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

haute couture

Remember the amazing packaging contest we had last year? Well it’s back this year and it’s going to be even more amazing!

Don’t forget when you’re busy wrapping up your client and / or holiday orders to stop for a minute and take photos of your beautiful creations before delivering them. The second annual business and holiday packaging contest kicks off on Friday, December 2nd!

Don’t know where to start? Paper Source always has great video tutorials! And with just one of the prizes being a $500 store credit to HB Photo Packaging, it will definitely be worth your time!

Watch this space for more updates in the coming days! And happy wrapping!




New week, new deal for Paperie readers! Today we have a vendor / guest post by Beth Forester of photoDUDS!

“Be Artsy!”

Beth Forester of photoDUDS has just released a new line of templates created just for Artsy Couture Gallery Blocks.

Let’s face it, Artsy Couture Gallery Blocks are one of the hottest items this year. With these designs you’ll be able to impress your clients by offering these upscale custom designed items in your studio.

There are SEVEN different templates designed to work specifically with the Artsy Couture Line. These fully-layered templates are super-easy to customize so you can change the colors to match your photographs.

Not using the Artsy line yet…well look no more because all of these templates also include files for deep Canvas Gallery Wraps.

So, you get two products for the price of one!

And as an introductory offer, these designs are on sale in the photoDUDS store for 20% off. Or you can save 50% off and buy the bundle!

Plus, Beth Forester of photoDUDS is offering Paperie Boutique followers an additional 20% off* the already reduced items or anything else in the photoDUDS store. So not only can you get the special introductory prices but you can save an additional 20%. So head on over to the photoDUDS store and use the exclusive Paperie code: paperie20

*Offer expires November 9, 2011.

Thanks to photoDUDS for stopping by with this incredible offer for our readers!




Earlier this year we featured MamaThredz maternity portrait ensembles from The Art of Pregnancy and Newborn. (TAoPaN)

Yesterday I was lucky enough to photograph a maternity session for Buttons and Bows Photography using the “Sassy – All Mama” gown. You can see the results above (click images for lager pop-ups). To purchase, visit MamaThredz.




Have a great week everyone and check back soon!
-Robyn & Todd

all mixed up

Today we have a vendor / guest post and giveaway from The Designer’s Mix!

The Designer’s Mix website has officially launched after much anticipation, and is growing weekly as we add new items for you. We currently offer fun alphabet sets, unique papers & textures, beautiful templates, and tons of handy dandy digital elements such as buttons, tags, and frames. There is much more coming your way soon, too!

What’s great about The Designer’s Mix is its flexibility and quality. All of our products are designed to be mixed, matched, and used in a variety of ways. We want you to get creative and rock our products on your cards, albums, web designs, newsletters, and so much more.

Not to mention, there is a freebies section on the site! Yes, FREEBIES! New freebies are available monthly, so we encourage you to check back each month.

Onto the fun part… TWO very lucky people have the chance of winning a $45 gift certificate to spend at The Designer’s Mix. To win a gift certificate, head over to our Facebook page, “like” us and tell us what you think about our stuff. We will randomly pick 2 winners from the comments on the Facebook page on Monday, June 27th.

We are also going to give someone a $75 gift certificate! If you want to aim high for the $75, tweet about this blog post, follow us on Twitter and tell the Twitter-sphere about @thedesignersmix! We’ll randomly pick a winner from the tweets on Monday, June 27th.

P.S. Any Paperie Boutique visitor can enter the promo code “paperie” at checkout for 10% off your order!




Don’t forget to scroll down because we currently have two other ongoing contests from Dear Miss Modern – and – StudioThoughtSauce.com!

be ? mine

Today’s guest post is the best kind – pretty with benefits! One of my favorite vendors, Terry from Sassy Designs, Ltd., has dropped back by with Valentine’s Goodies for everyone.

Hi, Everyone! It’s me – Terry from Sassy Designs, Ltd.! Robyn is such a gracious host and offered to have me back a second time! Again, I am honored!

I’ve got some big plans for Sassy Designs, Ltd. in 2010 so I hope all of you will keep up with me! I’ve been so busy that I’m closing up my Etsy shop and focusing my time on my main website shop and of course doing custom orders. Until the Etsy shop is empty everything there is discounted 25% so be sure to check it out before it’s all gone!

The shop at the main website is stocked full – digital papers, design elements, card templates, and has a bunch of new things that have been added over the last few months! I’ve been working on some fun things for Valentine’s Day and as a thank you to Robyn and all of you fabulous readers I’m offering the two newest items to you for free! I hope you do fabulous things with them!

Thank you so much, Terry! When you make good use of these
freebies please leave a note in the comments and share with the class so we can all see. (You can take a peek at how I made good use of Sassy Designs background papers and a frame element in my holiday gift tags.)

More new guest post features are currently in the works! If you’re interested in having your own business packaging, marketing ideas, or photography-related products featured please contact me (my e-mail is in the sidebar and is robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment).