(P.S. Keep reading for a special giveaway from photographers-seo.com!)

For this month’s article, I reviewed several digital media storage products by BellaGrafica (“Jeff & Julia Woods General Collection“), DNL Photo Packaging, JLee Albums, Loktah, Miller’s Professional Imaging and The Designer Concept, MpixPro, Pexagon Tech, Rice Studio Supply, and Verbatim.

Click each of the magazine pages above for a larger view. You can find the article on page 48 and page 50 of the print-version when it hits mailboxes. And you can also download the digital edition now if you’re a PPA member or digital subscriber.

And last month Heather Lickliter of Stylized Portraiture helped me write the August “The Goods” column. This month she’s escaped over to the new “Workflow Polish” column where she shares her post-session workflow, with added comments / critique by Audrey Woulard. Congratulations Heather!




Today’s guest / vendor post is by Zach Prez. He has freebies and a prize for Paperie readers!

Hi, I’m Zach Prez. I specialize in search engine optimization for photographers, although I’ve been helping small businesses rank in Google for about 10 years. There’s no better feeling than helping someone become successful on the web and grow his or her business. Okay, maybe there are a few things better, like cycling on the American River Bike trail near Sacramento, CA.

I wrote Photographers SEO Book almost 2 years ago now. What started as some informal phone conversations with my photographer friend quickly expanded into ninja tactics that boomed her business from Google in a matter of weeks. Everyone wanted to know her secret, so I turned those conversations into a non-technical how to guide that any level of photographer can follow. It has since helped hundreds of people understand and improve in search results.

Earlier this year I released Photography Blog SEO Zen. It’s an ebook for photographers, designers, or wedding vendors on how to update your blog infrastructure and write blog posts to rank more easily. Blogs typically output many more pages than a traditional website, meaning more chances to rank in search. Blogs are especially helpful in ranking very specific phrases (long-tail SEO) so I would hope you see about 3x the traffic from your blog compared to your photography website. My blogs and ebook help you get there.

I’m giving away one of each product above for Paperie Boutique readers. Enter to win by commenting on any blog post on either of my websites – photographers-seo.com -OR- photoblogseo.com – by the end of the day on Saturday. (We’ll notify and announce the winners on Monday.) You’ll learn something new and hopefully share your thoughts about the post, what you learned, or something insightful

If you want something FREE right now, check out my Search Engine Optimization Guide for SmugMug Sites -OR- Email SEO Class for Photographers.

UPDATE: The winners have both been announced here – check them out!

Thanks Zach for sharing such valuable information with our readers!

And don’t forget we currently have two giveaway-contests going on here at Paperie. Through midnight Wednesday you can have a chance to win your choice of camera bags from Jo Totes. And through midnight Thursday you have the chance to win a $50 gift certificate from Denny Manufacturing.

You’ll have to come up with the front and back design (I used a business card front/back for mine), but I’ve attached a download for the inside-spread that includes the calendar. I have included the crop-guide layer. You’ll have to add your logo if desired and the month names, calendar dates, and month box background colors are not customizable (unless you delete the layers and add your own in their places) – but the background color and bar-stripe are easily changed with the click of the mouse.

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 month names, the date text, and the box backgrounds for each month cannot be changed. However, the top stripe CAN be changed and your logo can be added using the included lab crop-guide for ProDPI.

→ 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)

And now as promised…the big giveaway by Heather Green of The Drop Shoppe! Heather has stopped by for today’s guest post…

The Drop Shoppe (thedropshoppe.com) sells thick, matte, high quality vinyl backdrops in large sizes that are affordable for photographers. You can use these with studio lighting or natural light. Each image is created in Photoshop or Illustrator to be the absolute sharpest possible when it’s printed in large format. Currently we sell two sizes; 5 feet by 8 feet and 10 feet by 8 feet. The 5′x8′ drops are $90.00 and the 10′x8′ drops are $150.00 All prices include free shipping to the continental United States. If you are out of the country you do have to pay shipping, but we work hard to find you the fastest and most affordable shipping solution. Each backdrop has an extra 1/2″ white border around the outside, which is perfect for you to clamp to your backdrop stand. This way you’re not clamping directly onto the backdrop image.

