don’t blame the messenger

Paperie had one more *emera camera bag to give away, and this time we’ve partnered up with The Savvy Photographer Blog to do it!

Go visit the Savvy Blog for more details on how to enter – and good luck!




Just finished the new splash page on my Butttons & Bows site – wanna peek?

I’m really pleased with how it turned out! For more information on using QR Codes on your website, go here.




I have a “pretty packaging” board on Pinterest if you haven’t seen it ’til now.

One of my favorite boards is “Cool branding and packaging“ by Phreckles Photography. What’s yours?

Leave a link to your favorite pinner or Pinterest board in the comments here – one Paperie reader who does will win this cute camera magnet set:

Have a great week everyone!
-Robyn & Todd

modern love

Today we have another great vendor / guest post and giveaway from Dear Miss Modern and Deluxemodern Design – plus a discount code for all of our readers.

Hello Darling!

I’m Christine from Dear Miss Modern…..the chic and stylish design + branding shop from Deluxemodern Design.

While Deluxemodern Design specializes in high-end custom branding, Dear Miss Modern specializes in instant gratification!

In the design shop you will find pre-made logos, marketing sets, all kinds of fabulous patterns, cards, and our latest and greatest, The Blog Sugar Design Kit! What is THAT, you ask? It’s a neatly packaged group of design elements for your blog. Use all the elements, or just a few. Change the colors, or keep them. You decide. Works with any blog platform. Lots of new designs in the works!

We’d be so pleased if you’d come say hello, join our Facebook page, check out our site, and peruse our design shop!

And one lucky Paperie reader will receive a pre-made logo OR $100.00 to the shop {in case you don’t need a logo}.

You have three ways to enter:

1. Visit the Deluxemodern Facebook page at facebook.com/deluxemodern
    and LIKE it.

2. Follow Deluxemodern Design on Twitter at twitter.com/deluxemodern.

3. List your favorite Dear Miss Modern product in the comments here.

Each entry requires its own separate comment here. (In simple terms: If you want THREE chances to win, you have to do all three things listed above, and then make three separate comments here telling us how you did them.)

Comment(s) must be posted here by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Thursday, June 23rd. You can enter up to three times total. Post that you have met all three requirements in separate comments to have multiple chances to win!

You can enter / post up to three times total – one entry each for the options listed above. (PLEASE NOTE: Comments are held for moderation and may not appear immediately. Please be patient! They will show up eventually.)

You have three chances to win, but only one chance PER OPTION – please do not post the same link multiple times. Duplicate links will be removed. Each entry requires its own separate comment to have multiple chances to win!

Comments on this entry will be numbered in order of posting. The winning number will be chosen by Random.org, and the winner will be contacted within 48-72 hours of the winner-announcement to claim their prize.

Good luck with the giveaway darlings…I wish you all could be winners!

And right now all Paperie readers will receive a 10% disicount to Dear Miss Modern with the code MISSPAPERIE!




And lastly, a very belated announcement for the BrandSushi eBook giveaway…the winner is…Alison Douglass Photography!

Congrats to Alison and everyone who entered, and special thanks to BrandSushi for such a fantastic prize!




I know updates here have been quite sporadic due to health issues I’ve been having – but don’t forget to tune in often because there are several great vendor giveaways and features in the queue and I’ll be posting them as frequently as possible!

Thanks for your patience!
-Robyn

that’s me in the spotlight

Paperie Boutique / Buttons and Bows Photography / yours truly were featured in the Monday, May 23rd blog post by Nashville Wraps.

Here’s an excerpt (which includes one of our previous features of Kelli France):

Please visit the Nashville Wraps blog to read the entire article! Many thanks to them for such a great promo / feature! (You can find our recent vendor / guest post by Nashville Wraps here.)

This week is not only the last week of school, but also finds my grandmother having her second heart surgery of the week on Tuesday, plus I’m still swamped with a busy spring of shooting and processing. I have posts, giveaways, and features in the queue and simply no time to wade through them all and edit for publication right now. Keep checking in because I promise once the floodgates open again it will be worth it!

