Christmas Cards with Minted, & Christmas Pictures!

Christmas card time has come, and with it, time to get some updated pictures of the kiddos! This year I really meant to set up a shoot with my go-to girl Ellen of Red Sweater Photography, who has captured us so well in the past. But you know how it is...your schedule gets away from you, the weather doesn't cooperate, kids get sick, no one has a good outfit. It's hard to plan ahead. So I ended up spur-of-the-moment grabbing them and taking them to an old schoolhouse I've always wanted to shoot, and giving it a go myself.

A few weeks ago, I took a mini photography class through the park district, and I can now finally work the on-button for the DSLR I got last Christmas. Not only that, I can work FOUR of the buttons, meaning I can shoot in manual! Woohoo!

Now, just because I can work the buttons still doesn't mean I'll ever have kids that hold still, smile while looking at the camera, or stop cracking each other up during photoshoots. But I wouldn't have these goofballs any other way.

The hard part is narrowing down all these sweet, hilarious pictures to that ONE perfect Christmas card shot.

And then the even harder part is Minted! I am ordering with them again this year for my cards, and this company makes it reeeeeeaaaallly hard to choose. I knew when I started shopping that I definitely wanted gold foil, but I really didn't expect how hard it would be to narrow down a selection.

Here are some I considered...

 Wonderfully Merry designed by Wildfield Paper Co.

The Most Wonderful designed by GeekInk Design

 Merry Christmas Sparkle Snow designed by Alethea & Ruth

 Modern Merry designed by Grace Cobb

Merry Scriptmas designed by Rebecca Turner

You may remember from last year, but one of the best things about shopping with Minted is their genius "find it fast" option. Before you even start scrolling, you can upload your own photo, and all the cards will be displayed with that image. Having your own, and knowing right away if you're going to have that gold foil scrawled across someone's face, is unbelieveably helpful. Plus, you're less likely to be swayed by the card because of the model's wedding dress or the gorgeous baby's chub.

I'll tell you a little spoiler that none of these, or even any of the kids' photos here, made the final cut. Not that these aren't perfect...because several of them would be. But sometimes you get to 3 AM and have to just pull the trigger.

It'll be here soon and I'll post when I have it! I can't wait for you to see!

In the meantime, because I have an overabundance of pictures that will otherwise be lost in the abyss of an external hard drive, I'm sharing all the kid pics I can. Chalk this post up to one for the grandparents!

I love how the girl just stands and smiles sweetly and pretends she doesn't notice her brothers going bonkers...while inwardly seething at what total morons they are. Bahahaha.

In a perfect world I'd have Dyson in the same picture as the kids (and in the same picture with the kids' parents...as long as we're making wish lists) but he's *ahem* totally insane in public places. This was shot during the 1/100th of a second he actually sat still and looked straight at me. Someday!

Well thanks for indulging pictures of my kids (and dog) - I'm excited to show you how the cards turn out!

This post was sponsored by Minted, for which I am very grateful. As always, all opinions and reviews are 100% my own, and I only share companies with you that I would share with my best friends at our weekly playdate.

Shopping for Christmas Cards with Minted

Some of you will remember my Christmas card shopping post from last year, and how difficult it was to narrow down a choice amidst all the insanely good paper companies out there these days.

This year, Minted reached out and asked if they could sponsor my Christmas cards. I'm telling you, I didn't even have to open their site before I said YES to that about 2 seconds later (they were one of my contenders last year and I regularly stalk them). I have used them countless times for art, and even though this was my first time shopping their paper, I already knew I loved their card designs.

What I didn't know was that it would STILL be nearly impossible to narrow down the choice. I thought that, being limited to shopping at one site, I would have an easy time picking a card. Nope. I wanted soooooo many of them. Here are a few I loved in particular...

Embellished Photo Card by Oscar & Emma

Rustic Foil Card by Lorent and Leif

Merry Scriptmas Foil-Pressed Card by Rebecca Turner

But you know, it changes everything when you put your own photo in, doesn't it? I always fall in love with a card only to realize the writing will be across my kids' faces, or that I don't have a shot that's the right orientation, or that I don't own a red sweater'd bulldog or a chubby baby girl sporting Freshly Picked mocs.

So here is the coolest thing. Minted lets you put in your own photo before you start scrolling through all the card options. This is a game changer. You can immediately see what designs work with what you have to work with. After I did that little maneuver, it was waaay easier to see what cards were possibilities.

All the cute foil script doesn't look so cute when it's scrawled across a forehead, huh?! ;) The great news is I didn't have to build each individual card before I realized this. Like I said, #gamechanger.

