Design Crafters

Have you ever missed out on an important picture? Perhaps it was a family photo? A class reunion photo? Your family’s photo Christmas cards photo? Check this out:  thanks to modern technology you can be in the photo without even being there.

Looking back, I realize now that there are at least two times in my life that I regret not being in a picture and wish I knew how to use picture editing programs back then. The first time was when an international youth magazine came to take a picture of our class. For most regular teens, that’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I had a terrible headcold that day and was home sick from school.

The second time was when I was a part of Youth Outdoors program. At that time in my life I considered it a big deal because it was something none of the other schools in that State had done and I got to be a part of it. Of course I happened to be absent again. I didn’t even know the picture had been taken until the yearbook came out. Even now, I look back and wish things could have been different.

Take a page from me and don’t spend years regretting who is not in an important photo: just break out the photo editing software and make that missing person a part of the photo.  Almost instantly, you’ll have a great image for your Christmas card, corporate newsletter, or yearbook.  What an easy solution!

Enjoying your Labor Day, or are you feeling bad about the lack of holiday mail that goes out on this holiday weekend? Even when we’re talking about keeping the post office busy with our holiday mail, Christmas still ranks number one (Valentine’s, again, holds that number two spot). The United States Post Office estimates that, between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, it processes somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 million first-class cards (we’re assuming Christmas cards are a huge part of that number) in the mail. Americans keep our mailmen (and mailwomen) working hard delivering our Christmas cards.

One interesting thing we learned from Forbes Magazine, who recently ranked holidays that trigger the most consumer spending here in the United States and the top three.  Those holidays are, in this order: Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Mother’s Day.   Are you shocked that Labor Day isn’t on that list?  Actually, probably not, as more people celebrate this particular holiday with picnics and barbeques and an unofficial farewell to summer kind of party than in other ways.  Hope you have a wonderful Labor Day this year and we look forward to seeing all those Christmas cards in the mailbox very soon.

Everyone has something, some event or food or book (or even a piece of music) that makes it feel like the holidays.  Each year, a few weeks before Thanksgiving, my family and I start planning a trip to the local Christmas tree farm. It’s a wonderful tradition we began before the children were even born. It has sort of become the unofficial start to our holiday season, and a very lovely way to kick it off, too. Hayrides, hot cocoa, baked goods, holiday greenery, Christmas carols playing in the background, and acres and acres of future Christmas trees.

Thinking back, I realize that we first went to the Christmas tree farm with some friends, who had asked us to go with them. While there, they turned to us and asked us to take some photos of their whole family, standing in front of the rows of beautiful live Christmas trees. We obliged, snapped a few shots, and then we found “the perfect” tree for our home, so we quickly forgot taking those few family photos. But our friends didn’t forget, and a few weeks later, we opened our mailbox to find a Christmas card from them, with one of the photos we’d taken for them on the card smiling back at us.

Wouldn’t you know it, our friends’ Christmas card photo turned out so well that we decided we would like to “borrow” the idea for our own cards someday. And that’s just what we did. It’s fun to look back at our little collection of photos from the Christmas tree farm that we’ve amassed now; each and every one of them was taken for that year’s Christmas card.

How can Christmas cards make a huge difference in a long-lost friendship or family relationship?  While a great many people think of Christmas cards as a simple way to keep in touch with friends and family and pass along holiday greetings, it’s worth noting that the cards are also a means to ending estranged relationships.

All it takes is one card, one sincerely felt, genuinely friendly Christmas card to an old friend or formerly dear family member, and then you very well may get a phone call or letter shortly afterwards from them, relieved and happy to have heard from you after all those years and wanting, just like you, to resume the relationship. Granted, it’s not a guaranteed way back into someone’s life, but it’s surprising how many times that a gesture like a Christmas card will be an effective truce to an argument.

Many people think back on their lost friends and relatives with regret, knowing that they can’t go back in time to undo the argument but wishing that perhaps there was some way to repair the damaged relationship. That’s just where Christmas cards come into play.  Think of it this way:  the holiday season is a time of love, friendship, and sharing happy times with others. So it makes sense that it would also be a time of reconciliation and forgiveness among friends and family, as well. Keep that in mind when you next begin writing out your annual Christmas card list…is there someone you miss having in your life who should be getting a card from you?

Vacations are great for everyone, and everyone needs vacations, right? Where’s your favorite place to go on vacation? Some folks love to spend their vacations at the beach, some prefer skiing in the mountains, and still others wouldn’t dream of having a vacation anywhere but with their extended families at a lake in the summertime or at a theme park with their kids.  Vacations can be times of new experiences and adventures, or relaxation and familiar comfortable surroundings.  One thing that all vacations share in common, though, is that most families who have gone on a vacation are eager to share their experiences with folks back home.

We all know that people share their vacation experiences through many things, including photographs, home movies, scrapbooks, and even special pages on their family websites.   But the single easiest and probably most effective way to show friends their vacation memories and snapshots is through the sending of Christmas cards.  Even if the vacation occurred months prior to the holidays, a great many people see that vacation as a major event in their family’s year, so why not feature it, front and center, on their family’s annual Christmas card? It makes for a nice card.

So it should come as no surprise that there’s been an ever-increasing number of Christmas cards going out that feature the family’s big vacation.  A photo of Grandma riding a camel with the Great Pyramids of Egypt in the background, a photo of the whole family cheering at the ballpark when their favorite team won the World Series, or a photo of the honeymooners swimming with dolphins…all of these experiences (and more) are very easily shared with friends and family by using the photo on a Christmas card. Where will your Christmas card show you having gone on vacation this year?

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We have been talking about ways to customize your Christmas cards, to make a particular card individualized for your business. We have discussed  using custom verses and logos but another way to be different in an elegant sort of way is to send a card that was designed to add a greeting as well as your company name to the front of  the holiday card. We call these, "Front Card Imprint" cards.

We have a special category of Christmas card that was designed for you to be able to choose from a number of selected greetings or you can compose your own right on the front of the card before it is even opened.

Some examples are "Season’s Greetings from…"
"Happy Holidays from…" "From all of us at…" Feliz Navidad de…" "Holiday Greetings From…" "Best Wishes for a Happy Holiday From…" "Wishing you a Joyous Holiday Season from…" you get the idea. You would then just add your company name. You also have an option to create your own short greeting and it is  presented in a lovely, classy looking font.

Not all of these cards are conducive to it, but we have even printed some company logos on the front of these cards. If you are wanting to show off your company logo, I think we have already mentioned in a previous blog that we have a "Logo Card" section in which you can have your logo printed inside the card along with your verse, end the logo shows through to the front of the card through a die cut opening. Of course any of our cards can have a logo printed inside. And yes, we can print two color logos (occasionally even three or full color) for a price of course. Each of these have to be individually priced after viewing each logo.

By the way, if you are already paying the fee to have your logo added to your card, we will gladly help you desgin and layout your own custom verse for no additonal cost and submit it all as one piece of artwork.

We offer all the design work to help you create your individualized masterpiece as a free service. We want to be sure that the presentation of your sentiment and company representation be one that people not only remember but even talk about.

Why the extra fee? Well, the printer charges us a fee to take the artwork we send him to burn a special plate with your special image which then requires a special setup on the printing press to print the inside of your card.

Check out all of our beautiful selections. Yoru really cannot go wrong with any of our cards.