I love you charms!! They are so cute!! As an artist trying to get started on selling my own products, i was wondering if i could ask how you make your packaging look so nice? I would love to learn how to make my stuff look so professional.
Oh me gosh, you have no idea how much that means to meā¦ Iām emotional now! ( ļ½„į“ļ½„Ģ„Ģ„Ģ„ ) Thank you very much lovely! ( āāā )ā”Ā I apologize in advanced for taking forever to answer your wonderful ask. You caught me right in the middle of prepping for a conventionĀ ļ½”(*^ā½^*)ć
Anywhosies~ Hereās a small tutorial on how I do my packaging for charms:
First, make your design. I sometimes sketch out the design on paper before I move onto Photoshop. Depending on how big you want your packaging to be, is how big you want your design to be. I prefer to use 3x5in and always work under a 300dpi/resolution or bigger. Make sure you are able to find baggies with your dimensions before you design. Iāll talk about this further into this tutorial.
Tip:Ā Make your width at least .25in smaller! Some baggies are a couple of millimeters smaller from the actual width. I keep forgetting to fix this little detail thus why you see the width as 3in instead of 2.75in.
The design is really up to you. You can have a theme going on per set, per charm, or you can even just use your logo as the design for every charm and make your life easier lol Ā Thereās no rules to follow, just have fun and design away!
Tip: Donāt overdue your designs though, you want the charm to be the main focus. Something simple yet fun and or elegant will work. Donāt be afraid to google examples of other peopleās designs. That will give you an idea and get you going.
Save your designs! Save them as both a JPG and PS file (or as the software you are using).
Be organized! If you plan on having multiple designs or even make lots more charms in the future, name them so they are easier to find. Your packaging designs can even have their own folder or sub folder if needed.
Setting up. Open any wordpad or word processor of your choice and add your design. Depending on how big your design is, youāll be able to fit more or less.Ā
Print a test page. Print your design on your everyday normal paper just to check that everything looks okay! If your printer is like mine, it will be a troll and sometimes print a bit crooked, but donāt worry! Since theyāll be cut, it doesnāt affect your designs in any way.
Ta-daaaa! Here are my designs that I printed on the cardstock I fell in love with. The cardstock I use is called Astroparche Cover Stock and itās from the brand, Neenah. I love the natural look it hasāitās not white, so ye be warned that the colors will have a small slight tint of yellow when printing. The cardstock is also thick enough for my printer to use and sturdy enough for my charms. You can find this cardstock on Amazon, but I was lucky enough to find it at my local Office Depot!
Tip:Ā Photo paper can also be used if you so prefer. Again, whatever makes you happy and works best for you.Ā
Get your handy dandy paper cutter readyā¦
Cut, cut, cut!Ā Cut out all your designs with your paper cutter. I donāt suggest using scissors unless you trust your hand enough that it wonāt mess up and cut straight! If you donāt have a paper cutter, note that you most certainly do not need to buy the huge guillotine type. Thereās small ones that can be used and can even be taken with you to conventions! The one I use is small and cute and has been with me for three years and the extra blade that came with it has not been used yet. Amazing~
Punch, punch, punch! Time to get your hole puncher and punch them little holes. I actually have a special hole puncher with a 3mm hole, but you can definitely use a regular 6mm hole puncher. How far down you want your hole to be is up to you.
Tip: If you want to get fancy, you can even buy hole punchers that have cute hole designs! Like stars or hearts ā”āā”ā
Baggies!!! So, remember how I said to make sure to find baggies with the dimensions you plan to use before designing? This is only because of the rare chance you use certain dimensions that thereās no baggies for. Always double check!
Anyways, when buying baggies, make sure that you go half and inch (or more) above your height so you can create a tab to fold back and tape your baggie shut. You can also find baggies that already have adhesive! Itās just a matter of what you like and what works for you. Maybe you want to get creative and use a cute sticker or washi tape to close your baggie, who knows! Some people even buy baggies with hang tabs to hang them for display when theyāre tabling in conventions.
āBut Dee, where do I find baggies??ā
*squishes your cheeks and whispers*
Ebayā¦ Ebay is your best friend. Search for clear cello/poly bags (ļæ£ā½ļæ£*)
Setting up! Once you have your charms built and ready to go, itās time to package them and use your new super duper amazing designs! For this, weāll be using washi tape since it doesnāt leave any residue and itās easier to peel off. Any washi tape will do, it doesnāt matter! I tend to rip off about 10-20 pieces at a time to have them ready to go. It makes things easier on my end.
For cellphone straps: Loop the strap inside the hole and align your charm. Once you are happy, tape the strap with the washi tape.
For key chains: Yes, it works just as well! But weāll be needing ribbon, 3mm wide ribbon to be exact. Cut about 2in and loop one end inside the split ring while bringing the other end above. Bring both ends of the ribbon into the hole and align your charm. Once you are happy, tape the ribbon. You should now have your charm cutely hanging from the ribbon~
All you gotta do now is bagĀ āem, seal āem, and you are ready to go! Look at youāyou did it! Iām so proud of you ( ļ½„į“ļ½„Ģ„Ģ„Ģ„ )
I hope this helps you and anyone else looking to start making their own unique packaging for their cute charms~ ā¤ (ÉĖŠ·(Ėā£Ėc)
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