Decorate Your Preserves

For everyone that has ever tried canning or preserving their fresh fruits and vegetables from their garden, you know the challenge of a good labeling system.

We’ve tried labeling the lids of the mason jars with permanent marker, and we’ve tried paper canning labels. Writing on the lid with permanent marker works fine, but it’s not all that attractive when you decide to share those beautiful preserves with others. While the paper canning labels might look a little more decorative then permanent marker, they still have a very amateur look and feel. That simply doesn’t do justice to all the hard work that you’ve put into growing and preserving your delicious food.

How can I give my preserves a more professional look?

Well why not give your preserves the professional look that they deserve? One easy way to do so is to design personalized stickers and have them printed professionally. So, that’s exactly what I recently chose to do.

Where can I get custom stickers printed?

When it comes to choosing a printing company for your stickers, it basically comes down to size, shape, and price. With price being the most important factor for me to consider, it really helped me to determine the size and the shape.

I researched a few different online printing companies and finally decided to go with the round stickers from moo.com. The 1.5 inch round stickers are a really nice fit for the top of the mason jar lids and I feel that they are fairly reasonable in price. Obviously, the larger the order the cheaper the price becomes.

I also felt very comfortable purchasing stickers through moo.com. I’ve used them numerous times for printing business cards. Hands down, they print the best business cards I’ve ever seen.

How should I design my stickers?

The sticker design really comes down to personal preference. If you don’t want to create a complete and up-loadable custom image like I did, you can create a design online. Moo has a pretty simple wizard that allows you to add text, color, and photos. If you’d like to see some of my designs, check out the images below. I recently created them and had them printed in order to decorate my homemade passion fruit jam and homemade passion fruit syrup jars.

I’ve previously printed business cards with moo.com on numerous occasions for my photography business, but I didn’t have any Pioneer Way marketing material. So, I decided to also order some mini cards. Mini cards are half the size of standard business cards and are a great way to showcase any product or business. Not only will they be useful for sharing contact information with others, but if I punch a hole in the corner, I can attach them to my jars with a small ribbon. It really adds a wonderful personal touch to any of my canned goods that I decide to share with others.

Below is the design I used for the mini cards. On the reverse side, I was able to have hand selected photographs printed. That really takes the mini cards over the top! Instead of photographs, you could also choose to add thank you messages or catchy slogans. The possibilities are endless!

What ideas do you have for decorating your preserves? Lease us a comment and let us know!