Friday, December 7, 2012

Christmas Cards, Christmas Cards, Everywhere! + Spread Some Christmas Cheer with CAREoling (FREE DOWNLOAD)!

I cannot believe that this holiday season is literally flying by! I have been busy, busy with orders, deadlines and lots of family fun mixed into the craziness. I wanted to take a second and just share a little bit about my holiday card designs this year. If you haven't ordered yet, there's still plenty of time - especially with our super quick turnaround and shipping. I thought I would put this little blog post together to spotlight some of the other fabulous sites where you can find some of my holiday card designs. You have so many choices when shopping for holiday cards and designs by Inkberry! First, which most of you likely know about, I have a large collection of holiday cards in my own shop, www.inkberrycards.com, and a smaller collection that I just recently added into my re-opened Etsy shop. My biggest collection of holiday photo cards exists on Snapfish.com with over 200 Christmas and holiday card designs to choose from. Most of these designs also come in different color schemes and multiple photo layouts. I have been so happy to be a design partner with Snapfish since 2010! They offer so many great promotions and coupons, so be sure to check regularly for a great deal! Below are a few my top selling designs on Snapfish this season so far. You can see my whole collection on Snapfish right here.



Earlier this year, I was so excited to be asked to design a collection of holiday cards exclusively for My Publisher! They are well known for their gorgeous photo books, so when I had the chance to design for their expanding holiday cards and stationery line, I was thrilled. Below are a few samples of some of my designs for them, but you can see my full collection for My Publisher here.



I am also so happy to again have some cards available this year on Shutterfly through A Fresh Bunch. You can check out my Shutterfly designs below on their site right here and here.



I am also so thrilled to be a design partner for PaperStyle! I have been designing for PaperStyle over the past year and they are so wonderful to work with. I really love how all of my PaperStyle designs have coordinating return address labels and other fun matching items available! Below are a few of my holiday card designs for PaperStyle, but you can see all of my designs for them right here.



I'm slowly getting back onto Etsy again after almost a year away and I'm having lots of fun offering some cute holiday printable items. If you haven't seen them already, you must check out my printable holiday return address labels and my personalized Santa gift stickers for kids. These stickers and labels are available in DIY printable, or printed/shipped right to you. They are available in both the Etsy shop and on inkberrycards.com. Here's a peek of all of the different designs to choose from!




I've also had some absolutely awesome and creative custom design requests for the holidays this year, too. I will have to share some of my favorite custom design photos with you very soon! They are always fun to see since they are usually very different styles of cards than what you see offered in my shop, such as large ornate cut folded cards, or bi-fold cards with custom designs and family yearly updates inside! Lots of fun to work on with such great clients of mine.

Last but definitely not least - I hope everyone has had a chance to jump over to my InkberryCreative.com site to download your Christmas CAREoling cards! This wonderful, new tradition was started by my friend Jennifer and her best friend Traci last year! It's an awesome way to spread some Christmas cheer by doing sweet, unexpected things for friends, family and STRANGERS on the days leading up to Christmas. When you leave your surprise, you also leave a CAREoling card, in the hopes that the person will continue spreading their own Christmas cheer and leave a CAREoling card and surprise for someone else. It's really easy and fun and you can get a TON of ideas on Jennifer's CAREoling blog! Below are all the links you need to start CAREoling right away!!


Read more about the story behind CAREoling and how to get started here.

Download your FREE CAREoling printables - available in three different design styles, right here.

"Like" the CAREoling Facebook page and share how you have been CAREoling around town this year!

I can't wait to read about everyone's CAREoling experiences! Thank you so much to Jennifer Melda for coming up with this and letting me be a part of it by designing and offering these CAREoling cards. :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Jenn

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

A Few More Website Updates + Awesome New Products + A Halloween Card Discount

Hi! Just a quick post to share a couple of things about the recent website updates I announced. I have made a few additional changes, to hopefully make things easier for everyone in the shopping and ordering process! In my last post, I explained that I was moving to a more printable-design focused format. I changed everything to be in DIY digital/printable format, with an option to add printing in a different area. This was based on a recent order trend of many, many DIY printable orders! BUT... I have to admit that once the site changes went live, I just wasn't comfortable sending customers to a different area for printing, and honestly, I wasn't happy that I was not promoting the awesome, fabulous, wonderful quality cardstock that our printed cards come on, which so many of our customers order. It just didn't feel right and I wasn't happy with the new order process for adding printing after a few weeks of testing it out SO.. I changed it again and it's even better than ever! I think the new set up in the shop is the easiest it has ever been and it works for everyone - the DIYer or anyone ordering high-quality printed items! While I was updating this, I also finally added MANY new items that I am so extremely excited about! More on those below...

