Custom Aprons for PEZ Factory

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Since we were kids, PEZ candies and their creative dispensers have been both fun and delicious. When the PEZ factory in Orange, CT presented us with the opportunity to create custom aprons for their factory, we were honored to be of use.

Many of you likely know PEZ as a child’s toy or a collector’s item. What you might not know is it actually started out as a breath mint, later became a method to encourage smokers to quit, and in the mid 1950′s finally transformed into the pioneer of interactive candy that we know and love. To grow the U.S market, fruity flavors were introduced and character dispensers were utilized to help market PEZ towards children.

Originally invented in Vienna, Austria, the name PEZ was created from the German word pfefferminz, meaning peppermint. In less than a decade, production was moved to Czechoslovakia in order to manufacture the small candies on a larger scale. By 1952, PEZ-Haas, Inc established a PEZ headquarters in New York City, and moved their production to Orange, CT in 1974.

One of the first characters to be licensed for manufacturing in the U.S. was Popeye in the late 1950′s. A decade later Mickey Mouse followed. Today, PEZ has a candy dispenser for just about every movie and cartoon character, many of them incredibly valuable. Although the manufacturing of PEZ candies and dispensers has been located in Connecticut for over four decades, it was not until December of 2011 that a visitor center was opened to give fans an idea of how their favorite PEZ candies are made.

Located at 35 Prindle Hill Road in Orange, CT, the PEZ Visitor Center holds “one of the largest collection of PEZ memorabilia on display in the world.” Not only is there a viewing area that allows visitors to see inside the production area, but there is also an interactive PEZ trivia game and historical time line to give an accurate insight into the creation of PEZ. Possibly the best part of the visitor center is that it not only costs $5.00 or less, but tours are also self-guided. For those of you looking for a fun filled afternoon on a low budget, the PEZ Visitor Center is the perfect place to go.

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Custom made PEZ aprons for the PEZ staff members in Orange!

3 Ways to Show Employee Appreciation

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When running your own business or managing a team of employees, employee appreciation is important to keep company morale up. Every employee wants to be acknowledged for doing a great job and working hard. Raises and additional vacation days are ideal, but not always possible or in the budget. Don’t let that stop you from showing your team how much you appreciate their hard work. Instead, reward your employees with an Employee Appreciation Day or a company outing to show your appreciation.

  1. Custom t-shirts and business apparel: Every now and then, companies like Whole Foods Market show their employees appreciation by ordering custom shirts and business apparel for everyone. Embroidered polo shirts or screen printed t-shirts are often a huge hit with employees. Custom business apparel can even include hats and jackets, depending on your business. It’s a nice break for employees to not have to buy clothes for work or worry about what to wear once in a while.

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    Employee appreciation t-shirt design for WholeFoods
  2. Mugs: Whether they’re coffee lovers or tea lovers, the majority of people enjoy a good cup of caffeine in the morning to give them a boost. Rewarding employees with a company mug, be it a travel mug or regular, shows them that you understand and appreciate them. Travel mugs are great for employees who are always on the go and may work long hours, while a regular mug is perfect for any desktop. By having your company logo or motto engraved onto it, you add a custom touch to a useful gift.
  3. Plaques and trophies: These are great for employee of the month awards. However, if your company doesn’t participate in employee of the month activities, make it something fun for your employees to enjoy. We all remember the humorous superlatives from our high school year books – Class Clown, Most School Spirit, Best Dressed. To celebrate your employees and all their hard work, create superlatives suited for your company, funny or serious, and have them engraved on a plaque or trophy.

When working with a team of employees, it is important that each one knows that they’re doing a great job. Whether it’s custom business apparel, mugs, or plagues and trophies, showing your employees some appreciation can be done on any budget. A little encouragement and appreciation goes a long way when creating strong bonds within your company.

6 Quick Steps to Create Your Own Vector Image

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Say you want to customize your own shirt with your own graphic. It seems easy enough. Send the graphic to your local screen printing company, they’ll screen it onto however many shirts you order, and voila. In order to customize your t-shirt, sweatshirt, hat, or any item with the image from your own graphic, it will first have to be recreated in vector format. To do so, you will need Photoshop and Illustrator.