In the meantime, don’t miss that we currently have a $100 gift certificate to Photo Card Boutique up for grabs. The contest ends late Tuesday night. Read here for more details…

Thanks for your patience as I try to catch back up to ‘normal’ life!
-Robyn

the perfect host

Full disclosure: I am a Hosting Matters client (since 2001) and they host this WordPress blog Paperie Boutique.

I had a popular blog almost a decade ago. That blog was regularly FARK‘ed and MeFi‘ed – in addition to being frequently featured on Tech TV (now G4 Network) – and would sometimes receive 75.000+ unique visitors per day.

I needed a host that not only kept my site online, but was available for all the mini-crises that develop with a site of that nature. Hosting Matters has always been that host for me, and then some. When I joined Hosting Matters in 2001, I had already dumped three other webhosts that year. It’s now 2011 and I’ve never left HM. They literally host every. single. website. that Todd and I own – big and small. Including Buttons and Bows Photography with a template by Blu Domain, and my Snap-Button blog with a template by ProPhoto Blogs. (Trust me, we own a lot of websites!) You don’t get a better testimonial than that!

Now please welcome Hosting Matters for a guest / vendor post and giveaway!

Tired of hosts who promise the world and don’t deliver? Who radically change policies without notice? Who treat customers as a number instead of a name? Whose technical support people are nameless and don’t seem to care?

Get hosted with Hosting Matters, and we’ll change the way you view web hosting providers forever. We provide 24/7 support by real people, never outsourced, and proactively monitor our servers and network to ensure the highest level of performance possible.

No fine print, no asterisks next to offers: real packages, sensible pricing, and great hosting. We’ll even help you move in! What more could you ask?

Hosting Matters is currently offering a tremendous special for Paperie readers looking for better hosting than they currently have. The first person who signs up, and two others to be chosen at random at midnight on Sunday, March 6th, will receive a credit equivalent to three months of hosting.

So how do you win these great prizes?

First, sign up for hosting at Hosting Matters. Then come back here in the comments and tell us you did it.

The first person to post in the comments (who has already signed up) will win the first prize – three months of hosting.

Everyone else who posts (who has already signed up) will be eligible for the two drawings on Sunday, March 6th.

Want extra chances to win? Sign up for hosting at Hosting Matters, then post in the comments you’ve done so.

After you’ve signed up, you can also do the following things and post you’ve done so in the comments:

1. Follow Hosting Matters on Twitter: twitter.com/hostingmatters

2. Like Hosting Matters on Facebook

3. Post the following to Facebook or Twitter (tell us where you did it):
    I want to win 3 months free hosting from
    hostmatters.com / @hostingmatters and
    @paperieboutique / PaperieBoutique.com -
    http://is.gd/i2IVEI

Each entry requires its own separate comment. (In simple terms: If you want THREE extra chances to win, you have to do all three things listed above, and then make three separate comments here telling us how you did them.)

Comment(s) must be posted here by midnight EST on Saturday, March 6th. Post that you have joined Hosting Matters – and after that if you’d like extra chances to win, also that you’ve followed their Twitter stream, “liked” their Facebook fan page, and/or posted to Twitter or Facebook (with a link to where you did it).

ATTENTION: All links you post must direct to public-access accounts. We cannot verify links on private, friends & family only, or passworded accounts and they will not be eligible to win this item. If we have to subscribe to your feed, a website, or forum – or request permission to see them – your entry will automatically be disqualified.

Please do not post the same link multiple times. Duplicate links will be removed. Each entry requires its own separate comment to have multiple chances to win!

Comments on this entry will be numbered in order of posting. The second two winners will be chosen by Random.org, and the winners will be contacted within 24-72 hours of contest’s end to claim their prize.

Good luck – and thanks to Hosting Matters for such a fantastic giveaway!

wild at heart

Today’s vendor / guest post by Wild Hearts Photography also includes a great free download. This is one you don’t want to miss!

I have been a child/family photographer offering custom, lifestyle sessions for approximately 6 years. I absolutely love what I do! Throughout the process of teaching myself about Photoshop, I realized that I had an affinity for creating custom-designed pieces for my clients. This has translated into creating unique templates for other photographers to use.

