Holiday Cards from Shutterfly - a Giveaway!

I know that it is only October and that Christmas seems to be a long ways off, but I can tell you that when I headed to the store a few weeks ago (in September, no less) they had already started to set up Christmas displays. I will give you that it was small, but it was still a display. Couple that with requests for Christmas lists and I am already starting to think ahead to the holidays. Last week, I even bought chocolate chips in anticipation of holiday baking.

Every year, I like to send picture Holiday Cards to our friends and family. Typically, we use a special pose for the picture. Last year, the kids put on Santa hats and we took a picture. My husband edited to make the picture black and white and the hat he left in color. I loved the way it turned out. We used to print out a newsletter too, but a couple years back, we took the newsletter electronic. If my husband had his way, he wouldn't bother with physical cards and would send them all by e-mail. Me, I love to receive cards and imagine that others do to, so I plan to continue to send cards.

For several years, I looked for a way to display all of our Christmas Cards during the season. I finally found a memory board that I hang in my hallway. I am able to display the pictures and cards that we get and others can enjoy them when they visit. I saw a great idea online the other day, it suggested that you use your cameras phone to take a picture of the cards and use those as the image for your contacts. What a great way to enjoy that picture all year.

After the holidays, I used to just tuck the cards all away together. Then, I decided that I should do more with the pictures, so I started a photo card scrapbook. I love to receive picture cards, especially from people that I don't get to see very often. It is great to see the highlights from their year or that special pose that they captured just for the card. The scrapbook includes Christmas cards and birth announcements (the only other picture card we receive regularly).

What do you do with the Photo Christmas Cards that you receive from friends and family? Do you send photo cards?

I always have a hard time picking out my cards. Sometimes, the one that I like won't work with the picture that I like. We typically try to stick with a Happy Holidays card, as we have several friends that are Jewish. Here are some that I am considering for this year:

Have you checked out the Special Offers at Shutterfly? They are having some deals now on Photo Gift items too.

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Giveaway!
Courtesy of Shutterfly, one A Busy Mom of Two reader will receive a voucher for $50 off total order (does not include shipping & cannot be combined with any other promos).
a Rafflecopter giveaway


Giveaway will remain open through October 27th. Giveaway is open to residents of the US only. One winner will be selected through Rafflecopter. The winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be selected.

thThis is a sponsored post. I will receive credit at Shutterfly in exchange for this post. All opinions expressed are entirely my own or that of my family..

Shutterfly Holiday Cards

It is hard to believe that it is already the end of October. I know I may be weird, but I've already started to think about and plan for Christmas. In fact, I purchased (actually my husband placed the order) my first official Christmas gift this past week (okay, it was my second) and we already received it.

We have been finishing off another small section of our basement (already partially finished) as a "kitchen" bar (I guess that is my husband's way of saying it's not a fancy wooden bar, but rather a small area that includes kitchen cabinets and a countertop). Before we had children, we used to have holiday parties and I was thinking that now that we have a larger space for entertaining. I can already see the invitation.

Of course, when I suggested it to my husband, he felt that we go to enough Christmas parties that maybe we just hold a Game Night. I think I can make that work - not as many people and I can still make up my favorite appetizers.

Of course, while I was checking out invitations, I started to look at Christmas cards. Never too early - even if I were able to choose and order today, we likely would still not get them sent out before we receive our first card. We have someone that we receive a Christmas card from every year on the day after Thanksgiving, like clockwork. My husband mocks, but I think it is great - it marks that start of the season.

My husband would like to abandon sending actual Christmas cards in the mail and move to sending electronic cards (attach a picture to the e-mail he says). I feel like that is so impersonal, plus I love to receive mail! Christmas time is probably the busiest time of the year for our mailbox! For now I'm holding my ground and I get to keep sending actual cards - I told him that he could trial his approach for his friends and family, but I wasn't ready to change for my friends and family.

Seriously, I love to receive Photo Christmas Cards from friends and family. We don't have the chance to get together regularly with some of our friends and it always so fun to see how their kids have grown and/or how they are changing over the years. I think that is in large part why I like to send them - if I enjoy receiving them so much, I hope others do to. I even started a scrapbook that is filled with the picture photo cards (I'm not real current), but it seems like a great way to preserve the cards and to be able to go back and see how the families have all changed with time - from pictures of just a couple by the tree, to a baby, to a toddler, to two children and so on.

