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!

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!

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.

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.

packages tied up with strings

This is finals and dorm move-out week for the girls that usually assist me with Paperie Boutique, so if you’ve noticed the posting has been rather light, that’s why. So today – just a quick “favorite things” list for you to enjoy!

1. Paper Crave (the name says it all – you’ll be lost here awhile)
2. grosgrain ribbon on Etsy (she’s from Oklahoma, too, y’all!)
3. Tessa Ann – buttons and appliqués
4. washi tape – kick your packaging up a notch
5. Oh Joy! – because it’s pretty – I like pretty

And from the master herself, Martha Stewart’s “how to tie the perfect bow” (three different ways).

Last but certainly not least, a vendor who has been mentioned here several times at Paperie is Nashville Wraps and they have recently updated their blog with information on how the recent Tennessee flooding is effecting their community. Please keep them in your thoughts!

wrap-tastic!

We are this | → ← | close to having 1500 published comments on the site. So lucky #1500 will win the following gift wrap kit (info where to buy in comments):

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

UPDATE: We have our 1500th comment – thanks Amy!

But don’t forget we’re giving away a Paper Source gift card right now, too!

it’s a nice day for a white wedding

It’s been a great week at Paperie and I’m very excited to wrap things up on a high note with one of my favorite things — the packaging features. Not only is Gail Werner Photography’s work and presentation absolutely stunning, there’s a double-bonus because I learned about a couple of new vendors myself! So grab a Coke and a smile, kick your feet up because it’s almost the weekend, and enjoy today’s guest post!

(P.S. Don’t forget there’s a contest going on — there’s just over 12 hours left to win a slot in the “503 Photography Workshops for Kids & Teens“!)

Like everyone else here on this site, I’m a big believer in the power of a positive brand experience. But it wasn’t until I felt comfortable with the brand I’d developed for myself late last year that I began to want to invest in marketing materials that reflected it.

When I started researching online to find resources on where to go for those materials, ooh boy, was I confused! Then a photographer I follow, Heather Garland, blogged about being featured here on Paperie Boutique and I couldn’t believe how awesome both Heather’s marketing products were – but also what a resource there was to be found here on this site!

First I wanted to make sure that when my clients opened their package from me they had a second, more beautiful package waiting for them inside.

I ordered these boxes from The Container Store, with each ranging in cost from $4-$10, depending on size. They are heavy and glossy white.

The ribbon is from from Hobby Lobby. The stickers are from Zazzle.

[Note from Robyn: Paperie has a free template for Zazzle stickers available for download here.]

One of my latest inspirations for my business is sharing my clients’ stories in a new and unique way that reflects my past as a journalist, so with each order, I’m including a copy of their story with their digital files / prints, etc. Here is the story of Michele and Eric. (Theirs is the story you can see pictured here in a frame — also bought at Hobby Lobby.) These frames are $4 each, and perfect for this little personalized touch to their package (I wrap everything up in black tissue paper before it goes in one of my Container Store boxes).

My thank you cards feature a quote I found online about giving thanks. Simple and, in a way, a reflection of me, because I am a quote NUT. My copyright releases were printed up on 5×7 cards from WHCC. My letterpress business cards were made by a letterpress / design company called The Mandate Press. At Mandate, if you are making black and white letterpress cards only, it’s $95 for 250 cards. They are gorgeous! My DVD cases come from DNL Photo and my DVDs (which I love because they have such a great polished look to them that’s so professional) were printed by Discmakers. I cannot say enough wonderful things about Discmakers‘ customer service. Every time I emailed them with a question, I had a response within hours. SUPER company to work with!

My Post-It notes are from 123Print and I LOVE them. Who doesn’t want personalized Post-Its for their business, right?

[Note from Robyn: Paperie has a free template for Post-It notes from VistaPrint available for download here.]

I made my initial client packets using folders and envelopes from Paper Presentation. On the outside of the white folders, I adhered a custom-designed branded sticker, printed by WHCC. This was more cost-effective for me than getting something custom made but still a nice personalized touch! The black mailing envelopes have my branded mailing sticker on them as well. These stickers were also printed by WHCC and custom designed by me. Inside each of the presentation packets, I include my pricing information, sheets with tip information (varies for portrait or wedding client) and a copy of the contract / model release. I wanted to keep these packets as print-outs for now as I’m at a point in my business where my prices will continue to change in the months to come and I didn’t want to invest in printed pricing booklets for that reason.

I hope you all were able to take away a few ideas for your own marketing from this post. Once I finally decided on what I needed and what companies I’d order from, it was a pretty quick process (a few hours) to get all the items you see here ordered and taken care of. So if I can do this, I promise you anyone can!

Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful packaging and resources Gail! Everything looks amazing! You can also catch Gail at her blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

You have until 11:59 p.m. EDT tonight Friday, April 30th to win a spot in the 503 Photography Workshops for kids and teens! Check out Wednesday’s post for more details!

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.

’til Tuesday

Recently I posted a storyboard collage on Flickr that I made for one of my clients.

With Mother’s Day rapidly approaching, I thought you might like to do the same for your clients – so I’ve modified my design above into a 10×5 “mini-storyboard” you can add photos to, edit as much or as little as you’d like, and give to your clients.

I suggest having the image lustre-coated, fine-linen textured, and mounted to styrene or double-weight matboard. You could even add in a cute tabletop easel as an extra special touch.

You will need to add three vertical / portrait images that are 750×1050 pixels, 300 dpi. You will see three folders for each of the images (left, middle, and right) – and inside each of the folders you will see the image frame on top, and another layer on bottom that you will hide after adding your image on top of it.

The white background color can be changed with one click as shown in the Photoshop background color fill layer in the Layers Palette. The text for the word “mom” and the pronunciation cannot be changed. However, the text for the definition CAN be changed. The font used is Garamond.

→ 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)

I recently ran across this marketing set on Flickr (in the “Promote This!” pool) and immediately asked Cindy Irene Photography to feature her work here on Paperie. Her presentation is just so unique. I had never seen anything like it!

“I have been in business for close to a year now, just recently branding my business thanks to all the wonderful ideas here at Paperie Boutique! But, when I first started I didn’t care for the non-personalized choices so I created my own.

I made these client packets for 8×10s out of card stock. The front pocket is another decorative card stock to hold the low resolution CD that my clients receive with their prints. I used a bone scorer around the edges for added effect. I cut another designer cardstock to create a ribbon on the front (real ribbon could also be used) and leave a spot for my sticker or business card to be placed.

I also have these on hand now as gift packaging that the clients can purchase when they give prints to family and friends. Different sizes are available for wallets all the way up to 8×10s and can be created for Christmas, weddings, birthdays, etc.”

Don’t miss Cindy’s marketing set on Flickr – there are a couple of additional photos for ideas and inspiration. Thank you so much for sharing, Cindy!

Recently Paperie Boutique was a featured sponsor at “Photographer’s Kick Start | Guides and Products for Professional Photographers“. If you’re a fan of “Hey Girl, Nice Shot” you’ll definitely want to check out Jessica’s latest venture! (And not just because Paperie will be a part of the ‘virtual swag bag’…) It’s a great training program to help photographers teach other moms how to use their DSLRs. The pre-release is available on April 30th.

Last but certainly not least, don’t forget you have until 11:59 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 28th, to win a $100.00 gift certificate to LCH Design here on Paperie Boutique. Check out yesterday’s post for more details!

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″ storyboard template is ©Robyn Pollman, 2010. All rights reserved. It may not be copied, resold, made available for download or given away elsewhere, or redistributed without my written permission.

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.