Winemaking became a passion when I got out of college. It was something I did for fun and friends and family really looked forward to a glass of my homemade wine. When the opportunity came to own a vineyard with my brother in law David, I jumped at the chance. We called it “Ruby Vineyards” because his wife’s name is Ruby. It’s only fair after all; he did find the vineyard and owns more than half of it.

Having our own vineyard has been exciting and we’ve just passed the first year mark for our business. We wanted to do something nice to thank our customers. We started looking at all of these elaborate thank you gifts like gourmet food baskets or engraved wine glasses – when my brother-in-law said, “Let’s make a special batch of wine, just for this one year anniversary.” That sounded really perfect. But we wanted the bottles to look different, not like our other bottles. So David found personalized labels for our wine bottles. We could add a message along with our logo and company name. It was all in full color and looked very professional. It was the perfect touch and the ideal way to say thank you to all of our customers who have stood by us for this past year.

The wine came out beautifully and David and I both knew right away this was a very special wine. We added the labels and started sending it out. On the labels we said, “Thank you for your patronage, celebrating our 1^st year. Ruby Vineyards.” Right away we started to get response. Our customers loved the wine! I actually had customers begging me to order cases of this special vintage of wine we’d created just for this purpose, something we hadn’t thought about.

The response was so strong from our Thank You wine that we’ve decided to add that vintage to our regular offerings. We call it our Anniversary Wine. I think we’ll make a different one for each year to thank our customers. From what started out as a simple idea, thanking our customers for their business has grown into an even bigger idea we hadn’t even thought of.

The personalized label was ideal because we could add a message without bothering with the fuss of a card. Both David and I were worried about what would happen if the card dropped off the bottle or somehow got lost. Then out customer wouldn’t understand why we were sending them a bottle of wine. We wanted to be 100% sure they knew we were sending this as a thank you. We also wanted to be sure they knew this was to celebrate our 1^st year in business. Both ideas worked successfully with the personalized labels that were so easy to attach to our wine bottles. They looked professional, and in full color we easily got the style we hoped to achieve.

Ruby Vineyards may be small but we are dedicated to making fine wine that people enjoy. I think that passion and enthusiasm shows with every glass. Salut and to your good health!

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As the holidays approach, many are thinking about sending out packages. Whether you have a business or personal packages to send out – the holidays create an ideal time to use festive address labels.

The best address labels have plenty of room for a To address and a From address. They also have room to include international addresses. An address label with extra space means a business or individual can add a telephone number or a second telephone number to contact in case there is difficulty delivering a package. This is a great convenience and an ideal addition in today’s age of unique addresses.

Holiday mailing address labels let your business celebrate the holidays and pass along your Seasons Greetings to everyone who comes into contact with the package. From the package handlers at the Post Office or other delivery center to the mail room where the package is delivered, people will smile as they see your package. The holidays are simply a time when people and businesses seem just a bit warmer and friendlier. It is the perfect time to share your greetings.

Best of all, these Seasons Greetings go out into the world to connect with potential new customers for your business. No matter what products or services you sell – they will be attracted by a festive holiday address label. This address label reminds people of this special time of year and also for the reason for sending the package.

There are many ways to accent your festive holiday address label. Try sprigs of holly or ornaments. Or snowflakes and a wintery scene. Adding a small graphic is quite similar to including a holiday card with your package, and very much like the saying goes “a picture tells a thousand words.” Select festive holiday images that are ideal and that many people will enjoy. Snowflakes are a perfect choice for many as most think of snow during this time.

Print your festive holiday address label with a font that is easy to read. Some may decide to go a bit overboard, choosing a fancy font for their holiday packages too. Often this is a mistake – as then their packages are made much harder to deliver. While a pretty calligraphy font does look very festive, there are lots of people who may squint a bit at this font and wonder if those numbers are what they seem. Don’t leave that overworked post office worker guessing during this season! Use a font like Times New Roman or Courier.

Some companies today use their holiday address labels instead of including holiday greeting cards with their packages. As a business, this can be an excellent way of not only saving money but to also be “green” and act environmentally responsible. In today’s business climate there are many clients who will respond favorably to see a business that acts in a “green” manner and this will also respond them to act accordingly. This is an easy way to make a “green” decision that celebrates the winter holidays for your business.