The biggest debate is whether to include one large picture or to do a couple of smaller ones.

I love that Top 5 Moments card - it sort of puts the newsletter and picture in one. Just a quick recap of what we were up to. I noticed that if I go with the larger card size that I could actually do the top 10 moments. With a trip to Disney and so much more, maybe that is the way to go.

Of course, we have a few friends that we send holiday greetings to. They don't celebrate Christmas, but we still want to send them holiday wishes, but not offend them with a Merry Christmas greeting (I'm guessing that they wouldn't actually be offended, but why not show that you know by not sending a Christmas greeting?) So, typically we get two cards - one wishing Merry Christmas and one saying Happy Holidays - fortunately, Shutterfly has many styles that are available for both wishes making setting up two cards even easier.

Now, to find (or take) those perfect pictures to include on our card.

No compensation was received for this post. I am writing it as part of Shutterfly's 2011 Bloggers promotion and will receive 25 free cards in exchange for my post. All opinions expressed are mine or that of my family.

Shutterfly Photo Cards and Gifts

Each year, we send out a lot of Christmas cards to our family and friends. I love receiving photo cards - it is nice to see how everyone's family grows and changes each year. (I've even started a scrapbook to capture many of those photo cards - and husband wonders if anyone keeps them). One source for our Holiday photo cards has been Shutterfly. They offer Holiday cards in a variety of styles and sizes - you are certain to find one that suits your style and needs. This year, we decided that we really liked the Confetti Flowers Christmas Card. I used my 10 free cards from my recent Shutterfly House Party to get some of these cards for this year. I like too that they offer coordinating address labels to match many of thier cards.

I know it might sound like cheating, but photo gifts seem to me to be an easy to give, great to receive, personal holiday gift that is appreciated and doesn't add to life's clutter.

As I mentioned in a recent post, I enjoy putting together and giving a Photo Book to our parent's each year. What I like about this gift is that I can share with them pictures of the kids (family really) from throughout the year. I try to select a highlight of the events from the past year, as well as some pictures of the kids simply being kids. I do a much more in depth Photo Book as a family scrapbook for us to keep, but the one that I am making as a gift is meant to just be a brief glimpse. I recently completed this year's Photo Book gifts on Shutterfly. Have you tried their photo books? I really like their Storyboard feature that is available to help you set up your book when you use the custom route. What I like about their Storyboard is that you can just start dragging and dropping your pictures on the page that you want them. Once you have the pictures on the pages that you want, you click a button and the program will auto-fill your book, selecting a default layout for each page based on the number of photos you placed on each page. Then, you can go in and add captions, adjust pictures, or tweak the layouts if you would like. To me, this makes the overall process both quick and easy.

There are so many other photo gifts to choose from on Shutterfly as well - puzzles, mouse pads, desk organizers, canvas art, notebooks, apparel, bags and more. Each year, my brothers and I also put together a wall calendar for my parents, filled with pictures of the grandkids. We generally split the months up, with a few months where everyone has a picture. My mom loves this gift and looks forward to receiving it each year. I've also considered the photo mug as a potential gift for our parents or even for myself. You can make the photo mug with one picture or a handful. What a great way to make you smile while you enjoy your hot beverage. (I also use a mug as a pen holder on my desk at work - so there is yet another use and a different way to display pictures at your desk.)

Outside of gifts for parents, I have also considered giving Photo Puzzles to my kids. They have two varieties - Center Stage (24 or 125 piece puzzles), where your child becomes part of a picture featuring Disney Princesses, Star Wars, Transformers and more and the photo puzzles (252 piece puzzles), where your pictures is transformed into a puzzle. My preference would be to get them the 252 piece puzzle, so I will likely wait until my daughter is a little older. I think they would find a puzzle made from their picture to be pretty cool.

Beyond the holidays, I know people who have used Shutterfly to make birth announcements and also used their photo cards for birthday party invites or thank you cards.

Their site is easy to navigate (I was even able to walk my mom through it over the phone and she successfully ordered Christmas cards and a photo book.). They frequently offer specials - right now, for instance, they have free shipping on orders over $50 and 30% off Photo Books.

Are you a blogger? Click here to learn how you can get 50 Free Holiday Cards from Shutterfly.

No compensation was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own. I am submitting this post to receive 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly.