I haven’t sent out holiday cards for the last, oh, three or four years. Maybe longer? Yikes. I don’t know why but they seem like such a hassle when, really, they should evoke smiles and joy. This year I was determined to jump on Team Christmas Card but with one stipulation. Keep it simple.
No professional photo shoots. No matching outfits. No shelling out money for anything other than the cards and postage.
Then I saw this idea on Joanna’s blog. Why not use a simple photo to act out a Christmas lyric? A lightbulb went off. I had paper mache letters up in the attic that spelled out “JOY”. We also own a globe. All I needed was an arrow. I cut one out of a piece of cardboard that I found in the garage. When my sister was visiting one {cold!} day last week, we all drove down to a local park with our props. Hint: keep kids’ attention by giving them props to hold. I set up the camera and tripod. We took our places. My sister made a bunch of noise behind the camera and snapped a few shots. Done.
I chose the best shot and searched minted for one-photo, flat holiday cards. I fell in love with the pebble dot design. I opted to have our picture printed in black and white for a simple look. Hint: if you print holiday card photos in black and white you don’t have to worry about coordinating outfits. I ordered the cards on Black Friday and scored 15% off.
Here’s our finished card…
I love it! It’s perfectly imperfect just like us. Everett isn’t looking at the camera. Mabrey isn’t smiling. I’m kicking myself for not painting the arrow white but I guess it fits in with the simple, imperfect vibe. Also, HH participated in Movember. The back of the card is blank for writing out short notes. Now to address all the envelopes. AY-YI-YI.
What about you? Any ideas for easy, unique holiday cards? Oh, and I just checked over on minted. Looks like the 15% off discount is good until the end of today. You can even buy the cards now and upload your photo later. Clever!
FYI – This post was not sponsored in any way. I’m just spreading a little holiday cheer.
images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking
DIY, family life, inspiration