5 ways to create personalized holiday cards

With the holidays coming up, I have been thinking more and more about creating greeting cards. I noticed the Holiday greeting cards phenomena: now it feels like the Holidays are so far away, so I will have plenty of time to make greeting cards. Moreover, it is too early to take pictures. Two months from now, the girls will look totally different. Then, suddenly, the Holidays are two weeks away, and my greeting cards project is so far behind. After all, maybe now is the right time to start this project.

The hardest part is to take kids pictures. Most of the pictures turn out with the backs of the heads facing me or the eyes squinted or mouths open, or with faces hard to describe here. Taking a decent picture of both girls together is almost unattainable.

Here is a typical Holiday picture:

Finally, after a day long effort, once we have the pictures, we need to choose how to approach the greeting cards project. I usually start with these five options:

Option One: Create PurpleTrail’s personalized holiday postcards and mail them. With PurpleTrail I can use Holiday Card Designs for my personalized holiday cards or create my own designs. I can also create PurpleTrail’s  folded cards and mail them. I can handwrite a personalized message for each addressee. PurpleTrail offers free shipping on all Holiday Cards prints, so this is a really good deal. You can use code freeship456 at checkout.

Option Two: Create a letter with embedded pictures. Fold the letters and print them on my printer at home.

Option Three: Create PurpleTrail’s personalized holiday cards and send them via e-mail

Option Four: Buy some standard cards in the store, handwrite a personalized message for each addressee, add some prints, and mail the cards.

Option Five: Handmake cards from scratch with my kids. We usually use the following supplies:
– Construction paper
– Stickers (it is good to have scrapbooking quality stickers but any holiday themed stickers will work great)
– Girls’ Pictures. I usually have several holiday prints with the girls in their holiday dresses.
– Washable Markers
– Scissors

Then we make the actual cards. The kids

– fold Construction Paper
– cut out their pictures: they would cut off the corners, or cut out an oval shape which I draw on the other side of the picture
– glue the pictures on the card
– apply the stickers. Although some stickers get applied to the table, not the cards.
– make drawings and write the greeting

I think it will be PurpleTrail Option One this year…

I am participating in a giveaway for PurpleTrail.com. It makes me eligible for a PurpleTrail gift code. Additional information can be found at the contest information page.