seeing is believing

Today we’re in full-on catch-up mode here at Paperie. Since our Chinese drywall ordeal, we literally have no immune systems to speak of in our family. And now that the weather is changing, once again we’ve been down for the count for a few days with horrible colds. If you’re waiting to hear from either of us, please be patient – we do apologize!

But couldn’t let the weekend start without a big giveaway / guest / vendor post — some new packaging photos — contest winner announcements — and a big Halloween sale from my favorite packaging vendor. So read on and make sure you don’t miss anything…

Hi everyone, Ariana here from Photographer’s Wall Display Guides. If you aren’t already familiar with us, we create stylish, fresh and modern wall guides that use REAL room backgrounds to help your clients “picture their pictures” on their walls!

What happens when you SHOW your clients how amazing the images you took look on the wall instead of just talking about it? A huge increase in sales of large wall prints and canvases course!

And now, Photographer’s Wall Display Guides have teamed up with the Organic Bloom, to bring you Organic Bloom frames for the Photographer’s Wall Display Guides!

If you didn’t already know, Organic Bloom is the premier company creating beautiful, whimsical frames sold exclusively through photographers.

We think it’s a match made in heaven, and think you will too once you see this little video (click to launch Vimeo player):

The Organic Bloom frames can be used with ANY of the 15 Photographer’s Wall Display Guides rooms and it’s loaded with features:

•   Includes ALL 16 Organic Bloom frame styles in 10 different sizes from
    a 5×7 to a 20×30
•   Cross organized by both style and size for easy reference
•   Includes an incredible 101 (yes, you read that right!) designed
    groupings!
•   Includes both swatches AND a Color Book of Organic Bloom frame
    colors that makes showing your clients ACCURATE frame colors a breeze!
•   Actions for glazing, resizing and inserting your images
•   Create Double and Twin Double stack frames automagically!
    **{Stacking only supported in Photoshop CS3-CS5}
•   Use images of your client’s home as a background if you wish!
•   Easily create custom sizes and groupings not included with the product.

Although the Organic Bloom frames look STUNNING in all of the wall guide rooms, we did create a special new “Kid’s Pack” { Girl’s Room, Boy’s Room, Baby Room, Playroom } to coincide with the release of the Organic Bloom frames pack that can be purchased separately or as a bundle with the Organic Bloom frames.

Right now through midnight Eastern on November 4th, all Paperie readers will receive 15% off from Photographer’s Wall Display Guides with the code paperie.

And now the best part – we are giving the WHOLE thing away to one lucky reader! That’s all 15 Photographer’s Wall Display Guides rooms with the Organic Bloom frames pre-installed, currently a $385 value.

Ways to enter:

1. Like the Photographer’s Wall Display Guides Facebook page

2. Follow the Photographer’s Wall Display Guides on Twitter

3. Sign up for the VERY occasional Photographer’s Wall Display Guides newsletter (by occasional we mean maybe 2-3 times a year when we release new products!)

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

Comment that you have followed the Twitter and/or Facebook account(s), or already follow them – and / or have signed up for the newsletter – in separate comments here 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.

Comment(s) must be posted here by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, November 1st. You can enter up to THREE times total. Post that you have met the individual requirements in separate comments to have multiple chances to win!

You can enter / post up to three times total – one entry each for all of 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.

That’s it, thank you! Good luck to everyone who enters!

And thanks Ariana / Photographer’s Wall Display Guides for the amazing prize!




I’ve posted a couple of my own photos to my Pinterest “Pretty Packaging” board recently, in case you’ve missed them:

I include vendor and assembly information in the photo-links above.

We have a winner in our Hardwood Whimsical Frames contest and it’s…mhs Photography!

And the winner of our mini-camera magnet set giveaway is…Jammie Lopez!

Congrats to our two winners, thanks to everyone who entered, and a special thanks to Hardwood Whimsical Frames for the fantastic prize pack!

Winners, you’ll be hearing from me this weekend with information on how to claim both of your prizes.




Last but not least…guess where Paperie is this week? New York City!

We have a photo in a beautiful Organic Bloom frame at the HB Photo Packaging booth for WPPI NYC @ PhotoPlus.

If that isn’t scary enough, they’re also having a Spooktacular Halloween sale!

Happy Haunting, everyone!
-Robyn & Todd

tag you're it: assembly • bow • bows • boxes • branding • business • client • clients • contest • craft • crafts • custom • designs • display guide • frame • frames • giveaway • guide • Halloween • holiday • materials • Organic Bloom • packaging • photographer • photography • prize • supplies • templates • wall gallery • winner • winners • wrapping

you might be a winner – vol. 5

More PaperieBirthday.com contest winners are announced further down in this post – but first, a quick word from the fine folks at Moo.

One of the recent Paperie Boutique birthday giveaways featured all the new types of Moo stickers available. Now every order of Moo Round Stickers includes a free sticker relating to the country your order is shipped to.*

Moo wants to celebrate the lovely new designs, and the clever technology that allows them to make stickers in general really! So, they’ve got a competition and some great prizes for you. It’s very simple to enter, just…..

1. stick ANY Moo sticker, on something you love about your city or country
2. take a picture of it
3. post it to Moo’s Flickr or Moo’s Facebook with the tag #CityStickers

Moo will be running the competition until the August 15th and then Tara, the stickers manager, will choose 20 winners who will receive $200 / £125 / €140 each to spend at Moo. One lucky winner will receive a copy of Corel Paintshop Pro photo editing software as well. So get snapping! [see more here at Moo's blog]

* Moo couldn’t create designs for every single country in the world, but they have the following 15 countries: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, United Kingdom, Japan, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and USA. If your order is not for any of these 15 countries you will get a ‘Hello World’ sticker – which is very much open to interpretation!

P.S. If a Paperie reader wins it all, we’ll kick in two free packs of Moo Sticker Books ($9.99 / each)!

Happy 2nd birthday to Paperie Boutique!
Visit PaperieBirthday.com for all events!

Winner announcements started on Monday, July 25th…


As promised…winner announcements started Monday! Please be patient with us. We’ll be announcing the winners for each contest as quickly as we can! (Just keep in mind that we still have ongoing giveaways, winners / vendors to be notified as final giveaway results are posted, lots of social media to juggle, two e-mail accounts bursting at the seams, and a partridge in a pear tree.) That said, without further adieu…four more giveaway announcements for contests # 15-18 (winners will be contacted within 48-72 hours of this announcement to claim their prizes):

Thanks again to all of our vendors and readers for making our 2nd
birthday party such a big success! Have a great weekend everyone!
-Robyn & Todd

tag you're it: 2 • 2nd • anniversary • birthday • birthday winners • branding • business • business card • celebration • contest • craft • envelopes • giveaway • labels • marketing • materials • Moo • packaging • party • photo • photograph • photographer • photography • prize • sticker • stickers • supplies • two • winner • winners

bonne fête – giveaway 14

Happy 2nd birthday to Paperie Boutique!
Visit PaperieBirthday.com for all events!

COMMENTS CLOSED on this entry—winners chosen!

Don’t forget we have 12 other giveaways going on right now!



This is one of our easiest giveaways yet – all thanks to the fine folks at MOO. The first 50 people to visit the MOO website, find their favorite product, and then come back here and post what that product is in the comments will win a FREE 50-pack of stickers (and free shipping, cheapest option, is included)! The code will be valid until October 19, 2011.

Stickers only. One pack per person. Your choice of all sticker types shown below:

[above photo is from my beta-test of newest sticker options - they rock]

Good luck to the first 50 posters – can’t wait to hand the sticker codes out!




And heads-up – MOO is offering 30% off all printed products through midnite PDT tonight. You can find more details in the birthday master-coupon code list. (Several new codes added today!)

Pssst… We have a special template sale going on here at Paperie this week! It will help you make the best use of that 30% MOO discount – several Moo template designs are included in the sale!

Thanks to MOO for always spoiling our Paperie readers!


Don’t forget several of our merchants are offering discounts and coupon codes to all Paperie readers this week! Check and see if your favorite vendor is there!

Click over here and see what you missed. A special sale, and a teaser of the great giveaways ahead this week, were posted over the weekend!

There’s a limited-time offer for advertisers / vendors this week, too. Over half-off some ad rates for new advertisers. Check it out!




