Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The A-Zs of Packaging: F-J

Announcements at the end.

Welcome back for another fun-filled day of packaging.  For those of you just tuning in, we are spending this week exploring some of the items that turn an ordinary gift into something extraordinary.  Yesterday we covered letters A-E, touting the importance of everything from... yes, Altoid tins to construction paper, candy, die cuts, boxes, envelopes, and DCWV paper.  But the real star of yesterday's post was "C"ellophane.

Cellophane catches light and by doing so makes your treat sparkle and appear fancier.  It crinkles when you touch it and it makes most anything look a touch more crisp than it would otherwise.  If you don't own a roll, invest in one.  A little bit goes a long way and it is well worth the money.

Maybe you're not convinced.  Maybe you don't buy into the idea that packaging is as important as I'm suggesting.  Here's a recent example of how packaging influenced my decision making.  

My mother in law invited me for lunch and a pedicure on my birthday.  It wasn't the first pedicure I'd ever had, but pedicures are not part of my normal routine, so I was E*X*C*I*T*E*D.  When we walked into the spa where our appointments were booked, we were met with cascading water behind the receptionists desk and warm and welcoming smiles by the women who were working.  Soon we were escorted to the back, immediately swept off our feet, warm neck pillows put in place, masks placed gently over our eyes, and all while sitting in comfortable reclining chairs.  I'd love to tell you more, but truth is I fell asleep.  Yes, I did say pedicure, not massage!

This was by far the best pedicure experience I have ever had (or ever heard of anyone else having), beginning with the ambiance of the spa, the calming music, the voice of the nail technician, and on an on.  That pedicure was well packaged.  Could I whisk down the block to the strip mall and, in the end, have the same painted nails, while sitting under flourescent lights and watching cars come and go from the parking lot?  Sure.  But the packaging of scenario two would not keep me talking for weeks.  And it certainly isn't where I will go when I, in turn, want to give the gift a pedicure.  I will go with option one.

My pedicure is an example of how we might package a service to make it more appealing, but in anticipation of my Eighteenth Annual Random Acts of Kindness Party, we will stay focused on the packaging of items - presents if you will.  Today's letters... F-J.  Let's get busy.
  • F: Foam Shapes.  I'm sure there are a lot of other "F" items you will come up with, but this is the one for me.  I LOVE foam shapes for how effectively they add dimension to a package.  I have them in countless color and shapes.  I have Halloween pumpkins, witches, and ghosts; fall leaves; Christmas trees; snowmen; snowflakes of all shapes; hearts; letters; animals; weather related shapes, like clouds, lightening bolts, and raindrops; geometric shapes, and more.  This will be today's showcased item, so stay tuned.
  • G: Glue Gun.  Thing about my foam shapes is that they are made impossible without a glue gun (a hot glue gun, that is).  Do you have one?  If you don't, drop what you are doing this very minute (which is reading my blog) and proceed to your nearest craft store.  My blog can wait.  I'm serious.  If you do not own a hot glue gun it is not o.k..  I cannot rest until I am quite sure that everyone who reads this blog has one.
  • H: Hot glue gun and hole punches.  Have I mentioned the essential nature of a hot glue gun when making any real attempts at extraordinary packaging?  If you're still reading this and you don't have a hot glue gun, you have not taken my plea seriously enough.  If you already own one, then we will move on to Hole Punches.  I love hole punches.  Hole punches can be used to embellish a simple index card or to create homemade confetti for inside a card or package.  I have quite a few shapes, but my recent favorite has to be the fall leaf I just sent Chris Peres (who won it while bobbing for apples (F is for Festival, 10/16).
  • I: Idea or theme.  Yes, sometimes your idea for packaging will come from the "theme" of the party or gift itself.  For example, Cassie recently had a birthday party for her boys.  The invitations looked like magic hats with rabbit ears sticking out (pull the ears and out comes the invitation).  A magician was scheduled to be at the party, so I thought it might be fun to have the packaging be magic related.  We painted long white mailing tubes black to look like magic wands and then dipped the ends in silver glitter.  Once completed, we filled the tubes with magic tricks and other treats.  Point.  The theme of the party inspired the idea for packaging the gift.  Below is another.  Richard got cowboy boots for his birthday.  I didn't have fun wrapping paper, so instead I used the box and let the gift inspire the wrapping.

  • J: Jewelry Accessory Bags:  This was a hard letter, but then I remembered about a recent purchase I made.  I bought a package of 100 small jewelry accessory bags, not to hold jewelry, but instead to hold small treats that I sometimes want to package.  Patchwork patches are a good example.  Instead of just throwing your hard-earned Patchwork patch in an envelope, isn't the treat made just a little bit nicer by sealing it in a small bag?  I think so.  
Today's Featured Item:  Foam Shapes!

