As I have mentioned before, I am type-A leaning, so I value efficiency, organization, and planning. With my daughter in 4 year old kindergarten, our lives have certainly adopted a quicker pace week in and week out. To stay ahead and not get overwhelmed, I always try to think ahead. I’m that person buying Christmas presents in July, picking up birthday party favors weeks in advance, and recording important dates and to-do’s in my planner.
My weapon against holiday busyness IS simple – Advance Planning!
As many of you have noticed, the holidays are ALREADY upon us. I’ve seen a mix of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas in stores lately. YIKES! I do have a few gifts in hand, so I don’t expect to have a hectic, last-minute shopping season, which is SO not my style. Daddy O., on the other hand, is a different story, but that’s his deal!
Similarly, I often start looking at holiday card options this time of year. I enjoy trying to find a good family picture to share in our annual holiday card. I love the old-fashioned tradition of sending and receiving cards. It’s something that social media just can’t replace.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover a new holiday card source this year. It’s a site called Minted. What I love is that it is an independent design community, so think small, talented, independent designers who have their works voted on and sold through Minted. This means my card won’t be like every other one I receive. It will be unique!
This quick video is a cool intro to Minted. Many moms (either working or staying at home) are also designers, pursuing their passion and submitting their work to the design challenges on Minted. This community of designers (similar to the blogosphere) delivers beautiful, award winning design.
Moms pursuing their passions – hmm…sounds familiar. And yes, I’d like to support that community! I bought my daughter’s Halloween costume from Etsy (an Elsa dress), and it seems that Minted is a sort of Etsy of cards, art, and decor.
The number of choices is a bit overwhelming, but I managed to find a few favorites.
Being a proud Sconnie, or Wisconsin native, I like the idea of this card, but I don’t like that Wisconsin was covered up. Daddy O. and I did, however, once call Pittsburgh home. This COULD have been our card then when it was just the two of us! There is also a West Coast version of this card, but I think Wisconsin was covered up in that one too. Bummer – this option is not for us.
I was drawn to the fun lettering on these cards.
I am not sure what family pictures I have to include in this year’s card, so I may have to get creative with multiple photos on one card. Here were some multiple photo options that caught my eye:
My family isn’t too big on super heros, but I someday we may be. When that is the case, we’ll use a card like this:
Certainly professional photographers’ pictures are far superior to my own snapshots, and I’m having a little picture envy just looking at all these lovely cards used on the site. In the spirit of advance planning, here are some tips on how to get a great family picture for holiday cards by Heather Lee on Julep. She recommends having pictures taken now and having a photo card in mind, so the photographer can compose the shot correctly. Good tips!
For our own card, I’ll try my best to snap some good pictures within the next few weeks or use what we have. I think these two cards are my top holiday card contenders:
Next step – playing on Minted with some of these cards and my pictures. Stay tuned to see which pictures and what card I choose!
This was a sponsored post, but the opinions expressed were my own. Photography by Minted.
go mama o. 