pick a color – any color!

My recent aqua / aqua photo boxes from HB Packaging have caused quite the Internet stir. The company is actually considering offering that combo as an option now. Raise your hand if you’re interested in the comments!

HB Photo Packaging would also like to know, “Is there a color or packaging item you want for your business but can’t find?” If so, please post about it here in the comments – they are listening! If your branding is centered around colors like grey or orange that are impossible to find photo boxes to match, this is your chance to speak now or forever hold your peace.

HB does offer “print your own” packaging that you can design from scratch using blank templates—but these color suggestions on Paperie Boutique would be for their Standard, and Boutique, and Prestige packaging lines.

So dream it and post it! They’re waiting to hear from you…




And now the follow-up to yesterday’s guest post / photo teaser by Photoumbra Studios. Everyone loves the packaging posts here and this one will not disappoint!

Inspired by so many posts on the Paperie blog, I set out a few months ago to give my packaging, marketing, and price menus a good dose of consistency, simplicity, and of course some pretty! I didn’t venture far from what I had already been giving my clients, but I felt like I could vamp up my look and information a little better. I didn’t change my color scheme nor my logo, which I do think is important because as we all know, it is so crucial to be consistent and it was very important to me to incorporate my website and blog branding into my print and packaging.

Besides staying true to our current branding, it was also very important to me to be able to design tools that could help my clients make smarter and hopefully larger purchases by providing them with an easy to navigate price menu, a wall display design guide, and the ability to choose a portrait collection or build their own. As with any project, there are things I would do differently next time, but also things that I learned work great and I will continue to implement.

First lets start with the packaging. I’ve been using Kraft products to package with for some time, but what was new was some new little cards that I made up that I now include in every order. The cards include a blank “Thank You” card where I can hand write a message, a “Portrait Care Tips” card that is included with any enlargements, a “Spread the Love” card that talks about our referral program, and a “Copyright Info” card.

(If you are interested in purchasing the templates or a copy of our “Portrait Design Guide”) see the bottom of this post.

Our packaging includes:
• Boxes from Rice Studio Supply
• Stickers from WHCC (but I will soon be trying out
  Black River Imaging’s die cut stickers)
• Bags, Tissue and Ribbons from Nashville Wraps
• Little stickers from MOO
• Thank You, Copyright Info, Referral Info, and Portrait
  Care Tip Cards printed by Overnight Prints

Next up is our “Portrait Boutique Catalog”. The version that I give to each of my clients is 5.5×11 folded press printed card with a 5×5x8.5 insert. The Catalog outlines each of our print and product lines with brief descriptions of each and standard size pricing. The insert features our “Portrait Collection” on one side (5 to choose from) and a “Build Your Own Collection” option on the other side. The BYOC has been very popular and I have found that most of my clients are enjoying the freedom of it.

Our Catalog and insert cards were printed by Overnight Prints.

Finally, is our “Portrait Design Guide”. This guide is given to select clients who are interested in investing in wall portraits. It includes a cover, an introduction to the guide, 14 inspiring designs for wall displays, a card for them to record measurements throughout their home where they would like to create a wall display, and a card where they can jot down any notes, or draw ideas. The cards corners are rounded an they are bound by a single hinged silver ring. Also included along with the guide is a 60″ measuring tape that we had custom branded for our studio with the tag line “Design Away – Photoumbra Studios“, they also receive a pen branded with our studio name and website. Each of these items fit into a nice 5×7 box decorated with our studio logo and a ribbon.

The “Portrait Design Guide” vendors are:
• Cards printed by Overnight Prints
• Wall Display Design purchased from Gradybug Designs
  but altered to reflect our studio colors and I also included
  some other design elements and text into these
• Tape Measures from American Bridal
• Pens from Ink Spot

If you are interested in receiving a digital or hard copy of our “Portrait Design Guide” we are offering them for sale for Paperie Boutique readers.

** Please note that I will not include the actual wall display templates in the sale of the digital copy because I purchased those from another vendor. However, I will include the cover pages I designed myself along with a digital copy of our Thank You, Copyright Info, Referral Info, and Portrait Care Tip Cards. You can order yours HERE. If you say you are a Paperie reader you will get $20 off the digital download price ’til July 4th – making it just $29 instead of $49.**

Huge thanks to Monica Burby and Photoumbra Studios. I learned of new vendors myself with this post, and have a lot of fun ideas swirling around in my head now! Don’t forget to stop by Monica’s website and blog to say “thank you”, too.

