Make your own christmas cards quick and easy

Every year I have grand plans of getting a professional photo taken of our family in the fall and then using those lovely photos for our Christmas cards but it seems like every year things get crazy (or I'm pregnant and we don't need any pictures of THAT) and it just doesn't happen. Well, this year it "didn't happen" again and last week I had to come up with something quick.

I thought I'd share with you what I did just in case you are in a similar situation... it's not too late to get a great Christmas card out.

First I bought a Santa hat from The Dollar store then I found the spot in my house with the most natural light. We are lucky to have a lot of big windows in our home so natural light is easy to come by. I created a back drop with a white sheet and took pictures (turn OFF the flash on your camera... you will get much better pictures with natural light and no flash) of each of my kids wearing the Santa hat.

The pictures looked something like this:

Then I used this tutorial for selective colorization.

Now you can just take this photo to Costco (or snapfish or whatever) and use one of their cards OR you can easily create your own card using photoshop/ elements like I did.

I LOVE this site for FREE digital scrapbooking kits and she just posted a beautiful Christmas kit you could use for your card. When your all done just print them out at your photo store (I paid 13 cents for each card, WAHOO!).

BTW- If you are wanting to learn more about how to use your digital camera or how to take better pictures (who doesn't want to take better pictures?!) my dad has a great photography blog in fact it's The World's Best Photography Blog . ;)

He used to own a photography studio now he just shares his expertise and photos on this blog.

Check out 10 Cool Features of your Digital Camera you Should Learn and Use. He goes into detail about each feature and has a lot of photos to illustrate!

Need a teacher gift???

Got this idea from Traci at amazing mae.

Traci is actually a good friend and neighbor of mine, how lucky am I!

She made personalized stationary for her kid's teachers using PSE. I totally copied her and made these. I love how they turned out (I blurred the last names).

So easy and so beautiful!

Thanks Traci.

Now I'm going to make some for myself!

Simply Sweet Handmade Cards

I love to make cards. I don't have all the cute stamps which is why I love this card

and wanted to share with all 2 of you ;).

I just cut 8 1/2 x11 white cardstock in half to make the card then I bought these darling "chiptoppers" made by bazzil paper (you can get "thank you" or "happy birthday" or

"merry christmas" etc.) and matching paper.

I cut the colored strips 1 1/2in x 4in and put one of the chip toppers on top.

Don't you love how simple and chic these cards are!

I love the colors and clean lines!So what are you waiting for... grab your paper cutter and get started!