  1. To start, you’ll need to trace the desired parts of your graphic in Photoshop and delete the background along with any parts of the graphic you do not want included in your artwork.
  2. In Photoshop, go to Layers, then New Adjustments, and use either Brightness Contrast or Curves to create a contrast within your image. The goal is to find and highlight the details within your image.
  3. Once you’re done with step two, save your image using Save As, under File.
  4. After downloading the desired JPEG image, launch Illustrator and go to File, then Open, and select the desired image.
  5. After opening your JPEG document in Illustrator, the first step is to locate your tracing options. These can be found by going to Object, then Live Trace, where you will find Tracing Options. At first, your image may be missing a lot of detail. To fix this, change the threshold to your preference.
  6. Once you’ve finished, hit the expand button.

For a visual step-by-step, check out this video. Those new to Photoshop and Illustrator may want to practice on simpler designs before creating vector graphics for customized shirts and apparel.

By creating your own vector graphics, you ensure that the image printed on your t-shirt will be clear instead of distorted. Unlike JPEG images which are made up of pixels, vector images are made of paths. Creating custom t-shirts, banners, or any other item with a JPEG image can only be scaled so large before each pixel begins to stretch and distort. Vector images, on the other hand, are made of a series of lines and points called paths. They will never distort, now matter how large or small you scale them. It will save you time on the production of your customized items. Were you to submit a JPEG image to be screen printed, the image would have to be recreated and then approved by you before your order could go into production. By creating a vector graphic the right way, your custom order will look exactly the way you want and be ready for pick up in no time.

Creating your own vector image is as simple or detailed as the image you’re looking to vectorize, but will make all the difference when customizing your own apparel or items. By following these short steps, you’ll be well on your way to creating amazing graphics for your customized items.

 

 *Image credit

 

3 Ways to Successfully Use a Banner in Advertising

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When marketing your business, you want to stay within your budget and reach your targeted demographic. One of the best methods to achieve this is using a banner. Social media and email campaigns are helpful when advertising a business, but can only reach your current followers and customers. By using a customized banner in advertising, your company can reach out to new and current customers during any occasion.

  1. Grand Openings Every company wants a highly successful grand opening. In order to reach new customers, try a new method and On-Time_Banner-Pricing_1-22-13-1customize a banner with your desired information. Are you offering a special promotion at your grand opening? Is it an event? By printing specific information on a larger scale, you can ensure that any passerby is captivated and convinced they must attend.
  2. Short Term Sales During a short term sale, you want to make sure that as many people as possible know about it. By using a customized banner, you increase your chances of gaining new customers as well as alerting current and old customers. The key to a successful short term sale banner is making sure that the most important information (what the sale is) is largest on your banner and easy to read.
  3. Events and Expos When hosting an event or attending an expo, awareness and brand recognition are vital. By using a banner, you get your message across to all potential and current customers. Banners can be hung on the front of your booth at an expo, or just behind you as a backdrop to inform people of your business and the reason you’re there. Similarly, banners hung outside of your business or place of your event grab attention and tell people who you are, why you’re there, and what you’re doing in a short span of time.

Banners are easy and effective. They do the marketing for you and last for years to come, whether they’re out in the sun constantly or stored until needed. Each printed banner can be hung in direct sunlight consistently for three to four years without fading. They can withstand all types of weather, and are easy to put up, take down, and switch out. Because they last so long they can be used many times. If you don’t intend to use your banner again, adding specific details is a great idea. However, by creating a sale banner without specific dates you can use the same banner for every sale or event. Best of all, customizing a banner for your business can cost as little as $20.00 and can be customized to specific sizes with no extra charge. For a small amount of money, there are a handful of benefits to gain.

Whether you choose to display specific information for a one-time sale or timeless information for events and expos, a customized banner will draw in new business with minimal effort. Use colors that are eye catching, fonts that are large and easy to read, and clear information that gets straight to the point.

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5 Creative Ways to Up-Cycle Your Old T-Shirts

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Everyone has that drawer full of sentimental t-shirts they don’t wear anymore but can’t throw them out. Keeping them takes away from closet space, but throwing them out feels like abandoning every memory associated with them. We just can’t force ourselves to get rid of them. So instead of throwing away your old t-shirt, we found these five creative and fun ways to turn them into something new.

