spring forward

It’s no big secret my family has had a rough couple of years, but we were all left unprepared and reeling from the events that took place two weeks ago. My little sister Jennifer, age 30, passed away on February 27th. She was married and they have a 14-month old son.

Hopefully that helps explain why the site has been left without updates and and e-mails have gone unreturned. I tried to update the Paperie Facebook page as I was able, but there’s just only so much you can do from an iPad on I-40 travelling to and from a funeral…

Slowly but surely I’m catching up with my life again and we have a few contest winners to announce!




First up are the winners of the three packaging contests here on Paperie: The “cameo / timeless” boutique packaging winner is Dawn Corwin. The “three strikes / spring training” custom packaging winner is Lynette Weber. And the “lipstick / tarte” boudoir packaging winner is WhirlieGirl Photography!

And the winner of “the savvy set” giveaway by Panache Collective over at The Savvy Photographer was…Sugar Bug Photography!

Thanks to everyone who entered, congrats to our winners, and thanks again to The Savvy Photographer for hosting one of these great giveaways!

For all our winners – you should hear from Robyn in the next 24-48 hours. Your packaging will need to be assembled and should ship within 3-4 business days of contact. Thanks for your patience!




Thanks for everyone’s support and prayers for our family!
-Robyn & Todd

P.S. “Like” the new Panache Collective Facebook page!

savvy style

There’s a great giveaway from The Panache Collective over at The Savvy Photographer right now!

“One lucky Savvy reader will have a chance to win this Panache Collective boutique packaging set before the product line even goes into the pre-sale phase! Up for grabs are five 5½ x 7½ and five 8½ x 10½ “the savvy set” decorated photo boxes (with matching tissue). As shown in the photos, these box designs feature the Panache Collective’s revolutionary new quick-release open and close system. The design stays snug around the box, but can easily be removed and set aside to pack the order – and then reattached to safely hand-deliver or ship – without damaging your work of art.”

Visit The Savvy Photographer for more details! Huge thanks to them for the great giveaway opportunity!

And don’t forget, we still have three more Panache Collective packaging set giveaways here – they run through 11:59 p.m. EST tonight (Thursday, February 23rd)!

Thanks for making this year’s WPPI so great!
-Robyn & Todd

P.S. “Like” the new Panache Collective Facebook page!

sweet soul

As promised, we’re back today with another of our popular packaging posts.

Today’s guest entry is by Kristen Hines of Anima Dolce Photography. Packaging like this makes me swoon, and I know you’ll love it as well! Read on (and click the packaging photos for larger pop-ups)…

Anima Dolce is Italian for “sweet soul” and I really wanted the concept of my brand to be reflected by those words and how they make you feel. I wanted to make sure I carried that over to my packaging and after refining it for quite some time, I think I have finally achieved my vision.

My brand was developed around three words: soul, warmth, and happiness. I chose the colors for my brand from a digital paper pack (Spice) that I bought from Sassy Designs, Inc. The warmth of the plum color is the base for my branding. I worked in the kraft color to keep the materials down to earth and I finished the look with a crisp cream to brighten it up.

In every package is a thank you card with a hand written note. The note is printed on a luxe card in the scalloped square shape from Miller’s Lab. I love the variety of shapes they offer. I use black photo corners to adhere my folded business cards to the back. I place them in a fig envelope with a kraft paper liner from Paper Source.

For the digital images, I have custom DVDs printed at Blank Media Printing. I write the session and the date on the front and put them in an enclosure from Kraft and Jute.

To add a sweet touch, I include a kraft pillow box with Jelly Belly’s inside and finish it off with a plum ribbon from Michael’s. I use an envelope from Paper Source for the prints in the stardream opal color to add some shimmer to the package.

Everything is wrapped up in a kraft suitcase and I place a luxe sticker from Miller’s Lab on top.

I hope I have inspired you to bring some soul to your packaging! It has been a lot of fun for me to put it all together. Here are the vendors that I used for the materials:

• Kraft suitcase: Kate’s Paperie
• Luxe Sticker and Luxe Card: Miller’s Lab
• Envelopes in Stardream Opal and Fig,
  and Kraft liners: Paper Source
• Custom DVDs: Blank Media Printing
• Folded business cards: MPix Pro
• DVD enclosure: Kraft and Jute
• Photo corners and plum ribbon: Michael’s

Thanks so much to Anima Dolce Photography for the beautiful feature! Have a great weekend everyone!

