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

Secrets, secrets, are so fun! Unless like me you can't keep one

--> Hello dear friends!

Yesterday I wrote about how well I feel that I am doing in the realm of "Getting All My Crafting Done BEFORE Christmas Eve." It's still going well, but I am starting to feel a bit of anxiety in one department. Namely, the Secret Keeping Department.

 

 

-->I love surprises. I really do. Though, let me clarify in case Sailor decides to read this and increase his frequency of attempting to scare me: I like FUN surprises. Not "I just jumped out of another room because I heard you coming and you screamed so loud our windows broke" surprises. Not "Oh dear Arlo wedged himself under the couch and pooped 75% of his body weight" surprises.

-->
No, I like fun ones. Like, "Wow-wee! Someone stalked my Pinterest account and scored me that t-shirt I love but forgot I pinned on my Wishlist board 8 months ago!!" Or "I thought this grocery shopping trip was going to cost $200 dollars but there's a mega sale going on and it only cost $60!!" You know, pleasant ones.

As much as I love fun surprises, I love surprising people even more than I love being surprised. I love to be that person who stalks your Pinterest or Wist or whatever other list-making account in order to get you a sweet gift you forgot you wanted. I love to pop something dorky in the mail so that you can get a kick out of receiving a package shaped like a firework rocket. Love it. I love making you feel special and important. It is the best feeling.

-->

Clearly, my love language is gifting.

I love gifting and the reaction I get when I really and truly surprise someone with something awesome, that I can hardly stand to wait. I want you to be all excited and happy right this very instant. I mean, I have your Christmas present hidden in my closet, and I know you are going to love it and it seems lame that you have to wait for forever until you get to be excited and happy and use the thingamabob I got you. It's hard!! It's not faaaiiirrr.

Am I a two year old? Possibly. Is it really hard for me to keep secrets for too long? Only when I know people are going to be all excited and stuff. So what have I been doing to keep myself relaxed and untwitchy? Uh....nothing. I'm like a dam about to burst. I...may...or may not have dropped a lot of really obvious hints last night to Sailor in regards to what is gift is, which may or may not have resulted in him guessing it. Maybe.

--> Arg! It's so frustrating! It was going to be the first year EVER that I was sneaky enough to get his gift without him even KNOWING and have it hidden until Christmas andandand buuuhhhhhhh. Aw well. I still beat my record for longest amount of time that he has not guessed what I got him. Boyah?

:(

So, moral of the story, STAY STRONG MY FRIENDS. Keep that secret! It's gonna be great!! I believe in you!!!

Yours bad-at-being-secretly,
Carolyn

(Also, did you notice my title rhymes? Wut wut? I'm the man! Well...sort of.)

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

Holiday Game Night

As I mentioned before, my family is big on game nights. Especially as the days grow shorter and the nights grow colder, we all love to settle in around the game table (yes, my parents actually have a table dedicated to board games, as well as a significant amount of closet space) and spend the night shouting at each other.

Holidays are especially good for these sorts of activities. I can remember as a wee baby child being jealous of the adults and my older cousins who were allowed to play "big kid games" (aka, Monopoly and Scattergories) at family parties. Whether it's at my parent's house, my grandparents' houses (either one), or with Sailor's family...it's a safe bet that we will be playing games.

Black Friday is not a day on which I want to go out. Lucky for me, my mama hosted a Tastefully Simple party on Black Friday, after which she informed us would be a Risk throwdown. Booyah! I'm in!

G-Free Apple cake at the Tastefully Simple Party

The Tastefully Simple party was crowded! I did not realize my madre was inviting so many peeps! It was nice though. I got to catch up with some folks I had not seen in a while. Plus, my mom had requested that the Tastefully Simple representative bring along a good selection of gluten free things to taste. Perfection! Yumm-o free food and friends? Not much can beat that. If you are doing gluten free and want some truly decadent desserts, I would recommend Tastefully Simple. A word of warning, the mixes are pretty pricey. But yummy. Those brownies. Ohmy. Sogood.

Looong game table and a cracklin' fire

Nothing says festive like a fire in the fireplace

Grandma, roasting mallows

World domination

My clever skills and astounding gracefulness caused me to dump my entire cup of water onto the table within the first two minutes of sitting down. My yarn was soaked! Good thing we had a fire.

Nice and toasty

Crocheting, eating, and taking over the world with my family. Who could ask for more? Not I. No sir. Does your family get wild and crazy when you play board games? Is there serious trash talk like we throw down? It can get pretty cray when we all decide to game it up.

Yours competitively,
Carolyn

Dat bunny lump

Happy Thanksgiva-Hanuk-Birthda-December-kkah!!

December!

I'm not sure whether to be excited or scared. Probably a little of both. I've lived my while life in the Midwest, but in March Sailor and I moved farther north than either of us have ever lived. This will be our first full winter here. Ehhh....

I trust you lovely-loves had a wonderful Thanksgiving (and Hanukkah and my birthday, if you were celebrating any of those on the 28th). Sailor and Bunn-ster and I had a busy but enjoyable time. Lots of food, lots of pictures, lots of laughing. T'was nice.

The aftermath of our Thanksgiving meal

This weekend, we stayed with my in-laws who surprised me with a big basket of gluten-free tasty treats for my birthday! And a really nice hoodie. And yarn. It was delightful. I sampled some coconut cookies and the Gluten-Freeda oatmeal already. Both are awesome, lemme tell you. I guess my mother-in-law did a lot of research and ordered a ton of stuff online for me. She was excited to see if I liked it all. So far, it's all highly enjoyable!

My maternal Grandmother hosted Thanksgiving. She is a very accomplished cook, so it is always wonderful to eat a meal made by her. This being my first gluten-free holiday....I was a bit nervous. It can be daunting to go over to someone's house and not know what is in all the food even if the cooks mean well and blahblahblahanxiety. My grandma called me about two weeks ago and told me she was going to do a gluten free Thanksgiving meal for me!! EXCITEMENT. I went over early to help her cook and set up. It was fantastic. I cannot emphasize enough how awesome it is to know that almost every dish was safe to eat. Holla at me Celiacs if you know what I'm sayin'!

I'm new to this whole g-free game, so it was extra special. Plus, not only was it my first holiday gluten free, it was also my first birthday gluten free. A double whammy of g-tastic temptations. My mom and sister colaborated on supplying me with a pan of g-free brownies (from a Tastefully Simple g-free brownie mix). I've had the brownie mix before, but it was no less awesome this time around. SO FUDGEY. SO GOOD. Everyone else at the party enjoyed them as well. My Grandpa could not even tell they weren't "normal" brownies! Woot!

The pan of nomnoms

I had three pieces. Shhh. Don't tell.

My family always plays some card or board games when we all get together; probably one of my favorite family traditions. It's great. Eat all the good food, then laze around and laugh and pay games. This year it was golf (which I didn't play, because I don't remember how) and Telestrations. The latter is a hilarious game that combines telephone and Pictionary. Kind of. Whenever we play Telestrations, it ends with us laughing so hard we cry. I recommend it.

Playing golf in the living room

How was your holiday? Got some old or new traditions that just warm your heart? Some fun g-free holiday dish you love? Did you let your bunny play with a Teddy Roosevelt action figure in an army jeep? I sure did. That's right, you heard me.

Arlo was a little skeptical at first...

...But he and Teddy got along in the end

Yours festively,
Carolyn