Housewarming Gift Ideas

August 6, 2009 By Erika Leave a Comment

Housewarming gifts are pretty easy, as gift ideas go.  You can get the proud new homeowners a Home Depot gift card, or buy them a new floormat.  If you’re feeling fancy, you can tie a ribbon around the neck of a wine bottle or spring for a gift basket.  These are all standard, very lovely gifts.

personalized-water-labels-housewarming-gift If you want to go the extra mile, however, or do something thoughtful that’s completely unexpected, we have a housewarming gift idea that will definitely get noticed without requiring a mortgage of its own.  You can snap a photo of the new house and use it to create a personalized, unforgettable keepsake for the new homeowners.

You can customize the label with the homeowner’s names and new address, and then add the photo of their new house.  Put these labels on a bottle of wine (our custom wine labels), a pack of beer (with personalized beer labels), or some “Moving Day Water” (with custom water bottle labels) and you’ve got an affordable, one-of-a-kind gift.  We’re happy to help you customize our label designs, so if you have any questions about color or text changes just let us know!

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Homebrewing During the Summer

June 30, 2009 By Erika Leave a Comment

custom-beer-labels-farmland Homebrewing during the summer can be a hot, sticky mess!  The process of brewing your own beer can be quite warm anyway, but when you add escalating outdoor temperatures to the mix things can get downright unpleasant!  Don’t think for a second that this means you have to relinquish your hobby until fall rolls around, though.  Plenty of people continue to brew their own beer during the summer and live to tell the tale!

We know many of our customers buy our custom beer labels to label their homebrewed beer, and it’s a lot of fun for us to see the names that go along with each batch and read the stories that accompany them.  We have a ton of designs that are perfect for summer brews, and we can also print completely custom designs as well.  With our completely self-adhesive and waterproof labels, you never have to worry about refrigerating your beer or keeping it on ice.  Our label look great no matter where you store your beer!

Here are some ways to help get you through this warm homebrewing season:

  1. Try to maintain a constant temperature.  Places like basements are ideal, as they tend to stay pretty cool and constant in temperature.  Avoid places like metal garden sheds because these fluctuate wildly in temperature.
  2. Let your fermenter sunbathe.  Air it out in the sunshine between brews to prevent it from becoming musty.  Just take care not to leave it in sunlight for too long so as to prevent the plastic from getting brittle.
  3. Keep your brewing ingredients away from direct heat.  If you expose your yeast to high temperatures, you run the risk of reducing its quality and effectiveness.

Keep these tips in mind and you’ll be knocking back your delicious homebrew all summer long!

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Summer Beach Party Ideas

June 18, 2009 By Erika Leave a Comment

personalized-water-labels-beach-games Beach barbecues, surfing, and volleyball; are there any activities as reminiscent of summer as these?  If mountain ski slopes are the home of winter, then the beach must be summer’s residence!  The feel of sand under your toes, the sound of waves crashing on the beach, and the gorgeous colors of a beach sunset are just some of what makes spending a day at the beach so much fun.

Beaches are natural locations for parties, because there’s a little something for everybody.  Playing in the water, hitting a volleyball around, or even just lazing around and taking in the view, no matter who you invite it’s bound to be a good time.  If you’re one of the lucky few who lives close to the beach, take advantage!  Beach parties are perfect for birthdays, holidays, or just about any other occasion!

Here are some beach party ideas to spark your creativity:

  • Shelter.  Beaches don’t tend to offer a lot of shade naturally, so pack up a folding canopy or some umbrellas.  Someone will inevitably forget to put on sunscreen and will appreciate the shade like you wouldn’t believe!
  • Cold drinks.  Beaches get hot, and there’s nothing worse than being parched and stuck without anything to drink!  Pack a cooler or two with ice and load it up beverages.  If you’re feeling extra fancy, use custom labels to spice up your beverages.  How cute would the water label featured above look on some water bottles sitting on the beach?!  Don’t worry, all our labels will withstand water and ice without smearing or falling off.
  • Seating.  Sure, sitting on the sand is fine, but pack along some chairs as well for those who don’t want to or have difficulty sitting on the ground.
  • Ice.  Don’t fall victim to food poisoning!  Keep all your food properly refrigerated by bringing along lots of ice.  Beach parties are fun, botulism isn’t.
  • Activities.  Bring a volleyball net, some sports balls, and wood for a bonfire if you have a pit nearby.  By making sure there’s a variety of activities, you’ll insure your guests don’t get bored, though who can possibly get bored on the beach?

We have some really wonderful summery designs for water, wine, and beer.  Nuptial H2O, Adventurous Red, and Four Star are all perfect for summer, with bright colors that will really pop on the beach.  As far as beach party ideas go, this is a pretty original one!  Just stick on our fully adhesive labels, throw them into a cooler, and have fun!

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The Pros and Cons of DIY Labels

April 30, 2009 By Erika Leave a Comment

hammer-and-printer We get asked a lot whether we provide blank labels that customers can print on at home.  Some people are looking for increased design flexibility, but most of the people who ask us this are trying to cut back on cost and hope printing the labels at home will save them money.  Printing your labels at home sounds like a great way to save some money but it comes with a lot of unexpected costs.  Here are some things to keep in mind if you’re considering printing your labels yourself.