I have and still do use many templates from other sites, but truly love just starting from scratch and working through the design process myself. One thing that has frustrated me with some of the templates that I have used from other vendors is the level of complexity that they involve. For my templates, I have worked to create a simple, user-friendly format, eliminating unnecessary steps and making them understandable for the basic to intermediate PS users. I’ve also tried to make these templates affordable-something that anyone can get and use.

I currently have many templates in the works, but the first to be released are the Print & Blog Templates {Basics}. This is a set of 10 storyboards for printing and 10 duplicate storyboards, sized for blogging. It also includes a bonus 16-image template.

The print templates are high-resolution, sized at 8×10, 10×10 and 10×20 and are very flexible in that they can easily be resized, rotated and backgrounds changed for an even greater amount of layouts.

The blog-sized templates are low-resolution, duplicate copies of the print templates, sized at 900 pixels wide and these can also be resized for other blog formats or website use. The Basics templates are clean and modern, fitting well with any style of photography and the storyboard format showcases your images in a unique, dynamic way that will appeal to your readers.

These templates are specially priced at just $15.00 for this introductory week only! Other promotions/discounts will be offered on a regular basis and are announced on my Facebook page. When purchasing the templates, you receive an email with download links immediately after payment-so no waiting for items to be sent. You can get started creating right away!

In the Works: I am working on another set of the Print & Blog Templates that have the ever-popular, rounded corners. These should be released within this month sometime. I have many other templates (cards, marketing items, storyboards/collages, etc.) that may also be added in the near future.

Free download: Paperie readers can snag a free PS action that I created to get some of the red out of my images. This is especially useful when using the soft light layer that tends to create more red tones. Find it here!

I would also love to give away a set of the Print & Blog Templates {Basics} to a lucky PB reader. If you just cannot wait to get your hands on these-get in on the special introductory pricing, offered this week only!

How do you win? It’s easy and you have four chances!

1. “Like” wildheartsphotography on Facebook

2. Follow @WildHeartsPhoto on Twitter

3. Post the following on Twitter:
Win Print & Blog Templates {Basics} template set from WildHeartsPhotography.com/ @WildHeartsPhoto at PaperieBoutique.com / @paperieboutique

4. Post about Print & Blog Templates {Basics} on Facebook

Then come back and comment here that you’ve done so – each entry requires its own separate comment. (In simple terms: If you want FOUR chances to win, you have to do all four things listed above, and then make four separate comments telling us how you did them.)

Comment(s) must be posted here by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Friday, October 8th. You can enter up to four times total. Post that you have “liked” the Facebook fan page, followed on Twitter, posted to Twitter (with link), and / or posted to Facebook (with link) – in separate comments to have multiple chances to win!

ATTENTION: All links you post must direct to public-access accounts. We cannot verify links on private, friends & family only, or passworded accounts and they will not be eligible to win this item. If we have to subscribe to your feed, a website, or forum – or request permission to see them – your entry will automatically be disqualified.

You can enter / post up to four total times – one entry each for the four options listed above.

You have four chances to win, but only one chance PER OPTION – please do not post the same link multiple times. Duplicate links will be removed. Each entry requires its own separate comment to have multiple chances to win!

Comments on this entry will be numbered in order of posting. The winning number will be chosen by Random.org, and the winner will be contacted within 24-48 hours of contest’s end to claim their prize.

UPDATE: The winner has been posted here – check it out!

Good luck, and thanks to Wild Hearts Photography for the great free action and template set giveaway!




We have a winner in the Design Aglow ornament contest and it’s Three Graces Photography!

Congrats to Three Graces Photography, thanks to everyone who entered, and thanks to Design Aglow for such a fantastic prize!




If you missed it earlier, we have a great advertiser special going on right now – and it includes a gift certificate to Paper Source! Check it out…

P.S. If you are a photographer and are interested in having your packaging featured – or are a vendor and are interested in having your business packaging, marketing ideas, or photography-related products featured here at Paperie – please contact robyn @ this domain to be added to the posting schedule.

gimme an S! an E! an O!

The digital edition of the September 2010 Professional Photographer Magazine was released today.

(P.S. Keep reading for a special giveaway from photographers-seo.com!)

