Label Planet
Our top tip for reducing Christmas chaos - don't leave templates to the last minute.
Template Tuesday’s Top Reasons To Avoid Last Minute Label Templates
While there are MANY reasons not to leave label templates to the last minute at ANY time of the year, it really isn’t a good idea to put off getting your Christmas templates sorted.
Designing and printing your own labels is a simple (and often cheaper) way to personalise items – making it seem like a very good idea (at the time). However, label templates can quickly spiral out of control, even if you’ve printed labels before. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong – especially when you’re in a rush to get things done for Christmas.
There are a LOT of steps involved – far more than people realise. Each step takes time and must be done correctly to avoid a complete disaster. You need time to:
- Make sure you have suitable software AND know how to use it.
- Make sure your software includes suitable built-in label templates – or to source a suitable template elsewhere.
- Add your design to your template (which can take longer than you think).
- Test print your template to make sure you will get the perfect alignment. This step also includes figuring out the cause of any misalignment and applying a suitable fix.
- Print your sticky labels – remember, your printer can only print one sheet at a time.
- Stick your sticky labels onto your stuff!
- Account for despatch and delivery; your Christmas labels need to be delivered to you AND your labelled items need to be despatched and delivered in time for Christmas.
If you know what label size and layout you intend to use, you can get your label templates ready to go BEFORE you order your Christmas labels OR WHILE you’re waiting for your order to arrive. If you’ve got your template set up, you’re ready to get printing as soon as your order arrives.
Template Tuesday’s Top Tips To Avoid Last Minute Template Troubles
- Follow the KISS principle – keep it simple, stupid – and don’t make things more complicated than they need to be. Make sure your design isn’t too complicated – for your software OR for you. For a decorative and professional looking finish, avoid cluttering your design with too many elements.
- To create a set of identical labels, add your design to the top left label first and then use COPY and PASTE to replicate it across the rest of your template.
- To create a set of Christmas address labels, try using a tool like Word’s Mail Merge to merge a label design with your list of contacts.
View our How To video for a step by step guide to using Mail Merge to make labels. - Check that your printer is using the correct print settings before you start printing. This includes making sure that the page size is set to A4, no scaling options are applied (e.g. less than 100% or any “Fit To…” options), and that you’ve chosen suitable media type/weight print settings (e.g. “Labels” or “Heavy Paper”). You also need to use the media bypass tray – if your printer has one.
- Always, always, ALWAYS test print your template onto blank paper FIRST before printing onto your label sheets proper.
Get Free Label Templates & Advice On Designing And Printing Self Adhesive Labels From The Label Planet Website
Our Label Templates section contains all the resources you could possibly need to print your own self adhesive labels.
This includes Template Information Pages for each of our label sizes; each page contains measurements and layout details, printing tips, and download links for our label templates. We have created a set of Word and PDF label templates for each label size; these sets include portrait and landscape orientations, along with bleed label templates (for printing coloured backgrounds and/or borders).
You’ll also find links to our various Help Pages, including guides to designing and printing self adhesive labels, top tips, how to videos, and our troubleshooting guide.
You can also contact our Customer Service Team for advice about specific questions, queries, or problems that you may encounter. Send us an email at any time or give us a call during office hours; Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.