Creating Labels That Are Both Durable & Pretty

I don't have a fancy labeling machine. I've seen ones that have made me drool, like this one. However, with that price tag I decided to work with what I had plus make a few inexpensive purchases that have allowed me to create a lot of fun labels! Here is what I came up with over a year ago and I haven't had to buy any new supplies yet...

I purchased this laminating machine off of amazon.com when it was on sale for $16.99. Currently it comes up as on sale for $24.95 which is still a great price! Although, I haven't shopped around recently looking at other brands and really any laminating machine will do.

I bought one pack of laminating sheets. (A year later, I still have a bunch left!)

The next thing that I like to use are velcro strips. They can easily be cut to fit whatever size label and item you are trying to make and are super durable!

I then create a document on my computer with whatever words or phrases I am using and change the font/size/color to anything that I want it to be. 

Next I laminate the words...add the velcro strips...and attach the label to the item. For instance, the mailboxes that we use on our stairs originally had labels that looked like this following those easy steps.

However, I quickly realized that I could glam up my labels a bit more by simply adding some extra features. Like some colored paper or even wrapping paper, if you like! I went to work to glam up our stairway mailboxes that would cause a more cheerful smile when I approached them. I grabbed some supplies that I had on hand.

All I needed were some scissors, double-sided tape, a solid accent color and some bright cheerful wrapping paper.

I carefully cut out the name (that I had created on the computer and printed) cutting off as much white as possible. Then I used the tape to adhere it to the red paper and cut it out leaving a thin trim. Then I used more tape to adhere the red to the wrapping paper and cut it out leaving a thicker boarder. The nice thing is that you don't have to use a lot of tape because the laminating machine will press things together nicely.

I fit as many labels as I could inside of one laminating sheet to maximize materials. Then I just attached velcro to the new labels and re-used the velcro that was all ready on my baskets. So here again is the before...

and the AFTER...

It's as easy as that!