Shutter Sisters

Right from the start

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holiday session from way back when of dear family friends

Alas! Today we officially begin the great greetings! blog series here at Shutter Sisters. I appreciate your comments when I first mentioned the idea. I love knowing that you can see the value in getting a jump start on the giving season, specifically with your holiday cards. This is going to be fun, I promise.

Here are a few things I would like you to mull over before you begin the process (if you haven’t already…which I haven’t, just so you know).

First, distill your goal. What is important to you when sending your holiday card? Whether it’s to fill everyone in on the happenings of your family, just to get a recent and overdue photo out to the family or to offer a sparkling sentiment, you should focus on that purpose throughout the process. It will keep you focused and on task with your objective.

Starting early will help tremendously in helping you meet your end result creatively and joyfully. Building in extra time for yourself means having more fun with it and allowing for sweet surprises along the way. It also means avoiding rush charges, long lines at the post office, late nights with your address book and unnecessary stress.

Be realistic. The object here is not to take on more than your current life’s picture allows. This is me telling you to give yourself a break. Figuring out what kind of time and money you are willing to spend will help keep you from musing on a photo or card project that will extend your limits. Once you’ve gotten a good idea of how much you are really able or willing to put into your cards this year, you can take a look at the options and how they fit your needs. There’s a lot that goes into creating great greetings. Let me refresh your memory (not because I want to stress you out but because I want to help you decide what you want to do and what you want to delegate): Photography, card design, printing, assembly, addressing, return addressing, handwriting.

Now, here’s the delegating part. Try to enlist help whenever and where ever you can. That is an order. We have a lot on our plates this time of year and requesting a helping hand is for your own good. Trust me. Try to take the list above and save what you enjoy for yourself. The rest can be dished out.

Here’s a few ways to delegated if you so choose:

-Hire a photographer.

I know…that’s probably the one thing this community enjoys doing for themselves but even still, depending on the goal of your card this year, it may be something to consider.

-Buy your cards.

We are a crafty bunch around here but there’s no need to reinvent the wheel if you don’t have the time this year. Pre printed card design has come a long way with every possible style and taste accounted for so unless you are totally dedicated to doing it all yourself, keep this option open.

-Get the photo printed on the card with a design built in.

This is how to avoid hand assembling your photos to your cards which can be a big time saver. Choosing a drag and drop option like some companies offer can be a simple and stylish solution.

-Get your message and/or your family signature printed on the card.

In other words if you don’t have it in you to handwrite “Warmest Wishes from the Smith Family” on 100 cards then don’t do it. Many card companies have the option to personalize your cards for you. It’s sweet. There’s also the option to get your return address preprinted on your envelope too which is super-convenient.

-Have your cards mailed for you.

If you are as organized as I wish I was, you have all of your addresses in some sort of computer address book. Some card companies even will mail your cards for you if you import your address into their system. This would never work for me but dang! I wish it could.

-Hire help.

It’s not as indulgent as it might sound. Enlist your kids, husband, mother or even babysitter to help stuff and put stamps on envelopes. It may sound strange but it has become part of our family routine and my kids actually enjoy it. My husband? Not so much.

When you break it down, you realize that there’s a lot to it. Which is probably why we often get stressed out. Just remember, the purpose of sending greeting cards is to spread a little holiday cheer. The more we can have fun with the process and offer tap into our creative selves and the giving spirit, we will be sharing not only cheer but plenty of love to go with it.

Wanna share your process? Then pop over to our great greetings! Flickr Pool where we can continue our conversation, encourage and inspire one another as we go! Andgrab a button for your blog to help us spread the word about the series.

Comments

  3. One year I did kind of what Marcie suggested…I printed out several photos of what we did throughout the year on a single piece of paper with captions for each photo. My color printer was working well then, so it turned out pretty nice.

  4. I have all of our cards printed for me, along with the greeting for the inside. Once they arrive here, then all of us sign each card. I then run all of the envelopes through the printer, printing the send to address and our return address on them.

    Great post and ideas.

  5. Such great suggestions – they almost make me wish I hadn’t spent the last few years simplifying and whittling down my Christmas card list so now I don’t have many to send. Hmmm… maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all!

  8. Wow. How amazing is the power of suggestion? Since you first posted this topic last week, I’ve been mulling over and over in my mind the possibilities for this years’ Christmas card. This is no ordinary year – I was married this year and now have a blended family – we went from 3 to 7 (plus an extra cat and dog) and i really want to make this year special since it’s the first time my friends and family will see them and vice versa.

    …thinking, thinking…

  9. Love how forward thinking you are! We don’t do the Christmas thing (gasp), New Year is our celebration. New beginnings…must get ideas brewing!

    Perhaps if the thought of hiring a pro photographer doesn’t appeal to some, fellow Shutter Sisters near each other could trade photshoots for one anothers families.

  10. Oh my! My heart is pounding with the possibilities this year! Since my husband and I married in 2005 we’ve sent out newsletter type greetings but never with any pictures. We figured its just us – no kids – so who would want a picture. BUT.. you’ve inspired me to have fun with a picture. So, I’m thining something funny/comical/cheeky to show off how much fun we are having as newlyweds three years in. I’ve even asked my readers for some suggestions – hopefully they’ll helpme out!

    http://stephwiese.squarespace.com/blog/

  11. Ahhhhhhhh! Look how LITTLE they are! (and how skinny I am! oi!) I agree with the others – been thinking about it since you first posted…am already leaning towards simplicity as the central wish and gift to our card recipients. I think I know someone who can help me….(!)

    XO
    K

  15. Great ideas!

    Here are some of my tips:

    As you know, I am freaky organized, and I take the time in October or November to go through my Address book and email people who I would like to send cards to but don’t have their snail mail and ask for it.

    I schedule a time to do the photo shoot (I do our own). You’d be surprised how quickly time flies and all of a sudden you are back against the wall.

    This year, to save money and trees, I am going to do a photo postcard. I waffled back and forth and even did a post about it back in September (told you I was freaky) and it seemed like the best combination of all my goals: to reach out to loved ones over the holidays, to send a photo of us, to save trees and to save money. And I may actually write MORE personal notes given the nature of postcards instead of the standard "Love, Us."

    I like the have my postcards back to me by Thanksgiving weekend so I can start on them over the long holiday. As Declan has gotten older, he now helps us with the stamping and assembly – so it’s a real family project.

    xo – A

  16. I ordered my cards from tiny prints, and they’ve already arrived… I used a discount code which I found by googling the company name. It was BB10 for 10% off, don’t know if it’s still good but every penny counts!

  17. Dear Shutter Sisters –
    I’ve lurked on your site for awhile, though as a person who doesn’t take many photos, mainly adores looking at them. And there are some great ones here!

    I always look forward to making my family’s holiday card, but this year I have a new challenge: my husband and I separated this summer and plan to divorce. How do I deal with this in a card without it becoming a total downer? We have two kids and have usually made a card an enclosed a photo of all four of us.
    IDEAs? Something clever? I’m all for a little moxie. Or just ignore it?

    Any creative ideas to this conundrum are appreciated.

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