Here we have a simple set up of hooks screwed into the wall, a metal pole and three large clamps holding the backdrop.

There’s a variety of ways to hang these backdrops. You can just clamp them to your horizontal pole on your backdrop stand (with large clamps you can purchase at a hardware store), or you can hang hooks on your wall with a pole and clamp to that. We used the hooks/wall method in our small office since we couldn’t fit my larger backdrop stand in there. A quick Google search will also turn up quite a few do it yourself backdrop stands that you’re able to make at home for very little cash.

We have all sorts of patterns and styles for you to choose from. There’s plenty of grunge, messy paint, realistic background photos, wallpaper, doors, floors and much more. The possibilities for these backdrops are endless. Use them in your studio, use one for the popular ‘photo booth’ set ups at weddings, even hang them outside for big parties or family get togethers. The backdrops arrive in a shipping tube, which we ask you to keep so that you can store your backdrop in it when not in use. The best ways to store these are either rolled up, hanging or laying flat. If you should wrinkle them, usually laying them flat in a hot room or outside in the shade will remove the wrinkles. These also wipe clean with mild soap and water. No worries about that baby or toddler making a mess, just wipe it up!

I’ve also included a size chart for the 5′x8′ drops, showing the size of an adult woman and the size of our backdrops – a good way to show how big these drops really are:

Here’s an example of our backdrops in use! The following photo was taken by Holly McCaig with our Aged Red Doors backdrop.

Another backdrop photo by Chrissy Avila.

The backdrop I want to give away here on Paperie Boutique today is our Aged Copper Wall, sized 5′x8′. It’s one of my favorites and works well when shooting just about any subject…from kids to women to men.

Here’s a few sample photos taken with that Aged Copper Wall backdrop – first by Chrissy Avila Photography:

And one by me using more of a cross processed/vintage technique:

Winner will receive one Aged Copper Wall size 5 feet by 8 feet backdrop with additional 1/2″ white border around it. Backdrops do not come with any kind of rods, clamps or pockets to hang them – you must supply your own way to hang it up. Backdrop will be shipped to the winner 3-7 days after the contest ends.

There are three different ways to enter between now and 11:59 p.m. on Friday, July 9th – each entry requires its own separate comment:

1. ‘like’ The Drop Shoppe on Facebook, come back and post here that you did so

2. post on Twitter (then leave the link here):
I entered to win an Aged Copper Wall backdrop at paperieboutique.com by @shutterblog from The Drop Shoppe/ thedropshoppe.com/store

3. leave a comment here on the blog about what your favorite backdrop is from the shop (thedropshoppe.com/store)

UPDATE The winner has now been posted here – check it out!

And last but not least…everyone gets $5 off their purchase from The Drop Shoppe by using the code paperie at checkout!

Huge thanks to Heather and The Drop Shoppe for such a fantastic prize giveaway! Head to Facebook and tell them thanks ‘in person’!

And to wrap things up for today, I’ve been posting photos of my new office setup over at Flickr as things progress (including info on how to create the wrap station yourself, and the Photojojo poster). Here are a couple of teasers for now.

Stay tuned this week. More fun ahead!
-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.

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.

Café Joy was named a PPA 2009 “Hot One Award” winner in the educational resources category!

Here’s a little background info… Café Joy is going up to $59 for the mailed version (will stay $35 for a downloadable version) on February 1st. So this is the last chance for Paperie Boutique readers to join Café Joy to lock in the $35 / month rate for the mailed version of Café Joy.

Here’s the additional info.