For this month’s article, I reviewed several digital media storage products by BellaGrafica (“Jeff & Julia Woods General Collection“), DNL Photo Packaging, JLee Albums, Loktah, Miller’s Professional Imaging and The Designer Concept, MpixPro, Pexagon Tech, Rice Studio Supply, and Verbatim.

Click each of the magazine pages above for a larger view. You can find the article on page 48 and page 50 of the print-version when it hits mailboxes. And you can also download the digital edition now if you’re a PPA member or digital subscriber.

And last month Heather Lickliter of Stylized Portraiture helped me write the August “The Goods” column. This month she’s escaped over to the new “Workflow Polish” column where she shares her post-session workflow, with added comments / critique by Audrey Woulard. Congratulations Heather!




Today’s guest / vendor post is by Zach Prez. He has freebies and a prize for Paperie readers!

Hi, I’m Zach Prez. I specialize in search engine optimization for photographers, although I’ve been helping small businesses rank in Google for about 10 years. There’s no better feeling than helping someone become successful on the web and grow his or her business. Okay, maybe there are a few things better, like cycling on the American River Bike trail near Sacramento, CA.

I wrote Photographers SEO Book almost 2 years ago now. What started as some informal phone conversations with my photographer friend quickly expanded into ninja tactics that boomed her business from Google in a matter of weeks. Everyone wanted to know her secret, so I turned those conversations into a non-technical how to guide that any level of photographer can follow. It has since helped hundreds of people understand and improve in search results.

Earlier this year I released Photography Blog SEO Zen. It’s an ebook for photographers, designers, or wedding vendors on how to update your blog infrastructure and write blog posts to rank more easily. Blogs typically output many more pages than a traditional website, meaning more chances to rank in search. Blogs are especially helpful in ranking very specific phrases (long-tail SEO) so I would hope you see about 3x the traffic from your blog compared to your photography website. My blogs and ebook help you get there.

I’m giving away one of each product above for Paperie Boutique readers. Enter to win by commenting on any blog post on either of my websites – photographers-seo.com -OR- photoblogseo.com – by the end of the day on Saturday. (We’ll notify and announce the winners on Monday.) You’ll learn something new and hopefully share your thoughts about the post, what you learned, or something insightful

If you want something FREE right now, check out my Search Engine Optimization Guide for SmugMug Sites -OR- Email SEO Class for Photographers.

UPDATE: The winners have both been announced here – check them out!

Thanks Zach for sharing such valuable information with our readers!

And don’t forget we currently have two giveaway-contests going on here at Paperie. Through midnight Wednesday you can have a chance to win your choice of camera bags from Jo Totes. And through midnight Thursday you have the chance to win a $50 gift certificate from Denny Manufacturing.

no more blah blah blog

Today’s guest / vendor post is by Design Aglow. The button-themed inspiration board below makes me swoon!

Blog Inspiration Boards: The Simple Life
Like a kid in an eye candy store

As we all know, a beautiful blog is something no professional studio can be without. It is becoming more important every day to stand out from the crowd and really put on a show for potential clients. Your blog is one of the first things your client will see when choosing a photographer, so extra care should be put into every post to let your personality and unique style shine through.

Because most blog softwares don’t offer the level of layout creativity the average photographer needs, we have designed 15 stunning templates to make each blog post a little work of art.

The Simple Life collection is the perfect fusion of striking layout and a clean, simple look, suitable for any type of shoot. These boards will harmonize your blog design, keeping all your posts beautiful and consistent.

Create these simple beauties in seconds with the included Photoshop actions. A bonus InDesign file is included.

Click here to see more of Design Aglow’s “Blog Inspiration Boards: The Simple Life” with introductory pricing today! The special price is only good through 5 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, August 25th!

You can also read about these at the Design Aglow Blog.

Don’t forget you still have a chance to win this cupcake prop from Shimrit’a!

And check back tomorrow because we have a special giveaway planned that will knock your socks off! You snooze, you lose!

I don’t care if Monday’s blue

Nothing will help cure a case of the Mondays like a great big giveaway!

Today we have Leah of LCH Photography & Design stopping by to offer just that in a new guest post…

So excited to do a guest post today! Thanks so much Robyn for inviting me — I truly appreciate it!