P.S. If you are interested in advertising with Paperie Boutique, please contact todd @ this domain. 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 – please contact robyn @ this domain to be added to the posting schedule.

she’s kraft-y

You might remember the recent “PAWS for CAWS” pet packaging guest post by Monica Burby of Photoumbra Studios. Now Photoumbra is back for a gorgeous quick-teaser of their new design guide along with a teaser-peek of the amazingly elegant Photoumbra Studios packaging.

More to follow soon. Stay tuned—you won’t want to miss it! Have a great week!
Robyn

gratitude. journal.

When word got out from a recent post, I can’t even begin to describe the response. My brain, and heart, are overflowing with joy and amazement. How do you truly say thank you for something like this? Or the forum posts full of concern? Or the vendor notes of support (like the one when Moo’s Vice President alerted several colleagues on staff to make sure I was taken care of just because he could). Or surprise gifts in the mail. Or Tweet DMs to check in – one from Pixel2Canvas on vacation in the middle of the Grand Canyon. Or the dozens of e-mails we’ve received. Or a note from a photographer who had just lost her husband and the father of her 5 children, worried about MY FAMILY. (We are so ok by comparison.) Or the little surprises in our PayPal account just because. I mean, it’s more than the human mind can really wrap around.

You go through life trying to do good and just make it day to day. You stumble. Sometimes you stumble hard. Sometimes you even hurt people. You dust yourself off eventually, regroup, reprioritize, remember you’re not really all that (well maybe all that, but often minus the potato chips), and promise yourself that if you don’t learn from those past mistakes what’s the point of the future…so buckle down and get to it… That’s been my 2010. I’ve buckled down and got to it. I had another such gut-check / perspective experience on a CT-scan table just over a week ago to make me even more focused on what’s really important.

In my recent Rangefinder piece, I wrote about the photographer community and my close relationship with my vendors. While being interviewed about this website, the article opened and closed with the following:

I let ‘Fit to Print’ evolve into Paperie Boutique, a standalone blog, through which I’m paying it forward to those who helped me along the way…..What has this experience taught Robyn? “I’ve learned to never underestimate the generosity of people and their willingness to teach and share,” [Robyn] says. “Just when you think you couldn’t possibly be more proud of your professional community, something as simple as a ‘thank you’ or ‘I can help with that’ never ceases to amaze.”

I’m used to being on the organization and donation collection end of things. It’s been humbling to be on the receiving end to say the very least.

Then yesterday the latest ‘random act of kindness’ showed up on my door step.

It’s no secret that I love HB Photo Packaging, but this was just beyond unreal. This was a surprise just for me, just because. You can read more of the details over here at Flickr – please make sure to add to the comments and thank them on behalf of our professional community!

And shop their weekend sale—HB Packaging is having a 10% off summer sale!

And speaking of vendors, we have a winner in the recent Design Aglow contest! It’s Silvine Designs / Silvine Photography:

Congrats to Michelle and another huge round of THANKS to Design Aglow for being such big supporters of this site, and for donating such fantastic prizes! Thanks to everyone who participated as well, and have a great weekend!

You say boo-tique.
      We say bow-tique.

I recently made a purchase from eBay, that I swear caused an ovary to burst when I opened it. It was just. that. cute. So I immediately begged the seller to do a guest post post here, and thankfully she obliged. Introducing Stacy Murphy of The Girlie Girl Bowtique…

My name is Stacy Murphy I am a a full time mommy and wife. My daughter Robyn is 16 and my son Colin is almost 5. They keep me very busy and I love it.

The Girlie Girl Bowtique has only been in business for a year! I’m an Interior Designer by profession, but chose to stay home with my kids so that had to put that on the back burner for now. As some time passed I really needed a creative outlet. As full as my life was I felt something missing.

On that day I happened to be going through my Grandmother’s old picture album. I have a natural love and obsess over anything vintage whether it be a piece of Jewelry, hats, or a pair of vintage Channel shoes . I love all vintage things… The next picture was of my Great Grandmother wearing a swim cap, You know the kind women use to wear back in the days as to not get their hair wet. This particular cap caught my eye. My Great Grandmother had stuck a bunch of daisies in it. She told me that she did that to catch the eye of this man – and she did. That man was my Great Grandfather. They laughed over this cap for many years until they both died on the same night. My daisy cap was inspired by my great grandparents. I one day decided to make these caps for photographer session props. Took some time but they caught the eye of many, MANY photographers and they and all my other flower caps have been HUGE hits.

