sparkle and shine

Everyone getting ready for the “Wrap Battle” kickoff on Friday? Here’s some inspiration (and a giveaway)!

Wish I could say I was ready — but I am so behind. I still haven’t sent out any of the e-mails that need to be sent in advance. I haven’t even read half my e-mails today yet! As such, things may be rocky until mid-week next week when I get more holiday cards finished and off to the printers, ordering galleries complete and e-mailed to clients, packages wrapped and off with my “bend and snap!” man, plus get myself through another column debut and new deadline… Oh yeah, and I guess I should fit my kids and husband in there somewhere as well. Shall I continue? It’s the same song and dance we all do every November / December and ask ourselves “WHY?!?”

But even so – even with a 39th birthday under my belt this week – I still took the time to “show you mine”. Now you get ready to show me yours!

I’m sending these “gift wrap kits” with client orders I know contain gifts so it’s easy for them to turn around and re-gift the contents to their families.

Never fear! To make sure we all get through the holidays alive, the contest entry deadline won’t fall until the week between Christmas and New Year’s. When hopefully this will all be a distant memory thanks to the spiked eggnog!

     How do you get the above? Here are the vendors:

     1.  Custom boxes – HB Photo Packaging
     2.  Eco Tote Bags – HB Photo Packaging
     3.  Custom logo stamp – Ampersandity
     4.  Alphabet letter stamps – Michael’s $1 bin
     5.  “Merry Christmas” stamp – Martha Stewart Crafts Scandinavian Set
     6.  Christmas buttons – Dress It Up
     7.  Button stickers – Martha Stewart / EK Success Woodland Buttons
     8.  Santa hat stickers – Jolee’s / EK Success
     9.  Clear Bags – ClearBags.com
     10. Holiday Ribbon – Michael’s
     11. Satin Ribbon – Paper Source
     12. Christmas stickers and labels – Moo.com (free templates here)




And what’s a Paperie post without a cool vendor and a little summin’-summin’ you can win? One of my favorite knitters Boondock Studios Fiber Arts has launched a fun tiny little division called “Narrow Wear” and they’re here for a quick guest post!

Narrow Wear makes funky and eclectic skinny scarves, from a huge variety of fibers and textures. Use them as hip accessories for older kids and teens, or wrap them around / pile under newborns for texture and color.

And now one lucky Paperie reader can win the “Mrs. Claus” by Narrow Wear.

How do you win? Easy! Just leave a comment here and let us know what your favorite item in the Narrow Wear Etsy Store is (or what you’d like to see)! That’s it. The winner will be picked this weekend with Random.org, and the winner will be contacted within 48-72 hours of the winner-announcement to claim their prize. Good luck!




Packaging supplies out. Cameras up. Ready? Set. Go!
-Robyn & Todd

here we go loopty-loop

Like me, many of you are packing client orders like crazy right now or are about to… In the past I’ve shared a demo on how to make a “flat bow” for shipping.

Now I’m sharing a demo on how to make a “loop bow” that will also survive the pack’n'ship process.

First, you need to have 1 – 1½” ribbon on hand and a hot glue gun. Wired ribbon is optional, but will hold a prettier shape. Cut four strips approximately 8½” long, and one shorter strip approximately 3½” long.

Take your hot glue gun and put a line of glue down the ribbon’s edge on one side – then press the other side down on top of the glue to create a loop.

You will end up with five ribbon loops – four large and one small.

Divide the four larger loops into two pairs. For each pair you will want to glue one loop on top of the other making an “X” shape as shown. All this takes is a dab of glue in the center of one loop, and then pressing the other loop on top of it to make an “X”.

Now take your two “X” loop pairs and keep one as an “X”, and turn the other to make a “+” sign as shown.

Put a dab of hot glue in the center of the “X” and place the “+” on top of it – gluing the two loop pairs together as shown.

Now take the small loop that remains and run a line of hot glue down the seam on the back side. Attach it to the center of the larger loops already glued together.

If you wish, take additional ribbon to wrap around the package length-wise and width-wise and hot glue into place. (I place a business card under the areas I’m gluing so that no glue accidentally gets on the box.)

Now glue the bow to the ribbon around the box, or the box itself. Puff up each of the loops with your fingers and voilà!

Here are a couple of other examples showing wired ribbon and grosgrain. You can also hot glue embellishments to the center of the bows.

And there you have it – a pretty loop bow in ten steps or less! Just in time for the upcoming annual packaging contest…

Have a great weekend!
-Robyn & Todd

P.S. We have two awesome giveaways right now, so don’t forget to scroll down and enter!

bow-tique!

From One Kings Lane — videos on “How to Wrap the Perfect Gift” and “How to Create a Ribbon Rosette“… (And read on to win a One Kings Lane giftcard!)

One lucky Paperie winner will receive a $25.00 gift card to One Kings Lane!

