Interview on Handmade Packaging and Etsy

I had a chat today with Sara from CrochetBusiness.com and Squidoo about packaging, craft shows, and other business stuff. Watch the video below or on YouTube.

Weekly Inspiration

Here's the first ever edition of the Weekly Inspiration. I hope to do one of these every Friday highlighting a few cool pieces of packaging, design, etc.

This week's find from Flickr.

Spring Time Felt Bird Brooch Hot Pink Yellow Aqua Polka Dot Vintage Fabric , originally uploaded by lova revolutionary.

Handmade Business Squidoo Lenses I've Written

I've been writing on Squidoo for about 2 years now, I have over 140 pages (called lenses) on various topics. This blog was actually a way to take what I had been doing with some of my Squidoo lenses and make it more focused. So here's a rundown of the lenses I've written, I hope you find them useful.

❦Make your Handmade Products Stand Out - Using Creative Packaging
❦Preparing for an Art or Craft Festival
❦Tools for Etsy Sellers
❦Running a Handmade Business
❦How To Make Your Own Business Cards
❦Selling Handmade Jewelry Online
❦Using Twitter to Promote your Handmade Business
❦Etsy Sellers: What is your favorite way to promote?
❦Using Squidoo to Promote Your Handmade Business
❦Branding Your Handmade Products

Packaging Large, Fragile, and Other Difficult Products

As I'm always saying packaging matters. It really makes a difference to your customers to open up a plain shipping box to see a beautifully packaged item. However not all handmade products are as easy to package as jewelry, soap, or other small items. Some may just be very large, or fragile so safety when shipping is a higher priority than pretty, or maybe you ship in an envelope so space is limited. How do you package a fragile lamp or vase and still be able to pack it securely for shipping? Here are a few ideas:

• Tags. Make or have printed some pretty tags and tie it on with a colorful ribbon or string.
• Tissue/wrapping paper. If you have to wrap an item with bubble wrap or packing paper use some colored tissue paper as the first wrapping layer. Then as they upwrap the packing materials they get to this final colorful layer right before their item.
• Colored bubblewrap. Yes, you can get bubble wrap in several colors. One place online that sells it is Fast-Pack.
• Stickers. Instead of plain tape securing bubblewrap or a box use a custom printed sticker.
• Boxes. A very secure way to pack some items is to double box them (pack the item in one box then nestle it in a larger box with packing peanuts cushioning). Boxes give you the option of decorating them with a label.
• Flat or rectangular items. If you make cards or anything rectangular an easy way to package is to cut a strip of colorful paper, wrap it around the item(s), tape the ends together on the bottom, then use a sticker or rubber stamp to add your label to the top. Soap makers often use this type of packaging so go check out Etsy's soap section to see some examples.
  

I hope this gives you a few ideas for sending out those harder to package items. I'm sure there are many ways to package that I haven't listed. Just be creative and have a little fun with your packaging. There's a great group of Etsy sellers on Flickr showing off their packaging.

Quick Tip #2 - Mini Cards

Several custom printing services such as Zazzle and Moo now offer mini cards, these are 1"x3" cards similar to business cards but much narrower. These are a perfect side for custom tags! Just make sure to design them with space at the end to punch a hole and use ribbon or string to attach them to your products.

Creative Packaging Ideas - The Basics

This will be an ongoing series because I really think having great packaging helps a handmade business stand out and be memorable to your customers (you want repeat business right?).

This post is on the basics of what I think is important for good packaging. Make sure you check out my Squidoo lens Make your Handmade Products Stand Out! Using Creative Packaging for even more ideas.

The photo to the right shows some of the packaging that I use. It's a mix of fabric gift bags and boxes but you can see that they have a consistent look to them. There are many ways to package your products depending on what you are selling. Small bags and boxes work well for small items like jewelry, paper strips wrapped around handmade soaps with a label are simple but look great, if your products come in a jar or bottle have custom label stickers printed up for them, custom tags for fabric items, the possibilities are endless. Wander around your favorite store looking at how products are packaged or check out the Die Line blog for ideas.

General Tips

• Include photos of your packaging in your shop, let your customer know how their items will arrive.
• Plan your packaging ahead of time and keep all your packaging materials organized in one place (I just use a large box).
• Keep things looking consistent, I don't mean everything has to be the same, but the style and theme of your packaging should all have a similar feel.
• Make the product and packaging match. If it's retro styled give the packaging a retro look. If it's Victorian don't put it in a tied-dyed box.
• Make it professional. Make sure glued items don't have edges sticking up, corners aren't ripped off tags, all text is correct and spell checked.