Ok so I know it is cheesy, but I like to do photo cards for Christmas. I started doing it after we had our first baby and now it has become a bit of a tradition. I am sure some people might love it and some people might hate it but whatever, I still like doing it.

The first year I did it I ordered a super expensive Xmas card off of Tiny Prints. It is a great site and their cards are super cute and high quality but they are also really expensive and frankly, with three kids, I just can’t afford that anymore.

The next two years I ordered my Xmas cards from Costco. They were cheaper and it was easy to download the pictures at home but, I have to say that for the price, the quality was really the shits. Not only was the quality lacking but the designs weren’t very original. I am pretty sure we got another card that year, from another family, in the same design… that is a major faux pas I did not want to repeat so it was back to the drawing board.

Last year our baby girl was just born so I was looking to combine her birth announcement and our Xmas card in a fun way. Before baby girl was born, I was browsing Etsy for a quilt for her bedroom and I stumbled across the card section of Etsy. It was like a revelation!!

There are so many talented graphic designers who put their work on Etsy. Instead of buying the card and having it printed at a place like Costco, you can purchase the card design only (for a super low price BTW) and have the designer place your photo(s) into it, then they send you the digital file so you can have it printed locally. Last years card was perfect; I loved it so much I ended up contacting the designer, Pinch of Spice, to do a giveaway on the blog.

When something works out there really is no point in changing things up, so this year I went back to Etsy and once again found a wealth of holiday photo card choices. We did a little photo shoot of all three kids and we landed the cutest set of photos. When I was running through the photos, both hubby and I agreed that the not so perfect ones were also pretty cute. We had this idea that maybe we could find a card that would allow us to show a little humour.

I went browsing again and there it was, the Holy Grail of Xmas cards. I purchased the design, emailed the creator our photos, and less then 12 hours later, I had the file for our card design in my inbox. How awesome is that!

Now all I have to do is send the file off to the local printer and pick up the cards. I have priced it out and you can get the cards printed on photo paper for a bargain basement $19.50 per 50 cards or go the cardstock route (which we prefer) for about $43 per 50 cards.

That means with the initial $15 design fee, you can get 50 totally original, custom Xmas cards printed in colour on high quality card stock for $58. That is cheaper than most nice quality store bought Xmas cards.Plus, the whole affair is all done from my computer, it is cheaper than Costco and the cards are going to turn out way better. The other really great thing is that I am supporting two small businesses in the process: the card designer and the local print shop.

So if you are still hoping to make that perfect holiday card this season, there is still time! Get on Etsy and do some browsing. I promise you, you’ll be amazed at the selection. I ordered mine through Announcing You. Have a look at her work, it is great. But hey… stay away from the photo strip ones alright! If I catch any of you taking my card this year I will cut a bitch… got it .

Happy Browsing.