So here's what has changed in the shop in terms of ordering options:

1 - DIY & PRINTED CHOICES FOR EVERY ITEM, ALL IN ONE PLACE. You can now select DIY or printed quantities in the same area on the site. Simply click on the drop down next to QUANTITY and you will see that you can choose DIY for $18, or your printed and shipped quantity. For printed orders, your paper selections will be on the next drop down.

2 - NEW MINIMUM QUANTITY FOR PRINTED CARDS IS 15. Yay! I know many of you will be very excited about this - we now offer a lower minimum quantity for printed cardstock cards - 15!  For years, our minimum quantity has been 25, so this is an exciting change that I think many of you will enjoy for smaller printed orders. Our new pack of 15 printed cardstock cards is $30 and comes with your choice of FIVE high-quality, premium cardstock papers, plus white envelopes.

3 - NEW SMOOTH FELT CARDSTOCK PAPER OPTION. We are excited to add another fabulous cardstock option for you to choose from - Smooth Felt! Smooth Felt Cardstock is a 130 lb. cover cardstock and features a luxurious feel and smooth finish for an ultra-luxe, high-quality cardstock card at no additional upgrade price!

And here are the NEW categories and fabulous items I added to the shop:

1 - PERSONALIZED WALL ART FOR KIDS! Our new personalized wall art prints are available in DIY format, or printed on Kodak Professional Archival Digital paper and mounted on 50 pt backer board. All of these designs can be personalized with name, colors and photos! Our new personalized wall art prints come in a variety or styles that feature photos, alphabet designs and more and they make the perfect keepsake or adorable gift for a new mom! You can see all of our new personalized wall art prints here.

CALEIGH Perfect Patterns 8x10 Personalized Photo Wall Art Print by Inkberry Cards

2 - NEW MODERN MONOGRAMMED STATIONERY DESIGNS! If you love modern circle monograms as much as I do, then I think you will love our new monogrammed stationery designs! All designs can be customized with your own color scheme to truly personalize them just how you want them! Check out all of our new monogrammed stationery designs here.


Chic Gray Chevron - Circle Monogram Stationery by Inkberry Cards

3 - NEW MONOGRAMMED CALLING CARDS! I am really excited to add new calling card designs to the shop featuring the modern circle monograms that I love! Calling cards may also be completely personalized and customized just how you want them with colors, text and with or without the monogram. View all of our new calling card designs here.

Aqua Dot Circle Monogram Calling Card by Inkberry Cards


4 - NEW 2 INCH CIRCLE RETURN ADDRESS LABELS! Another NEW & EXCITING addition to the shop, I have added 2 inch circle return address labels available in both DIY & printed/shipped format, just in time for the holidays! I am gradually adding matching labels for every card and invitation in my shop, but for now you can find labels to match our most popular holiday card designs. If you do not see the design you need, just email me (jenn@inkberrycards.com) and let me know and I will be happy to add it for you to purchase! View all of our new circle address labels here.

Traditional Christmas Stripe (monogram) Circle Return Address Label by Inkberry Cards

5 - NEW HOLIDAY CARDS FOR 2012! Yay! Our newest holiday card designs have been added to the shop, including three new ornate cut designs! You can check out all of our new holiday card designs here. I hope you will love them as much as I do!

Polka Dot Stripe Ornate Cut Holiday Card by Inkberry Cards
I think that just about covers all of the fun new items I have been working on and adding to the shop! I hope you will check them out and I would love to hear what you think!

Also, Halloween is right around the corner and we are offering 15% off all of our Halloween photo card designs October 16th through the 25th. Just enter coupon code HALLOWEEN15 at checkout to save 15% on your DIY or printed/shipped Halloween photo card order. We suggest ordering by October 22nd for printed/shipped delivery in time for Halloween mailing! :) Check out our adorable Halloween photo card designs here.

Thanks so much for reading all about what's new at Inkberry! Have a great week!

 - Jenn

Monday, September 10, 2012

New Party Pack Options and a Facelift for InkberryCards.com!

It's been quite a while since my last blog post, mainly because I've been super duper busy filling orders and working on some very exciting NEW projects! Over the next few weeks I will be sharing some info on the new projects, so stay tuned...but first I thought I'd debut a little website and shop update.