Some of you may have heard of Sarah Petty’s The Joy of Marketing from the FREE Websummit and Telesummit events we recently had for photographers. That’s right, we put those on. At the Joy of Marketing, we teach marketing! But not just any kind of marketing. BOUTIQUE marketing. What¹s boutique marketing? It¹s a philosophy that teaches you to grow your business by focusing on building your brand and strong relationships instead of relying on price discounts to create sales. At the Joy of Marketing, we draw from our 30+ years of marketing experience, successful photography studio ownership, ad agency backgrounds and MBA’s to teach you how to grow the business you want without having to work so hard!

One of the ways we teach photographers is through our monthly subscription program, Café Joy, which we¹re giving a free sample of to all of your readers! Yay! Unique in the industry, Cafe Joy is a hands-on subscription program that takes much of the guesswork out of planning your marketing. Follow us, month by month, as we guide you to success. Cafe Joy provides you with gentle reminders and consistent deadlines to achieve amazing goals for your business throughout the year. Café Joy is what I wish I had access to 10 years ago when I started my photography business. It¹s filled with the marketing inspiration, ideas and secrets I¹ve learned over the years in growing my multi-million dollar boutique photography studio. And the best part is it¹s not overwhelming. Each month as a Café Joy member, you receive a proven, actionable, practical marketing lesson from an expert, a promotional idea, or professionally designed piece. Café Joy will save you valuable time spinning your wheels trying to figure out what works for your boutique business.

Subscribe today for a monthly subscription fee of $35*, and you’ll receive a BONUS recipe tin, starter recipes for success and marketing samples. Each month, for a minimal $35* investment, you will receive more recipes, an audio cd or dvd of marketing ideas and strategies, printed samples, design templates plus so much more. This monthly program was created by demand for niche photography business owners who desire more specialized marketing support. The emphasis is on building your brand by focusing on beautiful promotional pieces that encourage client interaction while also paying attention to the important details in your business. For less than the price of a skinny, triple grande latte, your marketing will benefit from this monthly shot of caffeine… without the jitters.

*International rates apply.

To get your FREE Café Joy sample, an hour-long Promotional Planning movie that our Café Joy members received in January, chock full of ideas to get you started on the right foot in 2010, go to:

https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:Join/signupId:67167/acctId:11781

To sign up for Café Joy just go to:

thejoyofmarketing.com/product/cafe-joy-monthly-jolt-marketing-caffeine

It’s your last chance to lock in the $35 rate for the mailed version of Café Joy. On February 1 the price goes up to $59 / month*

So hurry – there’s not much time to take advantage of this amazing offer! And big thanks to Erin and Sarah for hooking up the Paperie readership!

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).

I posted an entry here a few weeks ago that discussed the paper sample kits I send to my clients for birth announcements and holiday cards. I enclose paper sample kits with every client “welcome kit” I mail following a package booking. I’ve created a new template for Fit to Print based on that kit, but with a twist.

Birth announcements, invitations, and holiday greeting cards sell better if the client can see both the product — and the QUALITY of the product. This will help each of your clients feel the difference between the type of custom, press printed professional products you offer vs. cheaper, consumer-grade products from chain stores and public online printing services.

Having paper samples in-hand while ordering also minimizes client confusion and makes certain their cards arrive exactly how they envisioned.

These templates were designed to maximize your client purchases while reducing your costs. You select the paper types you want to offer your clients and then print your various cardstock samples accordingly. Save money and paper at the same time!

Most professional print labs will print 4×5.5″ flat-postcards in qty. 25. By dividing the template into three parts, with a simple paper cutter you can triple that amount and offer your paper samples in “bookmark” form with sample text and images on the fronts, and paper type and your logo / URL on the backs. (All you will need to do is cut each card into three parts, flip over, and write down the particular paper-type in the space provided, as shown above.) The paper sample packs can be held together with binder-rings, brads, snaps, or “belly bands” — or even presented looseleaf inside of a decorative envelope. Get creative!

These custom-made .psd templates are designed ready-to-print and have been tested at two different professional labs. You will only need to add your own images, logo, sample text and change any colors if desired. A .doc file will be inclued with instructions on how to use and order (including font names and the print labs used). You must be able to edit layered .psd files in either Photoshop or Elements.

