September 03, 2008

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:

Christina J. said...

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. :)

Kristi said...

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. :-)

Andre'a said...

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

jessica said...

Wow - sort of looks like my set up, but a whole lot more organized! I bet you never lose your paper hole punch!

Molly Wiecks said...

Nice work! I have the exact same organizer from Target for the exact same purpose!

African Kelli said...

Oooh, that little tray is so great and your packaging is out of this world. So, so good.