Archives for March 2014

Turn Your Instagram Photos into Wine Labels

March 25, 2014 by Cindy Springer Leave a Comment

We love Instagram! Now you can transform your Instagram photos into wine labels thanks to a feature in our label design studio. It’s easy! Photo wine labels make great gifts for many of life’s most memorable moments. Our customers make photo wine labels for all kinds of celebrations like weddings, graduations and birthdays. Some of our best customers are amateur wine makers. They return to us time after time to create wine labels. Many start from scratch using photos of their grapes and vineyards. Other wine lovers simply choose a favorite vacation photo from Instagram, as in the photo above. What ever you plan on using your wine label for it only takes a few simple steps to turn an Instagram photo into a custom wine label.

HERE’S HOW

Start at Make Your Own>Custom Labels>Wine Labels and once you’ve selected the quantity of wine labels you need, click Customize It! The design studio is the next page view you’ll see. Select Add Image and the design studio canvas will drop down to reveal the Drag and Drop area above the wine label canvas. This is where you choose INSTAGRAM.

CHOOSE YOUR INSTAGRAM PHOTO

Next, select the button Get My Instagram Images. You’ll see the photos populate the scroll bar. Choose your photo, then drag and drop the photo onto the wine label canvas as in the image below. We chose a photo that already had text on it, but we’ll add more later. See the blue squares on either side of the photo? These indicate it’s selected. While it is selected the IMAGE OPTIONS tool bar is displayed next to the wine label. Use the tools on this bar to resize and move your photo to the exact spot you want it.

CHOOSE A BACKGROUND COLOR FOR YOUR WINE LABEL

If your photo only covers a portion of your wine label select the paint bucket above the label under Background Options. A color box will appear with color choices. Click on a color and then OK. The background color will appear on the label. Now you can add text.

ADD TEXT AND CHOOSE A FONT

Select the ADD TEXT tool and begin typing. Your words will appear on the center of the screen. Click off the words and then back on them to select them. You’ll know they’re selected when you see the blue boxes on the edges of the text. The TEXT OPTIONS tool bar will appear. Take a moment to study all the functions this handy tool offers. You have the abililty to move, resize, select a font style and font color. If you’re a confident web user select ADVANCED for even more text style options.

Go to the TEXT OPTIONS tool bar and from the drop down menu choose a font name. The font style will show in a preview. If you like it, click APPLY and the design studio will reappear so you can view the font on your label. Don’t be afraid to experiment with font styles and colors. Fonts are a very powerful design element and make an impact on your overall wine label style.

When you’re happy with the design of your photo wine label you can do two things; Save for later or Add to Cart. The label will be cropped along the red dashed lines so keep that in mind when you’re ready to order. Here’s our finished wine label.

OTHER EXAMPLES OF PHOTO WINE LABELS

Below are some other photo wine labels made by our customers. Notice the different styles. Some photos cover the entire label and the text is added on top of the photo. Then there is the alternative to add photo to the center of the label and add text above and below. The bottom most wine label was made using one of our pre-designed wedding wine label templates.

We look forward to seeing your photo wine labels. Please share any ideas you have for new wine label designs as we’re always open to suggestions. If you need help making a photo wine label with an Instagram photo, hit us up on Live Chat during business hours or email us at [email protected] Wine labels are our specialty.

What is a Growler and Why Would It Need a Label?

March 19, 2014 by Cindy Springer Leave a Comment

Beer Growlers are Not Drunken Dogs

<<Possible Origins of the Name Growler>>

Contrary to the name, beer growlers are not angry, growling, beer-sotted dogs. Growler is the name for a one-half gallon, moonshine-looking jug that is filled with beer at a brewery and taken off premises for consumption. The origin of the word growler is not clear, but use began in the 19th century. One plausible explanation comes from Harper’s Magazine, July 1892, “In New York a can brought in filled with beer at a bar-room is called a growler, and the act of sending this can from the private house to the public-house and back is called working the growler.” Some sources say it was called, “rushing the growler.” Children were sent out to the tavern with a growler at night, after the father got home from work, to haul beer (in a rush) back to him. At that time a bucket, sometimes with a lid, was the actual “growler”.

Growler may come from the noise the metal pail made as it slid down the bar counter. Some speculate it refers to the person’s disposition that just finished off a full pail of beer. Either way, with the realization that patrons who left with their beer, drank less than those who stayed, saloon owners put a stop to the practice and the growler fell by the wayside.

The Comeback of the Growler

Today, beer growlers are back in vogue and the crowd filling them is often a sophisticated, urban crowd, sometimes with children at home. They can’t, or don’t have the time to hang out at a brew pub, but do have discriminating taste in beer. They order growlers filled with their favorite microbrew and enjoy a glass to two in the evening at home. Some beer lovers fill up multiple growlers with different microbrews and tote them home for parties. Most breweries will fill your glass growler under CO2 pressure so no matter when you open the jug, the beer will taste just like it came right from the tap, even after weeks of being stored in a refrigerator.

In our region, east of Seattle, microbreweries abound and homemade beer is a hobby for everyone from Google and Microsoft techies to executives to homemakers. There’s a growing market for growler containers as more home brewers make their own beer. When I stopped by to check out growler containers at the local brewing supplies store, Mountain Homebrew & Wine Supply, I was surprised to see the store busy at 6 p.m. on a week night. I expected to find more of the flannel and Birkenstock crowd, but among the shoppers were a couple of twenty-somethings, three business men in ties, and a woman dressed in business casual. This beer supply store offers several styles and sizes of growlers in clear and colored glass. They sell a clear 1 gallon growler for $5.99 and a one-half gallon amber growler for the same price. Previously I had found a 64 oz. amber growler at an unlikely source, the local hobby and crafts store. As soon as anything hits the shelves at this busy store I know it’s trending.