  • Label material.  There is waterproof paper available that you can print on at home.  The label stock we use, a synthetic waterproof material, will only work with a professional digital print press, but you can find other materials online that will work on your printer at home.  The thing to watch out for with these labels is durability.  They’re usually made from what is essentially paper with an adhesive backing and waterproof coating.  As such, they tear easily which can lead to a lot of ruined labels and not an insignificant amount of frustration on your part.  
  • Mistakes: Waterproof paper labels are usually impossible to reposition should you apply them crooked.  This leads to many ruined labels and bottles.  Our labels are easy to reposition if you apply them crooked and won’t fall apart or leave adhesive on the bottles.  Even though we’ve all mastered the fine art of bottle labeling by hand, we still mess up on occasion.  Believe us when we say you’ll be grateful for the ability to lift up the label and try again if you mess up!
  • The cost of ink.  If you’re printing a few hundred labels, chances are excellent you’re going to have to replace your ink at least once.  Especially if your label has a background color!  Weigh the cost of this new ink cartridge against the cost of buying your labels from us and see which option gives you the best deal.
  • Your printer itself.  Unless you’re fortunate enough to own a top-of-the-line printer with perfectly aligned heads, you’ll probably need to give your printer a little tune-up to ensure that it prints the way you want it to.  If your printer has any eccentricities or maintenance issues, you could wind up feeling frustrated and annoyed with a piece of machinery that normally works just fine.  An ink splotch or mysterious spot may be unnoticeable on an essay, but those unsightly little quirks could ruin your entire set of labels!

When you order labels from us, they’re delivered to you quickly and ready and to go.  They’re already cut into individual labels, they’re printed, and they’re completely self-adhesive.  We do all the work for you so that when they arrive all you have to do is stick them to the bottles.  If you want to design your own label, all you have to do is email the artwork to us and we’ll print the labels for you.  It’s quick, easy, and completely frustration-free.

If you have any questions about our labels or would like to see a sample just let us know.  We’ll be happy to provide you with whatever information you need to make an informed decision about your labels.

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Wedding Calligraphy

April 22, 2009 By Erika 2 Comments

laura-hooper-calligraphy There are few things in the world more beautiful than professional calligraphy.  The style, the skill, and precision; it’s incredible to watch how simple words and letters can be transformed into beautiful works of art.  Wedding invitations are a popular place for calligraphy, and deservedly so.  A wedding invitation, or save the date, is one of the first impressions most people will have of your wedding.  How you address the envelopes, meaning the wording you choose and the way you write the words, will prepare everyone who attends for the event you’re planning.

If you can, we highly recommend hiring a professional calligrapher to help set the right tone for your celebration.  A professional calligrapher can do a variety of things that will help unify and coordinate the many aspects of your wedding.  He or she can write your invitations, design a custom monogram, craft a wedding logo, and even beautify your wedding menu.  There’s literally no limit to the services a calligrapher can provide.

When selecting a calligrapher, it’s important to do your homework.  Look at his or her portfolio, verify that he or she has done work for weddings before, and try to find out how respected the calligrapher is.  Do other vendors speak highly of that person?  Have other brides shared positive or negative experiences?  Investigating prospective calligraphers beforehand will save you a ton of frustration later.

In our opinion, one of the most talented and respected professional calligraphers is Laura Hooper.  She has done work for more weddings than we can list, and has such a talent for creating beautiful things.   She is well-respected in the wedding industry and has the portfolio to prove it.  She’s also a genuinely nice person, so working with her is a pleasure.  If you’re interested in doing calligraphy for your wedding, her website is a treasure-trove of information and inspiration and it would be well worth your while to spend some time there.

We recently turned some of Laura’s gorgeous work into custom labels and the results are lovely:

custom-wedding-maps-label This custom save the date map is one of Laura’s specialties.  She draws a map of the city your wedding will be in, and highlights points of interest with adorable illustrations.  These are as custom as it gets, and they look great on custom beer labels.  The shape is perfect, and even though we call them beer labels they would look perfect on wine or soda bottles as well.  These save the date beer labels would be adorable additions to bridal showers or engagement parties!

custom-wedding-labels-custom-monogram We love custom monograms.  You can insert them throughout your wedding to tie everything together.  We’ve seen monograms set into ballroom floors, carved into ice sculptures, printed on favor tags, on menus, wedding programs, and wedding cakes.  Laura has an incredible ability to turn letters into art, so if you commission your monogram from her, you can count on it looking stunning.  Monograms are a natural for water labels, and are a classy and unobtrusive way to include your monogram at the reception.

custom-wedding-wine-labels-custom-wedding-logo Wedding logos might sound unfamiliar but are actually a really neat way to tie all the elements of your wedding together with a single design.  Much like with a monogram, you can include your wedding logo throughout your wedding.  This logo looks incredible on a wine label.

It’s not difficult to imagine how custom calligraphy and labels can add a lot of style to your wedding.  We’re happy to work with artwork from other vendors, and will happily turn your custom calligraphy into labels.  Planning a wedding is stressful enough.  This is why we work hard to ensure that ordering labels is as easy as possible.  If you have any questions about using custom calligraphy on your labels just let us know and we’ll be happy to help!

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