Things with Cans, Vampires & BatCat

Hi everyone :)  Hope you are having a good day! 

Today I have been working non-stop on our aluminum projects.  I have been working on a special order of Reinbeers that I was hoping to finish by tomorrow. Here is a picture of what a busy day "at the office" is like for me.  I was able to get (5) Reinbeer templates to a sheet of paper this go round which leaves very little paper scraps wasted. However, now that they are so close to each other on a sheet I have to take the time to cut them all out before I can use them.  I started the day filleting a round of cans we hadn't flattened yet. Then I moved on to cutting out the majority of the paper patterns before gluing them down onto the backsides of the flattened cans. Once I cut the body out of the can, I realized any leftover piece can be made into these sweet circles.

For now, I am processing the leftover can pieces into these "sequins" for lack of a better term.  The one thing I want to toot my own horn about is that we really try to use every last piece of everything we come across.  The downside however to this method of supply gathering is sometimes I have to break down the materials at a time when I really need to focus on something else.  In this instance these circles don't take that much longer, but all the time doing these "side projects" prepping everything can really add up time wise.

Wanna know my guilty pleasure/ what helps keep me making things all day?

Available for Special Order

We have a lot of different varieties of cans available for special order Reinbeers.  

The deadline to get custom orders made in time for the holidays is November 4th. 
Please get in touch with us before then to get your ornaments started :)

Here are all the cans available with  a 2-4 week time:

Modelo especial

Sapporo

Tecate

LaPlaya

Budweiser

Bud Light

Name Tag

Simpler Times Lager

Goldmine Lager

Pepsi- Throwback

Coca-Cola Zero

Coca-Cola Cherry

Dr.Pepper- Iron Man 

Dr.Pepper- Football

Diet Dr. Pepper

Diet Dr. Pepper Cherry

Sprite Zero

7Up

Canada Dry diet Ginger Ale

diet Vernors

Orange Crush

La Croix Sparkling water

Diet Hansen's Premium Soda

Classic Faygo Old- Fashioned Root Beer

Diet A&W Diet Cream Soda

IZZE Soda (variety) 

Hope you enjoy all the possibilities! We will gladly make them out of any other cans you may have too, we just would need the cans shipped to up before 11/4.  Please inquire with us for our address to ship the cans and we can do a custom order with the items you send to us :)

XOXO, KC & Kevin 

Reinbeers- Holiday 2011

The first batch of Reinbeers for Holiday 2011 are ready to roll out!

Currently we have multiples available in these varieties:

Beer-

Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR), Modelo Especial, & Heineken.

Soda-

Regular Dr. Pepper, Retro Dr. Pepper, Coke, Coke- Holiday Can, & Diet Coke

UNIQUE LA Pictures and *DISCOUNT*

It was so great seeing all of our great friends and fans at UNIQUE LA this past weekend!!! 

Leah, Kristin and I got together Friday to decorate the booth.  We had a great time, and I am so glad we were able to get together because here is all of us vendors in line just an hour before the shopping starts!  I am not sure yet of the overall count for the weekend, but last I heard there was ~8,000 People who attended on Saturday.

I was really impressed with the Holiday Displays at West Elm this year.  I loved that the majority of the decorations were all paper.  The packaging was clear on some of it, but I am not sure if they are recycled which would elevate everything to AWESOME. But, the Christmas Tree made from Books was definitely one of my favorite parts.

Our inspiration picture is bellow-

Highlights of our Winter Wonderland set-up: Meyers Dryer Sheet Paper Rosette Snowflakes, Recycled Box Tree Branches, Paper Strips from around the Studio in Paper Chains. In the back a "Gift", a wall decorated as a package and tag. Wrapped in patterned paper with recycling symbols.

Flavors and Styles

The REINBEER Sale is going GREAT so far!!!  We have already started shipping out these wonderful ornaments for this upcoming Holiday Season.  

Here is the "Menu" of cans we have made this year so far-

Beers:
PBR- Pabst Blue Ribbon
Budwiser
Modelo
Icehouse
Oranjeboom (Dutch)
3 Horses (Germany)
Henninger (Germany)
"Old Speckled Hen"
Olde English
Simple Times Pilsner
Simple Times Lager
Natural Ice

SODA:
Coca Cola
Dr. Pepper
Dr. Pepper Holiday
Vernor Ginger Ale


We have just sold this amazing 12-pack below.  It is a "Beer Lovers" assortment and highlights the range of cans we have saved and collected.  I think I will start getting together pictures of a similar assortment and post them on Etsy to help ease the confusion of what we have in stock. 

