Perfect Realtor Gifts for Holidays and Closings

We recently completed a job for a Realtor in Austin, Texas.  She ordered 30 - 9 x 12 Hickory Boards.  On the front side (cutting side) we engraved her logo in the lower corner, and on the back side, we did all the boards with our "Alphabet" design, which has the family name (or couple name).  We thought they turned out amazing, and made great gifts for Ashley to give to her clients!

If you, or a Realtor you know are interested in giving our cutting boards as gifts for the holidays or for closings, please contact us at engravemylife@gmail.com.  We do discounts for bulk orders, and once we have your design into our system, we can keep the cost low.

Thanks Ashley Austin Homes and The Creative Cup Marketing!!

Celebrate

WE JUST HAD OUR 200th SALE!!  CELEBRATE WITH US!  USE THIS COUPON CODE AND GET 20% TODAY ONLY!!

CLICK ON THE BALLOONS AND GO TO OUR ETSY STORE

International Shipping and Howard's Butcher Block Conditioner.

This last week we were noticed on a Canadian wedding forum, where one of our customers, LulieDecorDesigns, gave us a plug.  We were caught off guard with the response.  We hadn't really done too much research into shipping to Canada or elsewhere.  I had read on some Etsy forums that for most sellers, Canadian buyers make up about 25% of their total sells, so I knew this was a market we needed to tap into, but wasn't quite ready yet.  As they say.....when opportunity calls....  It was a bit of a scramble trying to find out the best way to ship to our Canadian friends.  Unfortunately for us, a lot of our products make shipping internationally financially unviable.  That doesn't mean people don't do it, but I think the overall cost is just too much for most.  Our only reprieve is our small boards, 9 x 12, can fit in a USPS flat rate envelope and ship anywhere around the globe for $15.  When it comes to the large boards, $38 was the lowest we could find.  That $38 price is for up to 3 cutting boards which we can fit in a single flat rate box.  It works for those buying multiples, but maybe not so much for the single board buyer.   Prices have really gone up for international shipping since they got rid of surface mail and made all international shipping air mail.  And for a small business like us, those cost really make it hard to hit that international market. Starting next week we will be offering Howard's Butcher Block Conditioner for sale at a price that is lower than you can find at your local Home Depot and other hardware stores.  This is a product we use and recommend to be used regularly to maintain the boards we sell.  Their product EXCEEDS the FDA's requirements for food safety, so we feel safe in applying it to our boards and recommending it to our customers.  In addition, with the purchase of one of our boards, there is no additional shipping cost.  We feel this is a great product to sell with our cutting boards as it provides the customer with what they need to protect the beautiful wood cutting board without having to go out and find someone who sells it at a much higher mark up.

igoyougoblog

We are giving away a freebie on a lifestyle blog!  All you  have to do to enter is go to the blog and leave and comment under our post ad here, and go to our Facebook page and become a fan of our page.  You will be entered into the contest to win a free 12 x 15 white oak cutting board with one of our 9 design options!!  Pretty great deal!

Commissioned Art and Realtors

I'll admit marketing and promoting has not been my strong suit.  I wish I could just make my stuff and sell it without having to do a  lot of other time-consuming tasks to get it noticed.  I suppose I can count myself lucky that I have had the success I have had with very little effort.  However, I want to do more.  Knowing that, I realize it is going to require more effort and more time to get my stuff noticed on sites like this blog, Facebook, twitter, etc..., in order to get the circulation I am looking at wanting.  Starting this week,  I will start blogging more regularly to show not only our products, but about who we are as a team, what we stand for as a company, and what we want to become.

This week we were contacted in two different capacities that I think can take our little cutting boards into new arenas.  First, we were contacted by a school that wanted to commission us to do a fundraising cutting board that was totally unique.  When all was said and done we ended up agreeing to engrave a 12" x 24" by 1.5" chopping block made out of European Beech End Grain.  It is a beautiful piece of wood.  The engraving is one of a kind because we had each student in the class write their names down on a piece of white paper and then we transferred their own handwritten names onto the engraveable design.  Here is the preview:

I can't even tell you how excited I am to engrave this and see all those little names forever engraved into a beautiful piece of wood.  Some lucky person will not only get to have it in their kitchen as a useful tool, but also a memento and piece of art.

We also were contacted this week by a "marketing expert" who looks for items for her client ( in this case a Realtor) to buy special, holiday gifts for their clients.  I know that's a lot of clients, but I think you get me.  Anyway, she wants to buy 45 of our small boards (9x12) engraved with the Realtors logo, greetings, etc... .  We are starting to see how these cutting boards could be used in a large-scale capacity for corporate gifts.  After all, would you rather have a plaque, a trophy, another knick knack around the house from your employer or actually have something you can use?  I think most would prefer the latter.  We are going to be targeting some of our local Realtors to see if we can get anymore interest in that capacity.

This week, we also purchased our own web address for our humidor shop.  Although we have had good success with Etsy and our humidors, we think that having our own website would bring in more business, especially with the military humidors.  Our address is www.humidorengraving.com.  Tony hasn't built the site yet, but once it is live I will post here with regular updates.