The $5.00 treat... Dishtowels, per one of your Friday suggestions.

Pre-wrapping


Pre foam shapes and post foam shapes
 (though admittedly not the greatest photograph)


Announcements:
Today's Treat: Yesterday's packaged treat was given away as a Random Act of Kindness, per the suggestion of Amy - one of the Bobbing for Apple participants who won a Random Act done in their favor.  Today's treat goes to Lori who, while bobbing for apples, won one of this week's treats.
DCWV Giveaway:  Peggy's on a roll.  She is yesterday's lucky winner of the pad of DCWV paper (seems rather appropriate).  
Pumpkin Patch: Remember, earn a pumpkin patch for your Patchwork jeans by submitting a picture of a carved Jack-o-Lantern to kkolkmeier@gmail.com by Wedneday, October 29 at 5:00 p.m.  The winning Jack-o-Lantern will receive a prize in the mail. 
Blog-a-thon: Difficulty getting people to participate means we will be forced to do two things: (1) move the day of the Blog-a-thon to Wednesday, November 5 and (2) shorten the length of the Blog-a-thon to 10:00 am - 10:00 pm.  Hopefully the changes allow us to be successful in reaching our goal to raise money for the Helping Hand family we adopted for the holiday season. 
Paint the Town Red: I know some of you continue to stay committed to our  goal of collecting as many Reward points as you can for Heather's friend Julie.  Maybe Heather will post a comment today with the latest standings.  For more information see post labeled, Paint Your Town Red, 9/13.
Fess Up:  If you don't have a glue gun, get it off your chest and tell us now.

Signing off until tomorrow...

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK OK, ill get off my chest and tell you that i do not own my own hot glue gun! BUT i love them, and when i move out of my mothers house (which has one!) i will get my own, promise! HAHA

Not enough time for me to do the letters today. FW is in THREE days! (but who's counting?!)...so im off to the gym before classes and then spending another night in the student affairs offices and the SAC! MISS YOU DR.B and HEATHER!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Cassie...you certainly know the value of a hot glue gun, so hopefully Dr. B will cut you some slack.

I miss you too and I'm sure that with you and Sam at the helm FW will be FABULOUS!!!!

The HLA readers are no slouches when it comes to sending in coke rewards...My email box is overflowing and I probably have enough rewards to last me for months!!! I keep all my update information on my computer at work so I'll post an update later today.

Julie said...

cassie p ... we are much alike this am ... i also do not own a hot glue gun (however, i have moved out of my mom's house, which does have one) and have yet to purchase one of my own ... and i dont have time to post individual letters right now ... but i will be back later tonight after work.

Julie said...

also, Heather - I just emailed you some rewards to your gmail account.

Claudia @ Highlowaha said...

Oh, my gosh. Two of the four posts so far today are admissions of no hot glue gun! Who else? Fess up!

Peggy said...

I have a glue gun....two actually... but sad to say, since I'm not floral designing, creating wreathes or working as the room mom for holiday projects... it's in the craft closet... my glue of choice for card making... mono adhesive, 3M double sided tape and glue sticks!

F - frames.... buy them cheap at the dollar store and embellish... good for pictures, to hold artwork, you could even put a gift card in it... check out my blog for
the post: Pottery Barn Inspiration
http://prdesigns.blogspot.com
where I just printed our surname letter R for a cute decoration, I have letter R's all over the house

G - Glue sticks... easy, not messy, don't have to wait for them to heat up... I buy in bulk at Sam's club

H - Hello Kitty... I think I've seen 'stuff' at the $1 bins at Target.... how fun to just stuff a note pad in with your little goodie, write a note on the first page

I - imagination... just think what the gift looks like with nothing wrapped around it... change that thought and now use your imagination and think how wonderful it is to receive a gift with even the simplist of bows, and then go from there

J - Junk... one man's junk is another man's treasure... spray paint an old basket crisp white, I ask the eye technician at work for the cute boxes glasses come in, they're sturdy and I can stamp them or add paper and ribbon to dress them up, go to a thrift shop, buy a $1 platter clean it up and put your best baked goods wrapped in cellephone and give away! The perfect hostess gift.. they get to keep the plate!

Cheryl Houston said...

Peggy, you rock! Great ideas. I will have to think about F-J and get back to you.

I do own a glue gun. Matter of fact, I probably own 5 or 6 glue guns. The problem is I can never remember where I put them so I just buy a new one when I need it. OR- I have a gun and glue sticks but glue sticks don't fit in that gun. I haven't used one in a long time.

Claudia- some of those foam shapes come with sticky sides! Love them.

