A Pinteresting Wednesday: Infographic Christmas Letter

I have been wanting to make an Infographic Christmas Letter for a while. I first saw them a couple of years ago. This year when The Hubs and I decided not to do Christmas cards, but to do a letter instead I figured it was the perfect opportunity to make one.

I searched around and finally settled on THIS design that I had pinned to my Christmas Board last year. I recreated the letter using PicMonkey.

It was a little bit of a labor of love. However, it was doable. I primarily used the shape cut out frame, choose own overlay, and geometric overlays to make everything you see.

I used three of my favorite fonts-- Thirsty Script Bold, Ostrich Sans Inline, and Egyptienne Light.

One of my favorite things about this letter is the individual circle pics (circle shape cut out over the photos) and the columns of information.

When I was all done making our Infographic Christmas Letter, I sent it to Staples to have them print them off. The quality is insane and I am so glad I choose to do that over printing them off myself.

Overall, I am happy we decided to do a letter this year. At first I was bummed we weren't going to do Christmas cards, but then when I started my creative juices flowing I really enjoyed making this letter. Now we will have to wait and see what I do next year.

I also should probably get these in the mail now. Ha! Here's to hoping they get where they are going before Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

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Brightside Prints: Beautiful Holiday Cards

It is the most wonderful time of the year...

Time to send out Christmas cards!

This year I am super excited about our family Christmas cards for a couple of reasons.

First, we have some pretty legit family photos for the first time in over three years.

Second, the most exciting reason, is that my Christmas cards came from the very awesome shop Brightside Prints.

They have the most beautiful and unique holiday cards. Seriously they are breathtaking. I was about as giddy as giddy can be when they offered to let me choose a card I love and to put my cute family on it for our 2012 Christmas card.

I poured over their website.

Then I poured over it some more.

and suh'more...

There were oh-so-many lovely options.

I mean take a look, here are just a few of my favorites.

Chalkboard Lettering,  Silent Night

 Snowflake Wreath

Elf Says, Believe

I may have said this before, but I had the hardest time choosing.

Ultimately I decided to go with something simple and elegant to showcase off those photos I have been blathering on about.

I love the handwriting font. I love the whimsical snowflakes.

The other thing I love, love, love about these cards is that the awesome holiday-ness (totally just made up my own word) doesn't stop with the front of the card.

They also personalize the back either with text or with MORE pictures (yes I am aware I need help with my family photo obsession).

When I couldn't decide what picture to use for the front, Brightside Prints helped a sister out by collaging up my favorite photos on the back.

The perfectly coordinating text box completed the card.

They were such a delight to work with. They completely catered to me and produced a Christmas card that I couldn't be happier with.

I actually clapped and giggled when I got and opened my stack of family Christmas cards.

They came super fast.

Now all I have to do is address them and send them out to friends and family.

I am probably going to admire them just a bit longer first.

After all this going on about the cards at Brightside Prints, you know you want to go and check out all their lovely cards for yourself.

You have plenty of time to go and drool over their cards and then order up some to send out this holiday season. You will die over the variety, and you will love how great they are to work with.

The GOOD NEWS is that Brightside Prints is giving Just Another Day in Paradise readers 10% of their order. Simply use the code "paradise" and the discount is yours my friends.

I know you will love them...'cause I sure love mine.

Happy Holidays!

Christmas Card Download

I came across this incredible free download last week. I about fell out of my chair with excitement. I had been debating what I was going to do for Christmas cards this year. There are so many great card sites out there, but thanks to our lovely new home we are on a pretty tight budget and those sites, while cute, are expensive.

Rebecca from Simple as That is so generous and talented. She made up three new templates this year for Christmas cards. She offers them completely free. All you have to do is download them to your computer, edit them with your pictures, and then order prints. Bam! You are done!

With cards downloaded on the computer, I took my Little Men out for a quick photo shoot. They did so well...you can't tell in these photos that it was FREEZING out...the wind here is killing us. Then I edited my pictures and added them to the free template. I couldn't decide which one, so I did two. All this was done in a day or two.

Lovely, right?

I printed them off at Costco. She recommended printing of a test print first, so I did. They were perfect, so then I ordered all the cards I needed. They are glorious. I am so grateful that I came upon her site. The quality of this download is so professional.

Ya want an extra yippee??

Not only does she have the three cards new for this year, but she also did some last year that are free to download. That means you have at least 6 different options for cards this year. YIPPEE!

Here are two of my other favorites:

So if you haven't ordered your cards yet go on over to Simple as That and download the card of your choice. Then make it your own.

P.S. If you get an actual mailed card from us...then you will have to wait with giddy anticipation as to which card you will get...I know you are excited!


Happy Holidays friends!

HEY EVERYONE...here is an added little blurb...

Just found another set of free download Christmas Cards from

Becky Higgins Scrapbook extraordinaire.

Just to add to your options!