Prizes! Prizes! We got your prizes!
-Robyn

P.S. Vendors, if you are interested in being a part of the birthday celebration, e-mail me at “robyn AT paperieboutique DOT com” ASAP!

tag you're it: 2 • 2nd • anniversary • assembly • birthday • branding • business • business card • celebration • contest • craft • envelopes • giveaway • labels • marketing • materials • Moo • packaging • party • photo • photograph • photographer • photography • prize • stickers • supplies • templates • two • wrapping

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).

tag you're it: bow • bows • business • cards • craft • design • designs • digital scrapbooking • elements • guest post • heart • holiday • materials • photographer • photography • ribbon • ribbons • Sassy Designs • scrapbooking • supplies • templates • Valentine • Valentine's Day

a few of my favorite things

1.   redstamp.com (shop) • stylishcorrespondence.com (blog)
2.   http://www.seejanework.com
3.   http://printpattern.blogspot.com
4.   http://www.spoonsisters.com
5.   http://www.smashingmagazine.com
6.   cardsandpockets.com (shop) • blog.cardsandpockets.com (blog)
7.   http://www.uncommongoods.com
8.   http://jennibick.com
9.   http://www.prettybitter.com
10. rockpaperscissor.com (shop) • rockpaperscissor.com/blog/ (blog)

Have a website you’d like to share with the class? Please post it in the comments!

tag you're it: business • cards • craft • designs • envelopes • favorite things • marketing • materials • notecards • packaging • photography • supplies • wrapping

many-MOOs

HEADS UP from Twitter!

@overheardatmoo: Keep this a secret! You can get 20% off all products at MOO this weekend, head to http://moo.com/products – remember, don’t tell anyone!

Don’t know what to do with your Moo? Well then…get a clue!

tag you're it: assembly • business cards • craft • Fit to Print • labels • mail • marketing • materials • Moo • notecards • packaging • photography • playdate cards • stickers • supplies • templates • thank you cards • wrapping

real page turner

(Originally posted to Flickr forums in January 2009.)

My album company offers swatch-sample sheets. They’re very nice, laminated and “fancy”. However their name and logo are very prominent and that’s information I like to keep to me, myself, and I. I wanted a way to present the samples to clients that was also functional. So I ordered a 5×7 sample album and got out my paper trimmer.

I basically turned one of the albums into a scrapbook so not only are clients able to hold an actual album sample in their hands (and see the cover fabric, page thickness, etc.) but they also can view color options and styles available to order.

I also bring a sheet with the different cover types listed under thumbnail images (front and back), and we both can mark down and discuss their cover choices in person before ordering. There’s a notes section at the end for them to write in and check off the titles of their favorite swatches. I used the album company’s online sample images to put the album order sheet together and I leave that sheet with my clients after I go. My clients place their orders online so this “try it before you buy it” is essential for my sales.

I’m working with a handful of photographers to add more guest posts to this site so it’s not filled with my ideas and photos/demos only. (Don’t miss Christina McCall Photography’s blog entry about her recent guest stint here.) 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). It’s always fun to share and “pay it forward“! Not to mention improve your SEO in the process… Win / win!

tag you're it: album • assembly • book • craft • Fit to Print • marketing • materials • packaging • photographer • photography • samples • scrapbook • supplies • swatches • templates • tutorials

haul out the holly

Quick note that designerdigitals.com is doing a Christmas in July special right now. All regular items are 20% off through 6 a.m. Saturday. And if you sign up for their newsletter this week you’ll receive one special item to download (FREE!) each day before it goes on the site for purchase.

Here are the first three freebies during the promotion:

1. Crystallized Flourishes No. 03 Brushes and Stamps
2. December Memories Layered Template No. 1
3. Capped: Winter

Sign up for the newsletter so you don’t miss any more! (You can also follow Designer Digitals on Twitter now.)

tag you're it: craft • digital scrapbooking • marketing • materials • photographer • photography • supplies • templates

sticky sweet

It’s no secret I’m addicted to sticker books from Moo.com. My latest batch, shown above, just arrived today.

People have asked me to design Moo templates for Fit to Print for quite awhile, but since I don’t resell the stickers, I include art on mine that I’m not licensed to resell. (A lot of the cute images are actually dingbat fonts.)

But I finally put together a collection of three templates that are totally my design. You can customize these by color, change the wording, and add your own logos. See Fit to Print for more…

And check out these past Flickr entries that will give you more of an idea how you can Moo, too!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shutterblog/2093600451/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shutterblog/2131193638/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shutterblog/2450414547/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shutterblog/2538113140/

Happy sticking!