Hopefully, I'll get all of these projects cleared off my desk and be back here soon!

Katie said...

I do own a glue gun- and I love it!

F- Funsies! The ultimate goal of any package I send...funsies for the person I'm sending it to.

G- Glitter- my staff loves to add glitter to just about everything.

H- HLA sticker. I like to stick them on my packages if I'm sending them to someone who isn't a regular on the blog.

I- Initials. I like to personalize the package by putting their initials on it.

J- Jams. I like to include CDs/Mixes of music for friends. I love sharing my love of music with others.

Claudia @ Highlowaha said...

Cheryl.. yes, I have seen the foam shapes with adhesive on the back, but I actually try to buy it without. I find the adhesive is not all that sticky and eventually falls off. Hot glue, on the other hand, is there for life!

Does anyone else have that problem?

Though, Cheryl, I have to say... they make a wider variety WITH the adhesive than without. Oh, life's choices.

Anonymous said...

Paint the Town Red Update:

SAHLA: Katie: 975 points
AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA

305-cap codes
4-12 pack codes
1-24 pack

CAAHLA: Tera: 566 points
DE, MD, NJ, OH, PA, DC, WV

56- 12 pack codes
2 cap codes

SWAHLA: Heather: 260 points
TX, AR, LA, OK

6-12 packs
1-24 pack
60 cap codes

GLAHLA: Peggy: 120 points
IL, IN, MI, WI

10- 12 pack codes
1-24 pack code

NEAHLA: Maureen: 57 points
VT, NY, CT, ME, NH, RI

9-cap code
3-case code

IAHLA: Lori: 36 points
AZ, CO, ID, MN, NM, UT, WY

3-12 packs
2-cap codes

MAAHLA: No points yet
SD, IA, KS, MN, MO, NE

PAHLA: No points yet

Cheryl Houston said...

Really! I haven't had any trouble with them falling off. I have had trouble with all the extra backings being spread every where!

I know I shouldn't say this but I feel I must. I hate the hot glue gun. I have experienced times when it doesn't make the stuff stick other than my fingers! I can't remember what I was working on but I can tell you I was frustrated.

On the other hand... one year, many moons ago, I made my ex a bee costume and I just hot glued him in it. Works great on felt!

Brian K. Root said...

Check out the latest on the Helping Hands blog!

Anonymous said...

JULIE - I should have got you a hot glue gun for your birthday. Maybe it'll be a Christmas gift?!

I do have a glue gun but don't use it all that often. But it's a must in the craft drawers.

I can't think of something for each letter, but I do have one for "F".

F - fun. You have to have fun while making a package. If you're not having fun, those receiving the package won't have fun either.

Anonymous said...

Ihave 2 hot glue guns i really don't use them too much anymore. Although they do come in handy when you need something to be glued and nothing else really works. I used to be crafty in my youger days (LOL). Claudia, thank you so much for the goodies that you had sent. It is really nice to be in touch again after all of these years. Your HighLowAha Site is amazing good job. Hope to see you one day when you come into NY.

Julie said...

TERA ... perhaps ;)

F - freedom of expression ... to not think "inside the box" when decorating!

G - Glitter Markers ... In my wonderful b-day gift from Tera was a package of Glitter Markers! FABULOUS!

H - Happiness ... either a lot of it ... to inspire a package, or a lack there of, and once you decorate a package, you'll have some!

I - instant scratch off lottery tickets (with a "little bit of luck" for the rest of the NY readers out there)

J - ... im at a loss. i'm sorry!

maureen said...

F- Frames... they sell lucite frames that can be decorated with just about anything. They make nice favors for a party. You can put a pic of the guest with your child for a thank you

G-Glue dots. Make crafts in half the time and its great for the kids

H-Hemp... We make such nice necklaces, bracelets and anklets. Krysten has even made a book mark with it. It is real easy to work with.

I-Inky Pens.... make cards and pics that look cool my girls love them. They even sell the black paper for them now

J-Jewels.. the packages of little jewels and rhinestones can make awesome decorations

Claudia @ Highlowaha said...

Ooohhh... Maureen, I'm so bummed I didn't think of the jewels. I hot glue those to packages all the time! Great addition to our list, among others.

Cheryl Houston said...

It's been a long day. :) Some of this maybe is so much for packaging but here goes anyway...
F- felt or fabric... it could happen
G- Glue and glitter have already been mentioned... how about something gold.
H- hands. You need practiced hands to put it all together.
I- iron on patches or an impact.
J- a jar. A big one to mail monkeys in. :)

Claudia- that something I said I would send you will come tomorrow night.

Brian K. Root said...

i would love to teach myself how to make hemp jewelry.