Warning…I’m about to reveal our first annual “Campbell Family Christmas Card”. So if for some strange reason, if ye friends and family of ours are out there reading this, and you haven’t received our card yet, you may want to avert your eyes and run for the hills.
Drum roll please…”Joy To The World” (note the Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation reference)…our Christmas card.
You should recognize the photo from our little photo shoot back here, and subsequent outtakes.
And a zoomed in shot of the message on the back. Do you like how I incorporated a little bit of Christmas light action on the back to tie into the Christmas light action of the front? I amaze myself sometimes at my sheer brilliance (note the sarcasm).
We ordered the cards from my new favorite picture ordering site extraordinaire, mpix.com. The site is great. They have quality photo gifts and prints including cards, notepads, planners and more…and they’re relatively inexpensive. It cost us just under $50 for 50 cards/envelopes and to ship them. They even allow you to design your own cards from scratch, which was my original plan but I just plum ran out of time. Maybe next year. To design your own cards all you have to do is download their Photoshop template, design your cards anyway you want, and then upload the file to be printed. AND the best part about mpix.com is that they have your order printed and ready to ship in 24 hours. No joke. I ordered our cards on a Tuesday and had them in hand on a Friday. Now that’s what I call service!
But this post isn’t so much about the cards (although I can gush about them all day) but more about how we jazzed up the cards…including spicing up the boring white envelopes that came with the cards with washi tape.
That’s a set of Martha Stewart washi tape that I picked up at the craft store for $3. After a little bit of playing around with the tape, and trying to keep it simple since…ahem…50 cards to adorn here, I decided on washi tape trees. Trees are simple, no?!
And it was super simple. Just peel, cut, stick, repeat. And it only took me one episode of Gold Rush and three episodes of Storage Wars to finish them all AND address all 50 cards.
But my favorite part of jazzing up our printed cards was how we signed the cards. I’m a stickler for making Colby sign his own name on things. I think it’s nice when the guy man’s up and signs his own name (Colby even signed his name all legible like…so unlike him…where’s the squiggle I know and love!). But since the card was from all of us, dog child included, we even had Goose sign the cards.
Confession…it would have been hazardous for everyone’s health to have Goose REALLY sign his name via paw print (serious flailing would be involved…we don’t need someone to lose an eye). So Goose’s “signature” is just a dog paw stamp. Close enough.
The final piece of our dressed up, snazzy, take me out on the town now cuz I’m lookin’ so damn cute cards, was sealing the envelope with some more washi tape. No licky licky needed! Woo to the hoo!
So that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it our Christmas card 2012 story. This was my first attempt at making our own cards, which also happened to be on my 30 Before 30 list. Consider this task officially checked off the list. And while we’re talking about lists, let’s just take a little looks-ie and see where we stand:
Get Married(August 10, 2012)- Go see the Timber Tina Lumberjack show in Bar Harbor
- Consider having children
- Join Colby for a romantic date night out
- Learn how to use the video function on my Nikon DSLR
Purchase a big girl couch(September 3, 2012)- Try surfing
- Track down the world’s most amazing Sangria recipe
- Travel somewhere outside the continental US
- Run the Beach to Beacon road race
- Hike Cadillac Mountain
- Finish a quarter of the books on “The List”
- Go on a picnic
- Learn to sew
Bake Colby a birthday cake(August 19, 2012)- Learn to knit
- Dig for mussels on the Maine coast
- Finish the yearly photo books
Make my own Christmas cards(December 7, 2012)Spend a weekend in Southern Maine(July 20 – 22, 2012)- Go to an auction
- Send my mom flowers
- Watch all 10 seasons of Friends start to finish
- Explore Portsmouth, New Hampshire
- Cook through my recipe idea files
- Attend the infamous Brimfield antique show
Become a mug club member at a local bar(November 14, 2012)- Organize the house
- Conquer Julia Child’s Le Boeuf Bourguignon
Host a yard sale(September 1, 2012)
I am DYING to organize the house. DYING! My inner organizational diva needs to unleash her fury on our mess of a home. That and I really want to try my hand at sewing. Maybe this weekend. Perhaps…but I’m not holding my breath. Still so many things to check off the list!
Pssst…Have you sent out your Christmas cards this season? I’m curious…did you buy or DIY?
Very, very nice. Any card seems more personal when it is made instead of buying. Merry Christmas to you and Colby and of course Goose. See on Christmas day if not before.
OOPS, forgot the “you” after “See” ___ “on Christmas day………” Sorry, typing not so great these days.