Tutorial - Matchbook Notebook Promos

There’s a great thread going on in the Etsy forums about promotional items other than business cards.  It inspired me to try making some super cute matchbook style notepads.

You will need:
Cardstock
Plain paper (for the insides)
Paper trimmer or scissors
Stapler (high-quality, you need to go through a lot of sheets)

I started by making a 2.5” x 5.5” file in Photoshop.

Then I added my image.  You will have to put your image (or text) at the top & upside down. If you wanted to add text to appear on the back of the notepad, you’d put it where I indicated in the image.  The lines are where you will fold – I didn’t print these, they are just there for the purpose of this tutorial.

I then created a new letter-sized file and arranged 6 of these images on it.  Next, print it out on cardstock and cut apart.  If you don’t have Photoshop, that’s fine.  Just cut out 2.5” x 5.5” strips of cardstock and you can decorate them with stamps, stickers, etc…

Next you’ll need to cut up the paper for the interior.  Cut plain paper into 2.25” squares.

How much you cut up depends on how many books you’ll be making.  Each book will hold between 10-15 sheets, depending on how good your stapler is.

Take one strip and place it on a hard surface, image side down.  Fold up along the centre fold line (use a bone folder to get a crisp fold).

 

Next fold up along the bottom fold line.

Add your sheets of paper to the inside.

Fold the bottom part over the sheets of paper and staple.

Put your back into it, or you’ll end up with a messed-up staple like this, and you’ll have to remove it and do it again.

I really wanted to use these cute purple staples I had leftover from my scrapbooking days, but they just weren’t meant to go through more than 5 sheets of paper.  So I switched to utilitarian silver Swinglines.

Some of them I had to trim a bit off the front flap to get it to fit smoothly underneath the stapled flap. 

Not a single one of my matchbooks ended up being the exact same size.  That’s just how I roll.

Finally, I customized the back with a “Thank You” sticker and a stamp of my URL.

Now you’re done!  Cute little promos to give away at shows, or to stick in with a customer’s order.  This is also a fun craft for kids in the 8-12 year old range, especially little girls.  I loved stuff like this when I was a kid – you’d never find me in the toy aisle, I was checking out the stationary and office supplies.

It Never Stops Growing, Part II

Remember when I got this new box for my essential oils, and I thought I could never fill it up?

 

It’s almost full already. 

I may have to find a new home for my business cards.

But then they won’t smell all pretty!

Fun with Labels

Remember when I talked about all the great free products I ordered from VistaPrint? Well, I’m not going to talk about that again.  Because they seem to be adverse to giving their premium products away for free anymore.  Now the deal is free shipping when you spend more than $30, but it’s basically a wash because they always overcharged for shipping.

Anyway, what I am going to talk about are the self-adhesive “return address” labels.  These have uses that extend far beyond being stuck in the upper left-hand corner of an envelope!

Being the clever devil I am, I co-opted them to use for quickly labelling small bottles of essential oil and custom blends.

I downloaded a template right from the VistaPrint website and added my own background. The only text I included is my URL – this leaves plenty of space for writing in names of oils.  These labels have worked fabulously for my needs. I also use them to label sample bags, seal envelopes with a quick message, or even stamp with my return address so I can use them as their originally intended purpose!  They are so fabulous, in fact, that I just ordered another set of 140 of them – for a whopping $2!

Now these simple, blank labels are all well and good for personal use, but when I’m selling a blend to a stranger, there needs to be a bit more information on the label.  Things like volume, warnings, my business name.  I’ve been printing my labels at home, but that gets tedious.  (My label creation technique is this whole long, convoluted process that is probably worthy of its own blog post. Or not. Maybe it’s just worthy of some lengthy therapy sessions.)

So I came up with these babies:

Again, only $2!  I tacked them onto an order of brochures and business cards so the shipping would be free.

All the necessary information is there, plus space for me to neatly print in the name of blend.

See them in action:

Now available in my Etsy shop!

Final Stretch

I finally did it.  I booked dates at the end of March to write my CFA board exams.

This must be the longest ever that it’s taken someone to finish their Aromatherapy studies! People have become medical doctors in less time.  Okay, that’s an exaggeration.  I started studying in the Fall of 2007.  What would take a normal person one year to do has taken my procrastinating ass almost three.