Classic holiday colors for address labels include red, green, silver, gold, blue and white. But choose colors that are ideal and complimentary to your business, corporate culture and your logo or graphic design on the current packaging. Adding a festive holiday foil label that is complimentary is an ideal decision.

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Toys Noticed This Holiday Season with Product Labels

Let’s face it – there are a lot of toys on the shelf this holiday season. Every advantage you have to stand out could make the difference between making a sale – or being the Closeout item come this January. Custom Product Labels give your toys a polished and professional look every time.

Toys deserve labels with a highly original and especially playful look. You aren’t going to find that with just an “everyday” label. Labels are important on children’s toys. They can remind parents to buy batteries, of appropriate age levels for a child’s toy or if there are non-toxic or choking hazards in your toy(s). Best of all, a label gets special attention – a label often comes in a contrasting or complimentary color and really stands out. This makes parents pay close attention to whatever you have chosen to put on the label.

A custom product label is an ideal way to point out your USP (unique selling position) for your toy this holiday season. Perhaps your toy is an educational toy that has received outstanding reviews from well-respected publications. A custom product label permits you to highlight these reviews or commendations on your toy’s packaging in a show stopping way.

You can also introduce new features or characters using a custom product label. If your toy has been on the market for awhile but you’ve made some changes to this new version, custom product labels can introduce new and current customers to your changes. Many customers may not read every detail on the toy’s packaging before buying. That custom product label can help you entice buyers – and also avoid confusion or disappointment. If your toy has switched age ranges for example – the parent of a four-year old will want to know that your toy is now appropriate for ages six through eight, not four through eight.

A custom product label is also a unique opportunity to encourage customer (and child) interactivity. If your toy company has a website with interactive features – or free things for purchasers of that toy – a custom product label is an ideal opportunity to highlight this feature. Best of all, you’ll get both adults and children excited about the idea of visiting your website to check out coloring pages, puzzles, games or other fun things they might have otherwise missed out on.

The best custom product label is one that both compliments and also contrasts your toy’s packaging. So if your doll is packaged in a sweet little girl pink color box, consider not choosing another pink color for the customer product label color – but a contrasting color or a color that will compliment yet also stand out. Try another girl favorite color like purple. Or green or blue. Or a metallic custom product label for extra shine – making your label gold, silver or another metallic color.

Custom product labels can be a toy company’s best friend. Children love stickers and will happily look for stickers wherever they go. When they see a sticker on a toy they like, this alone will encourage them to stop and look longer as they view the sticker. Make your custom product labels appeal both to children as well as adults. Remember that you have two different customer bases when it comes to a toy purchase.

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As a football Mom, I haven’t always been thrilled with my boy playing the sport. Sometimes I’ve worried about him getting hurt. Other times I’ll admit I’ve been frustrated when he just hasn’t spent as much time on his studies as I would like him to. But he does love being a member of the Panther football team. So I attend every game and proudly say “Go Panthers!” with the other Moms and Dads.

But the Panthers have had some trouble with their equipment this year, making it tough for Jimmy to enjoy the sport as much. The coach had even sat the boys down and talked about the team ending the season early without the equipment due to safety, something that really just tore Jimmy up inside. We knew we had to do something. So we turned to boosting the Panthers with a bumper sticker fundraiser.

Our Panthers bumper sticker fundraiser was simple. We created three different Panthers bumper stickers. The bumper stickers were beautiful – all four color and durable vinyl. We knew they would stand up to heavy-duty use and be on the vehicles a long time. The custom bumper stickers were for different levels of fundraising. If you gave up to $25.00 you got the first bumper sticker. If you gave up to $50.00 you got the second bumper sticker. People giving more than $50.00 got the third bumper sticker.

I’ll admit that there was some subtle competition going on here. That people really wanted to be seen with that third and “best” bumper sticker on their car. So even though we had ordered three different kinds of bumper stickers, we easily sold more of our highest priced bumper sticker. But we didn’t really have to ask or arm-twist people for money. They really wanted that sense of pride that comes from helping the team. The fact that our Panthers bumper stickers looked great I’m sure really helped though.