 

  • Upcycle-tshirts-artworkFor the crafters – Turn your old t-shirts into a new rug. This project idea is perfect for kids who have outgrown old outfits, or those
    going away to college. The right rug can brighten a room and is a relief to your feet in the winter when floors become ice cold (especially in dorm rooms). For this no-sew project, all you need is a pair of scissors, about a dozen shirts (or more if you want a large rug), and a hula hoop. After cutting your t-shirts into strips, use a few of the t-shirt strips to create spokes within the hula hoop, and begin weaving your t-shirt rug as though it were a web. At the end, it should look something like this.
  • For the fashionistas – Turn an oversized t-shirt into the perfect summertime dress. To start, turn the shirt inside out and try it on. Decide where you want to waist to be and mark it with pins or chalk (the less dangerous option). Cut an elastic that comfortably wraps around the same place you want the waist of your dress to be. For an understated look, use a thin elastic of an inch or less. More than two inches will make the waist of you t-shirt dress stand out. Afterward, sew the elastic to your dress using these sewing instructions. Trimming the neckline is a personal choice.
  • For practical use – Instead of shopping with plastic bags, create your own re-usable bags out of your old t-shirts! This project takes a mere 3 steps and requires very little sewing. All you have to do is cut off the sleeves and scoop the neckline down to create handles. Then, turn your old t-shirt inside out and sew the bottom closed. Once you are done, your bags should look like this. Go green while shopping in style.
  • For the sentimental – Old graphic tees or shirts you still have from high school and college are hard to get rid of. So why torture yourself? Instead, make them into something practical! A t-shirt quilt or comforter displays all your favorite graphics and memories while keeping you warm at night. To do make your t-shirt quilt, you will need plenty of old t-shirts, fusible backing that is light to mid-weight, batting, and backing fabrics. All of these supplies, with the exception of your shirts, can be found at your local fabric store. Cut your t-shirts in even squares around the graphics that you want to keep, then follow these instructions to create your new quilt!
  • For the scissor-happy – We’ve all seen and admired the t-shirt cutting projects on Youtube. Here’s one to try! Rather than up-cycling, this project allows you to re-style your t-shirt in no time. All you need are scissors, chalks, your shape cut-out of choice (we like this skull idea), a ruler, and your t-shirt. To start, trace you shape cut-out onto your t-shirt using the chalk. Then use your ruler to draw lines about ½ inch apart across the negative space within the shape. Next, simply cut where you drew the lines. You can also trim the neckline and sleeves for an added touch.

Up-cycling your old t-shirts is a great way to go green and take pride in something that you made yourself. Recreating the items that hold the most memories to you. With so many projects to choose from, throwing out your old t-shirts will never need to be an option.

5 Affordable Ways to Successfully Promote Your Business

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One of the biggest challenges businesses face is brand recognition. We often see businesses struggling to come up with creative ways to reach more people. Advertising can be expensive and often promotes your ad briefly in a newspaper, magazine, or on TV. Digital marketing, such as social media, is popular but it takes time and expertise to be effective. What do you do if you want to promote your business and build brand awareness immediately?

Custom apparel and promotional printing are often over looked. It is a common misconception that only businesses with large budgets can afford them. The truth is, there are many options to fit a variety of budgets. Your employees can wear your business apparel, a vehicle graphic can go on your car or truck and stickers or decals and go just about anywhere. Not to mention, any of these options will last longer than an ad in your local paper or a magazine.

Here are 5 affordable ways for you to promote your business

  1. Custom Business Apparel Customized t-shirts, jackets, and even hats are a great way to promote your business.. This works great for a variety of businesses including contractors, deli and restaurant owners, and other companies providing a service. By having your Embroidery-samplescompany logo printed on your employee’s shirts, you guarantee it will be seen and people will start to recognize the logo and name.
  2. Vehicle Graphics A graphic for your car is a great way to increase brand visibility since it’s already on the road.. By including your company name, contact information, logo, website and motto, you create the opportunity to market your company without effort. While you’re out on a job, or simply running errands, your vehicle graphic tells the public everything they need to know about your services offered and how to reach you.
  3. Wall Decals This is mostly used to promote your logo and give your office a neat, professional feel. By putting the time and effort into creating a decal for your office space that has your company name and logo on it, you make sure that your first time customers recognize, remember, and begin to rely on your company.
  4. Stickers/Bumper Stickers If you’re planning on going to an event to help promote your company, stickers or bumper stickers with your company information on it make a great handout and leave an impression. Ad something fun and unique so people will remember your brand.
  5. Banners & Signs: These customized products are great to put on display at an expo, event, or in your office. If you do roofing or landscaping, ask satisfied customers if they wouldn’t mind putting one of your customized yard signs on their lawns to let people know who did the work. Bakery owners may want to customize company tablecloths for any events coming up, and even inside of their business. If you have any special offers or sales coming up, a banner is a great way to get the information out there for the people to see.