1. Go to your Facebook and Twitter accounts and post the following on either or both (then tell us where you did):

Win giftcard to OneKingsLane.com and learn how to wrap the perfect gift – at PaperieBoutique.com / @PaperieBoutique – http://is.gd/7uBrmH

2. Friend / Like / Follow Paperie Boutique on Facebook and come back here and let us know (or tell us you’re already a fan)

3. Follow Paperie Boutique on Twitter and come back here and let us know (or tell us you’re already a follower)

4. Share your favorite giftwrap photo on Pinterest – post the link here in the comments. (Here’s my giftwrap board to get you started!)

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

Comment that you have posted to your Twitter and/or Facebook account(s), with a link to where you did it – or that you’ve liked the us on Facebook and/or Twitter – or your favorite Pinterest giftwrap photo – 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 Monday, September 12th. You can enter up to FIVE 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 five 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 FIVE 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.




Don’t forget we have one other contest going on right now – enter to win!

Have a great weekend!
-Robyn and Todd

let it snow! let it snow! let it snow!

Yesterday we announced a new contest for photos of your best business packaging / holiday packaging. We’ll pick out our favorite three from the photo submissions and put it up to the Paperie readers for a vote. The winner will receive a $20 Paper Source gift certificate.

UPDATE: HB Photo Packaging is also kicking in an additional $100 gift certificate to their store for the winner!

Our first submission is by Shalonda Chaddock of Chubby Cheek Photography. This is her mini-session holiday packaging.

Click the image above to see a larger version of Chubby Cheek Photography‘s adorable holiday sparkle.

Vendor list to achieve the above look:
1. boxes – NPD Box Company
2. ribbon – Hobby Lobby
3. snowflake ornaments – 50% off end of season last year (50¢ for bundle of 6)
4. last name initial ornament – Hobby Lobby

Inside gift bag:
1. CD in metal tin with 4 digi images
2. print release / printer rec bi-fold / handwritten thank you note
3. easel – Easel Moments
4. envelopes

Inside small box:
1. 50 holiday cards

Inside large box:
1. 8×8 woodmount beveled edge print

The bar has been set. Get wrapping and send photos to Robyn [robyn AT paperieboutique DOT com]! Submissions last thru Tuesday, November 30th.

If you’re waiting to hear from me right now, please be patient. Between shooting last week, having a sick kid at home this week, editing photos and filling orders during holiday crunch time, and very tight deadlines for my next column…..well there just aren’t enough hours in the day. I’ll get back to you soon! Promise!

Just over 51 days ’til Christmas! Aaack!
-Robyn

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.

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!

let them…win…(cup)cake(s)!

Today is our 14th anniversary – so to celebrate, we’re doing a sweet giveaway!

This giftwrap kit includes:
• 20 sheets of wrapping paper
   (17¾ x 27½”) in four designs
• 20 gift tags
• 2 rolls of ribbon (2 colors, 9 feet each)
• 2 rolls of string (2 colors, 9 feet each)
• 30-40 stickers
• Instructions for basic bow-tying and wrapping

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

Win a sweet cupcake confection-themed giftwrap kit over 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 Thursday, June 3rd.

Please note: Only U.S. mailing addresses 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 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: Winner & runner-up have now been announced in the comments!

P.S. If you’re waiting on an e-mail from me, please be patient. Still extremely behind and doing my best to catch up as quickly as possible!

weekly wrap-up

When I saw the “Nate Berkus™ 26-piece Gift Wrap Kit” at Apartment Therapy recently, I knew it would make the perfect prize here at Paperie.

It’s minimalist and classic, so if you’re just starting out or haven’t quite settled on a look yet, youy’re not tied down by a color scheme or print – but can still present your clients with something expensive looking and stylish. The kit includes:

•  6 – gift bags 12½” x 10″ x 5″ (3 black stripe, 3 gold stripe, die-cut handles)
•  4 – 10′ x 30″ wrapping paper rolls – 25 square feet of each (4 designs)
•  12 – 3″ x 3″ gift cards with envelopes (4 designs)
•  2 – black raffia 20′ rolls
•  2 – natural raffia 20′ rolls
•  storage box

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

Win a Nate Berkus™ 26-piece Gift Wrap Kit at Paperie Boutique / paperieboutique.com by @shutterblog and get a FREE Mother’s Day template!

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, May 10th.

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. Good luck!

UPDATE: The winner has been announced! See the announcement here!

Recently I put up a download for a 10×5 inch “mom” storyboard. This morning, I put up a link to download the following 8×8 inch story-art on my Flickr account.

The editing instructions for the 8×8 are the same as for the 10×5.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend!
-Robyn

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.

The 10×5″ and 8×8″ templates are ©Robyn Pollman, 2010. All rights reserved. They may not be copied, resold, made available for download or given away elsewhere, or redistributed without my written permission.