Fast forward five years and I'm still living abroad, but now with a beautiful 22-month-old little girl. I do send out cards every holiday season, but this year I really want to share some memories we have made over the past year. I'm thinking holiday photo card. Actually, I was thinking the same thing last year, but I was extremely busy this time 2009 with writing an ESL book, caring for an infant who wouldn't sleep at night, and worrying about a husband in the hospital. So I've decided this is the year to send out a beautiful Christmas card to our friends and family. This is made even more exciting by the fact that I recently purchased a DSLR camera and actually have good quality photos to share.
The problem is: which photo layout to choose?! There are hundreds to choose from! I kind of like the simple single photo style, but then you're limited to one photo, so it'd better be a good one. Since I have so many photos of Grace that I love, I'll probably choose a multi-photo layout. Here are some of my top picks. Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know which one you like best.
Some things to keep in mind when creating a card on Shutterfly. Once you're a member, you can create and save several photo cards. I've already been in there fooling around with possible layouts and photos. I just save the project and then I can return to it at any time, or compare it to another card. Also, you can do some minor editing of photos when you're working on the card. For example, you can change the crop on a photo, change it to black and white or sepia, boost the saturation, or add slight blurriness (more like a glow). So don't worry about preparing your photos to perfection before you start making your card. Just upload your photos to a Shutterfly album first, and then you can add them to a card and alter them there.I'm really excited about getting and sending out my personalized Christmas cards. Time is ticking and it's getting a little late to order and send out holiday cards internationally, but I think that my friends and family back home would rather get a beautiful Christmas card with photos in January than get a store-bought card in December. Anyway, I suspect if I order soon and send them out right away, they will arrive in time for Christmas.
One final note: I think these types of cards are even more relevant to expat families, since their families back home are missing out on so many beautiful memories. This way, you can share memories in such an elegant way. And in this digital age when so few people actually get their photos printed, it's so nice to have a tangible keepsake from friends and family. For the past two years, Karen has given me a photo card of her family and they are now in my photo album. People will not toss out these cards in January!
Do you want 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly? Click here to go to Shutterfly for information on how you can get 50 free cards this holiday season, and make sure to select Clever 1000 as the referral source. This post is part of a series sponsored by Shutterfly.
3 comments:
i like to design my own and print my own, i will use the same printer I did for the business cards you saw.
Perhaps I will do the same one day! I didn't know you had a printer....
What is great about Shutterfly too is you can create a share site. I just created one since people keep asking me to print out photos from my facebook. I have all my photos uploaded on my Shutterfly share account and people can go in and order their own prints and pick them up at their local Target, Walgreens or CVS if they have 1 hr processing. It even sends weekly emails when I update my site.
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