rock the vote

It’s time to vote for the winner of our first-ever “business packaging / holiday packaging contest“! It was nearly impossible narrowing the submissions down to three choices – but here they are (in order of submission):

Amanda of Amanda E. Photography
Entry: http://paperieboutique.com/2010/12/28/amanda_e_photography/

Julie Oliver of Julie MayRee Photography
Entry: http://paperieboutique.com/2010/11/23/julie_mayree_photography/

Heather Beadles of Heather Beadles Photography & Design
Entry: http://paperieboutique.com/2010/11/20/heather_beadlesphotography/

POLL RESULTS posted below – poll is closed!

Just one vote per person. Please no cheating – let’s keep this fair and square, ok? Voting will run through 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, January 7, 2011. Thanks so much to everyone who entered, and good luck to the three finalists!

-Robyn

Happy New Year!

Believe it or not, this is the final entry in the “business packaging / holiday packaging contest“! Please make sure you scroll through the previous entries to make sure you haven’t missed anything!

Here is Kristina Stredwick of Just One Photography…

My name is Kristina Stredwick from Just One Photography. Here are pictures of my regular packaging and my special Holiday packaging. My regular packaging is simple and classic with the kraft colors (since different products bear different tones) and silver. I have many Senior Sessions and they love the tin boxes that come with the zip drive and then again when they order wallet size pictures. The accordion albums come in a bag which is usually matching their school colors. For the newborn sessions they get baby blue or pink. Brown bags and boxes are adorned with silver ribbon and logo oval stickers.

This is my first Holiday Season with my business and I am so excited. I only offered the watermarked proofs on CD’s for the holidays (instead of my regular option of CD or zip drive) and people loved the snowflakes! I wrapped up each holiday card set with ribbon and special tags or buttons as shown, then I tucked them into a snowflake adorned bag.

All I had left to deliver were my own cards – so that is my family peaking out from the ribbons! Enjoy and have a happy holiday season!

Absolutely stunning Kristina – and the perfect close to a long string of amazing submissions!

I have no idea how I’m narrowing the entries down to three, but check back next Monday and you can help select one of those as the big winner in the first-annual Paperie Boutique “business packaging / holiday packaging contest“! The voting will run from noon EST Monday, January 3, 2011 – 11 p.m. EST on Friday, January 7, 2011.

The lucky winner will receive a $20 Paper Source gift card and an additional $100 gift certificate to HB Photo Packaging!

Don’t forget – you can still get the entire “Fit to Print” store on sale (for $40.00) through January 1st, 2011! Get over $300.00 in products (including the binder template) for $40.00 – an 87% savings and some designs retire in 2011!

The $9 Zazzle gift code off custom binders (template included in this sale here) expires at 11:59 p.m. PST on 12.31.10

Have an amazing 2011 everyone!
-Robyn

finding your bliss

The next post is an “honorable mention” in our “business packaging / holiday packaging contest” by Elizabeth Bailey of Studio Bliss. Elizabeth is just starting out and doesn’t have a website yet, but hopes to be up and running with her business by this time next year. I’d say with packaging like this – she’s off to a great start!

Bravo, Elizabeth! Job well done!

Don’t forget – you can still get the entire “Fit to Print” store on sale (for $40.00) through January 1st, 2011! Get over $300.00 in products (including the binder template) for $40.00 – an 87% savings and some designs retire in 2011!

And I’ll be posting more “business packaging / holiday packaging contest“ entries soon so stay tuned!

blush and bashful

Still wading through the final entries in the “business packaging / holiday packaging contest“! I’ll be posting these as I can individually. Please make sure you scroll to the previous entry each time you visit so you don’t miss anything!

Up next is Courtney of Courtney Jade Photography…

I got everything from Target, except for the boxes. Those are from HB-Photo in Titanium!

Thank you Courtney for showing it can be done on a budget and still look high-end and lovely!

Don’t forget – you can still get the entire “Fit to Print” store on sale (for $40.00) through January 1st, 2011! Get over $300.00 in products (including the binder template) for $40.00 – an 87% savings and some designs retire in 2011!

