Raccoon Vineyard Label - Looking for input please

Ok, I'm doing this for a 'gag' gift as part of what I'm told is called a Chinese gift exchange. Essentially and particularly because the intended recipient list will include folks who regularly tease me about 'my' raccoons, I'm making labels to cover the back and front of a bottle of Merlot which I will then wrap and place in the gift 'pile' to be chosen by one of the guys I work with. Here are a few of my initial attempts at the front label.

I would very much love to hear your comments, criticisms, ideas, etc; note, however, that I have to have this done before I leave home in the morning for work as we having the 'party' tomorrow afternoon for 'lunch'. Oh, and please, please LMK which you think would make the best label for the occasion.

Here is the 1st of several possible labels.

Edited because as anyone who knows me knows already, I cannot spell.

This message was edited Dec 21, 2008 8:06 PM

OH Cheryl ... that is Fantastic!!

I'll wait for the others....

Next. Note that the template is the same for all (well, most. a few don't have the 'presents Heidi Wine' part, but that can easily be changed). Only the picture changes.

I would love to hear your ideas as to which picture is best and/or any ideas you may have for improvement. Remember this is a label to cover the real one on a bottle of Merlot as part of a gag gift for office party where guys (really do luv Heidi) but love to tease me about the raccoons.

Hi, Terese,

Thanks so much for input. I am going to add a link in the Heidi thread but thought I'd put my question out here in hopes of getting max input before morning. Thanks again as I really, really need your input.

that is a really good one since there are grapes in the photo... it's like the critter is out there choosing the grapes they will use for their wine.

another

From the very beginning, I thought the pic of Trouble (as a kit) picking those grapes would be a good one for this project but wasn't sure how well the image would render as it was/is a bit dark and low res and Trouble is covered over by branches. I 'photoshopped' in a few extra 'beefy' grapes from another pic.

I vote for the second one with the grapes.

This is a great idea!

I agree with tcs1366, the second one with the raccoon and grapes is perfect.

What a neat idea for a gag gift.

terrie

another. this one lacks the "Heidi Wine" part as I made it before I added that to the template. Please LMK if your preference not only on the pic but also on whether to include the 'Heidi Wine' part as I can easily add/remove that from any of the images.

Thank you, terrie!

I really do appreciate all of the input as I'm having a tough time deciding on things.

Yes to the Heidi Wine! on the label.

last one for now

Thank you, June Bug!

This is all great info and much needed. I've been looking at pics for hours now and everything is starting to run together.

Edited (again) to add that I really didn't edit this msg at all. Just opened it in the editor to run the spell check and then hit return by mistake. Oops.
This message was edited Dec 21, 2008 8:07 PM

This message was edited Dec 21, 2008 8:08 PM

Terese,

I tried a few of those Rupert pics but found that Rupert is just to darn cute for a gag gift! I haven't tried your favorite one yet though. Need to find it again and give it a try.

Cheryl ... they are all good... [miss that ole Pooh Bear]
but the one with the Grapes i think is the best... due to the grapes.

have you tried printing it to see how the image comes out? if it's too dark, you can tweak that too.

it's jjust precious.

even though i absolutely love that photo... as it is framed on my dresser ....
the grapes takes it. IMHO.

can ya add grapes to Ruperts pic? *wink*

but seriously...
#2 has my vote.

and you need this for tomorrow??

hopefully you will get a lot of peeps to vote for ya.

Thanks very much for all your help, Terese!

I still have to work on the back label and then go upstairs to set up my new printer which has never been out of its box before. If that fails I live just a short distance from a UPS Kinkos and will either get them to print it for me (best option) or do it on the office ink jet in the AM (not so good as the guys will be in the way).

For the back label I'm planning mostly verbiage, a paragraph or so like many products have about the company and product - except in this case I'm going to spoof it up a bit and allude to raccoons taking care of operations by 'planting' the seeds (in their own special way), fertilizing the plants (also a secret process), picking and sampling the grapes at the peak of ripeness, etc. Aiming for the laugh factor here. Hoping to make tomorrow fun and special for all.

I vote for the one with the grapes too. Do not forget to add this story to the book. Would be a great intro for the "incidental" products connnected to it's sure to be phenomenal success. Like the spiderman action figures and such. Anyone up for a grumbling Heidi doll?

**waves hands** i'd love a Grumbling Heidi Doll ... only problem with that... Buddy would want it.

Cheryl -- i showed all the "labels" to Alex, and he said, "the one with the vines, because it fits" with the theme.

though he first said #1, because it's a close up...

Running out to pick up a few quick, last minute things - including dinner. Have to walk the dog, feed the raccoons, do laundry, and finish the back label. Thinking more about calling Kinkos to see if they can print it on a glossy label for me. They are open all night, so I can do that last.

Back soon.

Yep, the one with the grapes is most appropriate, I think, though they are all adorable...naturally! Definitely put "Heidi Wine" on it!

"It brings out the animal...in you"

Great idea Cheryl!