Over the weekend, some new updates went into effect on the Inkberry Cards site. Our new website format has some cool new features for ordering invites and oodles of matching items to go with our most popular invitations and themes. Below is a quick peek at the new look but feel free to click and check out the new site yourself! I've outlined the main changes below and would love to hear how you like the new site when you check it out!




So what's new on the site? A LOT! Here's a quick list and some helpful information for getting around:

1 - All designs are presented and sold as DIY, printable designs. While I had this feature before, in the past you also had printing options directly on the same page, showing different papers, quantities and address options. It could be confusing at times and after over a year's worth of research on our order trends, DIY won out as the more popular option amongst shoppers. It was a close race though - almost half of my customers DO purchase our professionally printed invitations, so do not worry - you can still add printing services, it's just in a new place on the site now. See #2, below.

2 - Printing can now be added for invitations and large stickers in a new section called Printing Services. Professional cardstock printing is still available for all of our cards, but now it will be added in a separate section where you can choose your quantity and paper. You will receive the same premium quality, professional grade cardstock as before, along with white envelopes for all printed orders. Cardstock paper choices available include Standard Smooth, Fine Linen, Metallic Pearl and 100% Recycled Cardstock. You will simply choose your invitation or card design first ($18) and add it to your cart, then go to the Printing Services tab to add your paper choices and quantity.


3 - Oodles of new matching items and new DIY party packages are now on the site! This is probably the biggest change in the shop and one that I am really excited about. There are now 34 new party packages currently to choose from with even more going up in the next month. I had to call it somewhere if I ever wanted to release the new site and I thought 34 should be a good number to start with, don't you think? :) The 34 you see on the site are my most popular designs so I think it's a great start!




4 - New Matching Party Printables section is where you can find our new and improved DIY Complete Printable Party Packs. You will also find categories in this section for cupcake toppers, favor tags, water bottle labels, banners and pattern papers for any of these items that are not included in the current party packs.

5 - New pricing for the complete party packages and a change to what's included in them. Our new printable party packages are $29 and come with new and improved printable items such as: coordinating cupcake toppers, decor stickers, favor tags, water bottle labels, thank you notes, food buffet cards, a happy birthday pennant banner and a circle alphabet banner that allows you to create any custom worded banner that you may need! You will receive your PDF print file for your selected printables within 24 hours of purchase (if not much sooner).

6 - Invitations are sold separately from the party packages. The new party package pricing of $29 does not include the invitation. I did this for a few reasons - mainly because we have multiple invitations that could go with certain party packages - for example a photo version or non-photo version. This way, you can pick the invite you need and we personalize it for you, separately from the party pack. This also allows customers who may have purchased an invitation at an earlier time, to still order the matching party pack whenever they are ready! Also, most of our party package items are available only in DIY printable format, whereas the invitations may have printing services added to them. (You can also add printing for any of the 3" round circle stickers).

7 - A la carte options for party printables - This is also a huge, exciting change for our party packs. You no longer have to buy the whole party pack - you can choose a la carte items out of every available party pack and simply purchase what you need! You just select what you want and "Add To Cart" and you are done! In the past, I have always set up special orders or mini party packs to accommodate this, but I know going forward this will be a much easier way of ordering just what you need, when you need it! Check out the party packs and a la carte feature here.

Just select the items you want from the drop down boxes and "Add to cart"

8 - Banners are now included! While I have always designed banners for customers for special orders, they were not part of our previous party packs. I'm happy to say that now all of our party packs include a 5x8 Happy Birthday pennant flag banner, as well as a 3" circle alphabet banner, which can be used to spell out any words you need for your celebration and decor! 

9 - Color variations and custom party pack designs can be requested to be added to the shop. While we continue to add to our line of DIY printable items, we have changed the process for requesting color variations on our party packs. We now ask that a request be made at least 2 weeks in advance of purchase and we will add your requested party pack design or color variation to the shop for you to place your order. This helps us maintain a standard practice for custom design requests and allows the new party packs or color options to be available for everyone as a brand new item offered in the shop. Requests can be made by email at jenn@inkberrycards.com. (NOTE: this does not apply to invitation designs needing color changes. Invitations needing custom colors can still be requested at time of order and invitations will still be received in the same turnaround time as indicated on the site which is currently 1-2 business days).

10 - Condensed categories for easier browsing and shopping! You may notice that our main categories have changed from the old site. We have the majority of our children's party invites in the Party Invitations section, and you can now choose to browse by Kids Invitations (this includes ALL children's invitations we carry), Twins Invitations, First Birthday Invitations and Milestone Invitations. If you are looking for Baby Shower invites, you will now find those under Baby, along with baby photo announcements and baptism/Christening invitations.