UPDATED to add: My stickers were featured by Moo.com at Photoshop World.

(Have questions about Moo stickers – like, “are they acid-free“? The answer is “yes”. And you can read more at their StickerBook FAQ…)

tag you're it: assembly • craft • envelopes • Fit to Print • labels • marketing • materials • Moo • packaging • photography • stickers • supplies • templates • wrapping

stick ‘em up

(Originally posted to Flickr forums in February 2008.)

Tired of printing my own circle stickers and having that blasted white ring around the edge, trying other online printers and having that blasted ring around the edge……….I decided to give Zazzle one more try because they do a computer-generated preview of what your printed label will look like. I wasn’t all that happy with them the last time I ordered because the white ring wasn’t even. But this time, I’d say about 80% of the labels are perfect. It makes a big difference having the border solid to the edge. Someone with OCD like me doesn’t notice the 1mm border shift as much that way.

Now they obviously feed these things into a machine automatically without any quality control, because the other 20% are slightly off.

But hey, I don’t have to deal with printing them myself now — the printing is decent — they’re gloss instead of matte, and you can order as few as one sheet at a time for under $5/sheet.

Here’s your chance to make your own 1.5″ bordered-circle sticker with Zazzle until a better alternative is found.

→ download link ← (please note this file was designed in CS2 and you must have Photoshop or Elements and know how to edit a .psd layered file — I do not provide technical support for this download)

There are two layers — border color and label color:

I have the border set to black and the label center set to white right now, but you can change both of those by clicking where the pink arrow is pointing in each section — just double-click each box and you can change to any color you’d like.

The maximum height to fit your logo or image in the center is 360-pixels high or 360-pixels wide.

Save your image as a .png, .tiff, .jpg, or .gif file.

Make sure to select the 1.5″ labels from Zazzle: zazzle.com/custom/stickers

Check to make sure everything looks centered and how you want it to appear in their design-generator. (I suggest not adding text in their editor — do all of your editing in Photoshop before upload.)

Voilà! (I accept thank you’s via Sephora.)

This template is ©Robyn Pollman, 2008. All rights reserved. It may not be copied, resold, made available for download or given away elsewhere, or redistributed without my written permission.

tag you're it: craft • Fit to Print • labels • marketing • packages • packaging • photographer • photography • stickers • supplies • templates • tutorials • wrapping

sprinkles on top

I love to decorate my photo-print boxes with more than just ribbon. That little extra touch can go a long way as far as presentation goes. One of my favorite button brands is “Dress it Up“.

Because of my business name, I’m always on the hunt for cute buttons with 2 and 4 button-holes. But “Shelly’s Buttons and More” carries several trinkets without holes that are perfect for bow-center decoration. One cute example for summer are these ice cream cones (on sale 12 / $2.00). Just attach with a drop of hot glue and ta-da!

They also have 3D charms which are perfect to loop through a thin ribbon or string and hang from a thank you tag or bow.

If you have a business or session ‘theme’ be sure to comb through the site — they have something for just about any topic. A few examples…

1. Babies
2. Cupcakes
3. Princess / Fairytale
4. Seniors
5. Wedding

And check the button area of Michael’s and JoAnn’s. Both of my local stores carry a limited stock of “Dress it Up” products.

(The snowflake button shown above is from the “Dress it Up” Christmas collection.)

tag you're it: assembly • bow • bows • boxes • craft • materials • packages • packaging • photographer • photography • supplies • wrapping

show me how you do that trick

Paper-Source has several invaluable tutorials online – from photo examples to video. A select few:

1. How to tie a bow
2. How to tie a square knot
3. Using sealing wax

Kate’s Paperie has an “ideas and inspiration” section as well.

And wonder where I get a lot of my packaging materials and supplies? I’ve previously posted the answers to Shutterblog, and now here!

tag you're it: bow • bows • craft • knot • knots • materials • packaging • supplies • tutorials • wax • wrapping

paper, not plastic

Welcome to the new Paperie Boutique blog.  This is an expansion on my popular “Fit to Print” set on Flickr  where I have shared 3 years worth of new products, marketing materials, packaging, and how-to assembly demos for professional photographers.

Things are just getting started around here – I have several photos to migrate over and links to add. So please bookmark and blogroll the site and check back soon!

tag you're it: bow • bows • craft • Fit to Print • marketing • packages • packaging • photographer • photography