Everything else in my Cute Bowtique is all made and designed by me. Every week there is a new design as my mind never stops. This is my outlet my hobby my passion. I love what I do and I would do it for free! (Although making some money for myself is nice too!)

I sell quality crochet flower hats , four different styles of headbands , clippies, and of course my famous flower caps — lots of MOMS shop in my store but I mostly sell to photographers as they love to use my designs for session props. I am proud to call myself a “Photo Prop Designer”. No longer the Interior Designer…which is perfect.

As a special treat for Paperie Boutique readers, if you will mention that you found Girlie Girl Bowtique on Paperie Boutique, you will get 10% off your purchase in my store. Just please make sure to contact me before making your final payment during the checkout.

And one lucky winner will get the thing that started this all – a daisy cap! Here’s how to win:

First become a fan of The Girlie Girl Bowtique on Facebook. You’ll get in on Facebook-only giveaways and promotions there.

Next, To win just go to your blog, Facebook account, Flickr account, or Twitter account and post the following:

I want a daisy cap from Girlie Girl Bowtique / etsy.com/shop/girliebowtique – win at Paperie Boutique / paperieboutique.com by @shutterblog

Post the URL(s) to your link(s) in the comments for THIS ENTRY. Comment(s) must be posted here by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Monday, June 14th.

Please note: 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 up to four times total – one entry each per public, non-private blog URL / Facebook / Flickr / Twitter account.

You have four chances to win but only one chance PER LINK – please do not post the same link multiple times – duplicate links will be removed. And post your 1-4 separate links in separate comments to have multiple chances to win!

Comments are moderated and may be slow to be added today but they will be added by late afternoon or early evening.

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!

UPDATE: The winner has been announced here – congrats!

Thank you so much for today’s guest post, Stacy! Make sure to visit the Girlie Girl Bowtique on Etsy and also stop by her personal Facebook page to say “hi” and “thank you” as well!

Don’t forget the big Kelly Moore bag giveaway is going on through Friday night at 11:59 p.m. EDT!

sold!

I love being able to put up posts like this. It’s confirmation this site isn’t just random words floating out there into the ether. It really is helping people kick-start their businesses and launch their brand. Keep ‘em coming and pay it forward, I say! But first, enjoy a new guest post right-quick featuring a beautiful charity auction gift basket by Elizabeth Sethi Photography.

I started my photography business about a year ago, and have avidly read your blog for 6 months.

Through you I found Leah Remillet / GO{4}PRO who did my custom logo – and I have learned so, so much about creative packaging and marketing.

Last week was my very first charity auction, and my basket (thanks to all your blog posts and vendor ideas) was the hit of the auction! The ladies setting up the show spent at least 15 minutes “ooh-ing” and “aah-ing” over my packaging, my basket items, and my very own ‘Martha-esque’ bow. Without this blog I never could have created something so special, and set my photography business apart from the rest of the donors. I just had to share.

P.S. – I just got my Zazzle stickers in the mail…I’m in love!

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.

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.

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

cats and dogs. living together.

Recently Monica of Photoumbra Studios provided Paperie readers a recap of WPPI 2010 in Las Vegas. Today she’s back for another guest post that will leave you sitting up and begging for more!

This past fall I lost my dog to an unexpected illness and I was devastated since he wasn’t even 2 years old. As we began searching the local shelters for a new pet a couple of months later, I was struck by how much fuller the facilities were since the last time we had been searching. Each person we spoke to at the shelters expressed how very much in need they were for donations this year. With this in mind, I conjured up an idea to do a fundraiser for a local animal charity in honor of my lost pet. Inspired by others, such as V Gallery, I put together a very simple marketing plan for the idea. We chose CAWS (Community Animal Welfare Society) as our local charity and the founder was extremely grateful for the idea. We decided to incorporate the event and branding into a Valentines promotion and call it our PAWS for CAWS fundraiser.

My studio branding wasn’t lending itself too well to the Valentine’s/pet idea, so I quickly created a new branding set for the event which was a huge hit. To completely brand for the event I only had to purchase 1 pack of 50 stickers from WHCC ($12). The rest of the items I found on clearance at IKEA from their Christmas decor line with hearts. I just recreated the heart design in Photoshop, added text, my logo, and a damask background and voilà, we were on our way!