I’m making “design eleven” available now at a special PRE-ORDER discount. The first batch of templates has already been mailed out. The pre-sale discount price has been extended through 11:59 p.m. EDT on Friday, October 16th.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments!

(Originally posted to Flickr forums in July 2007.)

This (FREE!) Christmas card template was originally designed to print as a 4×8 photo card in sRGB from WHCC. (You can view a larger demo version here.)

→ 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)

The three images that go in the black area of the bordered image boxes should be 660×450 pixels (300 dpi) or 2.2 x 1.5″. See this previous free-download-post for information on changing the background color.

The font I used for the top and bottom of the card is “Frivolous“. It can be downloaded (FREE!) here. The text for “JOY / WONDER / FAMILY” can be hidden but not changed.

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.

Since I’m only taking packages at this time, most include either a holiday card or birth announcement selection. I have online galleries of the designs I offer, and each "client welcome kit" includes a paper sample packet. I use this card design to print on five different paper types (when my lab runs its annual press-printed sales, I stock up in bulk):

I’ve found that red changes the most between the paper types (because not all paper is “true white” before printing). This gives them a pretty good example of the color-shifts between their available choices. Two envelope paper selections are included as well. The back of each sample has the paper type listed:

I bring accordion albums along with me to the newborn (or holiday) sessions – they are filled with samples of previous clients’ flat and folded press items so they can see paper types and styles with the other designs I offer for their own birth announcements and Christmas cards:

Quick tip if you’re on a limited budget to start… Design your sample template with 3-4 identical “strips” either horizontally or vertically. Like basically fitting 3-4 bookmarks on a card — instead of designing an announcement or card here, you’d be designing a bookmark and then printing multiple ones uncut on one flat postcard. When they arrive, take a paper cutter and slice into your bookmark-sized strips. Voilà! Paper sample pack for clients, with 3-4 more times the samples for you to give out. (If you don’t know where to begin, I now offer a template for this at “Fit to Print“!)

P.S. Don’t forget the Moo.com code exclusive to Paperie Boutique viewers expires on August 25th, 2009!

I pretty much book packages exclusively now. It’s become a part of my business model. I’m constantly getting asked how I keep it straight, how I remember to book the remaining sessions…and do I forget upcoming sessions and overbook sometimes?

It wouldn’t be kidding to say I have an elaborate system of graphs and flowcharts to keep me on track. (In an addition to constant iCal pop-up reminders.) The photo above is an example of the first half of my monthly schedule print outs for 2009-2010, and also one my package booking sheets by client for 2009-2010.

The sheet on the bottom is one of my monthly schedule lists. If you look really closely you can see the names checked off for each session completed in the early part of 2009. The sheet on the top is one of my package bookings lists.

Each client has every session in their package broken down by “completed”, “scheduled”, or “schedule”. Dates already on the calendar are in Tiffany blue. Each of the package types I offer is jewel-coded, and a client doesn’t get a jewel by their name until their contracts and model releases have been sent back.

Both systems remind me, by month, that it’s time to schedule upcoming sessions. As does iCal. The monthly breakdown also allows me to see when any given month is full and lets me know to close it off for future bookings.

If you’ll look to the left of my monitor in this old office photo from 2008, you’ll see one of these multi-schedules poking out. I keep copies posted to the wall in my office right behind my desk, and also in the kitchen near the phone. That way all I have to do is cross-check a given month (right now through November 2010 as I already have holiday sessions on the schedule for next year) when a potential client inquires about my availability.

I always remember to pad a weekend off in the schedule every few weeks, not only because time with my children and husband comes first and foremost to me (and my boys are not getting any younger – one starts kindergarten this month). But also because when dealing with births, babies never fail to surprise you and all arrive at once, be it early or late. I had six newborns in May 2008 because two from April went late, two from May were born on time, and two from June went early. It was like the perfect storm. Without that extra padding, I would have been doomed. It also allows me to catch up on my processing / orders and guarantee some much-needed “downtime”.

