Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Crafting Up Some Christmas Cards

If you know me you know that I LOVE making things, especially cards and invitations. Unfortunately, I also tackle projects that take WAY more time than I have. I can't help myself!
It all looks like such fun and I have the best intentions, but I just frustrate myself with trying to finish things at the last minute. In the past I have made beautiful handmade cards (finished sometime in January) only to get bogged down with addressing them and NEVER mail them out! That year I think I threw away my carefully crafted cards in August!

This year I think I have finally wised up. I have been using Shutterfly for years to print photos, create calendars, and even to make the photo playing cards we used for Lydia's Alice in Wonderland Birthday Party. They turned out so cute and I don't think I ever got around to showing them off. For her party, we just ordered one deck and handed out individual cards as favors. They are the same size as wallet sized photos, only they had the playing card backing and that great plastic coating. PERFECT for the Wonderland theme. Come to think of it, the cards aren't that expensive to give as a gift for Christmas, but I digress.


Back to the Christmas cards. Shutterfly has so many Christmas Photo Cards to choose from! It might take me as long to choose a design as it would take me to make a card. Or maybe I am underestimating how long it takes me to actually make things again. Actually, looking at all the designs was fun. I still cant decide and there are even more designs here and here. Part of the problem is that I haven't taken our holiday picture yet. I know we will all be in black and white, so what do you think about this design?
Or this one?





Of course, at the same time I am ordering the cards, I need to organize our Christmas Wall Calendars . We always make one for our daycare provider. I love that we are able to put multiple pictures on each month. That way each month features the children who have birthdays that month. You can also put a picture of the child on that actual day on the actual calendar. This is GREAT for reminding all the kids and the parents who has a special day coming up, so gifts can be purchased ahead of time.


Last year I also made a Lydia Calendar for each of the grandparents. Each month I put a picture of Lydia from that month this year, so that when that month rolls around in the new year, you can compare the Lydia of today with how she looked a year ago. I have been amazed at how much she has grown and I think the grandparents really enjoyed it. Some of them read the blog so I can't comment if we will continue the tradition, but it was a really fun idea!

Finally, in the I wish I had infinite time category.... I wish I had time to throw a Holiday Get-together that was fancy enough to deserve some of these beautiful invitations . Who am I kidding. I will be pushing it just to get the picture taken and uploaded to Shutterfly. Fortunately, for a fee, they can even address and mail the cards for me! Hopefully I won't be that rushed fro time, but I do have 2 new classes to teach, a birthday to celebrate, and a toddler to chase.....so it's nice to know the option exists!

Shutterfly has been kind enough to offer bloggers like me an opportunity to get 50 Christmas Cards....FREE! Want to find out more? Check out all the great deals, including this special Blogger promotion, at Shutterfly!

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