Business owners face many challenges in growing their business. Promoting their business shouldn’t be one of them. Use our guide above along with your creativity to make sure people recognize your brand wherever they go.

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Why Ordering More Custom Shirts Can Actually Cost You Less

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Yes we said it – less really is more. When ordering custom t-shirts the more t-shirts you order, the lower the cost. The higher the quantity of shirts ordered, the lower the cost of each shirt. Whether you order six custom shirts or one hundred custom shirts, the setup process to screen print them takes the same amount of time. Printing 50 shirts takes almost the same amount of time as printing 5 shirts. How is it possible that screen printing 50 shirts costs less money and takes about the same time as it would to screen print five shirts? The answer is in the setup process.

When preparing our equipment with your custom designs, a stencil – commonly called a screen in the industry – must be prepared for each OnTime_Blog_Screens-01individual color in your design. Setting up these screens is the most time consuming part of the screen printing process. Custom artwork goes through our art department, where it is imported into a design program. Each color used becomes its own layer within the program, and is then electronically sent to an ink jet printer that prints one piece of film – or transparent paper – for each color component used in the design.

After the films are printed they are applied to a screen that has been coated with a light sensitive chemical and exposed to an ultraviolet light. Once this step is complete, the screen is ready to be loaded onto the press. Each screen is carefully lined up so the colors print next to one another and create your custom designed graphic. Depending on the complexity of your design, this process can take anywhere from five to fourty-five minutes to complete.

Each color and screen is accompanied by a setup fee. Whether you order six shirts or one hundred shirts, the cost to set up your custom design remains the same. Each screen printing press can print up to 500 shirts per hour using a maximum of six colors at once. As soon as each screen with the individual colors is loaded and lined up, we can begin screen printing your custom shirts.

Since the setup fee for every order of shirts remains the same regardless of the amount of shirts, it is common for screen printers to give quantity discounts. This is the reason why an order of 15 shirts will cost less per shirt than an order of six shirts. While most people to do not have the need for 100 custom shirts, a quantity discount on an order of 20 shirts will cost you less in the long run than if you only ordered six shirts.

Saving money by ordering fewer customized shirts is a common misconception in the screen printing industry. When placing a large order of customized shirts, the individual price of each shirt is lower than if you only order a small amount. As the industry term goes, “The first shirt is the most expensive.”

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Customize Your Softball Uniforms!

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As the warm weather begins to melt the snow, there’s one thing on our minds – Spring sports. Nothing is more relaxing or refreshing as spending some time in the sun out on the field. Each year, kids line up to sign up for town baseball leagues, and parents join their own softball leagues for some recreational fun. Whether you’re a serious competitor or simply looking for some fun after work, designing your softball uniform is part of the fun when participating in a recreational league.

Softball uniformsThe first step to designing your team’s uniform is picking a logo and team colors. A common trend in softball leagues around the area is to find a sponsor. It could be your local watering hole, the company you work for, or someone in the community looking to help their name become more recognizable. Sponsors often cover the cost of your shirts, entry fee, and hats. In return teams use the business name, logo, or add information to the back of the jersey. It’s a great way to cut costs and help local businesses reach more people.

Once you know what you want you want your uniforms to look like the rest is as simple as picking out the shirt style. Team shirts can be 100% cotton, 100% polyester, or a blend of the two. A cotton t-shirt is likely to feel heavier in the warm weather and will shrink about one-quarter of an inch all the way around after the first wash. A polyester shirt will help wick away sweat while you’re out on the field and will not shrink. A blend of the two materials meets a happy medium. Whichever material you prefer, a simple t-shirt is always a great go-to, especially if you’re on a budget. If you have a little more to spend, a jersey material will not only be lighter on the field but it will last for many softball seasons to come.