These exams are my last major hurdle. Then there is just the small business of taking a First Aid/CPR workshop and I’ll finally be able to use the CAHP designation.  That’s Certified Aromatherapy Heath Professional, for those of you just joining us.

 

Now take a look at the cute new stuff I added to my shop!

Travel Sized Hydrosols:

Mini Head-Aid Oil:

Packaging Possibilities

I am a self-confessed packaging whore.

Please forgive me.

When I see a cool or cute new bottle, container or jar, I buy it even if I have no plans for what to put in it. 

I’m working through these issues.  Promise.

So when I saw these adorable mini roll-on bottles, I obviously had to get them.

  And I even had a plan for what to put in them: trial size versions of my Head-Aid oil.  And possibly some perfume synergies.

Unfortunately, the bottles are a bit more stout than I expected they would be.  The chubbiness does make them all the more adorable, but it also makes them too wide to comply with Canada Post’s wacky 2cm rule.  Instead of being able to ship these to my Etsy customers at a cost of $2.50, they will cost $6.00 to ship. Sadface.

Yet another product that I’ll only be able to make available to in-person customers due to redonkulous postal rules.  I do have a show (my first!) coming up on February 13th and I anticipate these will unload quickly.  People like to buy small, cute (and relatively inexpensive) things.

I could also toss them in as a bonus with the full-sized product.

There are always possibilities! Any other ideas for me?

 

Organize Your Spice Cupboard

Let’s get something straight.

I do not make New Year’s Resolutions.

I make Life Resolutions.

Okay, I don’t really do that either. It just sounded really deep.

You ain’t getting no motivational mumbo-jumbo outta me!

But for those of you that do make resolutions, I hear getting organized is a pretty popular one.  I love getting organized.  I don’t love staying organized.  But that’s between me and my therapist.

Organizing an entire home (or life) is a huge task. Don’t try to do it all at once or you will become overwhelmed and might give up.  Use the salami method.  You wouldn’t eat a whole salami all at once, would you?  No, you break it into chunks.  (Wait, I’d eat a whole salami at once.  Okay, maybe this is a bad example.)

Here’s a chunk of the salami: your spice cupboard/rack/drawer.   We’ve all got one.  Stuffed full of a mish-mash of little bags & bottles, most of them purchased when there was still a Bush in office.  Bush Senior, in my case. 

Here are some quick tips for getting your dried herbs & spices under control:

1. Empty

Pull everything out of the cupboard (or off the rack) and place it on the counter or kitchen table.  Wipe down the shelves or rack, and add a pretty shelf liner if you feel extra spiffy.

2. Sort

Immediately toss anything that isn’t labelled, unless you know with absolute certainty what it is.  Dried herbs lose some scent as they age, and what you “think” is oregano might actually be parsley, and this could have a disastrous effect on your spaghetti sauce.

Go through the rest of your stash, tossing any duplicates, anything that is opened and over four months old and ones that you never, ever use.  Be ruthless and be honest with yourself.  Some of us never get past the salt & pepper when it comes to cooking and there ain’t no shame in that!  Don’t burden yourself with an entire cupboard full of reminders that you’ll never be as diverse a cook as your mother-in-law!

By “toss” I mean, dump out the contents and throw the empty glass or plastic bottle in the recycling bin.  If your herbs are in little bags, the bags might be recyclable as well, depending on where you live.  If I catch you throwing glass jars in the garbage, so help me I will hunt you down and slap you with a wet fish!

Unopened jars can be donated to the food bank. Opened jars can be left in the staff kitchen at work, if your work allows those kinds of donations.

Now would also be a good time to get rid of all those pretentious flavoured teas you bought and never drank.  Take ‘em to work and leave ‘em there!

3.  Put Away

Wash out and thoroughly dry any refillable spice bottles.  I prefer to keep my herbs in glass, as it doesn’t absorb scent the way plastic does.  Stainless steel works well, too.

For goodness’ sakes, label those jars!  Doesn’t need to be fancy, just legible!  I use little white stickers and a fine-point Sharpie.

Keep your herbs nearby the food preparation area, but out of direct heat.  Please, for the love of Moses, do not hang the rack on a wall or leave it on a counter in direct sunlight!