-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.

eco-friendly

A beautiful “green” packaging feature / guest post, and a special lab contest, on tap today…

My name is Brittany Langfeldt, of B. Langfeldt Photography, and I am a custom on-site photographer from the Chicago area.

I have always tried to keep my business as “green” as possible and had previously begun using organic and natural materials for my albums and CD cases. But once I saw Caroline Ghetes’ article featured here on Paperie Boutique I was truly inspired. I began trying different ways to package my products and quickly realized how difficult it can be to find organic or recyclable materials.

I bought a copy of Caroline’s resource list and felt like I hit the jackpot! I ended up using a lot of the same vendors or types of materials and ideas that Caroline uses but the only exact item we share is the CD box. I love all the natural products not only because they are eco-friendly but they also have such a unique and beautifully simple look to them.

My albums are made of all natural materials. They are packaged in this beautiful slipcover with a beaded closure.

For my prints I use black recyclable folders in various sizes wrapped in ribbon.

I tied up 2 tags in the ribbon; 1 stamped prints and 1 stamped with my logo.

My CD cases are made of all natural and organic materials not to mention they are gorgeous! I package them in the same box that Caroline uses and again tie them up with ribbon and 2 tags and add a sticker to the lower left corner.

I stamp my info directly onto the CD.

I include a hard copy of my print license printed on natural handmade paper in a matching envelope. I also have a secondary envelope containing proper storage information, business cards and my refer-a-friend program.

View of the print license.

Everything all put together!

Although I didn’t use a lot of the same items as Caroline, I did use a lot of the vendors provided to me through the resource list she sells. Therefore I can’t disclose my vendors, but I can tell you if you are interested in this style of packaging you should definitely buy a copy of her list! All the proceeds go towards funding for mission trips!

Thank you Caroline for the wonderful inspiration!

(And thank YOU, Brittany, for sharing such lovely packaging with our Paperie readers!)

We’d love to feature your packaging here as well! Please e-mail robyn @ this domain to be added to the posting schedule.




Color Inc. Pro Lab is having a Facebook Photo Contest. Photographers can send in their favorite image of a child / baby and they will add it to an album on their Facebook page.

The image with the most “LIKES” wins a $300 Color Inc. lab credit.

• Contest started Wednesday, March 9th
•  Entry deadline is Friday, March 11th
•  Voting Ends Monday, March 14th
•  e-mail to send images to:  contest@colorincprolab.com

Learn more about the Color Inc. Facebook Photo Contest here!

arts and kraft

Still catching up here and everywhere else, so I’m posting new “business packaging / holiday packaging contest” entries as I can individually – make sure you scroll to the previous entry each time you visit so you don’t miss anything!

Up next is Jessica Lewis of KRAFTandJUTE.com…

A few pictures of our packaging.. and some holiday gift bags! All the products and photos are on our website KRAFTandJUTE.com.

Love everything about this Jessica – thank you for sharing it!

If you’d like to enter the contest – the awesome prizes are a $20 gift certificate to Paper Source and a $100 gift certificate to HB Photo Packaging – send in one (or more) photos of your business packaging. It can be your everyday packaging, something special for the holidays, or both!

Happy wrapping! Send photos to Robyn [robyn AT paperieboutique DOT com] thru Tuesday, November 30th.

wrap it up

Busy Monday around here! We have a brand new entry in the best business packaging / holiday packaging contest and a guest post article on “The Savvy, Chic, Eco-Friendly Office” by Michelle Black.

First up are several beautiful packaging photos by Stacey Severt of Wild Hearts Photography.

Want to win $120 in gift cards to Paper Source and HB Photo Packaging?

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




The Savvy, Chic, Eco-Friendly Office
by Michelle Black

What’s affordable, and sleek, and GREEN all over? Pretty much everything in this article, and its all perfect for your studio or home office! Check out some of these cool items that you can bring into your workspace, while giving the environment a nice peck on the cheek at the same time. On average, environmentally sound supplies cost only 5% more, a small sacrifice that can help make a big difference.

CUTEST PENCIL CUPS EVER
These adorable Pencil Cups by See Jane Work are covered with 100% post consumer, recycled paper. A great find for keeping pens and pencils and sharpies handy, in a stylish little container! Very affordable, too, priced at just $10. Visit See Jane Work for more colors and patterns.

RECYCLED OFFICE PAPER
Next up we have recycled office paper, offered at your nearest Staples store in bulk. For just $50, you can pick up 5,000 sheets!

