love this hat

I am a big fan of packaging, branding, and presentation. I love shipping supplies, postage supplies, and essentially everything Uline sells. Yes, even the industrial eye washing stations for factories (think how many Sailor-got-hot-peppers-in-his-eyes-while-making-chilli catastrophes I would have avoided if I had one of those babies). I blame my mother for letting me run the postage meter at her office when I was a wee baby child. She sowed the seeds of shipping design lust.

Because of my packaging obsession, I have very specific and high hopes for the branding I would like Last In Line to have in the future. But for now, I try to make the details count. Someday soonly, I hope I will be able to invest in a few more lil things to make my shipping and packaging really be like whoa.

If you follow me on Facebook, you know I love these

 I bought custom fabric labels from SBShop on Etsy a few months ago. I had been yearning to have some for ages. They are very cost effective, and very well made. The owner of SBShop is super nice, and tolerated my waffling back and forth on font choices. (Font is important!!) I would highly recommend purchasing fabric labels from her to anyone. Just a word of warning, she is a one-girl-army, so do not expect instant shipping. If you need your tags in a flash, go order some lead-ribbon ones from Hong Kong. That was harsh, sorry. I just get really peeved when a shop-owner specifically posts that their production time is longer because they do it all on their own and people still give bad reviews. So rude. End rant.

 Another small thing I like to do is write a personal thank you note to each buyer. It's only a few lines long, but it reinforces the idea that you are a human being who made the nifty thing they purchased, not a robot. Plus, I love stationary. And I have this cool stamp from Vistaprint with Last In Line's info on it. I am all over any excuse to use that stamp.

Dawww, it's crooked! So cuuutteee.

I love mini stationary

Lisa Frank stickers, because I'm a grown-up

 There! Almost ready to cram this pretty pony in a box and pop her in the mail! I always toss in at least three of my business cards in hopes that my buyer will get tons of compliments on their hat.

"Ohhhh I love your hat!!"
"Thanks! I got it on Etsy."
"Coooolll. I want one. What shop was it?"
"Uhhh...oh wait! I have her business card! Here!"
"Great! IMMA BUY EIGHT BILLION DOLLAHS OF HATS!!"

We can all dream, right?

Suck it in, pony!!

 Probably my Number 1 thing I love about the internet is shopping and shipping online. I love being able to freaking print my own postage and put my stuff in the mailbox. No biggie, just livin' my life. Etsy has streamlined the postage-printing process recently as well, which makes my days just a little brighter. Now, if only I could stop relying on my packing tape supply and get that nifty DYMO LabelWriter 450 Turbo High-Speed Postage and Label Printer.

That thing is so fly.

All boxed up!

 I usually ship in Priority Mail Flat Rate small boxes, because often times Etsy doesn't allow me to change a lot of the specifications to allow for First Class or Parcel Post shipping. Which is fine, because, usually, flat rat is cheaper. I stock up on the boxes when I go to the post office.

Annnndddd more stamping.

More about the cupcakes tomorrow ;)

Ready to go!!

 Ready to rock and roll. I think my Mail-Lady hates me a little because I never schedule pick-ups for my packages. I just cram 'em in my mailbox. It's not too bad since I only do it for the small boxes, right? I should probably leave her a nice Christmas gift for putting up with my shenanigans.

What a helpful lil bun!!

Christmas season is shipping season! I need to make a note to stock up on more packing tape. I'm out so I had to glue stick and regular tape my labels onto the boxes. Heh. Hope they stay put!!

Allllright. I'm off to drool over Uline's online catalog again. Tata loves!
Yours busily,
Carolyn

Gift Wrapping and Why I Love Planning

Christmas is a big time for planning, no matter how you function. Being one who loves planning, you'd think I'd be all over this. Hah. WRONG. For the past three years, I have dutifully sat down on November 1st to write out a gift list for my loved ones. My list often consists of mainly handmade gifts. Cool right? Uh...not when you start planning in November. Nope. There is simply not enough time to get all the crafting, cooking, celebrating, and wrapping done before that Blessed Holiday. You would think after the first catastrophic failure of having a Handmade Christmas I would have gotten wise and started earlier. Nope. Two years in a row of Opps-I-Started-Planning-Too-Late.

Never again.

This year, I decided to actually bunk down and DO IT. I started planning in August. I found my gift list from last year and revised it. Checked out my yarn stash, set aside skeins for projects, researched patterns, sneakily asked the right questions to the right people to get ideas, shopped sales for the things I was going to purchase. It's December now, and I feel very confidant that I will actually be able to have a 75% handmade gift Christmas this year. VICTORY.

 
I felt very very unwell about starting planning so early. I hate how stores are pushing the shopping season further and further forward. But after some soul searching, it became apparent to me that this planning ahead junk was the best decision. I want the Chirstmas season to be a reflection of the true meaning of our celebration. I want to spend December with family and friends delighting in the greatest gift of all: our Savior's birth. Being able to trade holiday stress for the excitement of making everyone a gift means so much to me. Ya feel me?

All the time I have put into planning things out this year has paid off already. I have been able to do something I have wanted to do for...forever: wrap all my gifts in coordinating paper. This sounds silly, but I seriously have been dying to do simple, pretty wrapping for so long. None of this Christmas-Eve-midnight-taping-your-hair-to-the-box stuff. No more. So, without further ado, my style of simple, pretty wrapping.

I love labels and stickers. If you want to capitalize on the many free printable gift tags available online, I would recommend investing in a Xyron Create-a-Sticker. I have the 1.5” model and I adore it. I use the permanent adhesive they make and just go to town.

Apple Butter Lid Lables

Love this thing.

Mhhhhhhhhh.

  I got these content labels from this lovely blog. They are festive, free, and match just about anything. I printed them on paper grocery bags. Free paper, free labels….what can be better? Not much, homedogs, not much.
 
I bought this brown kraft paper from Big Lots. It was maybe $3 for the roll? Not bad at all. It is durable, simple, and has a nice subtle glitter to it that just ups the festive level that much more. It’s easy to cut, fold, and draw on. If you have kids, it would be adorable to let them go to town doodling holiday things on the paper before you used it to wrap. Seeing as we don’t have any rugrats yet, I had to doodle on my own. 

I found the gift tags here

 

dat monkey

  Side note: I’m big on peppermint of any kind, so of course I put candy canes on the gifties. Plus, they went with my red theme. Yaayyy!!

I scored a big box of canes for $2 at Big Lots!!

These handmade labels are a part of a big set of fun things from EverythingEtsy. Again, they are free and totally compatible with printing on paper bags. I cranked a bunch of the red ones (there are many colors!) through my Create-a-Sticker.  Poifect. 

I feel so fancy

These big tags came from here. I wrote a lil blurb about the gifts on the back of them as well as the care instructions for the knitted goods. Super handy, and still festive. 

Well, that about wraps up my gift wrapping, for now. These were just early gifts for family who I will not be seeing on Christmas. They loved them! Yay! 

How do you plan for Christmas? Have you done a handmade holiday?
Lots of love,

Carolyn