Growler Label Sizes to Make Your Own Label

We recently added growler labels to the product line-up at BottleYourBrand. For homebrewers wanting to name their beer or give a growler as as gift, these labels are the perfect solution. A number of good looking, pre-designed templates for growlers are available in the 4 inch high x 6 inch wide label size. On these templates the artwork is already done for you, all you have to do is edit the text. If you’re of a more independent or creative bent, on the Make Your Own pages of our website, under Custom Labels>Custom Growler Labels, you can start from scratch to make your own custom growler labels. These sizes are available: 4 inches square, 5 inches square and 4 inches high x 6 inches wide rectangle.

All of the growler labels are waterproof and color fast. The backing is self-adhesive, protected by a crack and peel backing. These labels can withstand gentle washing with dish soap should you need to wash and refill the Growler. We haven’t tested how many hand washings the labels can withstand so if any of you have used your bottles or growlers more than a few times please give us some feedback. I have washed glass beer bottles in the diswasher with our beer labels on them and had good luck as long as the drying cycle was not on high heat. Some dishwasher soaps will leave a residue on the label which I removed with a damp, soft cloth.

If you have questions about making your own growler label email us at [email protected] We’re always happy to help.

How to Make Your Own Wine Label from Scratch Online

March 3, 2014 by Cindy Springer Leave a Comment

<<<This post is written for the consumer who is looking to make a wine label online for either their home-made wine or for a special event like a birthday, wedding or shower.>>>

Making a good looking custom wine label is easy even if you don’t have any artistic training. We’ll show you how to start with a blank canvas and end up with an amazing wine label by using text, color and clip art shapes available in our online design studio. The examples are taken from customer’s orders to illustrate how real people made their own wine labels.

But first, what makes a good wine label?

Simple Design. The label design should be clean, not cluttered. Multiple images in different sizes, and text covering every square inch of label leaves the viewer’s eye nowhere to rest. You want to capture the viewer’s attention, not slap them in the face.
Pleasing Color Combinations. The colors should be pleasing to the eye, be complementary or coordinated and have enough contrast to make your text and images stand out. Complementary Colors are opposite from each other on the color wheel. The standard complementary colors are red and green, blue and orange, or yellow and violet.
Contrasting Colors for Text & Background. Contrast is best for making your words stand out. It’s important to choose either a very light color for the background of your text, and a very dark color for the text itself or vice-versa. Otherwise you won’t be able to read the words on the label once it’s printed. Please keep in mind your screen is always brighter than the actual printed label.
Sharp Graphics. The resolution of any files you upload to the design studio must be 300 pixels per inch resolution. This applies to any logos, photos or clip art you upload from your files. Be wary of copy and pasting web images, they are only 72 pixels per inch and will print blurry. All of the shapes in the design studio are high resolution, so by choosing one of them you won’t have to worry about them printing clearly.
Clear Message. The message the label conveys should be clear. Which means keep text to a minimum. Lengthy paragraphs are usually going to result in text so small that no one can read it without a magnifier. Choose font that is easy to read and make the size legible, but not so large it stretches from one side of the label to the other. Leaving space around the ends of text is more pleasing visually. Just take a look at wine labels on bottles in the store and you’ll see what we mean. There is always plenty of “white space” around titles, names, and descriptions. White space isn’t actually white, it’s just a name for the blank areas that gives your eyes a chance to pause and rest before taking in the rest of the design.

Like beauty, good design is in the eye of the beholder, but originality, quality and making something memorable are at the core of great design. Every single element of this “Make Your Own” wine label was made from scratch in the design studio without help from a graphic designer and without any images uploaded from her computer files. It has all the elements of good design from keeping the style simple to contrasting colors to memorability.

Dissecting How to Make a Wine Label in the Design Online Studio

Let’s take a look at how the customer made this wine label from scratch.

She started with a black background using the Paint Bucket from Background options.
Next she used the Add Text tool to type the title of the wine label, King Tom, in the font style IMFell in size 52, fill color white.
In keeping with the “king” theme she selected the Shape tool and chose the King chess piece from the Cards and Chess category, fill color red with a white stroke. (Stroke is the graphic term for outline.) She resized the chess piece by selecting the corner and shrinking it to the size she wanted.
The subtitle is Opus Sixty in Euphoria Script size 29, fill color white.
From the Shapes tool she selected the star shape with white fill, red stroke, and put stars on either side of the text Opus Sixty.
Vintage Reserve is in University Roman font size 11, white fill.
Texas is Trebuchet MS font size 20, red fill.
1954 is Georgia font size 12, white fill.

Here are some other examples of personalized wine labels made in the Label Design Studio. The dots across the top of the wine label below are simply text, to be exact, the period key used in sequence. The yellow band was made with the rectangle tool and the smiley face was made from the selection of clip art in the Shapes library. This customized wine label for a birthday illustrates how simple it is to make a wine label online.

The next wine label is made from text and a shape found in the Shapes option. The colors are contrasting and easy on the eyes. Make a similar wine label for your home made wine by going to Make Your Own>Custom Labels>Custom Wine Labels at BottleYourBrand.com.

There are unlimited wine label designs available using the design studio. The only thing stopping you is your imagination. So don’t buy expensive graphics software or hire a designer unless you really want to. All you need is to log on to bottleyourbrand.com and make your own wine label from scratch.