Recreational sports are all about having fun with friends or co-workers. Customizing your uniforms is just a part of that fun. Whether you want cotton or polyester (or even a blend), two buttons or four, pin stripes or solid colors, pick something your team will enjoy and look good in while out on the field.

How to Grow Your Business With a Vehicle Graphic

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When building your company, it is important to focus on your brand. How will your company be recognized? Do you have a logo? Is your brand logo visible to potential customers? Each of these aspects is important when building your company. It is crucial that your brand logo stands out, is appealing to the eye, and attracts new customers.

Vehicle graphics allow you to accomplish all three goals at once. Growing companies, like Mike’s Handyman Services, benefit from vehicle graphics because anyone on the road can see them. As a young general contractor company, Mike’s Handyman Services has been invehicle-graphics-graphic business since 2005. Based out of Waterbury, they service all of the New Haven County, specializing in painting, roofing, siding, and flooring. They have the skills to get the job done well, but without the recognition jobs are hard to come across.

By customizing vehicle graphics for their company, Mike’s Handyman Services has been able to grow their business a little more every day. Each side door of the company’s trucks has the name of their business on it. The back bumper of the truck repeats the name of the company, as well as their phone number and the slogan “No job too small”. By adding these details to their company trucks, they ensure that people begin to recognize their name.

Vehicle graphics can be customized specially for each company’s need and budget. Gaining even one customer from the use of a vehicle graphic pays off the graphic itself. When people find they are in need of a contractor, they’ll think of the Mike’s Handyman Services truck they saw while driving on the highway. As a small business, Mike doesn’t have time to market during the day while he’s working. His Vehicle graphic makes sure he’s marketing whether he’s on the road or on the job.

Brand recognition is one of the most important parts of growing your company. Like the Nesquick Bunny and Toucan Sam, people trust the brands that they see and know. By putting your brand logo on your company car, potential customers will recognize your company and eventually become customers that you’ll keep forever.  

How Customized Shirts Can Improve Your Business

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Saint Patrick’s Day is around the corner, and with it the mile long parades and a sea of green beads, hats and t-shirts. In a crowd full of so much green, it can be hard to stand out with your own shamrock t-shirts, something that the Milford Fire Department understands. During this year’s Saint Patrick’s Day parade, the Milford Fire Department wanted to have some extra fun and stand out with customized t-shirts and sweatshirts.

Customizing shirts for professional outings such as company lunches, picnics, or parade marches allow employees to relax while remainingSt Patricks Day logo professional and representing their company. By customizing their own Saint Patrick’s Day sweat shirts and t-shirts, the Milford Fire Department will creatively represent themselves and their union during the parade, enjoying the best of both worlds: having fun while still being professional.

The benefits of customized apparel are endless when it comes to business. Customizing shirts for (or even with) employees can help boost company morale by giving employees something to look forward to. They can also provide an icebreaker at a company event. Involving employees in a logo design contest can help inspire more creative thinking, within the contest as well as their daily work routine. A logo design contest also has the potential to bring coworkers together as they work in teams, building trust among each other as they learn to work together.By giving your team custom shirts, a regular day or event can turn into something exciting that will be remembered.

Aside from the professional benefits of customizing your own t-shirts or sweatshirts, customized apparel is perfect for any group event. A day at the amusement park with your family is perfect for customized shirts. Large crowds make it easy to become distracted and lose those that you were with, especially young children. By customizing distinct or bright t-shirts, you can easily look out into the crowd and find those that you came with. For bachelorette or bridal parties, and even birthday celebrations, customized shirts are a great way to express yourself, give your friends a unique gift, and have some fun.

Customizing your own t-shirts and sweatshirts has many benefits, whether it’s for a company looking to stand out in a parade or a day out with your friends and family. Custom apparel makes a great gift for your bridal party, is perfect for a day at the amusement park with your kids, and can also allow you to have fun while remaining professional. However you choose to use it, a customized shirt can brighten any day.

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Fresh out of the dryer after being screen printed!