What is better than sitting down with a client and handing them pictures from a photo shoot that turned out perfectly? How about using those images in beautiful baby announcements, custom albums, wall collages and more?!

LCH Design offers templates, actions, and marketing tools for photographers.

Delight your clients with:
• Baby Announcements
• Holiday Cards
• Cutting Edge Senior Products
• Custom Album Templates—Family, Children, Seniors & Weddings
• iPod Skin Templates
• Marketing Tools
• Wedding Album Templates and Guest Albums
• …..and MORE!

LCH Design began 5 years ago as I anxiously awaited the news of the pending adoption of our daughter from Taiwan. Waiting on the process seemed like FOREVER! An outlet was needed as we finished the paperwork for the adoption and waited to receive the news that we were able to travel to meet our daughter for the first time.

So…I began creating art (with the help of Photoshop!) for photographers to have elegant products to offer their clients. I never dreamed that the business would grow the way it has over the past 5 years. I am so thankful to have the opportunity to combine my passion for photography and my passion for creating.

It is my hope that these templates will benefit your business as they have others. A new online store was just launched early this year with a new storefront, easy to find-navigation, PLUS instant downloads! There is a wide selection of items. So take your time, enjoy, and please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Below is a sampling of some of my designs. Please check out the store at lchdesignstore.com to see all the goodies!

A new popular line at LCH Design is the Pressley Senior Collection including CD templates, iPod skins, image boxes and album templates…..

So excited about the new iPod Skin templates now available in the store! Perfect for your Seniors, advertising your business and showing off your images!

Another iPod skin example:

Babies, Babies, Babies……templates for announcements and albums!

Expressions Frames v.1 have been a hot seller! They are perfect to add to albums, splash pages, blog posts and gallery mounts! These make great ‘thank you gifts’ to clients as well. Layer a frame on a Vintage Paper and order a mini gallery mount or a desk-sized standout from ProLab Express.

Now…for the giveaway… (Gotta love giveaways!) The winner will receive a $100.00 gift certificate to LCH Design!

¤ STEP ONE (REQUIRED) — To win the $100.00 gift certificate, first become a LCH Design Facebook fan! Join here!

¤ STEP TWO (REQUIRED) — Post the following to your Facebook wall, your Twitter stream, or your blog:

Win a $100.00 gift certificate to LCH Design / lchdesignstore.com — details how at Paperie Boutique / paperieboutique.com by @shutterblog

¤ STEP THREE (REQUIRED) — Post the URL to your link with the above text in the comments for THIS ENTRY. Comment must be posted here by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 28th.

Please note: If you have won a prize within the last 30 days, please sit this one out and give someone else a chance to win please! The link you post must direct to a public account. We cannot verify links on private, friends & family only, or passworded accounts and they will not be eligible to win this item. If we have to subscribe to your feed or page or request permission to see it, you will automatically be disqualified.

You can enter once per person using a public, non-private blog URL, Facebook, or Twitter account. Please do not post the same link multiple times – duplicate links will be removed.

Comments on this entry will be numbered in order of posting. The winning number will be chosen by Random.org, and the winner will be contacted within 24 hours of contest’s end to claim their prize. Good luck everyone!

Also for all you Paperie Boutique fans — save 20% at the store using the code PAPERIE20. Valid for one week only. Use as many times as you would like during the week. Coupon valid until Monday, May 3, 2010.

Happy Shopping!
blessings,
Leah

Thank you so much, Leah! Definitely a prize I’d like to win myself. There’s going to be one very lucky winner this Wednesday! Don’t forget to stop by the LCH Photography & Design Blog and tell Leah thanks as well.

And if you missed Friday’s post, there’s still a few more hours left to win three prizes from LolliPockits!

ATTENTION VENDORS: We tuck business cards, coupon inserts, and promo pieces inside of our prize packages. If you are interested in having yours included, please contact me (my e-mail is in the sidebar and is robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment). Also contact me if you are interested in having your business packaging, marketing ideas, or photography-related products featured on Paperie Boutique.

