Sometimes Food Ain't Enough

A couple years back I was finding I had time on my hands and decided I would explore the world of watercolor painting. I don't have the patience for it, really - waiting for stuff to dry so you can go the next step is really more than I can handle - but for a few months I experimented and spritzed, sponged, and splattered my way to an obsessive disorder.

I found them when I was cleaning out some old buckets o' stuff and it was fun to look through them and hanker to grab some paint and make a big mess (and it does make a mess, at least if you're me).

Foodie Needs Handbag

Well...here's the plan for my new handbag - not exactly a technical pattern, but the wallet turned out great, so it's time to think about a handbag for a foodie. I'll post the hopefully happy resulting bag next week.

Plastic - paradise no more!

I tried to give up plastic this week, to see how much I could forgo using and buying. Not that I'm a greenie or anything. I read an article recently that a few years after the precursor to man-made plastic, a scientist set out to make a synthetic replacement for ivory billiard balls (to save the elephants) which started its own chain reaction. Just goes to show how good intentions don't equal good results.

Still, I've had enough plastic for a while. I am a consumer, but you can't consume everything; there's way too much packaging involved.

I attempted to get through the produce isle yesterday without putting anything in plastic, but it didn't work out; the radishes were pretty dirty and the asparagus wasn't going to hold together, and the celery comes in plastic anyway. My plan wasn't a good one.

I like the thought of reusable canvas bags instead of getting new paper and plastic every trip; I used to use them, but the first or second trip the strawberries leaked, and that bag was out of commission until I got around to washing it. If you used them in a personal chef biz, technically you'd have to wash them after every use. I couldn't handle that kind of laundry responsibility; I can barely keep up with my regular laundry. I figure if I can promote my products while looking like I care about the environment, why not give it another shot? I can just get 3 times as many as I need in a trip, and that should keep the laundry at manageable levels.

I'm sorry to say that my Cafepress tote bag shipment will be full of plastic wrap.

New location for our culinary note cards and greetings

I can't say I'm overly excited about it, but recently I opened Cafepress.com/cooksnotecards to give my culinary-cooking-chef-food-etc. note cards and greeting cards and Christmas cards a bit of breathing room.

The real story is that Cafepress put a new limit on how many sections one shop could have. 500 is the limit, and I was up there at almost 400 with all my categories-within-categories, so I figured it should be done before even more work was produced. Moving the cards to another location is a tedious, tedious business, and suddenly my section thumb graphics are coming out uber fuzzy. Ugh.

I'm working on getting the whole thing up and fully functional by June 7th.

You can, of course, always find the cards in the main shop at Cafepress.com/intothepan in with their friends the t-shirts, tiles, aprons, hats, etc.; the only thing that's moving is the one-stop note card shop. Plus, Plan B is to do the same with the one-stop ornament shop, which also has a lot of individual sections to it.

If I knew html I could link all the shops together...but that will have to come later, and by someone who isn't me and who knows html. Or at least that's Plan C.

101 Postcard Ideas...#2: Custom Note Cards

What's the difference between printing a large postcard and folding it yourself, and buying pre-folded cards? For starters, you'll pay roughly 40% more for pre-folded cards, though you get the envelopes for "free". Those envelopes, people, are cheap; you can get note card sized envelopes at Office Depot, 100 for about $10.00.

Another difference is that with a large postcard you can print in full color front and back of the card (that is, the folded front and back), and you can stick your logo or some other fun message on the "back" as well so you don't have to mess around sticking your business card inside.

For some people, having them pre-folded is totally worth the price. If you need time more than money, great - go for it. But if you're on a budget, this postcard can give you a bit of relief.

Onto the savings! If you want thank you notes, special promotion cards, or even gift cards that look slick and professional, start with a good design, print them on large postcards, and fold them yourself.

In the poorly worded but truthful example at left, this is how I typically submit a file via Vistaprint.com, but the same principle applies at many printers. You make a vertical image for the colored/outside, and the inside is flipped so your note text will print on the backside of where the logo is shown on the outside.

When you get your cards, it's pretty easy to fold them yourself after you get used to the process; I suggest "scoring" the fold first with a tool or object laying around the house because your fold on the outside will be much crisper and your paper won't "break" when it's stretched for the fold. Instructs at left!

Brain Dump of Delicious Headers

I've been doing a lot of postcards lately, and that usually means coming up with a tag or header (plus the content, but that's another story) that makes...sense, and if it's snappy it's all the better. I like snappy. There's probably hundreds - I won't claim millions - of ways to introduce a personal chef service.