The kids and parents sold bumper stickers for several weeks and it all went very quickly. Some of the cheerleaders were very outgoing and sold lots of bumper stickers. Some parents worked for large companies are were able to sell lots of bumper stickers. But truly everyone gave it their best effort and that’s what made it the most successful. Everyone giving their best to the Panthers.

I think our bumper sticker fundraiser was so successful because people realized they were helping out the Panthers by giving to the team. The bumper stickers didn’t cost us too much in expenses, so it wasn’t like throwing the team a fancy dinner or other type of event. But the bumper stickers looked great and best of all – they would be on the cars and SUVs year-round. So the team would get lots of Spirit from that.

As a proud Panther Mom I can say that we raised $4,500 from our bumper sticker fundraiser. Lots of folks in the community wanted to help out. I smile as I go to the grocery store or to get gas and see all of these “Go Panthers!” bumper stickers. I know I didn’t just help Jimmy but I helped the whole town.

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Getting Attention With Company Holiday Cards

It seems like every company sends out a holiday card these days. The holidays are the ideal time to reconnect with old clients and to send good wishes to your current clients. It’s competitive when you sell office supplies – as customers have lots of options. That friendly “Happy Holidays” can serve as a good reminder so they know who to call when they need office supplies, gardening services or other business needs met.

But with so many holiday cards in the mail at the same time, it’s hard to make sure that yours gets as much attention as it deserves. We’ve tried personalized cards with our name on them – and it seems like every other company is doing that too. That’s when we discovered Embossed & Foil Stickers. These Labels come in many colors and you can easily customize these to truly stand out and make an impact.

Adding a Foil or Embossed Label to the back of our Holiday Card worked just like Santa’s sleigh!  From the very moment our customers received our holiday card, they knew it was from us. Best of all, that Foil or Embossed Label showed we were making a special effort for them. Not everyone goes the extra mile for their customer. We all know that when you show someone you are willing to do the little things, they know they can trust you with the bigger things as well. Our office supply business started getting orders, even before we could take our own holiday break.

A holiday card may seem like such a simple thing, but you would be surprised at how important the simple things are. Connecting with your customers is critical, especially when you run a small business like ours. When you sell office supplies, you need to get to know your customers. Celebrating the holidays and wishing them “Happy Holidays” with a festive Foil Label is the ideal choice for our business. Our customers look for our card – and it really stands out from the others.

But I haven’t told you the best part yet. We’ve had plenty of labels so we have used them for other things. Adding them on top of outgoing packages to customers during the holiday season has certainly gotten their attention. We’ve gotten a number of calls asking us about “these new labels.” Several customers called me asking where I got the labels. They shimmer and shine and come in many colors. We ordered ours in red and green and blue and white.

Best of all, we started hearing from our old customers – the ones who hadn’t ordered from us in months or years! Just by sending them a simple Holiday card with a show-stopping label, we got our customers’ attention right back where it belonged: on our business. Between the orders from old and current customers, our order department has been as busy as Santa’s workshop!

So if you are looking for a way to connect with your customers this holiday season, look no further. Pick out your favorite Foil or Embossed Label style and get your holiday cards ready. Then get ready for the phone to ring!

Mark Trumper

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If you have a contracting company, I bet you’d like to know one of the easiest ways to advertise it. I’ll give you a hint: they’re walking around in front of you all day.

Give up? Okay, we’ll let you in on the secret….add Hardhat Stickers to your hardhats. This is an excellent way to make every employee on the job at your sites remind people that Grafton’s Lumber or Smithton’s Contracting is hard at work. And if people like what they see – then they know who to call.

A Hardhat Decal is not merely an advertising method, it’s also a top-notch way of protecting your job site. We all know that your typical job site is a busy place with trucks, other vehicles and people coming in and out all day. If everyone on your job site wears one of your hardhats with a Hardhat Decal, it’s an easy way to scout out someone who doesn’t belong or just plain looks funny there. And in today’s day and age you sure do need to protect your business.

A Hardhat Decal can easily tell people about your company without your needing to say a word. Put your phone number and website on the decal. Add your company logo. Include the months or years you’ve been accident-free on the job. Each of these are great ways to promote your company.