I took most of July 2009 off as a mini-summer vacation with my boys. Of course, it took me until the last week of the month to finish proofing sessions and fulfill print, product, and canvas orders. But now it’s August and I’m mentally ready (especially now that I’m “caught up”) to dive head first into the holiday season, which for me begins in September on my shooting calendar.

If you’d like to see more of my office, I have a group of photos tagged on Flickr. And don’t miss this photo by Pinkletoes—she single-handedly defines office organization.

I should have another guest-post up on the site this week so stay tuned! It’s in the final tweaking stages!

As mentioned previously…I’m working with a handful of photographers to add more guest posts to this site so it’s not filled with my ideas and photos/demos only. If you’re interested in having your packaging, marketing ideas, or products featured please contact me (my e-mail is in the sidebar and is robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment). It’s always fun to share and “pay it forward“! Not to mention improve your SEO in the process… Win / win!

This is another guest post by Heather James of Heather James Photography in Princeton, NJ. I’m beyond excited that she’s sharing these here. The idea is nothing short of brilliant and the presentation is absolutely fantastic!

I have quite a long price list as most of us do. Typically, I’d email a potential client a few hyperlinks to various web pages that showcased my work, what my sessions are like, and what my pricing is. It has been a great way to get my information out quickly and in an eco-friendly way. Then I had an inquiry from someone who doesn’t have an email address. WHAT? I was completely in shock mostly because the person sounded much younger than my 75 yr old grandmother who ichats on a regular basis. I needed a way to sell myself, my work and get all 5 hyperlinks into 1 envelope without breaking my bank account. So the accordion price guide was born. The following was a must to have on:

1. get all of my pricing in.
2. share a few of my best images.
3. most importantly: share who I am and why I am a lifestyle photographer and get them excited about scheduling a session with us.

Once I set the guidelines in place, designing it was a breeze for me. I just went with my gut and created something I would enjoy looking at every day – and I do look at it just about every day! The entire front side is all about the session. The only pricing is my session fees and each panel discusses who we are and what we’re like. When I say we, I mean my husband and I, as we truly are a team in every sense.

The back is the nitty gritty stuff. All of my print packages, special collections and premium à la carte pricing. There’s a few photos scattered around both sides that showcase most of the types of sessions I offer. Its neatly sealed in a white envelope with a round 1.5″ sticker from zazzle.com with my logo on it.

I find now that I not only send this to potential clients who don’t have access to the internet, but I also give this to my clients with a thank you notecard and a business card at the end of each session. Now that their session is complete, it gets them thinking about the next step in the process and excited about their proofs coming!

Every 3 months, or when I run out, I update the photos on the card based on the season and am always introducing new sessions into my marketing. And I always send along a sample of any marketing piece I use a client’s images on to them. They get super excited and show all of their friends and family their 5 seconds of fame which is instant free marketing for me!

Thank you so much for sharing these Heather! Drop by her blog and say “hi“!

As mentioned previously…I’m working with a handful of photographers to add more guest posts to this site so it’s not filled with my ideas and photos/demos only. If you’re interested in having your packaging, marketing ideas, or products featured please contact me (my e-mail is in the sidebar and is robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment). It’s always fun to share and “pay it forward“! Not to mention improve your SEO in the process… Win / win!

(Originally posted to Flickr forums in January 2009.)

My album company offers swatch-sample sheets. They’re very nice, laminated and “fancy”. However their name and logo are very prominent and that’s information I like to keep to me, myself, and I. I wanted a way to present the samples to clients that was also functional. So I ordered a 5×7 sample album and got out my paper trimmer.

I basically turned one of the albums into a scrapbook so not only are clients able to hold an actual album sample in their hands (and see the cover fabric, page thickness, etc.) but they also can view color options and styles available to order.

I also bring a sheet with the different cover types listed under thumbnail images (front and back), and we both can mark down and discuss their cover choices in person before ordering. There’s a notes section at the end for them to write in and check off the titles of their favorite swatches. I used the album company’s online sample images to put the album order sheet together and I leave that sheet with my clients after I go. My clients place their orders online so this “try it before you buy it” is essential for my sales.