Of course most people had no idea that the matching hang tags, thank you cards, napkins, and wooden heart decorations that we hung all over the studio, were from IKEA. We got loads of compliments about how nice our branding looked from the bottles of water we passed out (whcc sticker on a bottle of water) to the pricing menu and ordering sheets to the goodie box they went home with. The trick here was keeping our costs LOW, because I wanted to donate as much money as possible to the organization and I knew this was a 1-day event.

For the goodie box, we contacted all the vendors who are partners with CAWS and asked them if they would like to donate anything to the fundraiser. We had 5 other companies donate items to put in the box which made it a pretty sweet deal for everyone. We had one of the volunteers for CAWS bake up some all natural doggie treats in the shape of bones, hearts, and cupids to keep with the Valentines theme.

Keep your eyes open for good deals at your favorite stores for unique products that you could use to help promote a mini-session or special events such as our PAWS for CAWS fundraiser. This isn’t something I would recommend for your regular studio branding as you may have difficulty finding the items in the future, but I think this can be a great way for you to put together something really impressive for a limited event. One last thing I should note is I did not change my logo for the event. I simply applied it to design of the event branding to keep things somewhat consistent with my studio branding.

This event was a blast to put on and I think I’ll do it every year. We raised a few hundred dollars for CAWS, met a lot of great people and pets and mostly just had fun!

Thank you so much for sharing this Monica! The packaging looks fantastic, and with the cause behind it, makes it just that much more special! Make sure to stop by Photoumbra Studios and the Photoumbra Studios Blog.

And don’t forget you have until 11:59 Monday night to win the Nate Berkus™ 26-piece Gift Wrap Kit! Check back often this week – more goodies on the way.

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.

wanna buy 5 copies for my mother

In case you missed the big news on Twitter this weekend, a sneak-peek of the May 2010 issue of Rangefinder Magazine was released online — and Paperie Boutique / yours truly are featured in the “Marketing Mojo” section (along with the photos of a couple of previous Paperie guest posters)!

I’ve had to sit on this news for weeks now and I’ve been bursting at the seams to share it here. Watch your snail-mail boxes because the actual print-magazine should start arriving soon!

It’s been an amazing spring for my businesses. This national print campaign just launched last week. (I knew it would be late spring or early summer but I wasn’t sure exactly when.) The Rangefinder online edition went up Friday. And I’ll get to spill the biggest news of all this June — I got the final confirmation on it this past Friday as well. Strange days, indeed.

To thank everyone for getting us here, we’re giving one lucky Paperie Boutique reader a $20.00 gift certificate to Robyn’s favorite place online – Paper Source.

To win just go to your blog, Facebook account, Flickr account, or Twitter account and post the following:

To celebrate Paperie Boutique / @shutterblog being in May Rangefinder Magazine / @RFWPPI — win $20 to @Paper_Source at paperieboutique.com

Post the URL(s) to your link(s) in the comments for THIS ENTRY. Comment(s) must be posted here by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, May 5th.

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 up to four times total – one entry each per public, non-private blog URL / Facebook / Flickr / Twitter account.

You have four chances to win but only one chance PER LINK – please do not post the same link multiple times – duplicate links will be removed. And post your 1-4 separate links in separate comments 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 hours of contest’s end to claim their prize. Hope YOU win!

UPDATE: The winner has been announced here – thanks to everyone who entered!

The cool kids over at Photojojo asked us to share one of their new products with you – the Shinjuku Photo Scrap-Kit. If you’re stuck on what to get your mom for Mother’s Day, this might be the perfect solution!

They discovered this kit on a recent trip to Japan and imported it just for you. It’s vintage / retro. It’s hip. It’s acid-free. And it has pretty vellum, photo tape, and cinema film sticky notes.

I think I’m turning Japanese. I really think so!




Miss all the packaging features? We can’t post them if you don’t send them! If you would like your packaging featured, or would like to nominate someone for us to contact and request they submit their packaging for a feature, please write Robyn (e-mail link is in the sidebar or you can type it out – robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment).

the monster mash(up)

Normally I don’t post on the weekends because I’m shooting, but this past week has been anything but normal. And since I finally have a weekend off and a mountain of stuff to catch up on post-flu, today is a Paperie Mashup of photos, guest posts, and fabulous prizes. (Make sure you read ’til the end for the chance to win a little summin’-summin’!)