I do 100% personal chef subjects in the postcard arena currently, so my brain can sometimes get stalled on finding something new and different. This brain exercise post is therefore therapy and a little bit of fun. What would you put as a header on your postcard? Here's a Big Dump of Possibilities, without giving it much more thought than that:

An hour commute, and you still have to make dinner
Make dinner time fun time
Relax - we've got dinner covered
Household chores got you down?
Dinner without lifting a finger
Who needs cooking? We do it for you!
Healthy meals made simple
Delectable dining made simple
Home-cooked meals made simple
Healthier meals in a snap
Want more free time?
Mouth-watering meals in minutes
Does your diet make you feel guilty?
Eat right starting today
Reconnect with dinner
It's easy to eat well when we do the work
When's the last time you planned dinner?
Got a few minutes? Need more of them?
Dinner is easy as 1-2-3!
Heat, eat, and relax!
Need more thyme in your life?
You need more thyme!
What's for dinner?
Need a helping hand in the kitchen?
Fat, salt, and corn syrup isn't food!
Stress-free meals, stress-free evenings

OK, this isn't as fun as I thought it would be. It was more fun spitting out "Do you demand better dining?" when the piece was for Dinners on Demand. I don't really pull stuff out of a hat...I at least try to fit the focus of the piece, considering the business name, anything else on the chef's site or brochure or whatnot. Anyway, it doesn't hurt to write stuff down. Hope you had fun instead.

Ready to Rumble? Postcards vs. Rack Cards

I've just recently had some instances where folks are confused about the difference between a rack card and a postcard, so here it is in a nutshell:

Postcards
Postcards are cheap and plentiful. These are "throwaway" items you can give away or mail like candy (OK, candy is cheaper, but if you want to promote healthy dining, candy sends the wrong message). If you're on a budget - a pretty tight budget or you just like to save money - mailing might run you into a great deal of postage expense.

This brings the question: So why bother with something I have to mail?

The answer is: You don't have to mail them. (see the article below, 101 Postcard Ideas)

Now that that's out of the way...if you're not able or don't want to print a more expensive piece, you can do a lot with postcards. They're glossy and pretty (usually on one side, which is plenty nice), you can make your message short and sweet or more detailed as the need fits, and you won't hurt much when people toss them out. Let's face it - most people, no matter what you're selling, will throw away your materials.

Sizes: 5.5 x 4.25", 6 x 4", or 8.5 x 5.5". Glossy front, matte back. You can also get 2-sided glossy and 2-sided color at different places, but you'll pay more for it.

Vistaprint.com and 48hourprint.com do excellent jobs in the postcard department, and their prices are very, very good.

Rack Cards
Rack cards are display pieces, the next step up from a postcard. They're usually double-sided glossy and color, and therefore are more expensive to print (but still less expensive than brochure printing; you can get 500 racks for about $160 vs. 500 brochures for $350 ). Rack cards can serve as simple displays with a large splash of graphic and a few words on the front with more details on the back, or they can serve as your mini brochure without the expense of a full 6 panels of information.

Sizes are 3.5 x 8.5" (1/3 of a horizontal 8.5 x 11 sheet), or 4 x 9", which gives you a bit more room to state your business.

101 Postcard Ideas...#1

If you're on a budget and need marketing materials, you can't beat a postcard for flexibility, but you have to decide how you're going to use it before you design it.

As Chef Margaret Personal Chef Service and Into the Pan, I've mailed postcards in the past, but currently I use them as "throwaways" at networking meetings, give them to business partners as informational pieces, put them into giveaway bags at various events, and display them at trade show type events.

When I say "throwaway" I mean exactly that. Most people will throw your marketing materials away - er, I mean recycle them - no matter what they are. Would it make you more comfortable if they're throwing away your expensive brochure, or your "cheap" postcard? Don't get me wrong on the "cheap" - I refer to the price only. A glossy postcard done right looks fantastic!

Because I don't mail them out I can utilize the back to a greater degree; I prefer to focus on one or two ideas rather than try to incorporate all my possible services onto the small space. In the example shown, the front, or colored side describes my "dinner" chef service, and the back side describes my Mini Chef. It is in fact verbose because I use it as a little mini brochure about dinner service. Not every piece you print has to be short and sweet, and short and sweet - in my area everyone thinks a personal chef is a caterer - would not have served my purpose for this card.

If you did the same, you could still mail them out; you'd have to buy some appropriately-sized envelopes and stick it inside. That seems sort of a waste to me.

Postcards are extremely budget friendly, so for the cost of a more expensive single item, like a rack card, for example, you can design and print two or more separate postcards, one for giving and one for mailing.

A postcard is sized (approx.) 5.5 x 4.25", or 6 x 4"; it depends on where you get them printed. Glossy front, and matte back. Online printers will tell you what size(s) they offer; a local printer will print whatever size you want. It all depends on how much money you want to spend, and online printers have the best price. You can also get a half-sheet size, or 8.5 x 5.5". They use more paper, so they'll be a bit more expensive.

Ask yourself some questions before you go to print:

1. What is the purpose of the card? Educational/informative or call to action?

2. Are you promoting a specific service, a special deal or special day?

3. What size? Does it need to stand out in people's Great Mail Piles? Handing it out to your dietitian or personal trainer partners? Using it as a counter card at the local hair salon or organic store? Does it have to fit into a specific space?

4. How many do you need? If you have a bunch of "leftovers", can you use them in another way or do you have to toss them?