I’m working with a handful of photographers to add more guest posts to this site so it’s not filled with my ideas and photos/demos only. (Don’t miss Christina McCall Photography’s blog entry about her recent guest stint here.) If you’re interested in having your packaging, marketing ideas, or products featured please contact me (my e-mail is in the sidebar and is robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment). It’s always fun to share and “pay it forward“! Not to mention improve your SEO in the process… Win / win!

(Originally posted to Flickr forums in June 2008.)

I sell accordion albums but it had always been difficult trying to help clients visualize what photo would go where. My ordering software allows them to pick the position of each photo, but without being able to “see” the layout it was difficult to translate from thought to order.

So instead I made the template above to help them understand what the numbers mean (click here to download it in full-size). Much less Advil required all around.

I also include the following text:

The top row is a flip-image of the bottom row.

I’ve also put in the fold lines for you on the images that will “face” one another in the accordion folds — so #2 and #3 face each other when wide open — #4 and #5 face each other when wide open — #7 and #8 face each other when wide open — #9 and #10 face each other when wide open — and #11 and #12 face each other when wide open.

Today kicks off the first in what I hope will be a series of “guest spots” here at Paperie Boutique — “May We See Your Packaging, Please?” The photos in this entry are courtesy of Christina McCall of Christina McCall Photography (formerly Reflections of Life Photography).

I asked if she’d mind sharing some of her gorgeous packaging photos and tips here and she graciously said “Yes!” I’ll let her say the rest!

• No need to buy the vendor’s belly bands — dress up wallet and announcement boxes, as well as cd cases, with ribbon and buttons (or even pewter charms!) instead. When I find ribbon I love, I stockpile enough to last a while (usually whatever amount they have on hand). The ribbon on the announcement boxes and cd cases is my ‘signature ribbon’, so I periodically raid the stores that carry it to buy up all they have on hand.

To finish them off, I add a button or two over the seam to hide it from view.

• What’s even better about the boxes I use for wallets and announcements? I don’t stamp my logo on them and encourage clients to reuse the boxes and belly bands for gift wrap rather than tossing them after distributing the prints/announcements enclosed.

• My clients love the fact that I package orders to look like a gift — whether delivered in person or shipped! After I package everything, I use paper ribbon bows on sacks and wrapphia on mailed orders and to bundle items within sacks. To complete the look, I tie on a tag I designed with my logo or one of my business cards.

• My absolute favorite packaging item are Moo stickers! I use them as envelope seals, to seal print bags, on proof disc cases, and when tissue wrapping odd shaped items (usually on the lower right corner).

I have a variety of phrase stickers — from ‘Thanks’ to ‘Memories Enclosed’ along with designs including dingbat images and my logo.

• Paper Source‘s baby envelopes are my newest love: they’re great for mini wallets — my client thank you gift — as well as for holding referral or business cards. I seal them with a Moo sticker and stamp my logo on the front.

Thank you so much, Christina! Please visit christinamccall.com for more!

If you would like to feature your packaging / marketing / product lines here, please drop me a line. My e-mail address is over in the sidebar (robyn @ this site’s URL) or you can just leave a comment. I’d really like this to be a full sampling of all the different options available out there, and not merely a showcase of my own items.

And if there’s anything of mine you’ve seen in the past and would like to know more about, post it in the comments. I’ll do a free-for-all Q&A entry when I have enough requests.

Today marks a week over here at paperieboutique.com — so to celebrate I’m putting this thank you card template up for (FREE) download. I use these photo cards to send a personalized note of thanks to clients for booking with me inside of my welcome packets, or tuck them inside client orders.

This template is designed to print as a 5×8 photo with lustre finish. Make sure your lab prints this non-standard size! The template is sized at 8¼ “×5¼” to allow for standard cropping in-lab.