After 2½ months of non-stop, back-to-back shooting (including 6 babies born 4-6 weeks ahead of schedule), I finally have a few weekends free thanks to the early births to try and catch up on life (and work, and more work, and even more work) again. I’m surprised some of my clients haven’t started chasing me through town with pitchforks and torches. But before I could unclutter my to-do list, I had to get some sense of order back in my office. And I finally got the 33-year old portrait of me and my mom restored and up on the wall, so for the first time, the room looks as complete as I always envisioned it in my mind.

You can see more of my office / wrapping station over at Flickr in the post and in the comments.

This portrait of me and my mom (including the frame) hung above the wrapping station in my grandmother’s (maternity / infant / toddler / child) clothing store from the 70s to the late 80s. Now it has been restored and hangs above mine.

My red and Tiffany suitcases are no longer sold, but try Land of Nod for ones very similar.

A quick peek at my closet storage system. I also have 1-car of our 3-car garage. Will work for props!

And if you didn’t get quite enough office pics from me, here’s one more from Heather of Stylized Portraiture in Athens, GA.

“In our studio we have a sliding door with about 2-inches of wall clearance. It hides the door when we’re gone or during appointments and slides open when we’re open to the public. We needed a wall to show various print sizes and decided to put it behind that door. With only 2 inches of clearance, we couldn’t use frames. Originally, we were going to use vinyl stickers that looked like frames, but the least expensive place that we found ended up costing almost $300 for all of them – an amount we just weren’t prepared to spend. So, we bought designer thumbtacks at Hobby Lobby and used those instead! They’re paper over wood, but designer pushpins come in all kinds of materials, even glass! Just check on Etsy or your local stores.”

Recently Paperie had a Design Aglow “Studio Look Book” giveaway sponsored by one of our readers Tosha Francis of The Captured Life Photography in Washington D.C.

Tosha just finished her own “Wedding Look Book” (featured last week on the Design Aglow blog) and welcome packet (using vendors and resources seen here). It all turned out PERFECT – check it out!

Congrats Tosha and thanks for sharing – your clients are going to be blown away!

I didn’t forget my promise of “fabulous prizes” – here’s the latest giveaway – the “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” packaging collection courtesy of Paperie Boutique & HB Photo Packaging.

The “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” packaging collection includes:

• two 5×7½”-deep Wedding White / Paragon Brown photo boxes from
  HB Photo Packaging (a photo box look styled by Paperie – Wedding
  White box tops which are a gorgeous pearl-white and pale silver
  stripe pattern, and Paragon Brown box bases) — each box has a
  brown Tissue Fold and brown Stretch Ribbon Loop included
• two 8×10½”-deep Wedding White / Paragon Brown photo boxes
  from HB Photo Packaging — each box has a brown Tissue Fold
  and brown Stretch Ribbon Loop included
• two 6×4×2½”-deep Wedding White / Paragon Brown 250 Proof
  boxes from HB Photo Packaging
• four 3×4″ Clean Edge Card “Style H” Tags in Aqua from
  Envelopperinc.com
• two mini-frame + brad photo-charm packaging embellishments
  (as seen on my own packaging here)
• two rolls of “Aqua Essentials” (88146 & 88148) Elements 3/8″
  ribbon by American Crafts
• four aqua, white and brown thank you cards with white envelopes
• four 1.5″ round sticker seals in Pool from Paper Source
• one HB Photo Packaging “Professional Photography Presentation
  Packaging” guide (shown here)

Want it? Go to your blog, Facebook account, Flickr account, or Twitter account and post the following:

I want Breakfast at Tiffany’s packaging set by HB Photo Packaging / h-bphoto.com & @shutterblog ’s Paperie Boutique / paperieboutique.com

Post the URL(s) to your link(s) in the comments for THIS ENTRY. Comment(s) must be posted here by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, April 20th.

Please note: 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.

You can enter up to four times total – one entry each per public, non-private blog URL / Facebook / Flickr / Twitter account.

You have four chances to win but only one chance PER LINK – please do not post the same link multiple times – duplicate links will be removed. And post your 1-4 separate links in separate comments 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 hours of contest’s end to claim their prize. Good luck everyone!

And check back often this week – more great posts are already on the schedule!

UPDATE: The winner Rachel Allison has been announced! Thank you to everyone who participated!

