My wife Kristie and I are filled with joy about our Christmas cards this year!! I was really excited to partner with Tiny Prints and explore their new holiday cards. We chose the Bountiful Branches card with silver foil (they also come in gold, rose gold, and red). They are so shimmery and luxe!
And here is the best thing ever: TinyPrints does free recipient addressing on custom envelope orders! I opted not to go for that since I want to force myself to improve my hand lettering (#regret), but I'm super grateful to have our address printed on the back of every envelope.
We love sending out holiday cards (and getting them of course!). There's something so special about receiving a card in the mail with a family picture that hasn't already been shared on social media. It's a sweet little surprise for the people we love! And a reminder that sometimes staying in touch is more than just clicking "like" on a photo.
Oh, and one more quick thing: I liked using TinyPrints especially because in the sample photos of cards, they occasionally feature a same-sex couple or same-sex parents! It might seem like something small, but representation matters.
Here's a closer look at the foil detail...
We took the family photo we used in the card ourselves in our bedroom. It definitely doesn't look like it used to, right? I want to share the details soon, but ever since we updated and redecorated it a little bit, it's one of my favorite spaces.
In case you're curious, I wanted to share some tips about taking your own family photos! A few years ago I wrote about taking pictures with a dog, and lots of those suggestions still stand. In addition to a camera of course, I'm glad I have this setup...
Unless you're doing your photos outside, I think a lighting kit is a really good idea. I definitely needed them to shoot these pictures since we did it inside and at night! In addition, you'll need a tripod, and I love being able to use a remote (here's one for Canon and one for Nikon) instead of a self timer.
Here's the view of the setup from the bed where we all sat (pic taken with my iPhone)...
The vintage radio on Kristie's dresser was the perfect height for the camera, so we didn't end up using the tripod. I turned on the overhead light, and positioned the umbrella lights at opposite corners of the bed to fill in any shadows. I set the camera to autofocus and remote control, we let Samson jump up on the bed (a rarity for sure), and started snapping away.
The photo we ended up using for the cards was by far the best, but I have to share some outtakes because Samson was being extra cute and funny...
This life with them is so much fun. I'm really glad we have these photos and beautiful cards to remember this year.
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I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
