Good. Friday!

You might have noticed it’s been a little quiet around here this week. It’s spring break and between my ‘regular’ job, and hurricane advisories and tornado warnings occurring approximately every 15 minutes in my living room, something had to give! But to close off the week I have something to give…you!

Not only a new contest, but also a free download – so everyone wins!

This gift set for today’s contest includes:

• one Martha Stewart Crafts package of 8 champagne-tipped CD labels with 8 matching 5×5″ white and champagne envelopes (“includes handy alignment pad to ensure perfect label application”)
• one Martha Stewart Crafts 4.75×6.75″ photo-corner-accordion (cardstock construction with decorative front label and ribbon-tie – holds eight 4×6 photos)
• one baggie of 40 Paper-Source acid-free photo corners in Pool

How do you win? Easy-pleasey! Go to your blog, Facebook account, Flickr account, or Twitter account and post the following:

Win Martha Stewart Crafts & Paper Source accordion + CD label set – visit Paperie Boutique / paperieboutique.com by @shutterblog for more!

Please note: The link you post must direct to a public account. I 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. 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 Sunday, April 4th.

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!

UPDATE: The winner Susan B. Photography has been announced here!

In case you missed the free download for the 5×7 flat press card “baby girl birth announcement”, I now have a printed example of what they look like. I knew one day it would be the perfect fit for someone!

These announcements were designed for, and printed by, my favorite lab ProDPI.

And I’ve updated the post to include the template for the new card-back as shown in the photograph above. So if you’ve downloaded the front in the past, make sure to go back and grab the back too!

If you’ll scroll down in the right sidebar you’ll see a category called “free product downloads” with several links for more goodies!

To those who celebrate, Happy Easter weekend! See y’all next week!
-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.

think pink

It’s no big secret what keeps y’all coming back for more… The guest posts with the pretty, pretty packaging! And as luck would have it, that’s just what I’m about to serve up… Prepare to be blown away by the gorgeous stylings of courtney jade photography!

What would cake be without the icing? Well, it would still be quite delicious, however it wouldn’t be quite as beautiful. The details are so important to me, and beautiful photos deserve beautiful packaging. From the luscious chocolate brown boxes, to the pop of the pink ribbon, nothing goes un-prettied! I’ve recently updated and upgraded my packaging, and so far everyone has loved it!

First of all, I’ve switched from putting my digital images on CDs and DVDs, and now clients will get their images on a USB Flash drive. I’ve decided to do this for a few reasons. 1) Most importantly, the images will be safer for a longer period of time. As time goes by, DVDs and CDs can lose data due to deterioration. 2) USB Drives can be re-used, recycled. If a client prefers, they can back up their USB Drive, and use it for other things. 3) They look nicer. It may be my personal preference, but USB Drives are compact, sleek, and sexy! Here’s a peek at what you’ll get when you purchase digital images from me.

Print orders will come in luscious chocolate boxes adorn with pretty pink bows!

Inside, your precious prints are wrapped in matching pink tissue! All prints are packaged in clear plastic bags inside for protection and easy handling.

Another new thing I am doing for clients is creating “referral cards”. This is a complimentary gift with any print order. Most of my clients are referrals, so what better way to get my name out there, than to give my clients miniature photos from their session with my contact information on it?! Everyone loves a wallet-sized photo to hand out to friends and family, so far my clients love this!!

I’ve also been working on updating all of my client materials. I’m not quite finished yet, but I have a feeling that in this field, there will always be more that I want to create! Here is a taste of materials that I’ve had printed to hand out to my clients and possible clients.

There are still more fabulous materials on the way, but for now I feel like my brand is established, and will only grow from here.

I am so excited to be able to be a guest on Paperie Boutique! I love this blog, and I look to it for inspiration and ideas on a very regular basis. Robyn has been an inspiration to me for years now, and I am so excited to see this blog blossom and grow! Thank you Robyn, and thanks to everyone who reads and participates in this community!

<3 Courtney Jade

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your products with us Courtney! They’re absolutely beautiful and I adore the pink – everything here is tied together so well! You have very lucky clients.

Make sure to visit her blog and tell her thank you for this guest post!

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).

the dotted line

I don’t make custom announcements very often because quite frankly, it pains me to have the one I love the most rejected. Here’s a (FREE!) baby girl birth announcement (view larger demo) that recently got tossed in the “nope” pile. I loved it too much to just throw on an external drive. It’s ready to print at ProDPI as a 5×7 flat press card. The ProDPI crop-guide is included as a hidden layer.

Text is customizable, but color and design are not. Fonts used are Freebooter Script and Helvetica-Neue.

If you plan to use a lab other than ProDPI to print this announcement, please make sure you check the design in their crop-guide template first! (This file is actually 7.25 x 5.25 inches, 300dpi.) Otherwise the stripes and dots may not appear as you would like them to.

UPDATE on April 2, 2010 – here is an example of this announcement as printed by ProDPI. I have added an additional “back” file (as shown in the photo below) so both sides – front and back – of the 5×7 flat press card can be submitted for print.

→ download link – card FRONT ← (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)

→ download link – card BACK ← (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)

If you end up printing these, please send me a product shot so I can see!

This template is ©Robyn Pollman, 2009. All rights reserved. It may not be copied, resold, made available for download or given away elsewhere, or redistributed without my written permission.