Making My Own Cards

All the way back in 2006 I decided to make photo books from Shutterfly for the grandparents' Christmas gifts.  (Secret: I'm working on a cookbook one at the moment) Back then, I pulled pictures from the entire year and put together two different books telling the story of the fabulous year our then seven year old Mongoosine had enjoyed.  This year spouse suggested that I do it again, but it turns out that the energy to create photo books is inversely proportional to the number of offspring to be featured.  This is true for most grandiose projects.  You can call it "Slee's Law" if you want to.

Regardless, I'm a big fan of making my own cards for the holidays. It's become a bit of a tradition around here. Last year I went the tabula rasa thing, designing cards completely from scratch with online picture editing programs.  I found it's fun to design your own card, but a little time consuming.  Most of the time being taken up in selecting the picture to use.

Chosing photos for greeting cards is a political endeavor.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.  There's a certain amount of "hey, he's in more pictures than me," that can muddy the joy if you aren't very careful.  This means, for me, sorting through all my  "good" pictures looking for ones that include both kids. This is much harder than I would have thought.  

I started with a  current photo of all my offspring, and a plaster giraffe. Yes, the giraffe was an important element of the design.

Which I cropped, and colour corrected.

Then I added a boarder and words.

All in all, I spent about three hours on it. But then I got the "brilliant" idea that I'd print it myself.   Guess who didn't get around to replacing her ink cartridges unitl her last minute holiday shopping was in full swing?  Me.  Therefore, they didn't go out in time. Oops. (lookey, I could have had them printed instead, even as proper cards.)

So this year, while I'm all about the personalized kidlet bedecked picture cards that capture a bit of what has been going on in our household, I am NOT printing them myself. I'm having them printed.  I'm going the "ooh, I like this layout, I can add this picture, and have THEM print it" route.  See what about 15 minutes of hemming and hawing over which picture to use on Shutterfly can make me?

Isn't that pretty?

So yeah, I'm thinking I'll use this one for our Christmas Cards unless I get a fabulous picture of the kids this weekend that would look even better there.  I love the rainbow colors and the non-Christmas specific use of the word "Holidays" on this one. It's my favorite.

I love that I can personalize the insides instead of just going the self-printed postcard route. 

Of course, it was a hard choice. I also love the rainbow "Merry" on this one. (Yes, I am still thinking of making some Dalek-y "Merry Exterminate" cards too... just not for family.)

Of course, now I'm tempted to make a Calendar for my grandparents, as per usual.  I've made them one once, but every year since it's always seemed like a lot of work, so I put it off, but it's such a useful gift! Plus I'm in love with the "Bright and Bold" theme.  If you can't tell, I sort of like bright colors.

So go forth, make your own cards.

Also, right now, Bloggers can get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly:http://bit.ly/sfly2010