SIMPLE OFFICE STORAGE
The Container Store has a beautiful line of Bamboo storage for your everyday needs. Things like filing and organizing drawers couldn’t be more stunning with these simple, coordinated designs. Bamboo is easily renewable so it is an environmentally friendly material that just so happens to look modern, too.

RECYCLED FOLDERS AND ENVELOPES
ReBinder is my absolute FAVORITE site for finding affordable folders, cd/dvd sleeves, binders, presentation folders, and even notebooks…and the best part is, they’re all made of recycled material. Seriously, they’re the best deal you’re going to find!

ECO-FRIENDLY OFFICE FURNITURE
Buyenergyefficient.org has a really great variety of styles and suits any budget with desks ranging anywhere from $189 – $1500 depending on what you’re looking for. Here are some of their best designs…

Additional Suggestions…

RECYCLED PAPER CLIPS
Yes, even these exist. You’re really going the extra mile if you can take the time to make sure you’ve got recycled paper clips in your hands at checkout.

NON-TOXIC CLEANING SUPPLIES
Nature Clean, Method, Ecover, Orange TKO, and Pink Solution can help you on your way toward a cleaner work environment, minus the toxins. Baking soda, borax, lemon juice and other simple ingredients are a natural way to clean without the expense of green cleaners. Choose your cleaning agents wisely!

Read more:
http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/green-cleaning-spring-cleaning-460303#ixzz13iUfyf51

Thanks for reading and remember, it only takes a few extra seconds out of your busy life to consciously do something good for planet Earth! Of course you can’t be perfect about it, but making an effort whenever you can will not go unnoticed.

Cheers!

Article by: Michelle Black
Michelle’s blog: Light-Traces.com
Resources for photographers: The Photo Professional




Thanks so much to both Stacey and Michelle!

Have a great week everyone!
-Robyn

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 5x5x8.5 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

green is the new black

I love the packaging feature guest posts! And today we’re particularly lucky because Michelle Black is stopping by to show off her new gorgeous ‘green’ rebranding. Without further adieu…

This year I decided to re-brand. I kept the same logo but changed the overall feel of my packaging and marketing materials, to better reflect myself as a person. With nature in my blood and having practically grown up in the woods (okay not really, but I was a major tomboy and spent a LOT of time outside, haha) I thought the change was only fitting, and I wish I’d started out with it from the beginning! With all eco-friendly, recyclable, and biodegradable materials, the new packaging just feels good, it gives off a good vibe. Less is more in my book, and keeping the packaging / materials simple, clean, and quietly sophisticated is something that now has a lot of importance to me. My first set of proofs went out the door wrapped in Earth last week and I wanted to share some photographs. I’ll be getting the remainder of the products this month (print folders, mailers, CD cases). I’m also looking for a new portfolio for my prints, does anyone have suggestions? I’ve searched far and wide and haven’t really settled on anything yet.

*Ink on the bags and boxes is acid-free and non-toxic.*

*Borders / frames on the proof image shown above are available for purchase at The Photo Professional [ here ] .*

Order deadline cards were printed at home on natural, recycled paper.

Recycled tissue paper from Nashville Wraps.

Cards with rounded edges from GotPrint who is a green company!

Beautiful soft twine from Hobby Lobby.

Logo on boxes and bags is a stamp I had custom ordered. (Stamp info now included in the comments.) I purchased both brown and black inks – they both look beautiful!

Tags are made at home, printed on recycled paper.

Tags are made at home, printed on recycled paper. *BAGS AND BOXES ARE RECYCLED KRAFT PRODUCTS.*

Thank you so much for sharing Michelle! Make sure you stop by her blog and website “The Photo Professional” to say thanks in person!

P.S. If you’re waiting on an e-mail from me, please be patient. I’m extremely behind right now and doing my best to catch up as fast as I can!

Look around the sidebars and say “hi” to several of our new advertisers. 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.

just say Julie!

Posts like this make me smile. Not just because the packaging is so fantastic (which it absolutely is), but because all the counteless hours people have poured into this site are really paying off and helping people. What a fantastic way to “pay it forward”! Grab a Coke, a smile, and kick back. Another great packaging feature / guest post coming up…by Julie Rollins Photography…

This past October 2009 is when I decided to move full steam ahead with my photography business. I scoured the Internet daily, trying to soak up everything I possibly could on how to get my business off the ground and running. I constantly read about how important branding is and I knew I had a ton of work ahead of me. I came across the Paperie Boutique website and turned to it almost daily looking for inspiration for the packaging I would eventually come up with.