Remember that many of your construction workers will carry their Hardhats with them in their off-hours. This is easy advertising for you even when they are not on a job site. Remind them to mind their manners and that they represent the company as they carry your Hardhat. A polite interaction could lead to a new customer or business relationship for you. Why, it’s like each of these Hardhats becomes silent salespeople for you!

So don’t do things the hard way when you can choose an easier method. Look into Hardhat decals to promote and protect your construction business.

Contact Maverick Label if you are interested in purchasing hardhat stickers or any labels for your business. They are pros in the business. Call 1-800-537-8816, Toll Free from USA & Canada  (425) 771-6500 (Elsewhere)

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Who doesn’t like a bottle of wine as a gift? A bottle of wine is the perfect gift for so many occasions. From the dinner party to celebrating a special event, your bottle of wine will be enjoyed and the thoughtfulness you share will be remembered with every delicious sip.

But most of us long to give gifts that get noticed, truly stand out a little bit. Especially when you attend a big dinner party and the hostess receives ten gifts all at once – how will yours really stand out from the crowd? When three other people are bringing wine, somehow it just doesn’t seem like you stand a chance.

Custom Printed Wine Labels created from your own artwork can easily be added to any wine bottle. What a perfect way to say “From The Johnsons with Love” or “Happy Holidays” or your own special greeting. Not only can your share your greeting, but an image to go along with it that shares your happiness and goodwill. Try a cozy family photo for the wine bottles you give as hostess gifts. Or to celebrate the new baby in your family, add a picture of that bouncing boy or girl’s photo to the wine label and announce their arrival in the world. There are so many ways you can make your Custom Printed Wine Labels unique.

Wine is a classic gift because it is popular with many people. There are different types of wine to give ideal for special occasions. Try bottles of champagne to celebrate that wedding engagement or start of your new company. Or a 25 year old bottle of scotch to celebrate a law school graduation or retirement party.

The Custom Printed Wine Labels are ideal also for corporate gift giving purposes. Add your company logo to give wine for a company event. Or add a photo of your latest product to give wine to clients and employees to celebrate a new product launch. Custom Printed Wine Labels can be ordered in a low 250 minimum quantity – so it is easy to do a small batch.

There are so many creative ideas for your custom artwork – sometimes it is hard to narrow it down to one. Photographs are quite popular as they depict people the recipient knows and show who we are toasting with our bottle of wine. Company logos are another popular choice for corporate gifts – remember every time your logo is seen it is a gesture of goodwill in your community. Giving a bottle of wine to someone can easily be seen by another dozen people, not just that one recipient of that bottle.

Now it is easy to make your personal or corporate gift stand out – with Custom Printed Wine Labels. As they uncork that bottle and take a sip of that wonderful vintage, they’ll remember your friendship, goodwill and generosity.

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Company I.D.s don’t sound like the most interesting topic. But let’s talk about this for a moment. You really should know exactly who is entering (and exiting) your building. Without company I.D.’s it is easy for literally anyone to slip in undetected.

You may think that your security staff is top-notch, that company I.D.’s are unnecessary and a waste of money. We’re not going to dispute your security team’s talents. Having company I.D.’s however can often make their jobs quite a bit easier.

Company I.D.’s can quickly be noticed on people’s cars before entering your company’s headquarters. One glance can tell your security staff is that person is authorized to be in your buildings. A company I.D. as a weatherproof label on their car is an easy protection system to have in place for your business.

A company I.D. should have your company name, an expiration date and some way to identify the employee. First initial and last name can be a quick way to do this. Or you can use a numerical system. Choose something that works well for your security staff. Most important is to have your label well-organized so it is easy to read and quick to scan. Many of your employees will be rushing into work, not thinking about the security staff trying to read their company I.D. weatherproof label. Make things easier on your security staff so when a problem arises, they can focus their full attention of this – instead of minute details.

Don’t think that company I.D.’s can be done “once” and then forgotten about, the trick is constantly monitoring them. Put someone in Human Resources in charge of maintaining records and keep them in close contact with your security staff. This simple precaution can keep a disgruntled former employee (or soon-to-be former employee) from stealing priceless company secrets and taking them to the competition. This monitoring system can also keep a former employee from giving their weatherproof label to someone else to enter your company headquarters.