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.

fine art

I’m so excited to share this guest post by Ana Brandt. In addition to being an amazing maternity and newborn / baby photographer, she runs the theartofpregnancyandnewborn.com website, myLIFE workshops, and TAoPaN Magazine. (Oh and by the way, there’s a free download at the end so don’t just skim!) Now without further adieu…

I love this site. The eye candy is so great and it’s fun to be featured on here!

As photographers we all know how important it is to develop your niche and create your brand. That’s what theartofpregnancyandnewborn.com is all about.

As we speak I am revamping many of my websites but even as is, they still mark who I am. One of my main passions is pregnancy aand newborn photography. I LOVE newborns! Don’t we all? But I LOVE pregnant women even more. I know many photographers just shoot the maternity session in anticipation for the newborn session, but I love pregnancy and capturing it is a must.

I created a separate site for my pregnancy and newborn titled Belly Baby Love. It has a classic signature black and white look. My standard color palette is browns for studio work, but for the pregnancy and newborn sessions I wanted to keep it simple.

This year I joined a company that delivers gift baskets to celebrity clients each month. I am the sole photographer in their “BUMP basket”, and when they get the call that a celebrity or their spouse is pregnant, my information is included in that basket. I teamed up with a client of mine that creates cards for Envelopments and they helped me come up with something cute and simple to put in the “BUMP basket”. Since we are already a part of the Envelopments dealer program I knew what pieces would work so we developed a promo piece with relative ease.

The main goal was to keep it classic and simple…

• Calendar is by CPQ
• The stickers are by ProDPI
• The trifolds inside are our own design (available on our
  site at theartofpregnancyandnewborn.com)
• Our designer created what we wanted and printed it on
  cardstock from Envelopments and used coordinating
  papers and envelopes – these are great because we
  can change them at will and just print as we need
• The gift card is a two sided wallet from ProDPI (we
  love how sturdy these wallets are!)
• Inside the pocket we have our pregnancy, newborn
  and first-year trifolds printed on pearl paper at WHCC

These have been sent to celebrities such as Bree Turner, Jamie Oliver, Annie Wersching, Mario Lopez, Alicia Coppola, Kevin Costner, and Catherine Bell just to name a few – plus a slew of other celebrities. The baskets usually go out very early, so it takes a bit until we hear from them. But we can’t wait until we get that phone call!

When venturing out and seeking opportunities, make sure you have all of your materials ready. For Pregnancy and Newborn you should always have the following:

• Pregnancy Pricing
• Newborn Pricing
• A package to include both
• A first year plan/option
• Standard pricing

Clients want to know all of their options. Most of our clients choose a package and many come into the plan. The key is to have amazing classic images. In many of our materials we provide stock images for other photographers to use in their material. We also highly recommend you have some very classic pregnancy and newborn images in your hands ready to create material. Our material has information on what to bring for the session, as well as what to wear. We also give clients a list of foods they should not eat before coming in for a newborn session. The more prepared we can make this client the more comfortable they will be.

Remember, you are dealing with the two most sensitive times of a clients life – being pregnant and having a baby. We want our clients to come in and feel they have been prepared for and are being taken care of. They know what clothing we have – we have a large collection of mama dresses from our Thredz line, as well as diaper covers for the baby. Our studio is equipped with water, wipes, snacks, music, a noise machine and a hundred other things that are handy to have around.

To view a list of products to support your efforts and join us in webinars or our online workshop, visit theartofpregnancyandnewborn.com. To view a copy of our free magazine go to taopanmag.com.

Shop for marketing products at the TAoPaN Store. Use the coupon code PAPER to get 15% off everything. The store is being reopened temporarily just for this promotion.

And as a special gift for Paperie readers, you can download a free nursing card from theartofpregnancyandnewborn.com.

→ download link ← (The card is what we give to clients prior to their session. It contains a list of foods to avoid so their baby isn’t fussy and gassy.)

Also visit our Thredz Store for baby, children, and mama.

Thank you so much, Ana! If you don’t subscribe to myLIFE workshops, and TAoPaN Magazine, make sure to do so!

Have a great weekend everyone!
-Robyn

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).

If you are interested in advertising with Paperie Boutique, please contact todd @ this domain. Check the sidebars – several advertisers joined us this week!

I see France!

Today brings back one of my favorite features of this site – the packaging!

