Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Graduation Season Begins!

It's only March, but already the graduation exploding box order rush has begun!  I received two orders last week, and another one this week.  Crazy!!  Last week, I got orders for one high school and one college graduate.  I try to be really careful about using school logos and imagery...it's not really an issue for high schools, but for colleges/universities, it definitely can be.  The graduate of the college order I received goes to University of Alabama.  Being on the west coast, and not being a big sports fan, I was unaware how very notorious/important this university is, but upon researching their logo usage, was duly informed, lol!  They have an extremely strict policy about using any logos, including a licensing procedure that I did not have time to go through.  So, I had to get creative.  I have had to deal with these situations before, and managed, but this time I think I hit it out of the park!

So, breaking this down: I used the school colors of crimson and gray for the card box bases.  Since I could not use the university logos, I instead used a letterman font for the graduation year in the school color, and added some script to add "Class of".  Love. It!!  Also, since the university has trademarked the phrase "The University of Alabama", I dropped the "the" and printed University of Alabama in the school colors, in a font close to the letter font used by the university.  The rest is the usual, including general graduation graphics on the printed panels with the graduate's name.  I am really happy with how it turned out!  I sometimes struggle with what to do when I can't use a school logo, but I think this really worked out well.

In addition to working on custom orders, I am working on stuff for the SET Spring Sale at the end of April.  I recently ordered a sample pack of paper from a company that makes seeded paper- that is, paper that contains wildflower seeds, so you can actually plant the paper and grow flowers.  How FREAKING cool is that??  The sample pack I ordered came with 2 sheets of 5 colors: pink, blue, white, yellow, and green, and I also ordered one sheet that is white with red/pink flower petals embedded.  I have started making some floral gift tags, which I plan to sell at the spring sale.  Here's a sample of what I've made so far:



So, as you can see, I've made some tags that are blue with daisies, as well as white tags with pink carnations, and green tags with butterflies.  The tags are 2x3" and I have added natural twine through the top holes, for a natural look.  I am really liking how they are turning out! The seeded paper is pretty spendy- the company I ordered from is in Canada, so shipping is not cheap.  But I have wanted to try this for some time, so am excited about offering these tags at the upcoming spring sale!

That's all for now- will update again soon!