team vaughn

I like to think of myself as someone who is pretty on top of things and generally ahead of the game. Lately? Oh, lord. I've been playing catch up, and I'm still not there yet. The past few months have been a bit overwhelming.

I love holiday cards! I love sending them! I love the excuse to have family photos taken! And yet somehow we were well into November and I had nothing in order. My usual goal is to send our Christmas cards out the Friday after Thanksgiving. Ha. Ha ha ha ha ha.

I hoped that sometime between September and November a beautiful and perfect family photo would be captured. Maybe that day we all went apple picking? That time we were all dressed for a friend's birthday party? Yeah, never happened. So, I finally did what any organized and prepared person does: hunt down a local photographer on facebook, browse her work a bit, and beg her to squeeze us in for a family shoot just before Thanksgiving. Then, run around to find coordinated but not-too-matchy outfits and pray we get JUST ONE PHOTO of everyone looking decent-ish. I'm realistic. A 3 year old and 9 month old twins is pretty much a recipe for family photo disaster. But guess what?


A mom's photography dream! Phew. So that left one thing -- cards.

Minted has always been one of my absolute favorite paper product sites. Their card designs never disappoint, and their quality is just fantastic. There are two AWESOME features that are wonderfully time saving and just plain smart.

1. Photo Preview. Upload your photo and see it on a variety of different cards in one glance. I love this because you can quickly see what works with your photo.



2. Address Printing. I don't even know where to start with my love for this feature. Addressing holiday cards has always been a highlight and the unraveling of my Christmas spirit. We had most of our addresses on an excel file from our wedding invites. But for whatever reason they were all out of order and perpetually outdated. Back when I had extra time on my hands I LOVED hand addressing cards and having fun with them: embossing, stamps, washi tape. The whole shebang. As much as I still love hand addressing, I just don't have the patience or energy for it anymore. Smudged stamps, stuck together cards, human error...no patience. SO - free addressing on Minted cards? OMG AMAZING. I spent a few evening curled up with our spreadsheet making sure it was perfectly up to date and organized. It was completely worth the effort as we can use it year after year.

The final product? Here you go!



And, since a few address updates didn't make it in time for my order, I got to hand address a few. Just the right balance. Minted did 97% of the work, and I did the remaining 3%. A perfect balance for the mom of a toddler and twins.


How did your holiday cards come out this year?