August 28, 2010

Template Freebie

We have had so much fun with all of the designers at Polka Dot Plum this month! 
We appreciate all of the Freebies they have provided for us! 
If you have missed any bit of this beautiful kit, hurry over to 
and grab the freebies before they go up for sale in the PDP store!






Download these Templates HERE via Box.net

August 24, 2010

Free Jewel Case for your 2011 CD Calendars


CD Calendars are the new trend this Holiday Season!
This 2010 Calendar was made with the Shabby Miss Jenn Designs Calendar template. Her new 2011 Collection will be launching soon! 

These are the most unique and fun gifts to give grandma, friends, family, teachers and coaches this year! 
The best part.... it's ready to wrap for under $10!

Quick + Easy steps to order
  1. Simply create your own Cd Calendar. (Designer Store Links coming soon)
  2. Login to your Persnickety Prints online account
  3. Create a New Folder
  4. Upload
  5. Order + Checkout 
Create a New Folder


Upload or Drag & Drop Images


Select All, then Click Order Prints, in the drop down menu choose 5x6 CD Calendar.
  Glossy, Matte, or Metallic.


Your CD Calendar will arrive in a Jewel Case ready to wrap!

August 20, 2010

We still use a Darkroom

True, photographic paper is still far superior to the digital printing process which use inks or other press printing processes. 

 What is a "Real Photograph"? 
The word photograph comes from the Greek words phot, or light and graphia, or writing. A real photograph is exposed with light on light sensitive paper. That's right - light. Photons. Some of the smallest particles in the universe.

In the case of digital photography, the "light" is formed by Light contained in a Laser light or LED head that "floats" over a light sensitive paper on a bed of warm air. The light exposure excites chemicals on the photographic paper by spraying tiny diamond-shaped patterns on the emulsion. These infinitesimally small diamonds overlap five-fold which, mathematically, results in 425 diamond shapes per square inch. It is this concentration of diamonds created from tiny photons that gives a photograph its unique look, color and depth. Ink doesn't come close.

The rest is just science. After "exciting" the chemicals in the paper's emulsion the paper moves through a warm RA4 chemical bath which activates and seals the colors. Because the light exposure head floats over the paper there is no machine vibration to degrade the image.

The oddest misconception
  Photo Paper Prints and Photo Book Prints, or printing at home is the same. 


Yes, we still use a Darkroom
Real photographs still involve chemicals and light sensitive papers so, believe it or not, our lab technicians still go into a darkroom to load the paper we use to make your photographs. Not only that but every time we change a roll of paper we recalibrate the machines so the colors in a photograph today will match the colors in a photograph sent a year from today.

As always, because your photographs are exposed on real, professional photo paper and developed by Persnickety Prints, you'll be assured of the highest quality, dependability, and exceptional performance from your images.  After all, silver halide-based color photographic paper has been around for more than five decades.

You can decide what your memories are worth

August 18, 2010

Perfect Picnic Collab Kit: Final Freebies Released

 Have you downloaded our huge FREE Collab Kit from Polka Dot Plum?  
(thanks again PDP!)
 It is time for the Layout Contest!
Enter your Perfect Picnic Layout for a chance to win $15 to Persnickety Prints..  
... and of course, to show off your skills!
(3 winners)

1. Create your Layout using the Perfect Picnic Kit given to us free from PDP! (Contest Layouts may ONLY use the Perfect Picnic kit.  Other templates OK with credits)

2. Upload your layout to any gallery, blog, or host site

3. ENTER with the link as a comment on our website HERE
ONE entry per layout, not per person -If you have more than one layout using the Perfect Picnic Kit, enter it in a separate comment.

4. Contest runs from Monday August 16th and closes Sunday August 29th Noon MST. Winners will be chosen at random by comment entry number through random.org



Perfect Picnic Elements are now released...
 



You can find the download links to this huge Polka Dot Plum collab kit here.

August 15, 2010

Template Album Giveaway


These templates are lifesavers! 
Molly designed "Around the Way No.1" with journaling in mind. Journaling your moments is so important, we think we will remember the little things in life, but I am here to tell you, I can barely remember what happened yesterday!
If you aren't really into journaling, underneath each text path is another "block" or clipping mask for a picture, paper, what have you.


{Sample pages: collaboration kit from Paislee Press + One Little Bird called "Storyteller"}



IMAGINE the possibilities with this Around the Way No.1 Template Album!

You can grab this new album now @Oscraps for 20% off.  Sale ends Thursday @ 11:59 MST.
  ...AND...

We are giving one away!


