Monday, 20 August 2012

Back to School with Mabel's Labels & ASAP Engraving!

It's almost time for back to school and both parents and children are counting down the days! Help the little scholars in your life stay organized this school year with Mabel's Labels. Identify clothes, footwear, books, backpacks and more. Best of all, spend $100 and receive a free package of Write Away labels now through August 31st. Enjoy!

http://www.mabelslabels.com/mabel.php/?n=home&SSAID=654392

Tuesday, 24 July 2012

WTF is a Lamacoid?

Most of the time, when I say we engrave lamacoids tags, I am met with a blank expression...nod of the head...and a soft 'oh'.  Translated, this means they have NO IDEA what I'm talking about LOL. 

Realizing that not everyone is in the construction or industrial industry, most wouldn't be familiar with the formal name of the product, but I'm confident everyone knows what they are.  The way I usually describe them is "you know the little plastic tags above every plug-in at the hospital? yeah we do those".

The little light bulb goes off and they recognize what we are describing, however that is only the very basic tag, and the options are literally endless.  As we continue through the blog posts, I hope to show you the numerous uses for engraving in everyday life as well as the construction, electrical and industrial sectors.  Since 75% of our business is these "lamacoids", I thought I would start there.

The standard definition of a lamacoid is:

Lamacoid (lamicoid) is a general term used to describe 2-ply and 3-ply plastic name tags, legend plates, valve tags etc. It is a very cost effective material, and comes in a variety of colors and textures easily mounted with adhesive backing.
 
 
 




To us... "doing tags"  is the backbone of our business. The engraving, cutting to size, bevelling and two-way taping of tags is what we do!

Thanks for reading!

 

Tuesday, 10 July 2012

Getting Married?


A.S.A.P. Engraving is here to help you add personal touches to your big day!  We can use our experience to assist you in customizing everything from centerpieces, guest signing table accessories, guest favors, cake toppers, and even your thankyou gifts!

With a variety of colors and materials to choose from, we can ensure that everything matches your chosen colors, theme and decor.   We can make things as simple or as detailed as you wish to enhance your vision.

Want to go classic elegant with custom monogramming?  We can help you add your monograms to enhance that theme! Or perhaps you’re looking for something more individualized?  We can discuss fun alternatives to those everyday accessories...and then add your touch to each piece.

Looking for that perfect bridesmaid gift? How about personalized cosmetic brushes?  Something personal and fun for your best man? We can do an engraved knife or maybe a flask! 

The options are endless, so contact us today to get started on making your wedding everything you’ve been dreaming of!


Tuesday, 12 June 2012

Who or What is ASAP Engraving?

Our website describes us as a family run business, operating locally out of Sherwood Park since 1994 and we are exactly that!

A.S.A.P. Engraving was started in Calgary in the early 90's.  My father in law works within the electrical division for industrial rig companies, and therefore, there has always been a demand for lamacoid tags.  My mother in law was able to make these tags, part time from home while raising three boys and running a day home. They moved to Sherwood Park, and she continued to expand the business based on word of mouth with all three boys included in the labour force. Back then, the engraving was all done on an old manual rotary machine, meaning each letter of every word had to be hand picked, placed into the machine, and engraved individually.  When my husband and I started dating, we spent many Sunday afternoons in his parents basement working all day on these tags.

Over the years, Mom no longer worked on the tags and the brothers were no longer involved, so it became the sole responsibility of my husband (with the help of myself and our delivery dog). When we moved into our new home, we renovated to include an office space for the engraving business. After purchasing all new digital equipment in 2009, we moved the business out of the parents basement...and into ours!

The purchase of this new equipment opened a world of opportunities for us with engraving, as now we could engrave just about anything as opposed to only plastic lamacoid.  We quickly spread the word through our existing industrial customers! For me personally, there was a shift in interest. Suddenly the time consuming work of the manual rotary became fun exploring all the new things our machines could do. We were engraving wood, leather, glass and making fun things like wedding favors and signs for children's nurseries!

In June of 2010 we welcomed our first son into the world, and I went on my maternity leave from my full time career in the construction sector.  This enabled me to focus some more on our home business and grow things further. I developed our page through Facebook, launched a website www.asapengraving.ca and continue to look for new opportunities and developments for our business all the time.  We welcomed our second son this February, and so the family and business grew again!

What was once a small, one person show, has now grown to be a family business that enables me to work from home, while raising my two boys and allowing me to do work that uses my creativity everyday! I am very lucky and thankful to have such an opportunity! I can already see my two boys helping us in the years to come, and our dog continues to love joining me on deliveries! Who knows, maybe one of the boys will take over from us, and run from their own basement years from now.


Thanks for taking the time to read about us! I welcome ideas and inspiration all the time, and would love to hear from you!

Amanda

Monday, 7 May 2012

MOM

MOM...pretty simple word, a three letter palindrome...however, let's not forget that upside down it spells WOW!

As a child she was the one chasing away the monsters from under the bed, kissing the boo-boos better and staying up all night with you during flu season. As a teenager she was the one who "didn't  understand!" and basically stood in your way of everything you "thought" you should be doing at the time. As you entered young adulthood, she was probably no longer around everyday, but somehow constantly reminding you to be responsible, pay your bills, take care of others and to basically "be smart".

It's only now...that I am a mother, do I truly appreciate the woman my mother is and what she has done for me over the years! For all those times I thought I would never want to grow up to be like my mom, I realise now I should be trying even harder to be like her!

Recently, during a visit to see me and my boys, my mom mentioned that the hardest part of the kids growing up, is the feeling of not being needed anymore.  This couldn't be further from the truth! In fact, now that I'm a mother, I feel I need her guidance more than ever to help me raise these two boys, and hopefully mold them into two amazing young men. I need her to reassure me that all the hormonal feelings I'm having are "normal" and that this exhaustion does eventually get a little better. Somehow, no matter what we go through, even as adults, it's our own mom's voice saying "everything will be OK" that really sinks in.

This will be my second Mother's Day, and I now have two amazing little boys that will call me Mom. The love I have for them is truly indescribable. It's a combination of emotions ranging from love and pride to fear and anxiety all rolled into one. Whether it's nurturing my infant on the breast, or supplying my toddler with a never ending supply of crayons and fruit snacks...they need me, and I agree with my mom, that's a pretty special feeling. The love I have for my boys is something I can never have for anyone or anything else...and knowing that there is a woman who feels that way about me? Well that's a WOW right there! 

Thank you Mom...for everything!