ATTENTION PHOTOGRAPHERS: Show us your packaging! If the features here have helped you pull together your own look, please share with the class and pay it forward. Contact Robyn (e-mail link in the sidebar / robyn @ this domain) to be added to the posting schedule.

If you are interested in advertising with Paperie Boutique, please contact todd @ this domain.

café d’album

When I ran across The Album Cafe website online, I knew I had to feature it here. It was instant-love. I put off an entire morning full of work just combing through the site. Thankfully they offered to do a guest post so now you can see what all the fuss is about, too!

Hi there, we are The Album Cafe!

We were so excited to be contacted by Robyn about doing this guest post! Be sure to read to the end for a great coupon! There is so much to talk about, so let’s get started…

The Album Cafe provides professionally designed Photoshop templates exclusively for photographers. As the name implies, we of course have tons of Album templates…oh, but there’s so much more!

When our company first began, we added a Suggestion Box to our website so that photographers could suggest products that they felt would be useful to them and their businesses. All the following products are a direct result of those suggestions…

Need a business card for your business? It can be so expensive to have a card designed for you, and all the “pre-made” cards out there are so generic – why not create your own card, with YOUR OWN IMAGES… our business card templates range from $3 to $7!

One of my favorite suggestions we’ve ever gotten was for blog photo templates. Most of you have a blog already that you like, but what fun to spice it up by adding fun borders and collage style layouts to the photos you upload? Check out a few of our super fun “Blog It” templates… they even include automating actions that place all your pictures in the layouts for you. Sweet!

Okay, I realize it’s only October, but the holidays will be here before you know it! How about offering your clients the option of ordering their holiday cards through you – with photos from your shoot?

We want you to have fun with your templates and maybe even learn some new cool things about Photoshop, so we have OUTSTANDING customer support! There are tutorials on our “Learn” page to help you out and free actions on our “Free Actions” page to speed you along. We are always available to answer any questions you may have (and we won’t make you wait days for an answer!) – if you’ve got a question, no matter how big or small, please ask! That’s why we’re here. That’s what we love to do.

Also, don’t forget to check out our “Free Stuff” page for totally free templates available for immediate download!

See something here you like? Want to save some $$$? Just use the code Paperie20 at checkout to receive 20% off your entire order! This code is good through December 31, 2009.

Huge thanks to The Album Cafe for an amazing guest feature and coupon code! What are you still reading here for…go…now!

If you’re interested in having your own business packaging, marketing ideas, or photography-related products featured please contact me (my e-mail is in the sidebar and is robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment).

beginning to look a lot like…

I’ve been sitting on my fingers all weekend long to make sure I didn’t spill the beans on this new guest post. Melissa Davis of Melissa Davis Designs dropped by to spread a little Christmas cheer.

Make sure you get all the way to the end for the very special gift!

I’m so excited to be sharing my Holiday templates with you! I know it’s only August, but people are starting to think about family pictures and Christmas cards right? You probably have some clients booked right now who want their holiday session done before the mad rush! So as the holidays approach and clients are wanting Christmas cards, keep Melissa Davis Designs in mind!

My card templates are fun and unique and really are different from what you will find everywhere else. I love bright colors, polka dots and fun patterns, so I try and work those into my templates as much as I can. But on the flip-side, I love soft classic colors, so you will see that in my templates as well.

All templates come in both .png and .psd format for your convenience and colors and text can be changed. If you love the holiday ones, I offer them in sets or as singles so you can mix and match to make your own favorite set. I’d love for you to come take a peek!

As a special favor, Melissa Davis Designs is offering paperieboutique.com viewers a special “20% off discount” until the end of September 2009.

Just enter code PB0809 at the website when checking out (enter code at the website and not in PayPal)!

Don’t forget to bookmark the Melissa Davis Design Blog and follow her on Twitter. There are frequent weekly giveaways and surprise free template downloads.

Spotted over at the Stacey Bishop Photography Blog: Need a new photography-based template for your Blogger / blogspot.com account and can’t afford a designer quite yet? Check out the free Photoblog templates at “Our Blogger Templates“.

There are more guest features in the queue for the week ahead so please stay tuned! If you’re interested in having your packaging, marketing ideas, or products featured please contact me (my e-mail is in the sidebar and is robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment).