Graphic designer confession time: Holiday Cards

I am a graphic designer and a photographer. As such, I always design my own Christmas cards. But between our never-ending football season, the gingerbread house, my graduate classes, cookietopia, the ongoing blizzards up on the mountain, and life in general, I just can't rally myself to design one more thing right now. It would just be a photo of me asleep with the tagline, "I want to be nestled, all snug in my bed, for 18 hours. Please do not bother me until Twelfth Night."

That's not very cheery, is it?

So I will confess that I'm going out of house this year. There are lots of places online to make cards, and their designers are all probably less stressed and brain-mushy than I am right now. So I think I'll just leave it to Shutterfly. I'm the first to pooh-pooh lackluster design work, but I'm thinking most of these cards are really nifty; this is the one I'm thinking of getting. It captures M's exuberance and joy, plus I'm not called upon to design something that caputres M's exuberance and joy. Win!

(Note: that isn't M, but I think I'll teach her to do a somersault tonight so I can take her out into the snow and get that same series of shots from the sample. So what if she's only 3?)

If this sounds like an ad for Shutterfly, that's because it is. Not only am I a lazy mommy, I'm a frugal blogger, and Shutterfly is running a promotion for 50 Free Cards for Bloggers. So yes, it's an ad; I'm bringing it to you because I'm getting a kickback from the company. HOWEVER, I'm a graphic designer. I'd rather have no card at all than one that is less than stellar, so you can take that as my honest endorsement.

If you're looking for other gifts, they also have photo calendars (very popular with the grandparents!) and photo books. I make a lot of photobooks for clients, and have tested out several different companies' offerings in this area. Shutterfly's may not be the fanciest around, but for comparative price and ease of use you can't beat em. And these days, I'm all about ease of use.

So there's my ad. I'll post a picture of my card when I make it, and if you're very lucky and have a sprinkling of Christmas pixie dust upon your mailbox, you might just get a real, physical, cardstock, stamped and mailed, PRINTED COPY! Limited edition!

{EDITED to ADD}

So I did indeed get the Shutterfly card above, here tis:

 

Brightly Merrily Holiday Card

Create modern holiday cards at Shutterfly

View the entire collection of cards.

The interface was fast and easy - it almost gives too many choices. Of course, I had to pay to get the cards here on time for Christmas, but that's generally how I roll. It will be interesting to compare the finished product to TinyPrints - as far as I have seen, these two services are neck and neck as far as product offerings, quality, and social media savvy. As long as they keep duking it out for customers, we'll probably continue to see discounts and special offers which, as a bargain-hunting cheapskate careful consumer, I love.