Fun With Fruit Crate Labels

Bruce and I were antiquing in Carpinteria on Saturday, and we came across a cache of 'blank' produce labels. These labels came pre-printed with lovely artwork of various types of produce, scenery and the like, with blank areas where the local growers could add their names and information to place on their crates for sales and display. As you may know, vintage produce label artwork is very collectible, especially in California where so much of the United States produce is grown. I have a small collection of 'fruit crate art', and I thought it would be fun to buy a few of these and use them for my design work.

Since we live in an agricultural area (Ventura County), it seemed perfect to add our family name to one of these labels. The only problem was that my favorite had a large grapefruit in the middle, and I'm not a fan of grapefruit. Other than that, and the fact that the art was a bit faded (mostly the blue had faded) I thought I could easily fix it.  Below is the original artwork, and above is the sign I made. I plan on printing it, framing it, and hanging it in our kitchen, where the decor is decidedly vintage and leans towards these colors. If you would like one for your family, leave me a message and I'll send you details about how you can get a personalized one for yourself!