Running an Etsy Shop Archives - Whimsy Willow Creations

How to ship ornaments

How do you ship glass ornaments so they don’t break? I’m no expert, but I have shipped over 1,000 just like this, and I’m here to share my best shipping tips with you! Don’t be scared. People love to buy Christmas ornaments for Christmas gifts, and personalizing them with a silhouette cameo is easy, so don’t let shipping hold you back!

Put a scrunch of packing paper in the bottom of the box
Wrap the ornament in 2 12×12 sheets of bubble wrap.
Place ornament inside box. I use 6x6x4 for the M&M style ornaments and 5x5x5 inch for the medium round and 6x6x6 for the large round size.
Fill in the top of the box with more packing paper so that the ornament doesn’t move.
Ship First Class Mail. Do not ship priority unless you double box. Priority mail takes boxes up to 70 pounds and your pretty ornament will be destroyed!

You can print labels from home using your home printer and tape them to the box, or if you start selling and print lots of labels get a DYMO 4XL label printer. It was by far the best thing I bought my crafting business last Summer, and I use the aftermarket labels below. 220 rolls for $8 is a great deal and saves so much packing tape! With the Dymo 4xl you can print labels with Etsy or Paypal, and they have discounts on shipping with USPS and even Fed EX.

Here are the supplies I use to ship if you need quick links!

I hope this was helpful to you!

You might also like these Super cute fonts for Ornaments:
Super Hero Ornament Font

Delaney Script Ornament Dont

Cookies Ornament Font

Happy Crafting,

Disclaimer: Links in this blog post are affiliate links which pay me a small commission to share my knowledge with you. That small percentage pays for my web hosting and crafting supplies, so I can make more blog posts! Thanks!

My favorite Commercial Use Fonts…Some are Free!

Picking what font to use when cutting vinyl can be tough, but using fonts to create signs, shirts, and all sorts of crafting awesomeness is so fun. It can get sticky once you start selling if you use fonts that are for personal use only, but I’m here with a list of where I get my favorite fonts to help you get started! I try to consider the amount of time and energy it has taken me to learn how to use my Silhouette Cameo 3 and the upgraded software every time I price my items for sale in my Etsy shop, but I also think about the time and energy it takes a designer to create a font or design that I use in my projects and once I think about that, I feel obligated to compensate the original creator monetarily for helping my family pay for our trips to Disney! I wish I had the time and energy to create fonts, but until then I’m happy to find these awesome deals!

Fontbundles.net has free fonts and great deals on commercial use fonts. I always check them out around the holidays to see what new cute font packages they have! Click the picture link below and it will take you to their free font section! I bought the Samantha Script font and love it!

Right now they are running the first pay what you want deal on a super pretty Script font bundle. I got all of these for $1, and they are commercial use, so I can sell what I make with them! 13 Fonts with commercial use

The deal ends in 10 days, so don’t wait!

Both of these were made using Samantha which is commercial use! You can purchase it here Samantha Script Font File

The Carolina script font is also super popular right now and only $10 for unlimited commercial use Carolina Font Link

I also am loving “justlove” it has the character mapping option with lots of variations for swooshes and embellishments! just love font

The Superhero font helped me sell tons of ornaments this year!

SuperHero Font

The Hungry Jpeg has awesome fonts and files, some free some paid, but they are commercial use and have great tech support and you can download what you get from them over and over and over again if you don’t have things backed up, or if you forget the name of the font you love, you can log into your account and see what it was! Here are some of my current favorites. Make sure you check back with them because they come out with freebies. The bundles are great for a business starting out because you get a lots of commercial use fonts for only $19! You can make one sign and pay for that!

Find hundreds of FREE Fonts at TheHungryJPEG.com

The Kooky Font Bundle has 51 fonts for $19, some of these are super cute and useful and all have commercial use! it’s 99% off right now, so grab it quick!

Laura Worthington makes some of my favorite fonts, and this months bundle is only $19 for 19 amazing fonts! Check out Adorn and Fairwater…you could make some amazing stuff with the included glyphs!!!

Grab the The Christmas Crafter Font Bundle includes 19 Fonts at only $19!

Grab the The Indie Font Bundle includes over 67 fonts from 20 gorgeous font families at over 93% OFF

For personal use fonts I always check out www.Dafont.com, some of my favorites are the Janda Series and the KG series. The designer only offers them for personal use on dafont, but you can purchase commercial use licensing from her other site. They cut beautifully and are super fun!

My Vinyl Designer also has some great fonts and Monogram frames that I have used, and make sure and check out my first project where I show you how to use your iphone and a free app to make a monogram that you can trace with your cutting machine software.

I’ll try to update this list as time goes on, but for now. This will get you started!

You may also like: Click photos to be redirected to downloads!

Happy crafting,

Disclaimer:some of the links in this post pay me a small commission if you purchase which I use to keep this blog up and running. I would never recommend something that I do not know and love!

Craft Fair Jitters

It’s been a few years since my first official craft fair, but I remember it like it was yesterday. Three weeks of my life were consumed with the layout of this 10 foot space I would inhabit for one day. Should I bring a tree, or a dresser, how many shelves do I need, what about tablecloth colors and bags, and lets not forget the most important question….what do I wear? I sat on the floor armed with a dry erase board and made a list of 50 different items I could create to take with me, and I slowly weeded things out and changed my game plan to focus on 2 products that had been hot sellers for me this season. Some People Are Worth Melting For ornaments and Santa-tizers. A week of sleeping 4 hours a night paid off and I was all boxed up and prepared for the trip to Dallas. I was determined to not mess up, and hopeful that I would sell all 100 items I had prepared for the big day. Joined with my 2 best friends, we set up like giddy school girls, and eyed our competition. Side note-vendor craft shows can quickly turn into an episode of Mean Girls, as all of the sleep deprived creative hopefuls see your merchandise as giant barricades of awesomeness that may very well prevent the future purchases on a creative entrepreneurs wishlist. Things like glitter, and washi tape, and trips to Disney World add up quick! The Scentsy lady down the hall was stressing because she had no power, and a beautiful display of shabby chic farmhouse decor had all of us jaw dropping, secretly wanting to be her! The moments before the doors opened and the first rush of customers came in was the absolute worst! I began to rethink my display, and my strategy, and even my outfit! The only thing keeping me grounded was the “cha ching” noise of my Etsy shop lighting up my phone. The huge rush of customers we had anticipated never showed, and I actually sold more on my Etsy Shop that day https://www.etsy.com/shop/WhimsyWillowCreation?ref=shop_sugg than I did at the craft fair. The other vendors, who I had prematurely labeled “the enemy”, became customers and friends. We all laughed together at the effort we had put in for such a low turn out, as we chowed down on the appetizers that were supposed to be for customers. It was a great learning experience, and I’m excited to be back in the groove and signed up for my first craft show in Katy, TX! It’s going to be a blast, and I hope to see you there!