 Well, back to the grind.  And glitter...

REINBEERS FREE SHIPPING SALE STARTS 11/8

All REINBEERS are on FREE SHIPPING SALE starting this Monday Nov. 8th on our Etsy Shop!!!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/makeshoplive

We have been super busy this week after getting sick.  We have cleaned the house, and are starting to do a very early "spring cleaning" while we are getting everything in order.  Tomorrow, we have a UNIQUE LA vendor meeting and then dinner with a group from Kevin's work... 

Every other spare moment however, are devoted to these 'lil guys and getting them on Etsy on time for the SALE!

 

Starting Monday, all Reinbeers are $15 with FREE SHIPPING!  We will also have a new 6-pack ($80) and 12-pack ($155) options available.  Both these options give additional value compared to buying multiples individually, and will also feature free shipping.

Agenda for now until the Holidays

I had a lot of break through moments pre-flu last week.  I had always held some thought into how at some point I would fall off the bandwagon and slow my blogging. Last week was really hard for me and I questioned constantly why I jumped back into blogging and thought I was super woman again so quickly after surgery???   I guess I just had to try to do everything I could to regain normalcy.  Unfortunately, this isn't something I should and will rush.  I really take Make Shop Live seriously and when ever possible I will work on it.  I am not trying to have this blog rule my life though. I like it more as a process documentation that's a fun record for all my friends and inspiration to others.

I am really want to include a structure to my blog with certain content geared on specific days and continue chronicling my process- Thanks for staying patient and following the blog.  We are about to have a super exciting *SALE* and some fun and important info to share for the Holidays Shows.

For right now on the tight Holiday time frame I will be blogging mostly  about fun insights and helpful hints.  Also coming is process of making the displays for our UNIQUE LA booth as well as maximize the rest of the Holiday season on Etsy while participating in their Holiday  Boot Camp.

I'd love any comments or feedback-

The Reinbeers Are Coming!!!

The Reinbeers Are Coming!!!

Yesterday, my mother-in-law, Jane started pulling out the supplies to kick the Christmas Crafting Extravaganza into 1st Gear. She spent a large chunk of the day glueing down the patterns on the aluminum we have stored and sorted from all different types of cans.

Last year we tested out a couple of different ideas for ornaments and I will "pull back the curtain" and admit defeat with all the other styles we tested out.  After putting in a lot of time into products that didn't sell... A creative risk if you will- Kev and I have decided to see how this Christmas goes with putting more focus into them rather than some less profitable items.

I am okay with these cute little guys being the only Holiday "staple" we will be carrying this Christmas season.  All of our great products are good for gifts and make awesome Holiday purchases already- worst case scenario next year when I am feeling better we can make a wider range of Holiday items available.

I am really excited to have had this year to plan and gather cans for their bodies.  We ended up getting a ton of different beers and sodas after seeing what people radiated to.  PBR is always going to be a hot item- but I am scared that we have had fun collecting so many different types that are unique and may not be everyone's "beer of choice".  We will be selling Assorted 6-Packs that will have all kinds of varieties for the Beer Lover in your life :)

When we got the questions for certain types and flavors we don't personally don't drink we made sure to collect those items whenever possible.  We got requests for Coke (Which some how we both completely overlooked the fact that their are people who do full out Coke themed decorations!) Then the Miller, Coors, Budweiser questions...  We have been collecting them when our friends have them- (Memorial Day BBQ's are where its at!!!) BUT, neither I nor Kevin are changing our tastes for this endeavor.  I have lucked out and gotten a steady supply of Budweiser from a neighbor, but I however am a big supporter of craft and independent brewers and go for other choices.  Watch Beer Wars and you'll see why-

      The hopes is we will still have a great selection of all kinds of beer and soda varieties for Holiday 2010's batch without losing a sale to a "Big Beer Enthusiast"

I think an added point of interest come this Holiday season is to see the number of cans our household uses across the year.  We won't have a fully accurate count due to collecting a small amount from others, as well as recycling some types we had a ton of.  We sold more than expected of Diet Ginger Ale last Christmas- but I thought recycling down the large quantities of diet soda would keep production time focused where need be.

If there is a flavor or type you'd like to suggest for our "Must Have" list feel free to leave a comment.  

*Check them out for purchase here in our Etsy Shop*