In the end, I went with a bit of a departure for me...I normally don't do pink for the holidays but this artful print with hot pink and gold foil "joy" sprawled across it just grabbed my heart. Want to see??

Oh wait, before I show you...I couldn't believe this either, but they will address your envelopes for you! FREE. You can choose from a bunch of different style options, but all their cards have matching envelope designs. And I don't know if this a special promotion or what, but as of today the option is still available for no extra charge. Hi, no brainer. I have never been this ahead of the Christmas card game in my life. You can type in names and addresses individually (like I did) or upload a spreadsheet (like a smart person would have). I can't tell you how good it felt to open the box of Christmas cards and know that I didn't have hours of addressing still to go. Even if it had cost a little extra, that feeling is worth it!

OK, now I will show you our cards. 

Aren't they cute?! My only oversight was choosing a picture where CJ's hair blended into the shadows of the tree to create a tower of lightning shooting out of his head. Doh! But hey, he has always wanted to be a superhero so we'll just go with it. Perfect Christmas cards, Minted can do. Perfect pictures of your kids...that most likely no one can do. 

So, you guys, seriously, I would recommend Minted in a heartbeat for cards. I have bought from tons of different card companies, and this one had a very user-friendly website, lots of customization options, easy ordering, delightful packaging and great customer service. (Sidenote: if you can get your butt in gear today they are having a great Black Friday sale!)

Here's wishing you a happy start to the Christmas season!

This post was sponsored by Minted, for which I am very grateful. As always, all opinions and reviews are 100% my own, and I only share companies with you that I would share with my best friends at our weekly playdate. 

st. pat's party // and anemones!

Several months ago, a new blog friend, Colleen Pastoor of Lemon Thistle, asked me if I'd like to join her in doing a styled party shoot with a group of bloggers. I didn't hear anything other than the word "party." Um, yes, yes I would. 

Colleen ended up casting a vision for a classy St. Patrick's day brunch, and the rest of us started our DIY wheels spinning. What a massively creative group of people! We all chose something to make, and then shipped it to the merry land of Canada for Colleen to style. She put everything together into one spectacular party. Pretty cool, huh? I just hope she had some friends over after the shoot to enjoy the scrumptious looking cupcakes! 

Now that the party has been unveiled, each blogger gets to write a little post about their DIY. It will probably come as no surprise that I immediately called dibs on flowers. But when I realized I'd have to get them to Canada, that took a fresh arrangement off the table. Hmm. What to do?

Well, a couple years ago, I handcrafted a wall of giant paper flowers for my friend Steph's party that ended up looking spectacular (with no good photos to prove it of course). I decided I could try my hand at the paper variety again without too much pain and anguish (heh). 

The theme colors were black and white and kelly green, and so the anemone, with it's ethereal white petals and striking black center, instantly stood out as the perfect flower choice. 

First, I made a couple bouquets using tissue paper, which gave the flowers a soft and delicate quality. Then I used white craft paper to make some sturdier blooms, which I attached to paper straws from Modern Frill. Just for fun. 

Once I found a gorgeous tissue paper tutorial , I set out. Can I just pause here for some blog reality? In my head, I could make a hundred of these lush blooms in just a couple hours, which would spill over the table and adorn the room in splendor, all while lounging in my silk pajamas.

The blog world can sometimes have you convinced that this kind of party can be cranked out in one night while you watch Netflix. In the real world, it took me 8 torturous hours to make only 15 flowers. I didn't follow the tutorial right, made them backwards, ran out of hot glue, ran out of supplies, scalded my hands, spilled things on the floor, wrecked my house, endangered my kids' lives, and yes, even a hammer and nails were involved. Also, I don't own silk pajamas.

I'm not trying to talk you out of making these...I just can't in good conscience be the blogger who makes you think this kind of craft happens magically without some serious potential consequences to life, limb, and sanity.

Now in case I just talked you out of making these, I am going to share all the options- for paper, for fresh and for DIY anemones-- that I came across as I researched this beautiful flower.

P A P E R 

adorn flowers / etsy

appetite paper

F R E S H 

fifty flowers

pacific callas

whole blossoms

flower muse

D I Y

lia griffith (paper)

lia griffith (tissue paper- this is the tutorial I used)

However you choose to procure these, they are worth the pursuit. They are such a statement flower, and are instantly capable of giving your tablescape some great impact and modernity. 

Ready for a sneak peek at how Colleen styled them?

OK, that's all you get. But EEP!! Her photography is amazing!! For the rest of the party (and seriously gobs and gobs of beautiful pictures), head over to visit Colleen at Lemon Thistle. 

