Holiday Cards Done by @Amalah on @AlphaMom
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Holiday Cards. DONE.
Published 12.09.2009 | Permanent Link | Comments (11)
This post is sponsored by the good folks at Tiny Prints, even though they really didn’t have to, as I am a pretty well-established fangirl.
After being ridiculously pleased with how my birth announcements turned out, there was little question that I’d use Tiny Prints again for this year’s holiday card. But it certainly didn’t hurt — and probably helped keep me from procrastinating until December 20th, or something — when they offered me some free cards as a thank-you for the previous mention. (Which I paid for. Back OFF, FTC, okay?)
All I had to do was take The Perfect Photo.
*insert alternating waves of PANIC and CRICKETS*
Oh, how I tried. I took dozens and dozens of photos of the boys together, all of which included at least one crying child, one looking-away-from-the-camera child, and usually, inexplicably, my dog’s butt somehow getting into frame.
Finally, we dressed them up in some obnoxious matching-type outfits for what we swore would be our last attempt (and everybody we know would get some stupid Hallmark clearance cards from three years ago and BE GRATEFUL FOR IT), plopped them down on our front steps and snapped a zillion more photos.
And still. I could not find a single photo of the two of them that involved double smiles and eye contact and zero weird goofball expressions, and every sweet “hugging brothers” photo sort of made it look like Noah was strangling the baby.
Just like in real life. Hmm.
Luckily, there’s a lot to be said about simply finding the perfect design, even for *technically* imperfect photos. By choosing a multi-photo format (of which TinyPrints has a bazillion) I could crop out the uncooperative child and use my favorite shots of the other one, and really, the strangling doesn’t look TOO violent, so long as it’s up against the right color scheme.
I am pretty pleased. No, I am insanely pleased. THE CARD MATCHES THEIR OUTFITS OMG. Add in the perfectly coordinating address labels (same colors AND font! it’s the postal equivalent to matching bras and panties!) and I swear to God, I’m actually mailing these suckers out this year.
Related posts:
- Gift Ideas for the New Mom
– How To Take Group Shots Of Your Kids
– How To Take a Beautiful … er, Charming Holiday Family Self-Portrait
– Holiday-Themed Gifts for Kids (2009)
– Holiday-Themed Gifts for Kids (2008)
– Great Stocking Stuffer Ideas (2008)
– The Advice Smackdown Holiday Baby Gift Guide
– The Advice Smackdown Holiday Preschooler Gift Guide
– The Advice Smackdown Holiday Beauty Gift Guide
– Best Holiday Hostess Gifts 2008
– Unique Hostess Gifts (2007)
– Gifts for School-Aged Kids (2008)
– Gifts for Young Kids: our favorites (2008)
– Mother’s Day Gift Ideas
– Father’s Day Gift Ideas–>
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
Comments (11):
Serena said:
Wow that card is adorable! I love the caption… it’s perfect.
Posted on December 9, 2009 11:50
Tamara said:
This is hilarious — I just ordered our Christmas cards, and I have to agree that it was easy to choose a picture with ONE CHILD but getting two children to cooperate?? Forget it! Anyway, I have used Tiny Prints for our Christmas cards since 2006 and they are a FAB-U-LOUS company. Highly recommend them.
Posted on December 9, 2009 12:08
Meredith said:
I used Tiny Prints for the first time this year and agree they are great. I especially appreciated the phone call to tell me that one of the photos I wanted to use was too dark and grainy so they asked me to upload a new one. The toughest part is picking a design since there are some many options. I’ll be using them again next year for sure.
Posted on December 9, 2009 13:25
Brandi said:
Oh Amy. Your boys make me want to go get knocked up. And someday when I do and need cards with my kid’s photo’s on them, i’ll look up this post. In the meantime, I can use this with pictures of my cats! So thanks!
Posted on December 9, 2009 14:00
Jenn said:
I am sorry to offend all you other mothers of babies out there, but I hereby proclaim that Ezra is the cutest “early toddler” I have ever seen (including my own).
Posted on December 9, 20
09 14:21Bekki said:
We used Tiny Prints as well, and they turned out SO cute. I decided that action shots were the way to go, mostly because my almost 14 month old twins run in opposite directions as soon as humanly possible.
Posted on December 9, 2009 14:42
Heather said:
I’ve used Tiny Prints for my son’s birth announcement (would love to see Ezra’s!), our Christmas card last year, and this year’s Christmas card. Love Tiny Prints. But the photo??? OMG the challenge! the horror! of trying to get one perfect picture out of my 14 month old. Tiny Prints does offer so many wonderful choices, and even though I didn’t love the final photo, I did find a card that “fit” it.
Posted on December 9, 2009 15:35
Therese said:
Noah is wearing a hat…and smiling about it, so cool! Merry Christmas!
Posted on December 9, 2009 16:30
Cheri said:
I used to be a portrait studio photographer, and seriously- more than 1 kid in the photo , and you’re really sweating to get anything half decent. You did really well with Noah and Ezra- was anyone screaming? red faced? snot running down face? No. Yahoo, I’d take it. Some people have really unrealistic expectations of what a baby, or toddler, or group of cousins can really do in front of a camera!
Posted on December 9, 2009 21:09
HomeValley said:
Lovely card… Curious – did you send cards before the adorable offspring? The husband and I like to keep it light and funny, and we are fresh out of ideas this season, and running out of time.
Posted on December 10, 2009 10:38
Susan H. said:
That card is PERFECT.
Posted on December 11, 2009 16:58
Carrying on my new tradition of recording posts about Tiny Prints. If you have one, let me know.
