Crafty & Frugal Ways to Let My Customers Know I think their Important.

Once I've managed to sell an item, the tricky process of mailing items off always stumps me.

Granted, my hair turns grey trying to offer competitive shipping that will protect me as a seller, and also ensure my buyer know I truly intend for their item to get to them safely.  But that is an entirely different post.

You want your packaging to be safe, yet eye-popping.  You want the item you just sold to be just as special as when the Buyer said "I have to Have That.  I am going to Buy this".  But not everyone can go down to the craft store and spend Extra on Fancy Scrapbook Paper, or pay the Post Office an extra 3 dollars for a Priority box that has Glitter and Red Stripes printed on it.  Corky Love's Creepy Rat Brooch is wrapped up in a bit of protective wrap, and then I wrapped the Brooch in some Lunch Tray liner Wax Paper.  I got a big bag of these old school Cafeteria Wax Paper Sheets from the Thrift Shop, for 99cents.  They are so retro, and I can use them just like Tissue paper, or take the time to be nice to the Wax Paper and use it as a cool Gift Wrap.  It doesn't completely mess with my theme, BenderOak Gifts, but it does pair up fairly well with the Leftovers4Dinner Etsy Shop!

It's tough, but being creative, as I know most of the people that read this are, there's some simple things you can do.

A couple weeks ago, I had made a bunch of Doily Coasters.  I also sold a really pretty, somewhat fragile Mother Of Pearl Necklace.  I had 4 inches of bubble wrap left, and I have always had 0 inches of cutting and taping skills.

So?  Wrap it in a Doily, and some extra paper!

I made sure my Beloved Vintage Owl Pendant got to it's new Home safely with an extra box from my Needles stash.  It's a hard plastic box, but it reminds me of a tiny little tupperware container.  Since I was really worried about this necklace being bent or scratched in the mail, I put it in some wrapping I got inside a box that once held my Boyfriends GPS.  Some Hello Kitty Stickers that have been laying around for almost Decade Old, Collecting Dust, but just haven't brought myself to throwing out.  So I've been incorporating them in my packaging.

 

By Accident the other day, I learned an interesting trick for taping stuff.  It always seems like when I try to lay the tape across something, or over something, it somehow ends up all over the place, and all messed up.  I could be taping a note to the door on my craft room, and somehow end up with tape on the ceiling, and  my ear.  So it's no surprise that when I went to tape the edge of this one package, I laid the tape across part of the package, and the table.

  

Since the table was that old metal utility card/sewing table, and didn't have nothing crazy going on, I just kept taping the package down, onto the table.  I didn't go crazy, just enough to make sure I got all the edges of the shipping label.

 See the edge?  The tape is going over the edge of the shipping label print out, and around the envelope.  Once I was done, I gently pulled the tape and the package up.  Then, Folded the Tape down.

Perfect Edges! Brilliant!  Seriously, I bet there's hundreds of people reading this right now going, "Duh", but seriously, I had never thought of actually using the table itself to position/align the tape.  I also bet there is one person out there, with tape hanging off their ear and their cat, going "I'm totally going to try that the next time I need to mail something".

Just make sure the table has a smooth, clear, durable coat.  Mine had some wear and patina on an edge corner, so when I went to tape down one package, I got a little gunk on it.  But other than that, it worked great.  Maybe I should go out today and find a new table....

Thanks for reading guys!  It's not shabby, old, or crafty, but maybe it's helpful!

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