And I’ll be posting more “business packaging / holiday packaging contest“ entries soon so stay tuned!

twinkle, twinkle little star

Still wading through the final entries in the “business packaging / holiday packaging contest“! I’ll be posting these as I can individually. Please make sure you scroll to the previous entry each time you visit so you don’t miss anything!

Up next is Susan Peck of Susan Peck Photography…

How to achieve this look:

• The white bag is from Target

• The thin ribbon is from the dollar bin at Jo-Ann’s

• The sheer, sparkly ribbon (large bow on bag) is from Costco

• The stars are made from German glass glitter and although it
   would be super easy to do them yourself, I purchased them
   here to save time

• Although I would love to have custom imprinted bags, it’s not
   cost effective for me right now. The custom logo stickers
   do the trick nicely for the moment and are from here

• The keychain acts not only as a surprise gift for my client, but
   as a way to quickly identify orders during the busy holiday
   season – I got mine at MPixPro at the same time I was
   ordering custom printed DVD’s

• I should be receiving my titanium boxes from H-B this week
   and I can’t wait to start using those in my packaging

Those glitter stars rock – thanks for the great inspiration, Susan!

Don’t forget – you can still get the entire “Fit to Print” store on sale (for $40.00) through January 1st, 2011! Get over $300.00 in products (including the binder template) for $40.00 – an 87% savings and some designs retire in 2011!

And I’ll be posting more “business packaging / holiday packaging contest“ entries soon so stay tuned!

these boots are made for walkin’

Still wading through the final entries in the “business packaging / holiday packaging contest“! I’ll be posting these as I can individually. Please make sure you scroll to the previous entry each time you visit so you don’t miss anything!

Up next is Jill Renton of Scuffed Boots Photography…

How to achieve this look:

1. Boxes: HB PHoto
2. Holiday Ribbon, Glitter Snowflake, Rhinestones, Bags: Michael’s
3. Tissue Paper: Dollar Store
4. Clear Acrylic Stamp: Village Impressions (great Canadian
    company for the canucks looking for custom stamps)

Thank you so much Jill! Love the attention to detail and your colors!

Don’t forget – you can still get the entire “Fit to Print” store on sale (for $40.00) through January 1st, 2011! Get over $300.00 in products (including the binder template) for $40.00 – an 87% savings and some designs retire in 2011!

And I’ll be posting more “business packaging / holiday packaging contest“ entries soon so stay tuned!

a dash of curry

Still wading through the final entries in the “business packaging / holiday packaging contest“! I’ll be posting these as I can individually. Please make sure you scroll to the previous entry each time you visit so you don’t miss anything!

Up next is Amanda of Amanda E. Photography…

Just a little bit about my packaging: I very recently re-branded my business. I wanted something fresh, very modern and clean…with a little bit of whimsy. My 4 year old daughter inspired my new little birdie logo design. I drew it while we were doodling one day. I’m a Graphic Designer, so I designed everything myself. I chose the colors (“curry” yellow and gray) simply because they’re two of my favorites. I launched the new look just about 2 months ago and I’m loving everything. But especially my packaging. It’s still a work in progress, but I like the direction it’s headed.

Now, I’ll try to break down everything pictured:

Grouping no. 1
• 8×10 white box (h-b photo)
• 5×7 kraft box (NPD Box)
• round stickers (Zazzle)
• ribbons (Hobby Lobby, Michael’s)
• yellow tissue (Target)
• prints in sleeves (Clearbags)
• mini accordion album in handmade drawstring bag (locally made)
• press printed gift tag (local lab)

Grouping no. 2
• 4×6 image box wrapped in “curry dot” wrapping paper (Paper Source)
• Recycled kraft CD case (Re-Binder)
• Kraft label printed at home (Re-Binder)
• ribbons (Hobby Lobby, Michael’s)
• CD printed at home
• press printed mini-accordian “wall design guide” (ProDPI)

Grouping no. 3
• press printed square business cards (ProDPI)
• floral printed hand-written thank you note (Target)
• 5×7 white pocket folder to hold them (Paper Source)
• white paper gift bag (local craft store)
• white label printed at home (custom rubber stamp on order)
• white/silver polkadot tissue (Hobby Lobby)
• snowflake ornament (Hobby Lobby)
• kraft wrapping paper (Target)
• yellow raffia (Michael’s)

Thank you so much Amanda! This seriously makes me want to do a color-change with my own branding!

