It's that time of year again...

...when thoughts turn to the upcoming Christmas season and your annual Christmas card. Some of you are way more on the ball than I am. I've had numerous emails and phone calls asking me for all the info and the list of card designers I've mentioned in the past. This post should answer all the questions. (And possibly get me in the mood to figure out what in the world I'm going to do about our own card. Haven't given it one thought yet.)
To set the tone for this post, here's our family Christmas card that we sent out last year. It was designed by Dorie of Winks & Daisies and I can't say enough good things about her. She's fabulous to work with! :-)

Here's a (very quick and basic) recap of how it works to get your very own customized Christmas card:

www.etsy.com - Etsy is a great source for all things handmade. I've compiled a list of some designers below that I'm drawn to and have a shop on etsy designing customized photo cards.

1. Browse the shops on etsy.
2. Once you see a card design that you like and is perfect for you, you purchase it online (paypal - very simple and easy to do if you haven't done this before).
3. Each designer has different guidelines and rules for how they handle things so you will be conversing back and forth and giving them what they need. One thing is for sure, you will have to email the digital high-resolution photo(s) that you want used on the card, as well as the wording (names/greetings, etc.) There is generally some room for customization but again this will vary and entirely depends on each designer.
4. The designer will send a proof to you. Once you are happy with it, you sign off on it and the designer will email you the high resolution jpg of your Christmas card.
5. You can now take your high resolution Christmas card jpg to your favourite photo developer and have it printed as a 4x6 photo. (Walmart 4x6 price is 20 cents each so you can get 5 Christmas cards for $1.00. Awesome!!)

A few things to remember:

1. Always print a test photo at your photo developer to make sure it looks ok before printing off your whole order. Yes it's a bit of a pain. But it's worth it. I've been glad for the times I've done this. The photo developers are as well. They've told me that they can't believe how many people don't do this and just print them all wish they would have printed one first and done some tweaking. Little things like adding a white border sometimes can finish off a card - depending on the design. And the other trick is...printing the photo upside down. Sounds funny I know. But each photo developer will cut off a bit of the photo (some more than others) when it's printed...and depending on your design it sometimes makes all the difference if you turn your photo upside down when printing it so that the opposite end gets cut off. Does that make sense? LOL. If I've confused you don't worry. Moving on.... LOL!
2. Photo Developing. There is a difference in the quality of printing between photo developers. And yes, even between the same companies....for example Walmart. This is for my local friends who live near me. I use Walmart Waterloo (near the St. Jacobs Market) for all my photo printing. I DO NOT USE WALMART AT THE SUNRISE CENTRE LOCATION!!!! The difference between these two places is huge. HUGE! So, yes, it's a total pain for me to drive out of the way each and everytime to get my photos in Waterloo but I will and do that very thing.  If you don't believe me...do what I do every so often. Print the same photo - at Waterloo and then at Sunrise. The Sunrise photo will be dull and the colours will be washed out. I just did a quick test a few weeks ago to see if anything has changed and it hasn't. For what it's worth, the printing at Walmart Waterloo is FANTASTIC and I hope that doesn't change ever. Whatever they are doing there and however they have their machines calibrated...it's awesome! I also on occassion use a company out of the USA that I'm extremely happy with. This brings a bit more of a headache with duties, etc. but if you're looking for an online company that does quality printing let me know and I can email you the information.

I love having a card that is customized exactly to my tastes and style. No one else will have a Christmas card like it. (Think Walmart and Costco photo templates that everyone has access to and uses.) It's totally inexpensive. (The cost of the card design is about $15 (depends on each designer) + the cost to print the 4x6 photos (20 cents each at Walmart) + envelopes (box of legal sized envelopes from the dollar store). You can do everything in the comfort of your own home, at 10:30pm at night in your jammies! Awesome possum!!

(My mom's Christmas card from 2010 also designed by Dorie of winksanddaisies)

Below is a little list of designers that I've put together.  Please keep in mind, I'm drawn to more of a clean, contemporary, modern look so that is what you'll tend to see in the designers I've linked you to below. There are designs out there for everyone's tastes though so if you don't like what you're seeing below, then just do a search for "custom digital christmas cards" or something similar and you will be able to browse for yourself and see what catches your eye. There will be thousands (and I do mean thousands!) of designs for you to sift through!

winksanddaisies: http://www.etsy.com/shop/winksanddaisies
west willow designs: http://www.etsy.com/shop/westwillow
Roxter Designs: http://www.etsy.com/shop/RoxterDesigns
announcing you: http://www.etsy.com/shop/announcingyou
CardsEtcetera: http://www.etsy.com/shop/CardsEtcetera
less ordinary designs: http://www.etsy.com/shop/saralukecreative
inprintdesigns: http://www.etsy.com/shop/inprintdesigns
digibuddha Paperie: http://www.etsy.com/shop/digibuddhaPaperie
pipe up: http://www.etsy.com/shop/pipeup
Stewart Design Studios: http://www.etsy.com/shop/stewartdesignstudios

Again - just want to give a shoutout to Dorie of winksanddaisies (the first one listed). She is AMAZING to work with...she's quick and fast and will change wording and colours and will gladly work with you and make any changes you need.

Finally, here are links to the posts I've compiled the past few years which will give you more detailed information about the whole process. You can access them through my archives on the right or just click on the links below. There may be a few different designers listed previously - depending who caught my eye. Some will be the same (my tastes haven't changed that much!) and some shops are no longer in business so just just keep that in mind.

2010 - http://cestlavie-patti.blogspot.com/2010/11/custom-photo-christmas-cards.html
2009 - http://cestlavie-patti.blogspot.com/2009/11/christmas-cards.html

If you have any questions about this...please email me at patriciajune@live.ca . I don't mind helping you out/answering questions/giving suggestions etc. Sometimes it helps to have a second opinion when you're trying to make a decision. (Right LeeAnne?! I bug my sister all the time when I'm trying to finalize my card!)

Up next....a post about photo calendars/photo books/photo gifts, etc. I need a few days to compile the info but keep an eye out for it! :-)  And now I'm off to check on my little man...who has been sick with the flu for the last 3 days....coughing, fever, vomiting. Poor thing. Hoping he's back on the mend soon.