Thursday’s guest post is courtesy of Kelli France of {France Photography}. It’s no big secret that I’m a Francophile so Kelli’s entire “theme” and packaging line just makes me swoon. From the logo, to the colors, to the blog name (“Ooh blog la“), not even the tiniest of details was overlooked by Kelli. It’s a solid, beautiful branding scheme and sheer perfection. Enjoy!

Logo image for Francypants Academy is also the front of a Miller’s rep card.

The bags, tissue paper, and ribbon are from Nashville Wraps. The bag tag is a rep card from whcc.com with die-cut corners.

The stickers are from WHCC and then hand cut. The black boxes are from NPD Box Company.

The slip-in mats are from J.Lee Albums.

The pink, polka dotted pillow boxes are from paper-source.com.

And the last two collages are a teaser of more to come…

Make sure to check out Kelli’s website and blog – and her mentoring site Francypants Academy (“teaching photographers how to create a brilliant boutique business and powerful portraits that STAND OUT in a digital world“). Thank you, Kelli!

(P.S. Paperie Boutique was recently featured on The France Photography Blog so if you missed it, go have a look-see. There’s a hidden surprise from yours-truly!)

Don’t forget to enter the new La Pomme Design contest (open until 11:59 p.m. EDT) if you haven’t already!

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).

If you are interested in advertising with Paperie Boutique, please contact todd @ this domain. Check the sidebars – even more new advertisers were added last night!

be ? mine

Today’s guest post is the best kind – pretty with benefits! One of my favorite vendors, Terry from Sassy Designs, Ltd., has dropped back by with Valentine’s Goodies for everyone.

Hi, Everyone! It’s me – Terry from Sassy Designs, Ltd.! Robyn is such a gracious host and offered to have me back a second time! Again, I am honored!

I’ve got some big plans for Sassy Designs, Ltd. in 2010 so I hope all of you will keep up with me! I’ve been so busy that I’m closing up my Etsy shop and focusing my time on my main website shop and of course doing custom orders. Until the Etsy shop is empty everything there is discounted 25% so be sure to check it out before it’s all gone!

The shop at the main website is stocked full – digital papers, design elements, card templates, and has a bunch of new things that have been added over the last few months! I’ve been working on some fun things for Valentine’s Day and as a thank you to Robyn and all of you fabulous readers I’m offering the two newest items to you for free! I hope you do fabulous things with them!

Thank you so much, Terry! When you make good use of these
freebies please leave a note in the comments and share with the class so we can all see. (You can take a peek at how I made good use of Sassy Designs background papers and a frame element in my holiday gift tags.)

More new guest post features are currently in the works! 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).

rfp = really fun packaging

Having chic, custom packaging doesn’t have to cost you 50% of your sale-profits. If you know where to look and have somewhat of an idea how you want it to look—all it takes is a little paper, a little ribbon, and a lot of inspiration. Which brings us to today’s guest post by Tiffany Austin of rfp studio. Read on…

Hi all! My name is Tiffany and I’m the owner of rfp studio in Belmont, WI. I’m here to share my easy-peasy packaging with you!

In the picture above (view larger) you can see how my orders get the special treatment before being bagged up for the client.

All prints are mounted so the photos you see in the packages are 5×7s, 8×10s and an 11×14 for the large print.

I wrap in red wrapping paper from Kmart.

The ribbon is simple satin ribbon from Wal Mart. I also wanted to convey a more upscale look so I chose to use real satin ribbon instead of curling ribbon.

The little tags are hang tags from 48 hour print.

Portrait care and copyright info are actually on the same card. Just a pearl flat press printed card from WHCC.

Wallet tins are from containerandpackaging.com.

The stickers on the tins are wallet stickers from ACI.

All of this gets tucked in a bag….again from Wal Mart and fluffed with purple tissue from the Dollar Store. I also add another hang tag and sometimes, as you see here, I include a little key chain with an image from the session.

I love my packaging because I can get so much of the stuff locally and don’t have to keep a large inventory. However, I am looking into Nashville Wraps as a bulk supplier for my ribbon, paper, tissue and bags.

Thanks so much for looking and I hope it gives you some ideas!

Thank you so much for this guest post Tiffany! You do such amazing work! Please stop by her website and let her know how much you appreciate her time.

(P.S. Every wonder how to get those really cool icons / avatars next to your names in the comments? Wonder no more!)

More new guest post features are currently in the works! 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).