I sent out the first batch of our Family Christmas Cards over a week ago, so I feel it’s safe to post them in full on the site, now that most everyone has them. I still need to catch up on reader cards that sent them to my P.O. Box! Like last years cards, I used Black River Imaging to print them (and labels) and tried a new product and LOVED it! Â I ordered a THICKer card, and I love how it turned out!
I’m a BIG fan of mailing out Christmas Cards each year, so I’ve tried all different kinds of companies to print the cards.
I love that I can upload my own design to Black River Imaging, and I LOVE the unique option of the extra thick LOFT paper + colorTHICK cards. I actually got the thinnest one they offer because I was concerned about postage, but I was assured that even their thickest option wouldn’t add any additional postage. I had several friends comment to me how they loved how thick it was! Just something different, and would would work great on an easel as a print, too.
Funny story. Some may remember that we took family pictures last May in St. George Utah. I had a tripod, and we got about 25 shots (after I ran back and forth), I got fabulous cooperation from my kids (funny story on how on that link) and I’ve even now hung them up in my home with metallic canvas. Â Anyway, that was way before my drastic transformation, and my hair was less….red. I couldn’t send out a family card that didn’t say who I was NOW, but I also really wanted to include that gorgeous orange rock photo set. SO, I did both!
If you see on the back of the card, I included an updated shot with me and my red hair, and all of us wearing the same clothes as 6 months before! Ha! I’m impressed that we were able to locate all articles of clothing! I’m funny, eh? I felt a little silly it all over again, but oh well. The amazing Amanda from Pie in the Sky Photography snapped them for me.
Here is the main image on our card, I cropped it to be horizontal. I just LOVE the impact of the landscape behind us.  Click here to see more of this family session with orange rock.
Here are the two pictures we used from the “red hair” session, one for the card, one for our return address mailing labels.
My husband had a back injury, so I jumped on the back of my oldest son, and the littlest jumped on his back!
Here are our address labels, I love how they wrapped around the card with a picture and address
Here is how they look on the addresses (I had to blur out details, so it looks like a shady shot!) Â I chose the labels that had a flag like shape, the picture is on the front, and the address wraps around to the back of the card.
Below is an up close shot of our card design by Jessika Reed.  I LOVE something custom that no one else will have seen. She used digital gold foil (see tutorial for that here). Since I’m slightly crazy about confetti lately, that was incorporated into the design.
I had Jessika design a map for me that I wanted to include on our card or letter somewhere, but it just didn’t fit. So I will share it with you! It’s a map of the places we traveled in the year 2014.
See how I designed a wall space around these images here:
Learn tips on how to take your own family pictures here:
***********To see our past years cards/pictures/designs, click on the year link below************
These don’t have to be just for Christmas cards, either, these fabulous thick cards can be done with Business cards, or flier/handouts that you might need for your business needs, too. Â I thought they had better images on my site than I could take, so here are shots of the ColorTHICK and LOFT paper below.
I also ordered a few ornaments of our family pictures, and I LOVE doing that each year! These ornaments are on metal, so nice and durable. I have a few that I ordered in the past that are porcelain and I’m so worried they will drop and break.
Lastly, I saw that Black River Imaging would let me DESIGN MY OWN WRAPPING PAPER!!! What?!? Craziness, this was super thrilling for me, as I’m kinda crazy and particular about wrapping paper. I sent in the same design as the confetti ‘Tis the Season to be Joyful Digital prints, and love how it turned out!
Just FYI, Black River Imaging did not pay me for this post, but they did supply the cards, labels, wrapping paper, and ornaments for me to review. See more about the LOFT paper and colorTHICK cards on those links.
To see more Christmas family ideas, click on this link or on the image below!
