Christmas Postcard 2013

As usual in blogland, I am a day late + a dollar short...but I think these are pretty cool, and worth sharing. 

For the last few years I have sent out a postcard as a Christmas "card." 

I think I ultimately made the change a few years ago because my Christmas list was pretty long (100 cards) and with postage it added up. I didn't want to not send cards at all, because there are a lot of people who I think of often but never pick up the phone to call...so I like that we have at least ONE communication during the course of the year.

My main issue with a postcard is that the information is out there...rather than struggle trying to squeeze in a brief yet vague holiday message about what's been happening, this year I decided to create an infographic with random information about our family. {please ignore the portions I've masked...if you really want to know anything about me, feel free to ask...}

Pretty cool, right? 

And, they cost under $20 with shipping for 100 post cards! Awesome, right? Plus postcards mail at a lower rate, which is about to go up, but for a roll of 100 cost only $33, so $53 for 100 Christmas Cards + Postage. Practically a Christmas miracle! 

I'm also fairly excited about our family picture...we took it ourselves with a tripod and a camera remote. Our dog always looks terrible in pictures, in this, he actually looks normal. Not bad for a DIY...although we probably took a hundred (or more) terrible pictures...next year, I'm going to have family pictures taken. (I say that every year!)

Hope everyone had a lovely holiday...here's to great things in 2014!

Facebook Comments Plugin Bloggerized by BloggerTricks.Biz

Merry Christmas!

I'm a day late {or two} and a dollar short. It's just that time of year.

We ended up with a huuuuuge Christmas tree. This is our boys standing on top of our coffee table...

Before Christmas I ended up seeing a beautiful wreath at HomeGoods and should have snagged it...but didn't and still regret it. I decided to attempt to recreate it, this is what I came up with: 

I used a fairly large, metal wreath form and two rolls of burlap from Hobby Lobby. I had a hard time understanding how to get the roll through the wreath form, and felt like a genius when I realized you just pull the loops from the back keeping the roll in the back of the wreath the entire time. It was actually extremely easy. I used a variety of Pinterest tutorials of how to make a burlap wreath.

The bow is just large satin wired ribbon. I hot glued the important places and left very long tails.

I usually let my husband take the lead on Christmas decorations and I fill in any necessary gaps...with all of our moves we have accumulated an impressive collection.

We have two lamps out front that I felt needed a littel something, so I tied some red berries to a premade {fake}  evergreen/pinecone comb...tied a burlap bow and looped them onto each lamp. So easy!

Next year I might even make them BIGGER!!  or redder? not sure...I have a year to make up my mind.

My husband took care of the porch area with some garland.

And I decorated our front table with a variety of Christmas items. The garland is fresh, and looks like it's half dead. The small sleigh and vine reindeer is front Gordmans, and the JOY sign is from Target. The 3D glitter ornaments on the bottom shelf are so heavy for the real tree, but perfect for this tucked away space on our entry!

I feel sort of sad to need to take all of this down already!! 

Facebook Comments Plugin Bloggerized by BloggerTricks.Biz

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays

So as I'm sure you already know, it's been a little busy around here. I've been MIA {again} and super crafty {yay} and had total ADD {gah!} but Christmas is finally here. I'm enjoying spending time with family.

My in-laws are here to celebrate Christmas with us and we're enjoying catching up and eating lots and lots of delicious food. We are awaiting Santa's arrival, although our little one says NO every time we ask him if Santa is going to come. He's never sat on Santa's lap, and actually RAN away crying when Santa waved hi to him at the mall the other day...oh well, maybe next year...

In the meantime, Merry Christmas to you & your family.

I send out a post card each year. I used to do shutterfly cards, but for some reason {I think the cost of postage} I switched to post cards. It's easy. It's much cheaper...and it's cute.

I used Photoshop to make my card this year. I'm very novice and insecure about my photoshop abilities, but ended up seeing that the genius photographer Rebecca Cooper from Simple Things provided templates {here and here} to make photo cards using Photoshop. I ended up using her 2010 templates, but I changed some of the colors & fonts because her templates were very bright and my photos were very dull colored. I think it worked out and I'm so glad the Rebecca shared these awesome templates. {PS her blog has awesome info about photography & she just moved back to Canada after living in the Carribbean with her family~I can NOT imagine!}

Once the image was finished, I uploaded it to Overnight Prints and received it very quickly (not overnight) for about $30 for 100 cards AND shipping. I don't mail out 100 cards, but even so, it's much less to buy 100 cards and not use all of them. The postage is $0.29 each. So there you have it--a cost effective answer to Christmas cards: Christmas postcards.

Facebook Comments Plugin Bloggerized by BloggerTricks.Biz

Being put together

I would like to believe that I am somewhat put together...

Lately, not so much. I feel like everything is in shambles. Maybe that's because it is....

My house looks like a bomb went off in it. As much as I love the UPS & FedEx drivers for dropping off lots of goodies, they don't take all the boxes with them. SO, I've had this HUGE pile of boxes in my kitchen (and next to my computer desk) just growing and growing. I finally {gasp} lost my temper and tossed them all down the basement steps. I should take a picture. It looks like a box avalanche. I need to move them before my husband gets home and confirms that I've really lost my mind.

You see, my husband had this great idea that he wanted to see my parents....and stupidly I agreed. And now I feel as if I'm being punished. I have stuff everywhere. Whenever I think I've straightened, I have a little two year old tornado following close behind making an even bigger mess in his path...Are we packed? NO. Are we ready to go? No. Am I hating his guts for this great idea? (You can guess the answer!)

On top of it, my sewing/craft room also was serving as "Santa's Workshop" and when I tell you there was stuff EVERYWHERE I mean it: EVERY WHERE! I finally lost my mind yesterday and started tearing apart the large closet in that room only adding more to the disaster...I've filed bills. I've shredded old documents. I've nearly cleared a substantial path through the room (it's a miracle!) But there is still work to be done.

We already celebrated Christmas in our house, and we even took down our tree...so we've added to the mess with taken down holiday decorations.

To add to the confusion, there is the laundry "issue" and when I say issue, I mean: I nearly had it out with my washer this morning when it tried to pretend it had a problem giving me an error message "F24" I nearly lost it. Luckily, my second attempt to wash the load was successful and the laundry "situation" is underway.

So today I'm not really feeling the holiday cheer. I'm substantially feeling pretty Bah Humbug.

I'm sure we'll pull it together, and hopefully if we die in a car crash our families wont be left thinking we live like pigs. (Yes, that is seriously my train of thought!)

SO, it's a safe bet you might not hear from me for a few days....until I've put away the boxes, finished the laundry, put all the craft items back into the closet, put away the rest of the Christmas decorations, packed our bags, packed the car, packed the child & the dogs....you get the idea. In the meantime, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Filled with love, cheer, excitement, and all good things.

Facebook Comments Plugin Bloggerized by BloggerTricks.Biz