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A helpful newsletter of tips and highlights from Personalized Expressions
Issue 3 - May/June 2006
(888) 496-7241 www.pecards.com
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Are you taking full advantage of larger profit margins by offering photo options for your customers? PE Pro has tools for photo options in either simple or complex custom invitations, announcements, even notecards! You can also use photos on any CS Library Product. A customer can submit their favorite photo to you as a .jpg or .tif on a disc, flash drive, a CD or by e-mailing it to you.
When you receive the photo file from your customer, copy it onto your hard drive. When you set up your new card, type in all the text. To insert the photo, click on the Insert Image icon.  You will then see the Image Dialog Box. Click the Browse button to locate the image you saved, select it and click Open. There are many options in the Image Dialog box that you can change at this time however; we understand that everyone is not a mathematician so there are easier ways to modify the size, angle, etc. of your photo. Just click OK at this point.
Your image will appear in the upper left hand corner of the card. You can now click, hold and drag this photo around to place it where you wish. You might also notice that there are black bullets that appear around the edges of the photo. These work the same way as the ones on text boxes. You can change the size of your photo this way or you can also use the Enlarge/Reduce Objects icon.  These are two separate icons that make the selected object bigger or smaller and still keep it in perfect proportion.
If you right-click on the photo, you will see even more options. Click on Fading and see how easily you can fade the edges of the photo either rectangular or elliptical. You can even change the color of the fade as well. Right click on the picture again and select Special Attributes. From here you can crop shapes out of the photo, change intensity, contrast, brightness, hue, saturation, sharpness and tint! To change a color photo to black and white, select the Tint tab and check the box that says Apply Gray Scale. You can even tint this to a color now. For example: Selecting brown for a tint will create a sepia tone for an antique look. Go back to the Crop tab and select a shape that you want to use. If you want to tint the entire picture, choose the square shape and increase the size by clicking the arrows next to "Width & Height". Once you've designated the area that you want to tint a color, go back to the Tint tab and select the Color button in the lower left hand corner. Choose the desired color. (R128-G80-B0 is a great sepia) Then slide the Tint Intensity bar back and forth to get your desired look and click OK.
The great feature is that the photo is never touched. These appearance changes are in PE Pro and not on the original photo! With these options, you can get a head start on offering customers an even more personal touch.
(Suggested service pricing for inserting an average sized photo or logo is a $25.00 flat fee for the entire job in addition to your normal personalization prices.)
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Insert art imagery as well as
photos to make truly special pieces
Use Hidden Program Secret above with elements from our image libraries too! Don't feel limited to the templates that our collections automatically come with. If your customer is looking at product in your albums or on your browser and loves the artwork of a particular invitation but thinks it looks "too busy" you can still use smaller images from matching pieces of each family on any of our different sized card stock. For example: inserting small sticker artwork on our pocket card size. Even though the main invitation piece was set up to be a large card size, you can still use elements of the original artwork to create an invitation for the same event. But now, it's simplified and on a hip card size. Using the same concept, we used a border and an icon from the new Write in Style collection to create a very cute invitation and matching notecard that's fit for a princess!
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Note writing is back in style! Consumers love stationery that makes a statement about their personal lifestyle. Whether it is a simple initial monogram, a trendy all-over pattern or just an icon representing their favorite hobby, notecards are the highest selling products in the paper industry. Give your customers what they crave and freshen up your product line just in time for the summer with a new and different collection from Personalized Expressions.
Write in Style is a collection of trendy patterns created for all types of people. With patterns and icons designed for woman, children...and EVEN MEN, you can be sure to have a notecard to fit every lifestyle. This collection can be mixed and matched for an endless combination of stationery for everyone!
The 38 folded notecard patterns include floral, stripes, retro, plaids/argyles, dots and more! They can be personalized with a name, an initial monogram, any colored icon or just the pattern, by itself. Most of the patterns are available in a variety of trendy colors like sunflower, lime, tomato red, tangerine, chocolate, olive..the list goes on! A set of 114 fully colored icons are also available and are specifically designed to match these patterns. Floral, animals, shoes, purses, boats and more. You can even use just the colorful icon on a plain white folded note!
As an added bonus, ALL of the patterns are also included in our new pocket size. This is a 4.5" x 6.375" flat card that can be used as a swanky, coordinating invitation or a unique, flat notecard. The collection ships with floor samples of each featured pattern: personalized, boxed and ready to set up in your store! We have also incorporated information on the back of the samples inside all of the boxes you will receive that tell the customer the product can be personalized and what colors they are available in; prompting your customer to inquire about "a little something extra" to spice up a plain, everyday notecard.
Included is a guide that references all the images and file numbers on quick sheets, making it very easy to make room for and to have at your fingertips. The Write in Style collection with in store merchandising product is $325. Be sure to visit us at one of our shows to get the special of a display unit featuring 40 of these patterns for only $99. Half off from the regular price!
This new collection and more can be pre-viewed at www.pecards.com or for more information, please contact one of our regional sales managers:
Barbara Van Baush (East)
(888) 496-7241
Kimberly Erhardt (West)
(888) 496-7241
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Printers we suggest.Many of our retailers have reported that they are having trouble finding the Canon Pixma IP8500 that we recommended for borderless and quality photo printing. We are still supporting the use of this printer but it is in fact discontinued and very hard to find at major outlets anymore. But as printers evolve, so do we! Personalized Expressions is now recommending the Canon i9900 as well. These are the fastest printers currently on the market in their price ranges and they handle a wide range of media. They also produce the brightest colors, can print full bleeds and all have separate ink cartridges making them very economical. Since we use them every day, we can help with normal trouble-shooting issues. For more information about other printers and these ones specifically, you can contact Personalized Expressions Tech Support at techsupport@cbdcards.com.
When you can see us.
The shows that we are scheduled to attend are the:
National Stationery Show
Jacob Javits Center
May 21st - May 24th
Booth # 2220-2228
Atlanta Gift Show
AmericasMart
July 14th - July 18th
Bldg. 3, Booth #4-305
The birth of Designs To You(SM).If you are looking to increase store traffic and sales, then look to our new web-based printing service that lets customers order custom-printed invitations on-line that may be ready for next day pick up at your store. Best of all, Personalized Expressions completely manages the web site. So you get all the benefits of being an online retailer without the IT expense. With hundreds of themes and designs online, you'll have something for every one. Whether your customers are looking for birth announcements, house warming, birthday party or anniversary invitations, you'll have a lifetime of products for a lifetime of sales. Your customers will get personalized invitations, time and time again, only from you!
AN IMPORTANT REMINDER
As of December 31, 2005 the two emergency licenses given to you in PE Pro have expired. If you have not already done so, log on to our download site and with your account number, you will be able to access the 2006 emergency license updater. Simply run it to install your emergency licenses.
DO YOU HAVE ANY STORIES YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE?
Contact Cristina Poulsen at (800) 832-8436 x4250 or by email to submit your creative ideas. We'd love to publish them in an upcoming newsletter!
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Personalized Expressions / Colors by Design
Van Nuys, CA 91406
800/832-8436
© 2006 – All rights reserved
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Click here for printer friendly version