Treating Yourself to Happiness

What a glorious day it is. Yesterday my husband sent me a text message that had a quote from Maya Angelo, the quote said something to the effect of look up at this beautiful day, thank you for this day, I’ve never seen this one before. How awesome is that to look at each day as being something new, a day we’ve never seen before. Why is it so hard for us to think that way at times? I guess it’s because life is so busy, we just need to slow down a tad. Whether we’re crafting our own beautiful little candy boxes or wreaths (which you know I’ve grown to love talking about), life can be so full of wondrous things at times. It merely takes a new perspective to appreciate those very things you don’t typically notice.

That’s what I love about working in The Wreath Shoppe: it feels like a slower pace. I’ll hunt and peck over details in a wreath instead of frantically running around poking things in here and there. No, in The Wreath Shoppe I sit back and ponder, I take a 1000 breaks, I stop and listen to the birds singing outside! I don’t know why but something about a hobby relaxes us even when we may have a deadline, we still work toward that deadline in a more Relaxed manner.

Just like when cleaning The Wreath Shoppe, it can be a daunting task depending on how much work I have been doing there in the past several months. Seeing all the boxes that need repackaged, seeing all the baskets that need straightened, seeing all the flowers scraps and ribbon scraps that need to be swept, can feel a little overwhelming! But what if I looked at it as an awesome chore that I get to do, because I’m healthy enough to do it. What if I looked at it as I’ve never cleaned the shoppe this way before. Might that attitude bring even more joy to me in my everyday activity? Might that attitude lower my heart rate just a tad (to combat the extra sugar from the many candyboxes I sometimes get into)? I believe that attitude would work miracles if only we could adopt that attitude, and it’s not even a matter of “being able” to adopt it or not. It’s making that choice to see things in a new and positive light.

How to ship chocolates

Cold weather is always ideal for shipping chocolate for longer distances. However, during summer, people and firms have to look for alternative means of keeping their valuables safer and for longer.

Important Rules

Know the melting point

The melting point for chocolates is closer to the body temperature. Therefore, one shipping them, make sure that you avoid body contact. On the other hand, ganaches melt at room temperature. This means that ganaches have a lower melting temperature compared to the chocolate. Therefore, it is always safer to research on the melting temperature and come up with the best cooling needed.

Keep it Cold

When you keep the chocolate cold for long, it will stay colder longer. Therefore, always make sure that you refrigerate the goodies until it is time to transport them to the market.

Materials Required

To make sure that the chocolates stay cool for a more extended period, the following elements are needed. A box, cold packs, kraft paper, and Bubble-Wrap mylar. The box should be about three times the size of the gift that you indent to send. The extra space caters for bad shipment that may arise along the way. On the other hand, the silver colored wraps aid in deflecting the heat thereby keeping the chocolate colder for longer.

Cold packs are the most crucial material for transportation of the chocolate safely. Therefore, a keen estimation of the same is needed when choosing the amount required. Therefore, to better understand this, the transporter needs to know the size of the packaging box. The bigger the package, the more the cold packs one needs. For instance, with a small box that measures about (9X6X4), one might need one packet of the cold packs. Therefore, from the size, one might quickly get the right amount of cold packs.

Furthermore, always ensure that there is additional packaging material. The extra equipment may be the bubble wrap or the Kraft paper as well. The other stuff is to make sure that the candy box is stable.

The packaging procedure

Once you have all your wrapping material, ensure that you alias with your carrier to ensure that you are there before time elapses. Knowing of the last pick-up ensures that you don’t miss the delivery and also that the goodies stay in the cold room for long before the right time for shipment.

Procedure

• Start by building your shipment box
• Then make sure that you tape all the seems to slow air entering/leaving the table
• Measure that you measure the right amount of mylar to be placed on the bottom of the box.
• Remove the candy boxes out of the cold storage facility
• Wrap the ice pack around the cold box.
• Then stack the chocolate box with the ice pack and wrap it thoroughly with the mylar
• Sack the candy boxes as you would a gift making sure that you tape the ends well enough to insulate.
• Add the padding material to the bottom of the box
• Add more chocolate package
• The gaps left behind may be filled with the packaging material.
• The top of the package may need additional mylar packaging
• Lastly, close the container tightly by making sure that the chocolate is safe and ship it.

Done the right way, the package should arrive safely and with no harm.

Modular Packaging and How it’s Customized for Many Uses

A new type of product packaging that’s started to show up, is packaging that’s designed for multiple means. Customers and brands don’t just want to have one type of package for each thing, they want something that’s easy to adapt, customize, and then repurpose for so many different uses. 

Also known as flexible packaging or adaptable packaging, this is one that’s great for consumer products, and various industrial applications that work here. 

So what’s so special about modular packaging, and what can you use with this? Well, we’re about to show it.

Universal Materials 

The thing with modular packaging is that the materials are universal. Corrugated cardboard or boxes are some of the most common, but those various cardboard fibers that can be changed into unique types of packaging also fit the bill.

The goal of it is ease of use for different products. For instance, if you sell various beauty and other products which are all small, but they all fit the same box, then there you go. 

Easy to Assemble, dissemble, and Reconfigure 

The goal of this type of packaging is you want to make sure that this is easy to disassemble when you need to use it for something else. 

You also want to reconfigure all of these for your various uses.

Finally, if you can try to repurpose these for different products and functions, offering a whole different situation, and one that can be used to provide a multitude of different benefits too.

You want to make sure that this is done fast. If you need to change something, it must be done in unique manners, so that you don’t have to waste time adjusting the items for something else. 

Customization without Too Much Waste 

You want to make sure that the components of this are standard for the most part.

That doesn’t mean however, you have to forgo customization. You can offer customized boxes from the same corrugated paperboard, which means that you’ve got some amazing, customized opportunities, while also minimizing the waste that’s there.

When you reduce the waste, you make people nice and happy, but providing interior designs that are a bit different, or a box with certain elements printed, will also give it just enough differences that it will definitely be worthwhile in a lot of cases. 

The Benefits of Being Modular 

Think about how much you spend on your packaging already.

A lot, right? 

With so many different boxes, for various industries and needs, there’s a pretty penny being dropped there.   but, when you have this type of packaging, you can personalize these items and reduce the waste.

Customers will love it for the personalization reasons. But for those who are health conscious, they’re not having to worry about you spending a bunch of money on unnecessary boxes.

Overall, everyone benefits. 

Considerations for Modularity 

The thing with modularity is the challenge arises in the complexity of designs.   A lot of designs look great, but they might be too much for the times that you have.

You also need to make sure that the modularity doesn’t compromise the product protection, or even the usability that comes with this.   You want to make sure that the items’ nice and strong, and very easy for you to use.   Overall, considering all of this is great.

You see it in beauty and cosmetics, and even home goods. Customers love it, so don’t be afraid to give them something that’s more fitting for multiple designs. The environment will also thank you for doing this as well.