1) To enter please leave a comment below. The giveaway ends on Wednesday August 18, 2010 @ 9:00 PM MST. Our winner will be announced here by Thursday morning. If you facebook, blog or tweet about this giveaway you can increase your chances of winning. Just come back here and leave a new comment with your link.

2) Amazing Molly aka Biograffiti is giving away one album. Please visit her blog for details. Check out all of her other incredible templates here!

3) The crazy talented Liz of Paislee Press is also giving away one album.  Please visit her blog for a chance to win.  You can see more of the amazingness of her Storyteller collab kit here.

Good luck!

*WINNER*


We wish that we could give this amazing album away to everyone... really... we appreciate your comments + participation! Biograffiti is an upcoming "Persnickety Designer of the Month" so check back for more freebies and big contests from Molly!


Around the Way Template Album #1: WINNER via random.org is DigiVickie!
 (email us for your download keys)


Blogger 

  digiVickie said...

Love it! Thank you for the chance to win :)


If you didn't win you can still grab this album thru Thursday 8/19 on sale for 20% off at OScraps.

 



August 10, 2010

Bleed

For single page photographic prints: most machines allow for a slight difference in print sizes and alignments by overlaying your image over the paper to avoid having a white border. The problem with this is you can lose a good portion of the edge of your layouts. If your layout has a thin border, the border can appear uneven or completely gone on one or more edge. Our goal, at Persnickety, is to print your image centered evenly with as little overlay as possible.
You can be confident that your image will appear as expected as our trim is less than 1/16 of an inch.

For Example, Molly Weight AKA Biograffiti.com, printed her layouts at "another printing place" before she found Persnickety Prints.

{p.s. I love the way Molly designs her layouts. It is very clean, yet she can fit so much on a page without it looking too cluttered. Biograffiti Gridlock no. 2 layered templates make my life simple & are one of my new fav's for my personal scrapping.}

Back to the bleed comparison...

Molly created this double page 12x24 spread in Photoshop, printing each 12x12 separately.

Here is what her layout looks like on her screen.




And here is what she got from that "other printing company" ...
 We used the EXACT same file and reprinted this layout for her on our machines, and with Kenny's professional personal expertise, you can't get better than this!
The Persnickety Print is on top, the "other print" is on bottom.

It is hard to show print comparisons by taking a picture of a picture, but hopefully this post will help you get the gist of it!
Also, if you look real close, you may see difference in sharpness and clarity too.... just sayin! Feel free to ask Molly:)

Remember, this bleed/trim reflects our single page prints. We are able to move, align, and adjust each layout on a computer monitor BEFORE it is printed. We then inspect each print AFTER it is printed. If we don't get it right, we print it again. That my friends, is some Persnickety Printing!

Now if you are still a bit worried, we have a solution.
Cassel from creationcassel.com has a PSP script that will create a border around your flattened or merged layout with perfectly matching colors! The width of the margin is 1/4 inch, by default, but you can change this by editing the script, so the margins will match the required specifications of the printing service you will be using. Instructions are included in the readme file... and they say the iPhone has an App for everything!

 _______________________

Photo Books are a COMPLETELY different story. We can tackle Photo Books in detail on another day. Just know that bleed, borders, and alignment in a photo book print process is much different. We recommend that all of our customers use Wendy's Persnickety Prints photo book toolkit before ordering photo books.


Other Persnickety Prints Testimonials can be found here.

August 8, 2010

Perfect Picnic Freebies -part 2



We are officially into the 2nd week of August! You know what that means.. another Persnickety contest AND more pieces to this amazing Polka Dot Plum exclusive Picnic collab kit! 
Remember this entire collection will go up for sale in the Polka Dot Plum shop at the end of the month, so get it for FREE now! 
You can thank all 23 Designers at Polka Dot Plum by entering our next contest:
1. Check out the shop at Polka Dot Plum
2. Find your absolute favorite kit (we know this might be difficult!)
3. Come back and tell us (in the comments HERE) for your chance to WIN it!
(3 winners will be chosen at Random) Contest Closes Sunday August 15th 12:00 noon MST.

Here are the Goods for Week 2....
2 Alphas!


This super fun Hybrid Pack (cutest napkin rings ever!)
ENTER the CONTEST + Grab your Links HERE

August 1, 2010

August Persnickety Prints Designer(s) of the Month...

...is the ENTIRE Design Team from Polka Dot Plum! 
They have come together to create the PERFECT PICNIC COLLECTION ... 
just for YOU, our Persnickety Members! 
 This is ONLY a piece of the collection! Pieces of the Picnic will be given away weekly,
along with some FUN games + prizes!
Give it up for the Plum! 




You can get your DOWNLOAD LINKS Here
*make sure you enter to win our WEEK ONE contest while you are there!*