March 29, 2011

Creating a Custom Photo Card

It's embarrassing showing up to a party in the same dress as someone else-

Your invitations, announcements and photo cards don't need to be embarrassed either!
Customize your own.



You don't have to be a graphic designer to have a really classy, unique photo card.
 PHOTOSHOP NOT REQUIRED!



Our software is free & EASY to use, and don't need to download a huge program! It's all online and accessible through your Free Persnickety Membership.

You can use our graphics, our papers, our elements, fabrics, buttons... the list goes on.



Start on a project, save it, and come back later to finish!


Start with a blank canvas, or tweak one of our pre-made templates.





Live Video Tutorial 





Click HERE to get started!

Being Creative with 4x6 Photo's

A friend of mine didn't have a "birthday banner" on hand for her 3 year old sons special day, so she came up with this!


   She also owns Soel Boutique in the Riverwoods here in Provo, which is the cutest store ever! It must be her inner creativity that can come up with this stuff!


I thought it was a great idea for anyone at any age or for any occasion!
You could make this photo collage for an employee or co-workers yearly hurdle or retirement showcasing photo's of them throughout the years.
A parents Anniversary Party with a Big number 25 shaped out of photo's through the years.
Even a big giant heart to say "thanks" to someone, a school teacher, or friend.

So many things you can do with those 4x6 prints!
Thanks Shelby for the tip!

March 25, 2011

Mark Zuckerberg and Orrin Hatch

Mark Zuckerberg doesn't speak in public very often, in fact this is his first time on a college campus speaking to a group this large.
I am a Mark Zuckerberg fan. He is a genius.
I had to be there.

 

 The Media Frenzy



Mark joined U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch on Friday March 25th at the BYU Marriott Center to speak about Technology. Naturally, this was posted as an "event" on facebook. Guests had until Thursday to ask Mark questions on the "event wall". Over 450 questions were posted, however only a handful were answered, and brilliantly of course!

 

Some key items that stood out to me: 
- Facebook is diligent in keeping a safe environment
- "We are one of the first platforms that offers people the ability to have their facebook sessions encrypted"- which means that if you are in a public place, you can make it very difficult for people to see any of your information on facebook.
- Extra security with your information. They have invented new security measures. If you login from a different computer, you may be asked specific questions that only YOU would know. No other platform can do this.
- Mark Zuckerberg's dinner conversations with his medical student girlfriend are
1. Facebook 
2. Children and Education


Mark: "Most people have something that they're super passionate about, and I would encourage you all to just go find that thing." 
"People don't get put into roles, they create them for themselves."
Want a job at facebook? You will need passion to get in.




past blog posts:   
Are we obsessed with Facebook?    
giving your Facebook page a Makeover
ordering prints directly from Facebook 

*** VIDEOS ***

Video 1:
Microsoft and AOL wanted to hire Mark in High School. He declined and went to Harvard and built the first version of facebook when he was a sophomore.
Facebook is working toward a billion users. There are only about 2,000 employees who work at Facebook.
Senator Hatch: "Is management or marketing more important in predicting a successful business?"
Mark: Management




Video 2:
Mark: "If you don't completely love what you are doing, it actually ends up being the rational thing to stop doing it, or succumb to some of the challenges, because there will be huge challenges that you face. Any normal person would not want to go and build a company."





Video 3:
Extreme privacy controls & a safe environment
Mark: "We are really focused on children's safety at facebook and take extra precautions for them."
Facebook bought the FamilyOnlineSafetyInstitute.org
Encrypted Service






Are you on Facebook? We are HERE

March 17, 2011

It's all about Jimmer Fredette

Have you heard of him?  Have you seen his face on your nightly sports report?  Jimmer and his #32 jersey are everywhere here in Utah County.  For those of you that aren't into College Basketball, or are unfamiliar with the term "March Madness", now is the time to get on-board.  Jimmer Fredette has broken more records than I can count.  He is college basketball's leading scorer. He is also among other things, the leading candidate for the College Player of the Year award. 
Here he is on the cover of Sports Illustrated, which, by the way, is sold out in every book store here in Utah.


I will be the first to admit it, I am a BYU Basketball fair-weather fan.
Not too exciting until Jimmer came along.

Being a mother of 3 boys, I have no choice in the matter. I am out-voted, 4-1; nobody ever wants to go to the mall. It's sporting events for me. I think I get into it more than they do sometimes.
My throat is still hurting from all of the screaming and yelling in Vegas this past weekend. I went with my boys to the Mountain West Conference to cheer on our "Jimmer" and the rest of the BYU Basketball team. The hype from all of the fans was almost as entertaining as the game.

This group was my favorite.
They were so excited to line up for a photo shot and get in the correct "Jimmer" order, they caused a traffic jam.

It was awesome.

Noah jumped up and down until he got on the Jumbo Tron-

Ethan and Noah are 14 months apart (no that was not planned).
They are 10 and 9 years old. They rarely hug.

