Packing and Shipping
While taking the photo for this week's On My Desk, I thought it might be a good time to show you how I pack my orders and try to stay organized.
Here's a look at some monkeys getting ready to move to their new homes. I generally try to ship several orders at once. I like to lay out all the bits & pieces I'll need before I get started.
I got a set of drawer organizers at Target to hold my labels, tags, business cards & such. This is much easier than grabbing things one at a time from my shipping supply drawer. Now I just pull out the tray and everything's right there. For each order I need a business card with a pinback button, a little tag with a handwritten thank you note, a return address label and a shipping label (I keep those ina drawer near my computer). It's quite a lot of work to send those packages out the door looking nice.
I use kraft tissue from ULINE to wrap my monkeys and baker's twine to tie them up. I also get my padded envelopes from ULINE, they ship really fast.
I print all of my own labels and tags myself. This is easy for me because I design my own graphics. I use 8.5x11" sheets of sticker paper from Avery to make my address and shipping labels & recycling stickers too. Check out the Avery website, you can design and print your own stuff online. The only thing I don't print or make myself is my business cards and pinback buttons (I let the professionals handle those items). I keep all this stuff in a small dresser in my sewing room. I got some inexpensive sleeves to help me separate everything. One for iSew, one for Monkey Travel Club and one for my fun colored papers.
My punches & tools live in a plastic shoebox that's stored in a cabinet under my cutting table. (How do you like my girly pliers? haha) I have my own set of tools, that ensures they stay clean (and where they belong!).
I've started to make some little gift tags to include with my Etsy orders. I try to buy paper that's fairly generic (although I couldn't resist those Chrismas trees). I've got some for every day orders too. I find the paper punch works better on heavier papers.So now you know all of my secrets. Enjoy!
6 comments:
It's interesting to see that magic that happens before we receive our packages. Everything from you always arrives so nice. I always appreciate the personal note. :)
That looks SO fun! If I actually made more than the occasional sale, I could invest in all those fun things too. I'm sure your customers LOVE all the special attention their orders receive. I know it is so fun to receive an order with all the fancy bells and whistles. :-)
I love how organized your stuff is! My shipping center is a mess, lol.
I too started making my own labels, just because it was cheaper and fun to make myself.
-Andre'a
Wow - sort of looks like my set up, but a whole lot more organized! I bet you never lose your paper hole punch!
Nice work! I have the exact same organizer from Target for the exact same purpose!
Oooh, that little tray is so great and your packaging is out of this world. So, so good.
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