I know, how did it become the last week in November? I’m pretty sure it was October yesterday.
As we do the scrabbly and panicky slide down into the Christmas season, let me simplify one of your problems: Christmas cards.
When we lived in England and all our family was back in Canada, the Christmas cards were a critical part of the holidays. That’s also when I first discovered the photo card companies. It made everything much easier – there was no printing photos on expensive photo paper that I would waste because I never get on with my printer. Only to find out that the photos were about 2cm bigger than the card and envelopes I had bought, followed by rum and eggnog fuelled x-acto knife wielding.
I’ve had mixed success with photo cards. Some are beautiful but cost a small fortune if you get a small number. Others are affordable but show up on shiny, flimsy paper, or all the design options are terrible. However, I’ve been eyeing the Minted selection of holiday cards for a couple of weeks now, and it was serendipity that they emailed me about picking out my favourites. There are so many really lovely options, as well as some neat ones with fancy shapes. There are holiday postcards which has got to be one of the best ideas ever. Forget the envelopes, and why does a card have to fold anyway?
The shipping is $10 to Canada for 3-5 business days which is really quite reasonable. And incredibly, they will print your recipients’ addresses for free. No writing hand cramps. Or fighting with my printer to do the envelopes.
I have tried to confine myself to five of my favourites, you don’t even want to see my ‘maybe’ list.
2014 in a nutshell by Spotted Whale Designs
Merry little chalkboard by geeking design
Handlettered fa la la la la by linda and harriett
Instant film by Olivia Kanaley
This mini-book option is a bit more, but it would be a lovely gift for some relatives you don’t see as often.
Insta-book holiday by up up creative
So pull up your stockpile of family photos and pick your favourites.