In today’s day and age security is critical for every type of company. Fortunately putting security measures into place is often easier and more practical than many companies think it will be. Most employees adjust quickly to security measures – and quite often they appreciate the company that keeps its corporate location safe and secure. This also means the employees’ personal safety is protected as well.

With company I.D.’s on cars always use Weatherproof labels. No matter your climate, this will encourage the labels to have great durability and be long-lasting. It also means the Weatherproof label will stand up to that ice storm, hurricane or hot summer days you are facing.

Written by ID My Stuff.

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A hologram is created by capturing the light reflected from an object and reconstructing it so the subject appears to move relative to the position of the viewer of the hologram.  This is what makes a hologram appear 3-dimensional but in fact it is not, it is a 2-dimensional representation just as an ordinary photograph.

In 1947, Hungarian physicist, Gabor Denes (known as Dennis Gabor in English) was playing in his lab with the results of pioneering technological advances dealing with the development of the electron microscope.  Dennis Gabor was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for his discovery but he had to wait until 1971 to receive the recognition he deserved.

The discovery was made in England at the commercial lab of British Thomas-Houston who filed a patent back in 1947, however the holographic light/optical technique did not attain any commercial significance until the development of the laser in 1960.  With the invention of the laser, 3-dimensional objects were then able to be made and the technique was first discovered in 1962 by two sets of teams – one in Soviet Russia led by Yuri Denisyuk and in the US, led by Juris Upatnieks.

Article provided by MaverickLabel.com, offering quality hologram stickers.

The initial holograms required illumination using the polarized light provided by a laser which severely restricted the use of the hologram.  With the development of “Rainbow Transmission” holograms, ordinary white-light sources could be used to create the 3-dimensional replication and this opened the door to using holograms in everyday life.  The holograms you see on credit cards and as security tags on product packaging are of this type.  The rainbow transmission technique uses a surface print on a plastic film which is then backed by an aluminum mirror-coating to provide the backlight source of illumination – this is what creates the 3-dimensional image appear.

A refinement of the rainbow transmission hologram is the “reflection” or “Denisyuk” hologram.  Here a multi-color image is reproduced and a white-light source from the same side of the viewer is only needed – this removes the need for the backlight coating which increases the cost of producing the hologram.

While static 3-dimensional images can be reproduced on a 2-dimensional medium, the science fiction concept of a 3-dimensional image being projected into a space is not yet with us.  The ability to replicate a 3-dimensional image into a space holds a lot of attraction for television and film but while plenty of effort has been going into creating a 3-dimensional viewing experience, the reality is that this holographic development is still science fiction and not science fact.  The 2008 holographic projection of CNN reporter Jessica Yellin during the Presidential elections last year may have given the impression of a hologram projection into space but in fact there was a merging of a video feed from the reporter which was then combined with the video feed created in the studio.  In other words, it was a cheat, but still gave a good indication of the possibility of 3-d holographic movies and television may be able to bring to the movie theater or your living room within the next few years.

Follow Maverick Label on their Label Blog.

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If you’ve gone to a winery these days (and who hasn’t) you may have noticed the latest trend….you can bottle your own wine. It’s very cool. These winemaking classes are easy for a beginner to take and often you make about a dozen bottles, so you’ve go plenty to share with future dinner parties (or one big party). Many wineries offer different classes for different types of wine – if you want to make red wine or dessert wine or white wine, etc.

But what’s missing from this personalized class is something you can easily provide yourself – personalized wine labels (wine label designs). Why not name your wine and mention that it is from “The Jones Family, Summer 2009″? This personalized wine label makes your wine ideal for gift giving for so many occasions.

Custom wine labels are easy to create, you’ll just want to know what type of wine you are making and what you are calling it – as most you give a bottle of wine to will want to know what they would be uncorking before they have a glass (so they know what to serve with it).

Warning: both the winemaking at the winery and the personalized wine labels can become very addictive. It’s fun – and your family and friends can get quite used to expecting a delicious bottle of wine from you – they’ll ask when they will see the next one! Don’t worry though….making the wine and the personalized wine labels are rather step-by-step and a fun experience!

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