You will need to insert your logo, an image, and customize with the background and border colors of your choice.

I have the background set to white, the inner border set to grey, and the bottom solid-stripe set to pink right now — but you can change these by clicking the color fill layers for each section — just double-click each box and you can change to any color you’d like. (Some of the content to alter is located inside folders. Make sure to open them.) The pink arrow in this image shows where you click to change the colors.

Don’t forget to hide the logo and main image placeholder layers before printing! The font I used for the contact information section is News Gothic MT.

→ 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)

You can write on the photos easily with a super-fine Sharpie. To finish the look, I use Paper-Source A9 envelopes sealed with Moo stickers.

Thanks again for all of the well-wishes, comments, ReTweets and link-backs during this first week. I look forward to watching this place grow up!

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.

(Originally posted to Flickr forums in September 2008.)

These books can make very nice “under $25″ thank you gifts for your best clients. (Ordering a soft-cover drops the price even more.) The photos shown here are of the ACI’s photo memory book — 20-pages, size 4×6. I upgraded to the black art cloth cover and linen pages. Each page is the thickness of a linen art paper postcard. There is a solid black divider page at the very beginning and end of the book. You can have the pages scored for an additional cost, and I highly recommend doing so due to the page thickness. Dust jackets are also offered for an additional fee.

I actually created my own guide-template (FREE in the download link below) based on ACI’s specs in ROES. The “HIDE crop layer before saving” layer should be deleted before print. It is just a guide. All the light area in that layer is the crop-area. Only what’s inside that light area is guaranteed to print. The two darker strips on either side alternate being relevant one at a time if the page is on the left or on the right of the book — the area in the dark strip is what will be lost to page mount / fold. Basically you’ll start with a 6½x4½” crop and then make sure your page content fits in the grey guides, and then delete the crop guide layer before saving. I numbered my finished pages “page1.jpg”, “page2.jpg”, etc., so there would be no confusion in ROES when it was time to build the book.

Here is an example of the three (FREE!) templates you can download now:

These templates are ©Robyn Pollman, 2008 and 2009. All rights reserved. They may not be copied, resold, made available for download or given away elsewhere, or redistributed without my written permission.

All three pages shown include the crop guide layer. → download link ← (please note these files were 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)

(Just make sure to upgrade to the linen paper if you want your finished product to look the same as mine.)

(Originally posted to Flickr forums in February 2008.)

Tired of printing my own circle stickers and having that blasted white ring around the edge, trying other online printers and having that blasted ring around the edge……….I decided to give Zazzle one more try because they do a computer-generated preview of what your printed label will look like. I wasn’t all that happy with them the last time I ordered because the white ring wasn’t even. But this time, I’d say about 80% of the labels are perfect. It makes a big difference having the border solid to the edge. Someone with OCD like me doesn’t notice the 1mm border shift as much that way.

Now they obviously feed these things into a machine automatically without any quality control, because the other 20% are slightly off.

But hey, I don’t have to deal with printing them myself now — the printing is decent — they’re gloss instead of matte, and you can order as few as one sheet at a time for under $5/sheet.

Here’s your chance to make your own 1.5″ bordered-circle sticker with Zazzle until a better alternative is found.

→ 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)

There are two layers — border color and label color:

I have the border set to black and the label center set to white right now, but you can change both of those by clicking where the pink arrow is pointing in each section — just double-click each box and you can change to any color you’d like.

The maximum height to fit your logo or image in the center is 360-pixels high or 360-pixels wide.

Save your image as a .png, .tiff, .jpg, or .gif file.

Make sure to select the 1.5″ labels from Zazzle: zazzle.com/custom/stickers

Check to make sure everything looks centered and how you want it to appear in their design-generator. (I suggest not adding text in their editor — do all of your editing in Photoshop before upload.)

Voilà! (I accept thank you’s via Sephora.)

This template is ©Robyn Pollman, 2008. All rights reserved. It may not be copied, resold, made available for download or given away elsewhere, or redistributed without my written permission.