I've been getting geeky with the labels for my homemade herbal medicines. I really enjoy designing graphics, even though I'm most definitely a novice at this stuff. I've always enjoyed it, since I was a kid, and I've hand drawn some beautiful wine labels for some elderberry wine I made for someone's wedding once - I should dig that out to share with you. However, with the rise of apps and programs that make it easy for anyone to do graphic design without a degree in fiddling about with photoshop, which I've never been able to use, making labels online is a lot of fun! I also don't want to get my bottles mixed up - as it is, I have to keep tasting them to see which is hops and which is verbena - they are in separate boxes, but I keep forgetting which box was which.

I ended up paying for a free trial on Canva, which will go for a month - then I'll just see what happens. If I save and print as many as I anticipate needing, then I won't need to extend the trial. Maybe I should make a few without the names or dates printed on them so I can just type them in on another program at a later date, or maybe I'll just do the free trial again with another email address - I've watched almost a whole year on Stan for free doing that (sssh, don't tell anyone!)

The basic design worked well, and I loved the look, but when I printed it and put it on the bottles, it was kinda hard to make out the writing without glasses - and I don't even really wear glasses! So I changed the font on the 'Breathe' and made the background lighter, so it's much clearer. I also simplified the instructions a little and made them bigger too.

I then played around with the balms - I have made a calendula salve, a heel balm and a plantain balm, so they were fun to make as well. Now I have to stick them all on with a glue stick and I didn't bother with sticky labels and figuring out how to print them! Damn those big globs of glue that you have to squish down! I need a better glue solution, as well as something a little more environmentally friendly!

Then I started to realise I was getting pressed for time and realised that I couldn't stuff around with all the instructions. I figured if I was going to pick up a tincture and use it, I'd know what it was for! And if I was giving it to family, I'd write down what it was for or send them a link to a website. Hence, my plantain tincture label is a little more simple! I almost like this one the best, as I could make the mandalas a little bigger. This way all I really need to do is change the name of it rather than fiddle about with the how to and what's it for. These are really only for personal use, lest I get into trouble, so I didn't really need all the fluff!

What I'd really like to do is draw the mandela myself, so it's even more personal. Perhaps I'll have time on this road trip. I am currently annoyed that I forgot my hops tincture. Jamie says he brought his... but he is talking about his super hoppy IPA he is currently sipping by the fire under the stars.

Do you make your own fancy labels for things? Show me in the comments below!

What programs do you use for graphic design?