So when you happen to be a stationery designer, there's a little pressure to come up with a good Christmas card because it feels a little like you're sending a business card to all of your friends (or maybe that's just in my head), but you've spent all year designing stationery so at times it can be hard to come up with something new.  Luckily, this year I had an new idea in my head that was original and easy to execute.

Step 1: Take a cute family picture.  Easier said than done.  We decided to forgo the professional shoot knowing Ollie would never cooperate. Instead, we woke up to snow one morning and quickly bundled up and snapped a few shots in the first snow of the year. Simple and cute.  I opted to add some simple text in Photoshop, but it would have been just as cute without it.

Step 2: Shove the picture in a paper CD sleeve and add some fake snow to make snowglobe to mail to all of your friends and family (or don't get around to mailing some of the most important ones like your dear friends the Hudsons, who will get theirs in February)

 Honestly, the execution as a little bit sloppy (dang you busy Costco photo people who printed this so dark when I didn't have time to reprint it), but I still loved how it turned out.  I used to extra space on the photo to print the snowglobe base and the wrap-around label, which also printed such a weird color, but oh well.

 I tried the fake snow you can buy at craft stores and cutting up my own snow from cardstock, and we liked them both equally so we went with the easier method and added about a teaspoon of fake snow to each envelope.

They were so fun to shake, and easy to slip into normal envelopes and mail out.  The back of the wrap-around label said, "Good tidings we bring to you and your kin."

I know I go a little overboard with Christmas cards so I almost skipped them this year, but these were so easy to put together. I think it's always worth the effort to let your family and friends know that you are thinking of them.

Christmas Cards 2010

I love making our Christmas card every year, but this year I just wasn't feeling it.  I was just so busy with the move, but once friends' cards started arriving, I couldn't resist the urge to put something together.  The problem was it was mid-December and we didn't even have a family photo.  So what's a girl to do but pack up her family the very next morning and head to the photobooth.

 Oh yes, and antlers were a necessary part of the plan too.  

Creed was in a foul mood and had to be forced into the booth, thus the picture of him screaming, "No!" which we thought was hilarious and we decided to use it even though we got one of him smiling later.

I picked up some jewelry boxes that were the perfect size for our little photo and designed a label to wrap all the way around them to seal them closed.  

And yes, the postage was expensive.  They were really light so they wouldn't have cost much to mail except I met up with the grumpiest postal worker ever who told me that even if I put them in an envelope (which would have been much cheaper to mail) he would still know that it was in a box inside the envelope so he would still charge me parcel post.  Truthfully, I liked imagining my friends surprised by these little boxes arriving (who doesn't love getting a package) and we only send cards once a year so I didn't mind splurging a little on the postage (which cost way more than putting the whole things together.

I made the postal worker a little more angry when I told him that I didn't want him to print postage for these I wanted "pretty stamps" and he slapped some options on the counter and asked, "does this meet your standard for 'pretty'?" He gave me air quotes and a sarcastic tone and everything, which just made it  hard for me not to giggle, and it was totally worth it for "pretty stamps"

We tucked some mints in each box for our friends to enjoy. To be honest I selected them because of their light weight, but they were tasty too.

I was so happy with how they turned out, and I hope they made our friends smile.

Our 2009 Christmas Cards

This year, our friends Kirk and Eva offered to letterpress our Christmas cards at Sycamore Street Press, an offer that we could not possibly refuse. I've been so excited about our cards so if you haven't received yours, please just skip this post because I couldn't wait any longer to share. They are about 5" x 14" and then I scored them and folded them up.

so when you unfolded them, they looked like this. I used the heads from our Craft Pudding custom stamps and then I altered them a bit (especially mine) and drew the bodies.
Sycamore Street Press used really thick luxurious paper that really showed off the beautiful impression the letterpress made. I think it was the perfect way to share our happy news with any of our friends who might have missed it.
I knew I wanted to use wrap around labels on the envelopes, but I didn't have time to design my own so I found a really cute free download here and I just adjusted the size a little to meet my needs.
(sorry the color on these photos is a little weird, it's been stormy around here so the lighting was not the best)