Don’t forget – you can still get the entire “Fit to Print” store on sale (for $40.00) through January 1st, 2011! Get over $300.00 in products (including the binder template) for $40.00 – an 87% savings and some designs retire in 2011!

And I’ll be posting more “business packaging / holiday packaging contest“ entries soon so stay tuned!

catch a falling star – and put it in
      your pocket

Sorry for the LONG gap in posting and returning Paperie-related e-mails! My last client cards and packages have finally been shipped and hand-delivered, so now I can get back to the fun stuff. Like the final entries in the “business packaging / holiday packaging contest“!

I’ll be posting these as I can individually. Please make sure you scroll to the previous entry each time you visit so you don’t miss anything!

Up next is Erin Durband of Dirty Laundry Photography…

I made these cute little mini-card holders for my spring and summer clients and included them with a thank you card. All supplies were purchased at Michael’s craft store: stiff felt, embroidery thread, whimsical buttons, and ribbon. I just measured out a piece of felt a little wider than the cards as well as a piece a little shorter and whip stitched them together forming a pocket, then I did the same stitch to a smaller piece to form a flap. I then sewed on a couple of fun buttons and attached a piece of ribbon to one of them. After the cards are placed inside, I closed the flap and wound the ribbon between both buttons securing the contents. My clients loved having these little packets to carry around in their purses containing various images that they could show off and share.

I adore these Erin – thank you for sharing them!

Don’t forget – you can still get the entire “Fit to Print” store on sale (for $40.00) through January 1st, 2011! Get over $300.00 in products (including the binder template) for $40.00! It’s a savings of 87% off and some designs retire in 2011!

blue Christmas

Sorry for the LONG gap in posting and returning Paperie-related e-mails! My last client cards and packages have finally been shipped and hand-delivered, so now I can get back to the fun stuff. Like the final entries in the “business packaging / holiday packaging contest“!

I’ll be posting these as I can individually. Please make sure you scroll to the previous entry each time you visit so you don’t miss anything!

Up next is Jennifer Alderman of Alderman Photography…

I’m a stay-at-home mom to 3 kids under 6 and a photographer. I keep a pretty small client base so that I can provide a lot of individual attention, and also so I can handle it all without hitting the Chardonnay at 11 am!

My marketing colors are red and aqua, and I maintain the same packaging theme all year long. Cards go in the big aqua boxes, mini books go in 8×10 white boxes. Prints are in clear bags then in properly sized white boxes. CDs are printed on my home printer and then packaged in silver tins. Jewelry & small items go in the mini aqua & kraft polka dot bags. Everything then goes in red or aqua bags and tied up with a toy camera and tag.

You can also see a peak of the 5×5 2011 planner I designed as a thank you to clients (middle photo, bottom row). I just delivered an order to a client yesterday, and she squealed when she saw everything, “Wow! I feel like Christmas is here already!“.

How to achieve this look:

1. large aqua boxes & ribbons = Michael’s
2. white photo boxes = npdbox.com
3. fabric flowers on boxes = handmade by me
4. round thanks stickers and tags = printed on home printer
5. business cards used as stickers = nextdayflyers.com
6. CD tins = sks-bottle.com
7. toy cameras = kipptoys.com
8. 5×5 planners = cpq.com
9. bags & tissue = clearance aisle at Target (I cleared out every store
    in a 20 mile radius when the aqua bags went on sale last year)

Everything looks so high-end yet whimsical Jennifer – love it!

Don’t forget – you can still get the entire “Fit to Print” store on sale (for $40.00) through January 1st, 2011! Get over $300.00 in products (including the binder template) for $40.00! It’s a savings of 87% off and some designs retire in 2011!

biggest things – small packages

Sorry for the LONG gap in posting and returning Paperie-related e-mails! My last client cards and packages have finally been shipped and hand-delivered, so now I can get back to the fun stuff. Like the final entries in the “business packaging / holiday packaging contest“!

I’ll be posting these as I can individually. Please make sure you scroll to the previous entry each time you visit so you don’t miss anything!