During the BYU vs. New Mexico semi-final game, they couldn't stop hugging. It was one of those "proud mother" moments.  Jimmer does good for our family.  Not only did he make history by scoring 52 points in the game, our boys posted a new hug record for the Pack family.
Here is Jimmer shooting his 50th point at the free-throw line. My boys hugging. Then the press swarming him because he is so cool.
Can't wait for the game tonight! BYU vs. Wofford. 7:15 pm Eastern. CBS.
Go Cougs!

"The native of Glens Falls, N.Y., leads the nation in scoring at 28.5 points per game and contributes 4.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Fredette holds BYU’s single-game, single-season and career scoring records." BYUcougars.com

March 14, 2011

Welcome in Spring with a Free Kit

Spring is Officially this Sunday March 20th!

Here is a little something to get you started on those spring layouts.
Exclusively for our Persnickety Prints Customers.








This FULL KIT includes-
20 Papers
26 Elements
1 Butterfly Brush (.abr)
This FULL Spring Has Sprung Kit is available exclusively for our Persnickety Prints customers!
Download via Box.net HERE.

Not on Facebook?
Grab the Spring Has Sprung Mini Kit
10 Papers. 10 Elements. Download Via Box
  HERE

*This Kit is not for Sale.
*Available ONLY for our Persnickety Prints customers.
  No file sharing please.
  Thank YOU!
 Persnickety Design Team



March 9, 2011

March 8, 2011

Clipping Photo Masks in Photoshop

Our latest facebook exclusive free kit includes 3 photo masks. 
 If you are not sure how to use these- here is a quick tutorial using Photoshop CS5.



(It would be best for the image to overlap the mask completely. However, for demonstration purposes, the photo layer is smaller than the mask.)


Questions? Let us know!

March 6, 2011

Black and White Exclusive Facebook Freebie


Memorex your life- in Black & White.
This is a new basic kit that can be used so many ways.

 It includes:
 11 papers
12 various elements
3 photo masks
2 sets of alpha (.png)

This kit is free exclusive to our Facebook Fans. Why do we make them exclusive to facebook? These kits take our designers close to 20 hours to create. That's a lot of time. Rather than charging you for these digital downloads, you can pay with a "like", a "share" or a "tweet"... or not.







Download has temporarily EXPIRED.

For Creative Memories Storybook Creator Plus users: here is a great tutorial on how to use our .png photo masks in your software. Thanks Kelly!
simply kelly designs

March 5, 2011

Bag Toppers

In my church, we don't have paid clergy, we all volunteer.

 Tomorrow I am teaching the little 5 year olds in Sunday School.
I love being with the kids, and they usually love me- that is, when I bring them treats!

My little 5 year old, Ryder, helped me put these together. It is so quick and easy. 

  • 3x4.75" cello bags (cake/craft stores would carry them)
  • One 14 oz. bag of Starbursts 
  • A Stapler
  • 3x5.5 Photogaphic Prints 

Cello bags and your own custom topper can be used for so many things!

Last year for Valentines, we filled bags with the big 1" bubble gum balls (all red & pink) and topped them with a bright matching photo paper topper.

The bonus to using photographic paper for this type of hybrid project is that when you crease the photo- you aren't having ink rub off on the fold--- because there is no ink!


The 3.5x5 image I created in photoshop
(and made really really fast- 5 year olds don't care about the details:)

(pieces from Crystal Wilkerson)
-Chari

March 4, 2011

Social Networking

Just finished writing an article on Social Networking and Facebook for LeeLou Blogs which will be posted on her site next week.
 ***
How many social networks are you actively involved in? 
 You may find these statistics interesting.


Via: OnlineSchools.org

March 3, 2011

Persnickety Prints Complaints

We get emails all day long from companies, designers, customers, spammers you name it. We try to answer each email as thoroughly as possibly, and in a timely manner.
At Persnickety Prints, we will literally "bend over backwards" for our customers. We want everyone to be happy with their prints, we understand the time that goes into creating your digital layouts.  We also don't skimp on quality.  Many hours goes into fine tuning our machines so that they produce the most flawless, exemplary images on the market. We also want to offer the lowest prices.

Every once in a while, we get complaints:
"you say that your 12x12 prints are $1.99,  but you didn't include that they are $5 to ship"
"why can't I use multiple coupon codes?"
Here is the deal. If customers would like Free Shipping, or to use multiple coupon codes, we can do that. Cost will just be covered in other ways.

We did some ground work.

 Pricing and information for other popular photo printing retailers:

*this information was acquired online directly from each retailers website and is subject to change


To answer your questions:
 Yes we can offer free shipping! That is, if our customer would like to pay around $4 a 12x12 and be required to make a minimum purchase. Our packaging alone is a large cost to us. Not to mention that every order is well over $5 to ship, we just cover the difference.
 Yes we can allow multiple discounts! That is, if our prints weren't already discounted! We are willing to raise the prices if multiple discounts are an issue.

Having said this, we want our customers to email us anytime. You are our friends, not an order number. We recognize repeat customers, and have become well acquainted with so many of you. Just thought we would cover these issues for anyone else wondering why we charge for shipping and why we won't "give away" prints.

thanks! :)
The PP Team