11 - A cute new website facelift and logo. Of course, I could not make all of these technical and product changes without making some cute new design changes as well. You will notice the new site design colors, fonts, backgrounds, buttons and logo!

12 - There is still more to come! While this is a TON of new items, improvements and enhancements that we have rolled out - there is actually still a lot left to do! My next phase of updates coming over the next month will include 10 more party package designs, plus all of my NEW 2012 Christmas and holiday photo cards. If you are already shopping for Christmas and the holidays now, my 2012 holiday photo cards are already up on Snapfish and you can check them all out here!

I really hope you like the new site and changes! I would love to hear your feedback or answer any questions you may have.

Have a great week!!
Jenn

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Featured Customer Party: Rockstar Girl 1st Birthday!

I'm so happy to share these awesome birthday party photos with you today, which feature some fun party items that I designed for cute little Aria's first birthday! Aria's mom, Tara, contacted me about my Rockstar First Birthday invitation she found in my shop, which was at that time only available in blue or red color schemes. Aria's first birthday party was going to be a pink, black, white and silver rockstar theme, so she asked me to help her customize my current rockstar invite and create some fun, matching party items to go with it. I was really excited and more than happy to help. I just loved the idea of changing up this theme to be for girls - especially little ones turning one! All of the party designs featured a pink, black and white stripe, and silver star design. We mixed in some polka dots too and I think everything came together really well and made for such a fun first birthday party!  I hope you enjoy the photos and that they help inspire your next rockstar birthday bash!

Here is the new Rockstar Girl Invitation, inspired by Tara's party colors and theme:


The photo of Aria on the invitations, along with all of the fabulous party photos you will see below are by Shoots and Giggles Photography in Los Angeles. Visit their site and their own blog post on Aria's party here to see even more live action from the party and awesome photography!

The Details:

Tara had so many fun and creative ideas for Aria's rockstar birthday bash! The party was held in their home which welcomed guests to the rockstar bash with a Hollywood star sidewalk, red velvet rope and music marquee sign!

 

Tara's creative ideas to incorporate the rockstar and music theme throughout the party continued outside in the backyard where a lot of the party activities and entertainment took place. She set up a mini mosh pit (i.e., mini pool of balls), plus music and play areas for kids and adults. I loved the sign we made for the Guitar Hero Recording Studio too!

 
 

The Toddle Tunes entertained the children with music and fun during the party and you can see from the photos that Aria and all of the guests were having a great time!


 

Tara had a fantastic menu for lunch that was perfect for kids and adults alike, and I loved her names for some of the items that went with the Rockstar theme like her Rockin' Grilled Cheese and Drumsticks!

 


I created a sign for her "Backstage Bites" and worked with her to design her food buffet table cards and decor stickers used as napkin rings for silverware sets.


For the sweets, she had adorable music notes, stars and guitar cookies, along with cupcakes and a pink guitar cake!


 
One of my favorite parts - her favors were displayed as Swag Bags, because what rockstar party is complete without swag bags for the guests? I loved this! She had fun microphone sippy cups for kids, plus polka dot favor boxes on the Swag Bag table!


 

I created the favor stickers for the boxes and signs, as well as the photo cards they displayed on the wall above some of the favors to feature their favorite photos of Aria's first year!



She also had "Born to Rock" and other music themed temporary tattoos for the guests!



Tara also used the decor stickers on bottles of milk and taped black and white straws to the side of them. I love this idea and it looks so cute - perfect for the little guests!


Last but not least, I have to share just a couple more fantastic and absolutely cute photos of the birthday girl enjoying her day with mom and dad!



After the party, I worked with Tara to design a few different styles of thank you notes for Aria to send to friends, family and guests. We did two different styles of photo thank you notes which featured adorable photos of Aria from her party!

I hope you enjoyed these party photos as much as I enjoyed working on these designs! Thanks so much to Tara for letting me help design her items for Aria's special day and help bring all of her creative ideas to life! Also, a big thanks to Shoots and Giggles for allowing us to share their awesome photos from the day.

Visit my shops to purchase many of the Rockstar Girl party items you see here!


Printed Invitations
DIY/Printable Invitations
DIY Matching Party Pack Items
Blank Thank You Notes
Folded, Photo Thank You Notes
Flat, Photo Thank You Note with Birthday Message

Credits:
Invitation, Stationery & Party Decor Design: Inkberry Creativewww.inkberrycards.com
Photography: Shoots and Giggles Photography
Entertainment: Toddle Tunes
Cookies & Cake: Susie Cakes