Doing More

I have had a particular soft spot for animals.  Anyone who visits my home knows this within moments of walking in the door.  With four cats roaming the house, and a few neighbor cats that come for regular daily visits (and treats), you can't help but notice I am a lover of the furballs.  Starting out a business not only meant a sense of personal freedom and expression, but also being able to give back in a way I never thought I could.  For me, giving goes beyond just writing a check to an organization and taking the tax deduction.  I have been trying to think of a way that I can use my products to help raise money for groups and organizations that do so much to raise awareness and provide homes for animals in need. I was reading a blog the other day: http://luckydogrescueblog.blogspot.com/ and was amazed at what this women has been able to do in order to help animals.  She has done so because she believes that helping animals is the reason she is on this Earth.  She is simply doing what her gut tells her, acting on her belief, and taking a stand for what she knows it right. I feel the same way, and because of that, I need to make my business, my company, become something more.  I need to believe that while I am engraving a beautiful cutting board, or etching a piece of glass, that my time and effort can also go to those in need.

I am considering a new line of "charity" boards and products.  I would love to be able to take animal rescue logos and engrave them onto a cutting board, etc..., but I am thinking the trademark red tape would make it a headache, if not just impossible.  I am thinking the next best thing is to come up with my own designs that will raise money for organizations, and having something like 30-40% of the sale going to a specific group.  Maybe change the group weekly or monthly?

Right now, the idea is a work in progress, but it is something I am passionate about and know is the right thing for me and for my company to be involved in.

-Belinda

Bamboo Cutting Boards - Top Five Advantages

One of the first cutting boards we engraved was bamboo.  We really believe in all the superior quality offered by bamboo cutting boards.  What are the reasons someone would choose bamboo over another wood or even plastic?  We're glad you asked!  Without further ado, here is the "Top Five Advantages" of bamboo cutting boards:

5.) Less Water Retention

Bamboo doesn't absorb moisture very easily.  Since the water or juices from cooking or cutting are less likely to enter the board surface, the boards are less likely to warp or crack due to water separation.

4.) Durability

Bamboo is more resilient to nicks, scratches, and dents than most hard woods.  While bamboo is technically a grass, the wood that is harvested can reach up to 120 feet tall and 8 feet wide!  On the Janka Hardness Scale, it rates around the top third of boards, beating out woods such as cherry, hickory, white oak, and brazillian redwoods.

3.) Self Healing and Easier on Knives

Because bamboo is made up of many individual strands of grass, they "heal" from scratches easier than many other solid wood surfaces, similar to how end-grain cutting boards perform.  Since the knife blade is hitting these individual strands rather than a solid unyielding surface, knife edges take less abuse from bamboo boards.

2.) Bacterial Resistance

Bamboo doesn't retain bacteria easily.  Most woods don't, but many studies have noted that bamboo tends to shed bacteria off of the surface better than most other hardwoods.  This is because bamboo is a non-porous surface, this makes it easier to clean and safer for food preparation.

1.) Renewable

By far our most favorite aspect of this wonderful material!  In today's age, we are all concerned about sustainability.  Bamboo grows much faster than wood.  While a fully matured tree can take up to 50 years to grow, bamboo can be harvested from three to six years after planting, making this material very renewable, and kinder to the environment.

We'd love to help everyone get a personally engraved bamboo cutting board to add to the beauty of your kitchen.  Here are just a couple of some of our favorite ones that we've created for our customers!

You can order these bamboo cutting boards and other sizes by clicking on our Etsy store and personalize your own!

The First Post - About Us

This is the first post of TaylorCrafts Engraving.  "We" consist of two people; Belinda Crafts and Tony Taylor.  Two unemployed high school friends that decided to open up a small business together, me as the owner and CEO, he as the graphic designer (he has since gone back to school to pursue a degree in Graphic Design).  Two years ago we started to sand blast stones, making yard markers and memorials.  We found very little success this route, spending a lot of time dealing with application problems and equipment malfunctions.  Our frustrations led us to not give up, but to look for alternatives.  We came into laser engraving after reading about the different applications it has, as well as the different materials that can be used to engrave.  Another application that we are just starting to play with is the vector cutting application.  This opens a whole new creative possibility for us. Most laser companies filter towards the corporate awards and trophy market, but we have never been drawn to that work, at least not as most engraving is done in those areas.  Nothing against those that do find satisfaction in that market, as it is needed, but we are both creative people, and seek to express that creativity in ways that go beyond placing a brass plate on a rosewood plaque.  We are always thinking of how else can we take what we have and use it in a unique way.

Right now our success has been in two markets, cutting boards and humidors.  Weird combination I know.  Humidor engraving came about with my husband, whose boss was leaving and wanted a humidor engraved with specific graphics relating to the work they did.  We came up with a design, and asked to be given the opportunity to buy and engrave a humidor.  Voila, we had a small humidor engraving business.  Since then, we have had a small share of military purchases, but the vast majority of our buyers have been brides buying a wedding gift for their soon to-be husband.  I love some of the expressions that are conceived on the boxes, knowing that they will be a part of their lives for years to come.

Engraved cutting boards came to be while doing some Christmas shopping at Ikea. I came across some inexpensive wood cutting boards and thought to engrave images in them and give them as Christmas gifts.  It worked, and everyone liked them.  Tony, who previously worked in the construction industry, had contacts with wood workers and contacted a mill that he has previously worked with.  He asked them to make a few different cutting boards out of different woods.  This was the beginning for this aspect of our business.  I opened the Etsy store in December, but didn't actually list anything for sale until June.  Since then, our cutting boards have been hot sellers.  I expect more sells with our new designs and the upcoming holidays.

Thank you for visiting our blog, and please stop by our Etsy store and see what we have to offer.  We can take most any idea and make it happen.

Belinda Crafts

TaylorCrafts Engraving