Up next is Carrie Novak of Carrie Novak Photography…

This summer I was packing up an order for a client and ended up only having a beat up old box to put it in and crossed out all the old info on it with a big black marker and put some extra tape on it and hand scribbled the address on it and sent it off to my client. Not long after, I came across Paperie Boutique. I was horrified. I wanted to crawl into a hole and die after looking at your packaging. All I could think of was my poor client who spent several hundred dollars receiving her beat up from the street up package I sent her.

From that day forward I vowed to NEVER AGAIN do something like that!

Even though I am not rolling in dough, I decided I can still go to JoAnn’s and buy some clearance ribbon, I can wrap my my old boxes with brown paper and print my shipping labels. For customers I hand delivered to, instead of using my old Wal-Mart bags, I bought some fun bags at the dollar store that sort of matched my logo and colors. ANYTHING had to be better than what I was doing!

So after business started getting a little better I was able to place an order with HB Photo Packaging, bought their basic kraft boxes pre-filled with tissue and some ribbon. I was so excited!!!! Along with my Moo mini business cards and some snowflakey extras I got at JoAnn’s I am now able to be proud of my packaging! I enclose a handwritten thank you written on my WHCC greeting cards I had printed up with my new logo (which was created by Terry Cutlip from Sassy Designs, Inc.). I am now getting clients commenting on my packaging telling me what a nice touch it is and I owe it all to Paperie Boutique!

This post is truly what this site is all about Carrie! You don’t have to spend big to ‘look’ big. Congratulations on beautiful branding and packaging!

Don’t forget – you can still get the entire “Fit to Print” store on sale (for $40.00) through January 1st, 2011! Get over $300.00 in products (including the binder template) for $40.00! It’s a savings of 87% off and some designs retire in 2011!

Z’s the Day!

Sorry for the LONG gap in posting and returning Paperie-related e-mails! My last client cards and packages have finally been shipped and hand-delivered, so now I can get back to the fun stuff. Like the final entries in the “business packaging / holiday packaging contest“!

I’ll be posting these as I can individually. Please make sure you scroll to the previous entry each time you visit so you don’t miss anything!

Up next is Jennifer Foster of Z’s the Day Photography and Design…

Just beautiful, Jennifer – thank you for your submission!

Don’t forget – you can still get the entire “Fit to Print” store on sale (for $40.00) through January 1st, 2011! Get over $300.00 in products (including the binder template) for $40.00! It’s a savings of 87% off and some designs retire in 2011!

true blue

Sorry for the LONG gap in posting and returning Paperie-related e-mails! My last client cards and packages have finally been shipped and hand-delivered, so now I can get back to the fun stuff. Like the final entries in the “business packaging / holiday packaging contest“!

I’ll be posting these as I can individually. Please make sure you scroll to the previous entry each time you visit so you don’t miss anything!

Up next is Tera Leigh of Tera Leigh Photography…

How to achieve this look:

1. Boxes – the turquoise shopping bag, and the polka dot mesh
    bag, polka dot and zebra ribbon are from US Box – the rest is
    done with my inkjet printer on cardstock with my own designs
2. Standard black folder – cut turquoise paper band, round gloss
    sticker printed on inkjet
3. CD – printed on inkjet
4. CD cover – turquoise paper wrap, damask tape, business
    card printed on inkjet
5. Gift Certificate – printed on inkjet
6. Photo box and gift bag – round gloss 3” sticker, printed on
    inkjet printer

Thank you so much, Tera – your packaging is gorgeous!

back to your regularly scheduled
     programming

Well that was fun now wasn’t it? Sorry for the LONG gap in posting and returning Paperie-related e-mails! Juggling a business, a website, and magazine duties proved to be more than one person could handle in a holiday pressure-cooker (especially while my assistants were in finals) — and that meant this place was the first to give.

But my last client cards and packages have finally been shipped and hand-delivered, so now I can get back to the fun stuff. Like the final entries in the “business packaging / holiday packaging contest“! I’ll be posting these as I can individually. Please make sure you scroll to the previous entry each time you visit so you don’t miss anything!