Debbie

I love the one with grapes too. Hope my input isn't too late for you. LOL
=^..^=

Thanks to all who have contributed. Still not too late. I just got back from grocery store, walked dog, fed raccoons, put away groceries, scarfed down a sandwich, and got the laundry going. Now I'm back at the laptop to do the back label. That should go a bit faster since this was my 1st time using the app, and I had to figure it out earlier. Had serious difficulties - and a good fright - when it came time to save and/or print and I found that I could do neither. Well, I could save to some lame and unheard of format, but could not print. Now that I've gotten beyond all of that nonsense, it should go faster, well, at least in theory.

I'm getting tired now and running out of time and speed, so I will come back tomorrow and respond to your emails - which I have GREATLY enjoyed and truly, truly appreciate very much, BTW - but I do also want to get some sleep and I know if I start talking...

I vote for the one with grapes, too. It looks great, Cheryl! I can't wait to see the back label, too. (hint, hint)

Hi Marylyn,

I'm trying to post it now, but for some reason DG is balking over the image. I'm on my 2nd try. 1st one timed out. 2nd one looks like it will do the same. It's only a 171k jpg, so I don't know what the problem is unless the DG site doesn't like that it is text in a picture. Hmm. 2nd try also timed out. One more try, then I'll have to post it somewhere else and put a link here I guess.

Ok, here is the back label. I have 2 versions here. Again, as with the front label, the only difference is the picture.

It seemed like most of you preferred the pic of Trouble up in the tree eating grapes earlier, so I did a version of the back label with a thumbnail size image of the 1st pic (Juliet's head) and one with the 2nd image (Trouble and grapes) on it.

The thinking here is that whichever of the two images I don't put on the front, can go on the back. I'm going to post both of them. Remember each is intended to go with the 'opposing' front pic (i.e., the other one). I'm going now to call Kinko's. If anyone is out there and gets this in time before I leave (assuming they can do it tonight), I'd love to hear your thoughts on which front and back pair to use.

If I don't hear back from any of you before I have to leave, I will go with Trouble and grapes on the front and Juliet (below) on the back. But there is still time to weigh in if you hurry. ; )

And before I forget, thanks to everyone for all of your help!!!

Since I'm having trouble getting the pic to load, I'm just posting the text that would have gone along with the pic here. Then I'll try the pic again by itself.

Ok, here is a link to the 1st one: http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2687566360015894510VsIkfl
and here is the 2nd one:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2305555390015894510csTeKY

Ok, now that I got the links up there, I'm going to call Kinkos and will check back with you before I leave to get them printed - if I go. So, there is still time to give your opinion. : )

I'm leaving for Kinko's as soon as I get the info stored. They will be able to do them on adhesive label's in color. I think that sounds good. The price is very reasonable, too, so I'm planning to do one of each of the 2 backs and the 1st 2 fronts.

As I am getting very sleepy now, I will probably put the labels on the bottle in the morning and do the wrapping then, so there will still be time to weigh in on last minute issues. I always check DG as soon as I get up in the AM, well, most of the time.

I'll try to remember to get pics of the bottle before I wrap it.

I vote for the pic with the grapes on the front, and the other on the back.

Thanks very much, KyWoods!

I'm writing the images to CD at the moment and am on my way to have them printed any minute now. Thanks for the input.

The vote for the image of 'baby' Trouble in the tree with the grapes on the front seems to be pretty much unanimous, so that's the way we will go.

I got my labels printed for only a few bucks. They printed them on a slightly glossy paper made for labels, something I didn't have on hand. I would otherwise have been forced to print them on regular typing paper. The only other options I had on hand were high rag content resume paper and a variety of art papers including several varieties of watercolor paper none of which would be well suited to label making.

Now I just need to get to sleep really, really fast so I can get my 4hrs sleep before work - not like it's my fault for waiting until the last minute or anything.

Once again I'd like to thank each and every one of you for your rapid responses. This would have been so much more difficult without your help, and I want you to know that I truly appreciate it.

Hah! Those are awesome, Cheryl. I wish I could see the guys' reactions. LOL

and i'm sure i'm not the only one who would love to see a photo of the finished product!!

have fun tonight!!

aahhh. I didn't see this until now...but I would voted for the ones you did! Those are so cute. Glad you decided to give them the Merlot, no need to give away good Cabrenet!! lol

Cheryl, great job! Oh I love them both....great phrasing and all. I too love the one with little Trouble.

Debbie

I sure hope no one felt slighted, ignored, or overlooked last night. Earlier in the evening when it looked as though I had plenty of time, I was a bit more chatty and responsive. After I took time out to catch up on some of the other things I needed to do and then returned to finish the project, I could see that I was running out of time fast, so I had to stop 'talking'.

I did keep a check on DG periodically, and I greatly enjoyed reading all of your posts and also appreciated your help immensely. As it was, without taking time to 'talk' again except at the very end, it was a little after 3AM before I got to bed - and that was w/o applying the labels and wrapping the gift all of which had to be done this morning.

I wasn't entirely happy with the wording of the back label, but at some point (like after 1AM), I had to realize that it was a creative endeavor not a career, and it was time to 'print it' and move on. It was around that time that I also remembered I had another decent pic of Trouble eating grapes that I could have used on the back, but, again, by that time I decided to go with what I had and worry about getting some sleep. Still, all in all, I was happy with the results. I thought the final product ended up looking far better than I had expected it might.