to You

 

 

 

 

(words could not express how sad I am that the photographer who took these photos & created this card has closed shop)

to You

sharing some love

Even though Fall just started and I'm absolutely, madly in love with this time of year, it's never too early to start thinking about the upcoming holiday season... especially given the fact that Lovie's birthday is a mere 4 days after Christmas. It's like I have to start thinking about it early.

So, me? I'm pretty much done shopping for Lovie already. True story! I love me some good bargains and I don't have the funds to buy for Christmas and her birthday all in December.

I've also pretty much narrowed down which holiday card we'll be sending out this year.

As in the years past, I'm most definitely going with Shutterfly again. They always have an awesome array of Holiday Cards to choose from, their customer service and production is always spot on, and I'm always super happy with the end result.

I've been ordering from them for years now: photo cards, photo books, calendars. In fact, I'm currently waiting on the arrival of a photo mug that I'll be giving my husband for his birthday in a couple weeks. They've got such great photo products, some even have special offers attached to them.

Yes, this is a sponsored post from Shutterfly, but with or without the sponsorship, my opinions still stand: I love Shutterfly and can't wait to get my holiday cards in hand to send out.

Merry Whackadoo to You!

This is going to sound nuts... crazy... insane... whackadoo: I ordered 3 different sets of holiday cards this year.

Nuts... crazy... insane... whackadoo, right?!

But here's the reason: 2 sets were free (thank you Shutterfly and Tiny Prints) and the 3rd set ... I just had to get them printed.

Let's review, shall we?

Set 1 was ordered in November through Shutterfly for free.

Gorgeous, no? It's one of my favorite family photos of us since Lovie's birth. I just adore everything about that photo- the color behind us, my long hair with silver shining through (festive, no??), DH's chocolatey comlexion, and Lovie's adorableness. I just adore that child. We adore her- and I think it shows in that photo which is why I slapped it onto cards that got sent out the 1st of December.

Set 2 was ordered in early December through Tiny Prints for free.

Fun, no? Since we had Merrry Christmas cards made with set 1, we figured why not get New Years cards. I adore everything about this photo, too- same reasons as above, really. And believe it not, neither of these photos are posed. Sure we knew the photog was snapping pictures and our goal was to get some nice family photos, but we didn't sit and say cheese. I'm just not a fan of those photos. Not always, at least.

Set 3 ... Set 3 is my favorite and was just ordered last week through Shutterfly during one of their sales.

I had to make these. I had to. I got the inspiration when I submitted my entry into a holiday photo card challenge and I just had to make these to give to people who I would know would get a kick out of it... like her teachers (they all loved it) and special friends, and of course one for the scrapbooks! ;D

So there you have it, my friends...

Merry Christmas

Happy New Year

Happy Holidays!

(all images are screen shots of the Preview of the card from Shutterfly or Tiny Prints where i used their card images and plugged in a photo and names. the wording on the last card is from me- though the design of the card belongs to Shutterfly.)

Holiday Card CHALLENGE

I created last year's entry before discovering Picnik. Oh lordie did I have fun creating it, but man did it take some time- it was done all on Paint by cutting and pasting, etc! Too time consuming for something that didn't even make the cut! Wah! 

This year, I've been racking my brain trying to come up with an idea... do I go all cute and adorable (not hard with the subject I knew would be the center of the card) or what? And then the idea hit me!! I would turn an evil looking picture (you must admit the girl looks evil in the photo) into something I find pretty farking funny if I do say so myself. And I just did! So there!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS from Lovie!

*LOVE*

So I was checking out holiday cards over at Tiny Prints and am officially in love.

How friggin cool are those? Ornament Cards?!? BRILLIANT!!!

I cannot wait to get some ordered and sent out! And I could only hope that I get some in return to adorn my tree. I mean, what better way to display cards than on your tree (and even if you don't do trees, they can still be hung nicely on the wall, doorknob, rear view mirror, etc)?!? Like I said... BRILLIANT! If you ask me, of course. And while nobody's asking, per say, I'm still telling: I freaking LOVE the looks of these cards and cannot wait to get them in my hands to send out (and, of course, save one for us to gush over for years to come).

Tick tock!

It’s 43 degrees right now; it’s cold, it’s gray and rainy, it’s autumn. And it’s a fantastic reminder that the holiday season is fast approaching. What better time to start thinking about what holiday cards to send?

 

Last Christmas, we sent out photo cards from Shutterfly and I’m sure we’ll be doing the same again this year- especially after the excellent experiences I’ve had with Shutterfly since first ordering (Lovie’s birth announcments) through them.  

 

They have such a vast variety of holiday cards to choose from and offer up a lot of customizing, too. Here’s a few of my favorites this year:

(I tend to like the more simple and flat cards because I think they’re easier to spot Lovie’s cute face on amidst an array of other cards, and they’re easy to pop onto the wall or fridge.)

In addition to holiday cards, Shutterfly also has some pretty neat calendars and other gifts that family is sure to treasure.

Tick tock, people. Halloween is in 11 days, Thanksgiving is in a little more than a month, and Christmas… will be here before you know it!!

Are you a blogger interested in getting 25 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly? Then click here.

a first

v-day 2010

 I've never been a big fan of celebrating Valentine's Day. In fact, the husband and I never really do anything and never have- and we've been together since the turn of the century! But now that we have our sweet baby doll, things are a little different.



Last year we didn't really do anything because she was all of a 6 weeks old (or so). Well, I took some photos of my doll but that's really about all we did to celebrate.

This year, however, will be the start of actually acknowledging Valentine's Day in our home. I've got a couple decorations I'll be putting up around the home, for example. Nothing extraordinary will happen, we just won't completely ignore it like normal.

In fact, I think I'm going to take advantage of a code I got from Shutterfly offering 10 free cards and order these for a special 10 to send out- a first for me (sending out V-day cards):

before

after and...

final!

I'll also be entering this into The Paper Mama's Valentine's Challenge:

The Paper Mama Holiday Card Challenge 2010

So I'm totally new to this whole altering photos thing. I mean, I've added text to photos or gotten rid of a zit or ten on Photoshop (but that's at home and I'm very rarely on the computer when I'm home, remember?!) but nothing to the extent of altering it like I did for this challenge. But WHAT STINKIN' FUN! I'm so glad I found this challenge and The Paper Mama because of it.

Most of it was done in boring Paint but, considering that fact, I think it turned out pretty gosh darn OK if I do say so myself. Eek!

What do you think?

hehe, I'm *seriously* considering printing these and sending them out to some folk who I know would get a kick out of it... : D