If I were rich and fancy and had a kitchen with more than two drawers, I’d get one of these babies:

But instead I have this sad looking thing.  It sits on the counter within arms’ reach of the stove, but still safely out of reach of heat, sunlight and the fingers of 3-year-olds who like to eat cinnamon by the spoonful. 

Make yourself a promise (a resolution, if you will) that from now on you will purchase your herbs & spices in minute amounts from the bulk food store and refill your bottles as you go.   No person on this earth will use up a 100 gram bag of ground sage in less than four months, yet that’s the standard size for a bag of dried herb sold in the grocery store. 

You’ll still need to be large amounts of the ones you know you’ll use up quickly.  Salt & pepper come to mind.  And in this house, it’s also lemon pepper and Italian seasoning.  And chocolate chips.

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas!

Happy Hanukkah!

Happy New Year!

Happy Kwanza!

Happy Solstice!

And a Festivus for the rest of us!

Yes, I realize it’s been some time between postings.  I offer no excuses.  I just lost my muse.

What do you do when you lose your muse?  And no, I didn’t mean for that to rhyme, but don’t I sound clever?  Huh.  Maybe my muse is coming back.

Vintage Herbalist Almanacs

I love getting mail.

Especially when it’s a bunch of cool vintage The Herbalist Almanac that I recently ordered.

(From this seller on Etsy.  You should check her out!)

Apparently, First Nations’ people are the foremost authority on herbalism.  That’s why they make the front page every single month.

There are so many great illustrations.  But mostly there are just advertisements for magic potions, as well as the weather forecasts for each month of the year.

These almanacs are circa 1930s and 40s. I love cool, old stuff.  Especially cool, old books.  I once bought a textbook for a correspondence course in chicken husbandry just because it was printed in 1910.

Footnotes from the original owner?  Or at least from someone somewhere along the line. Only makes it more interesting!

Pretty much hasn’t changed in the last 70 years.

More great illustrations.

There was vaccine controversy in the 30s?! Who knew? 

Simple Ways To Strengthen Your Immune System

Start each day with some Vitamin C & Echinacea.

Clean & sanitize without harsh chemicals.

Clean & sanitize with harsh chemicals (hey, sometimes there is no other way!).  Like the handle of the shopping cart at the grocery store.

Wash your hands whenever you can.  Carry your own bottle of liquid soap in case the public washroom is all out.  Travel-sized bottles of shampoo are perfect for this.  Like these ones, collected from various hotels.  (Don’t you judge me!  You know the first thing you do when you get into a hotel is pocket the toiletries!)

 

It doesn’t matter that these were not meant to be hand soap.  When it comes to hand washing, it is friction and rinsing that gets rid of the germs.  The soap facilitates this, but it really doesn’t matter what kind of soap you use, as long as it lathers.  And technically, what most of us think of as ‘soap’, is actually ‘detergent’, but that’s another story.

Of course, sometimes there is no sink to be found.  Some people swear by these hand sanitizers. 

As these contain mostly alcohol, you must keep these away from kids.  No, they won’t die if they lick their hands after they apply it, but they may try to drink it from the bottle.  Hey, kids put weird stuff in their mouths.  You already know this if you are a parent.

Get lots of sleep.  No, really.  Even if it means DVR-ing  Grey’s Anatomy and watching it on Saturday afternoon instead of live on Thursday night.  Or whenever it’s on.  To be honest, I don’t watch Grey’s, I only mentioned it because it seems to be a popular show. 

If you do feel flu-like symptoms coming on (mine starts as a twinge of pain in my lower spine), start taking this.  Don’t ask me to pronounce it.  I just say “ossio-mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm”.

The directions on the package say to take an entire vial at a time.  My friend is a homeopathic doctor and told me this is not necessary.  Just fill the little cap with pellets (about 7-10) and that’s enough. More is not better when it comes to homeopathy, but it can’t hurt you either.  That’s why they tell you to take more – use it up faster, then you’ll have to buy more and they get higher profits!  It’s not just the pharmaceutical drug companies that want to make lots of money, ya know.

 

Purify the air around you and leave it smelling wonderful.

(Shameless promo.  Sorry.)