There is even a baby photobomber that is so adorable I need. to. squish. her. right. now!! Colleen will also have all the links for the rest of the blog beauties who put this party together- so that you can get the scoop on their DIY's (and in case you're curious how many limbs they burned in the making of this party). 

Love you Colleen for letting me be a part of this!  

shopping for...christmas cards

it's happening again. i can feel it. christmas is sneaking up on me. it feels like fall just arrived, and that it's insanely early to be shopping for christmas cards. but the truth is, i'm probably already late. if i ordered today (which will never happen, since i haven't even booked family pictures yet. oops! ellen, call me!) then i wouldn't get them for at least a week or two, and i'd still have to buy postage and address everything...and then december is over and i'm shopping new years cards. ugh. so, it's time. if i want to be proactive i need to start narrowing this down. in the past, i always start with shutterfly, where we ordered our card from last year, because it's easy and relatively reasonable in price, and they usually have sales. but this year i've been introduced to quite a few new paper companies so i'm looking around at more than my usual go-to's. 

i'm starting where i'm comfortable- tiny prints is always my number two spot. they would be number one but they're usually a lot more expensive than shutterfly. lots of this year's designs are tempting- and they're offering letterpress now, like this naturally happy letterpress card. 

this design from tiny prints is really sweet too. although i'm probably being swayed by her cute bangs and his hipster beard.

happy card from paper culture. i'm really digging this new-to-me company. very reasonable prices, nice card weight, and modern designs. and they plant a tree for every purchase. 

i'm semi-obsesed with this card and it's my current front runner. allie seidel offers a variety of hand lettered cards through her etsy shop. this is a very affordable option, as you provide the picture and family name, and she sends you a high-res jpeg that you can print as you please. that's pretty cool- and also, allie is really sweet. i've loved following along with her on instagram. 

this 3-in-1 card from artifact uprising is a holiday card, keepsake photo, and gift tag all in one. recipients can repurpose along perforated lines. and the design is oh-so-cool. 

i never do cards like this because i have no idea what to say about our year. "er...laura started a blog." but i do really enjoy them from other people. twenty-fourteen-in-a-nutshell by minted.

this watercolor-inspired "aquarelle no. 2" card from minted is pretty.

shiny gold foil continues to be a big trend, as in this merry & bright foil card from pear tree greetings. you can even plaster the entire back with more of the shiny stuff. ka-chow! 

cardstore is a source that some of my friends have used and really been happy with in the past. historically, they've had some pretty awesome black friday deals, so maybe keep an eye on their facebook page. this picture is from their blog, showing one of their new collections for 2014. 

this card is available in a myriad of colors from au designs studio on etsy - i'll take it in black & white please. the studio will do digital or real-life prints.  

this one is also available as a digital or printed option from paper heart prints. i try not to be swayed by the example photo...but oh those baby rolls! 

these wouldn't really be affordable en masse, but if you want to send one card to someone just for kicks, this made me chuckle. it would also be cute in a frame. dear ralphie letterpress card from sapling press.

you could always tuck in a photostrip from printsagram. all the better if it's pictures of your boys engaging in activites that will likely result in lost eyes.

sugar paper & rifle paper co. also have some very pretty options for the non-photo crowd. (warning, these might cost more than the sum total of presents you were going to buy your kids). maybe these will be my back up if i don't get around to those family pictures.  

i should also give a shout-out to vistaprint. i normally would never have considered them, but they sent me a sample card and the quality and design was more impressive than i expected. their website had some cute options (though sadly not a high-res image that i could use here to show you), and the prices were pretty good.

update 11.26.14: i still have not narrowed down my card choices, but i DID get some great christmas card photos of the kids. i ended up taking them myself on the trusty ol' iphone with vsco cam. so step one accomplished. yay! i also had to come update this post because one of my all-time favorite paper shops, yes ma'am paper goods, didn't have christmas cards out yet when i wrote this (and you know i checked!) but they do now! and they're photo cards! just in time to complicate my decision even further. hahaha.

holiday photo cards at yes ma'am paper goods

erica loesing, who runs the shop, has a variety of photo cards with her beautiful signature calligraphy layered on top, and some cute non-photo cards as well. AND she has the most darling rubber stamps, and gift tags, and wall calendars, and.....yeah, be careful if you go there, you could get in trouble.

so, do you guys have any great sources for cards that i'm missing? i'd love to hear about them! and if you print your own, i'd love to hear what company or service you've used for that. have a great thanksgiving everyone!