Up next is Lauren Shinn of Shinn Shots Photography…

After a year of having a “photography business on the side,” I decided to update and upgrade. The most important piece of this was branding. I chose colors, look, and a feel that I wanted to represent my business. When it came to packaging, I wanted to incorporate all those things. The challenge was that I also wanted to go green. It’s hard to go green without going kraft brown! But I managed to do it. (I hope to come back here to Paperie Boutique and post about it, but in the meantime, you can read a little bit about my regular packaging at shinnshots.com/blog/beinggreen/green-packages/).

This is my first year to have holiday packaging since it’s really my first year for packaging at all! For the holiday packages, I wanted to be consistent with my brand so that it would still be recognized as Shinn Shots Photography. I dropped the blue color and added in the red, but the look and feel stayed the same. I used red ribbon from Michael’s. (In future years, I hope to use recycled ribbon from Nashville Wraps.) I switched out my typical blue paper raffia ribbon for green paper raffia ribbon. I kept the quotes that I have on the tag in the middle of the ribbon, but I replaced the typical quotes with more holiday-type quotes. Then I added little white puff-balls to add to the holiday feel. (They are actually little pieces of giant chenille pipe cleaner from Michael’s…that way it matches the fluffy white stuff used to hold the ornament on the bag!)

I kept my regular bag for the holidays since it’s mostly green already. I am in love with these bags! They are made from jute. Very green and very reusable. I have a coordinating bag in a larger size for larger items as well. (They come from 1-800 Gift Box.) I replaced my typical gift tag with a wonderful holiday ornament. It’s a wood block with 6 photos covered in mod-podge. Beautiful, and non-breakable…a must in my ornament collection! I made the ornaments myself, but there are several crafty people out there who offer them (such as Live Simply and January Hart Designs).

I hope some of these packaging links can be helpful for anyone trying to go green. I’ve gotten a lot of great feedback from my clients!

Here’s to another great year full of beautiful portraits!

Thank you for being patient with me getting this posted, Lauren! I just love the quotes and the ornaments!

Merry Christmas everyone!
-Robyn

dashing through

I have been MIA around here for far too long. Our family went down like dominoes to the flu last week, then as I started to recover I had a mountain of work and shooting / editing to catch up on, and these days seems like the alarm has just sounded in the morning and it’s time to crawl back in bed again at night.

I promise I haven’t forgotten about y’all over here – or the “business packaging / holiday packaging contest“ – which still has several entries yet-to-be published (and a winner to pick). But until I can quit packaging client card and print orders, shooting sessions, and proofing sessions, and filling the orders…..most everything else in my life is on a temporary hiatus. Thank you for your patience!




To show you how behind I am, the digital edition of the December 2010 Professional Photographer Magazine was released last week – and I’m just now remembering to take a peek at it, much less post it here.

For this month’s article, I reviewed photography jewelry selections from BRAGaLittle.com, Isabelle Chase Studios, Kathy Lo Rocks, Kimbra Studios, Kimtown Boutique, Kotori Photo Jewelry, Marye Street Studio, and PlanetJill.

Click the magazine page above for a larger version. You can find the article on page 50 and page 51 of the print-version as they start hitting mailboxes.

And you can also download the digital edition now if you’re a PPA member or digital subscriber.




Last but not least, a quick-peek at some of the holiday gifts I’ve been assembling for my early-in-the-season Buttons and Bows holiday clients. I’m still waiting to get everything together for the later sessions, hence another reason for my lack of free time. But this should give you an idea (click top image for larger)…

Several will receive a dozen gift tags as one of their prezzies. These are made from Moo mini cards. The back has a small B&B logo and my URL, plus a decorative “To:” / “From:” section for them to fill out for their presents. I use a decorative hole punch and thread mini-ribbon through each tag. Since Moo allows you to submit up to 100 images for the front of their mini cards, they make it very easy to split up a pack into multiple gift tags for multiple clients.

The ornament shown is by Zazzle. I ordered these during a half-off promotion on November 9th. They did not arrive until December 6th, so you’ll most likely need to upgrade your shipping method if you opt to use them. It is not a rush-operation! I was very happy with the quality (both image and product) of the premium metal designs. The quality on the ceramic ornaments left little to be desired – however, you can add your logo to the back of the ceramic ones.

Are we there yet?
-Robyn