A back-end view of Mia's birth announcement. Its been a few years so I'm glad this was still saved in my account!
For me the holidays don't truly start until I get my first card in the mail. I'm a stationery junkie and LOVE sending and receiving cards! For years I was in awe of the beautiful custom cards my cousins sent every year, and when I got pregnant one of them pulled me aside and said told me it was our turn to join the custom card game. Game on!
Thank GOD I discovered Minted right out of the gate. It had been years since I'd done any personal custom printing projects and I remembered feeling like the quality of those early projects was never quite up to my standards. But the quality of Minted's cards blew me away. The colors were bright and true, and the paper felt sturdy yet soft. I cried when I opened Mia's birth announcement and I still have it on our refrigerator—it looks as lovely as it did the day it arrived in the mail!
Our 2013 card, featuring a cute picture from the Mia's first trip to the pumpkin patch!
Since Jole is a designer lots of people complimented him on the beautiful designs of her announcement and our holiday card later that year, but it was all me with the help of Minted's easy designer tools and customization options. Minted's cards feature artist-submitted designs from independent artists around the world. Users vote for their favorite designs and the winners are transformed into family masterpieces.
Our family photo shoot this year was in Maui, so I knew I wanted a warm-feeling Christmas card to match the colorful setting of our photos, preferably in postcard format with foil. Tall order, right? Well, actually not at all. With Minted's easy to navigate search settings I found just what I wanted in about three minutes.
If you're not as decisive as I was this time around, I highly suggest uploading a few images to the "Find It Fast" feature, so you can see your pictures in several cards at once. It really helped me narrow down our design in years past!
I uploaded Mia's picture to see how it would look in several card styles with the "Find It Fast" feature at Minted.com. Seeing the cards I liked most side-by-side with the same photo helped me decide on a winner.
Once you've settled on a design, proofs are free (and worth it, so don't skip this step). Waiting for your proof is a great window to upload addresses to take advantage of the FREE addressing service for cards with envelopes. Seriously, who has time to write addresses on 100 envelopes??? Just sync up your address book and go. Not only will you save time, the options are beautiful, and diverse enough that you'll definitely find one to suit your personal style.
I'm so excited to see our card this year and grateful to Minted for offering me a complimentary order to use the service and write about it. I'm already a big fan of the company because their products are great, their CEO is a hard-core #girlboss (did anyone else order from Eve.com back in the day? That was her first company)! Who doesn't love a woman-run company with beautiful artist-designed products that make my family even more beautiful?
Right now Minted is running some great specials just in time for Black Friday, so gather your best photos and create your own masterpieces.
Editor's Note: Minted offered me a complimentary holiday card order in exchange for my honest opinions about their products and services in this post.