FREE Holiday cards from Shutterfly!

Okay. I have been the world's worst blogger. I blame it on school, on teaching college composition for the first time in my life (writing lesson plans and grading papers takes FOREVER!), and on the general adjusting I've had to do after our big cross-country move. But I have time to catch my breath now, and I want to catch up the blog. To that end, I have a lot of posts planned, including:

• The absolutely adorable Christmas planner I crafted!!! (So excited...see the sneak peak photo at the bottom of this post!)
• Our engagement photos! (Preview the pics in this post!)
• More of our apartment tour (including multiple views of our bathroom and living room, which have changed a lot since their first dressings).
• Fall decor (I figured, oh snap, I can't take all this stuff down and replace it with Christmas decor without showing the blog world!)

And there will be more, much more!

For my first post back, I just have to gush about this A-MA-ZING deal that Shutterfly is putting on for all you bloggity gals & guys out there. They're offering 50 FREE holiday cards. Click here for more information. I've pretty much gone gaga over their entire holiday gift collection, particularly the photo cards, as I have some engagement photos that I'd love our loved ones to see. Here are my absolute favorites:



Seasonal Chic 2010 Christmas 5x7 Card. Non-denominational? Check. Spots for multiple photos? Check. Space for warm wishes inside? Check. And such a cute color theme.




Custom mug with chocolate. You can customize the design (over 20 to choose from!) I love personalized gifts, and who doesn't love chocolate? Could be adorable for grandparents--they love to see smiling tots as they sip their morning brews :)





Personalized wall calendars. Calendars are a classic holiday gift (Happy New Year! Here, keep track of it!) But instead of giving your loved ones a pop culture calendar that they'll recycle once we great 2012, why not customize it with photos that mean something to them? I've received personalized photo calendars before, and I always keep them in my memory trunk. Shutterfly's version is way better than any I've seen before, however, because you can add photos to individual days, not just the monthly headers! How ingenious--instead of writing out "Sam's birthday," you can insert a picture of Sam to get that message across!




True Blue Menorah Hanukkah 5x7 photo card. For my Jewish friends out there (shout out to Miss Sara Aisenberg!), Shutterfly not only has the non-denominational photo cards I highlighted above, but also tons of Hanukkah designs! Commemorate the festival of lights with this adorable card. I love the menorah design, and I must admit that the card model child is such a little cutie! (She doesn't come with, though :P)


If you're not hooked on Shutterfly's many holiday options by now, I urge you to check out their stuff, from photo cards to other customizable gifts. The best part? Their photo uploader is so easy to use! After you've created a FREE account, you can upload images directly from iPhoto, Picasa, or Photoshop! If you don't have any of those programs (like me) you can use their standard uploader to select a ton of pictures at once (it's so fast!) Plus if you have a iPhone or iPad, you can download the Shutterfly app and upload photos stored or taken on those devices. Once you've uploaded some suitable snaps, you can sub them in to your favorite designs and preview your purchases by simply clicking the "Get started" button on the product's page! Here's a preview of my photo card (one of the many I messed around with!):




The photo featured is one of our engagement pictures, FYI (more to come in another blog post!) The picture was really easy to edit using Shutterfly's site--I changed the photo color to black & white by clicking on the picture, the "effects" tab, and selecting "black & white." Here's a screenshot:




I can't wait until my holiday cards arrive (will they be the same as the preview I showed you above? That I cannot reveal...) Just to prove that I will post more, here's a preview of what I'll feature next--my very own Christmas planner, as inspired by the lovely sisters at eighteen25!





I love how it turned out and can't wait to share the project in its entirety! Until then, have a lovely weekend--it's supposed to drop to 15 below up here, so we'll be holed up for the weekend under our blankies, drinking hot cocoa :)