Christmas Cards + A Giveaway!

It's that time of year again, time to scramble and book a last minute session with a photographer (if you can) or ask your neighbor to take a quick snap of you and the fam so you can get a personal Christmas card out to your friends and family before the New Year hits!  Of course, ideally you would have already had that photo session booked with the photographer of your choice (hopefully me!) and your Christmas card design ready and waiting for that perfect family photo to insert with the envelopes addressed and ready to mail off December 1st.
Yet very few of us live in an ideal world and sometimes it is hard, if not impossible, to be that
always put-together Martha Stewart persona we dream of.  For those of us not quite prepared, Shutterfly and their AMAZINGLY HUGE selection of Christmas cards is there to make at least the Christmas card selecting part of the season easy and quick.  With just a few clicks of the mouse, uploading a family image and typing in your family's name, you can have a custom and well made card to send out to your loved ones...and they'll never know you waited until the last minute since Shutterfly's processing and shipping is so fast!

Most photographer's offer their client's the option of choosing one of only a few designs to create their high-end press printed cards.  While I can definitely appreciate this and the many design options presented, I've found Shutterfly to be an excellent and comparable alternative.  For the past 4 years I have used Shutterfly to create photobooks for myself and to give to family members as gifts.  In addition, I use Shutterfly to create photo calendars each year using pictures taken from that exact month of the year before so I can see how much the children have grown and changed from year to year.  These calendars are also given as gifts and are now looked forward to each year.

This year while trying to decide what to do for our family Christmas card I saw that Shutterfly offers a huge selection of designs - ranging in folded 5x7s, to flat stationary cards to the more economical flat photocards.  I myself tend to have trouble deciding on just one photo to include with our card, so I appreciate their large selection and options of using one photo or multiple photos.  Here are a few examples of some of the multi-photo designs I really like:

If you don't care to send out Christmas cards, it's not too late to put together some amazing photo gifts for friends and family.  Shutterfly offers many great photo gifts that I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding something wonderful to make with your family images this year!  If you don't have a big family but still want to send out cards, I love that Shutterfly even includes a fun option for you to highlight your favorite furball!

Now are you ready for a giveaway??!  Shutterfly has generously allowed me to give 2 of my readers 25 FREE cards!  Did you see that?  25 amazing cards absolutely FREE!  They are available through December 31, 2011 and to win all you need to do is comment on this blog post by Thursday November 17th.  I will pick the two winners using Random.org and send you the codes for your 25 free cards from Shutterfly.  That's it, easy peasy!  So please pass this along and good luck with crossing off all the projects on your Christmas "To Do" list!

Also a reminder that it's not too early to book your 2012 photo session with Mindy Newton Photography.  I book a limited number of sessions each month so give me a call or send me an email if you'd like more information or want to get a session date on the calendar!


Disclosure: As a blogger, I am receiving 50 free cards from Shutterfly for this post.  

Merry Christmas!│Sacramento Portrait Photographer

Thank you to all of my clients for making this first year of capturing your lovely families such a rewarding and wonderful experience!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It's Not Too Late - Christmas Gift Ideas│Sacramento Family Photographer

I am nearing the end of my holiday sessions and have been so grateful for my fabulous clients this year!  I've met some fun and wonderful people and have been blessed to be a part of your memory-making journey.

If you are still stuck on some of your Christmas gifts - I have some fun and practical calendar options for you to consider!  Don't delay though because the final day to order will be this Friday, December 17th.

Treasured Boys

11x14 - $15.00

8x10- $10.00

Classic

11x14 - $15.00

8x10 - $10.00

  Fun & Fresh

5x7 or 8x10 available - $10.00

An Excellent Choice

Fall is typically a family photographer's busiest season as everyone wants new family photos to send out in their Christmas cards.  With this being my first year in business I am finding this to be true and I've been enjoying the many lovely families I've been able to photograph so far.  I'm looking forward to seeing what they decide to do with their images for Christmas cards and as you've seen in this post, I enjoy designing cards for clients as well. 

Most photographer's offer their client's the option of choosing one of only a few designs to create their high-end press printed cards.  While I can definitely appreciate this and the many design options presented, I've found another alternative that you may like in Shutterfly.  For the past 3 years I have used Shutterfly to create photobooks for myself and to give to family members as gifts.  In addition, I use Shutterfly to create photo calendars each year using pictures taken from that exact month of the year before so I can see how much the children have grown and changed from year to year.  These calendars are also given as gifts and are now looked forward to each year.

This year while trying to decide what to do for our family Christmas card I saw that Shutterfly offers a huge selection of designs - ranging in folded 5x7s, to flat stationary cards to the more typical flat photocards.  I myself tend to have trouble deciding on just one photo to include with our card, so I appreciate their large selection and options of using one photo or multiple photos.  Here are a few examples of some of the designs I really like:

 Some designs like the one shown below, even offer you the ability to put more photos inside the card with the rest of your Christmas story.

If you don't care to send out Christmas cards, it's not too late to send out Thanksgiving cards or work on putting together a desk calendar for this next year.  Shutterfly offers many great photo gifts that I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding something wonderful to make with your family images this year!

Disclosure: As a blogger, I am receiving 50 free cards from Shutterfly for this post.  You can too - Bloggers get 50 free cards from Shutterfly, find out how!

Christmas Card Designs are Here!

The holidays are fast approaching and the deadline for sending out those Christmas cards will be here before you know it!  I love designing cards and am happy to be offering my clients a variety of choices this Christmas season.  I've designed each card with a unique style that can be customized to your taste and preferences, including font changes, some color changes and some multi-photo options. 

Many people enjoy the luxury of press printed cards that typically come in sizes 5x7 and 5x5 and tend to be on the higher end of the Christmas card budget ($1 - 1.60/card).  Others prefer the more budget-friendly photo printed cards that can be found usually in 4x8 size and then I know a number of people who use the extremely value-priced Costco photo cards in size 6x7.5.  

I am offering designs for all of these options and today want to share with you just a few of my designs for the Costco cards.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

These first three designs come from 

my Elegant Christmas Collection

These next two are from my Freshly Festive Collection

Photo taken by Lisa Smiley Photography

If you are interested in a unique, custom Christmas card design, please email me 

at info@mindynewtonphotography.com and I'd love to discuss it with you!

Last Opportunity for a Mini-Session this Year!│Sacramento Family Photographer

In an effort to keep my holiday schedule somewhat sane, my last opportunity for mini-sessions will be offered Saturday, November 13th.  I only have a couple more full sessions left for 2010 so if you are hoping for pictures for those Christmas cards or gifts, please contact me ASAP to reserve your spot with either a full session or mini-session!

Blessings,
Mindy

Here's Your Chance

You probably won't believe I'm saying this but the holidays are just around the corner!  It may seem too early to be worrying about the gifts, the food, the wrapping, but it's the perfect time to be thinking ahead towards those Christmas cards! 

I'm holding one Saturday open in October for the 2010 Fall Mini-Sessions.  These will be short, back-to-back sessions at a single location to be announced.  I expect this one-day event to book quickly so please contact me ASAP with your preferred time slot.

Christmas Cards

I have been having a fantastic time tapping into my creative side and creating Christmas card templates over the last couple of weeks. I finally thought I should share some with you. These can be customized to personalize the font, pictures and in some cases, picture placement (and number of photos). I'd love to hear which ones you like best!