My New Years Resolution for 2010 was two parts. The first part was to get my blog (julierollinsphotography.com/blog/) up and running. The second part was to design my packaging and Welcome Kit.

All of the colors in my packaging are a direct spinoff of my logo. I wanted to stick to that same color scheme, which made things easy for me.

My bags, tissue, ribbon, raffia, large Kraft boxes and Kraft pillow boxes are all from Gift Box Corp of America.

My large and small round stickers are from Zazzle.

My brown photo boxes are from DNL Photo.

My rounded hangtags are from 48HourPrint.com.

Inside the chocolate boxes you will find clear bags with backing boards, which are from Clear Bags. Also included in the boxes are 5×5 cards with portrait care and copyright information.

When my clients call to book their session, the first thing I do is send them out their Welcome Packet. The packet is full of information about my photography, pricing and session details.

♦ Please see this updated entry for the vendors used. ♦

The Kraft colored presentation folder is from Paper Presentation.

Inside my Welcome Packet you will find a chocolate petal envelope with my referral cards in it and a 5×5 card detailing the program. The envelope is from Paper Source.

Also included in my Welcome Packet are a pen and a sticky note pad. These two items along with my 4×8 rack card are from Vista Print.

The remainders of my press printed products are from local printers. I love being able to have all of this information together in my Welcome Packet, because it’s so nice to mail this right off to my clients when they call to book their session. The last thing I include in the Welcome Packet is a Session Reminder Card, which is also from a local printer.

Designing all of my press printed products took a while and then ordering all of the packaging was also a huge job. That being said, having everything done is such a relief. I felt great today when I had a new client call to book a session for next week and I dropped her Welcome Kit off at the post office this afternoon. Knowing that I have this all finished, I probably would still be trying to figure things out if it hadn’t been for the inspiration from Paperie Boutique! Thank you so much Robyn – I love your site!!!

-Julie

Thank you so much, Julie! Make sure to stop by her blog and say “hi”! (You can also see a lot of the photos above bigger and in greater detail there.) And don’t forget to submit your own packaging photos to the site (instructions at post’s end)!

In case you didn’t see today’s newsletter, Paper Source just announced a new recycled kraft paper collection. Check it out:

Don’t forget there’s just over 24 hours left to enter the “Pink Boutique Packaging Set” from Paperie Boutique and HB Photo Packaging. Go here to enter!

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).

vert classique

Last fall I put out the call for photographers who had “gone green” with their packaging, but unfortunately received no response. Since then I’ve had multiple viewer requests to feature a guest post by a “green” photographer. The problem was finding one, or them finding me. Until now.

Green or not, this packaging leaves me saying “WOW!” It’s simply perfection. So sit back and enjoy the eco-friendly packaging of Caroline Ghetes Photography.

Inside the photo proof box. The box is 100% biodegradable.

Another look at the outside of the photo proof box all wrapped up.

I hand-stamped my logo on this really neat handmade paper. Then I hand-stamped the word “photos” on these recycled chip-board hang tags. I’ve attached all tags & wrapped the boxes in 100% natural raffia ribbon.

Here’s a look at the CD my brides get. A photo is printed on a label and then adhered to the CD.

I use these natural hemp CD cases from Loktah. I LOVE their stuff!

The CD’s are placed on a bed of Natural Coarse Wood Excelsior, inside this 100% biodegradable black box.

Then the CD box is wrapped with Raffia ribbon and more hang tags are attached.

And there you go!

A little peek at the envelope which contains the reproduction release & lab recommendations.

An overall look of the finished product. The shopping bag is a 100% recycled Euro Tote.

Because of her extensive research into green boutique packaging, Caroline sells her vendor and product list rather than sharing it online. The cost for this collected information is $25.00 USD. You can read more of the details at her blog.

“100% of every transaction will be donated to support my missions trip to Romania in 2010, in support of my father’s evangelistic travels. It will involve church revivals, visiting & helping orphanages, remodeling for poor families, photography for the needy & of course some documentary photography as well…In addition to telling you the resources I used to make my own packaging, I will include some more names in there that I did not use, but may work for you.“

Thank you, Caroline, for proving it can be done—and that it can be done to perfection!

There’s much more in store for this week and we’re only half-way through. Don’t forget to check in daily!

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).