Support Independent Artists & Graphic Designers with Holiday Photo Cards from Minted.com

I received a promotional item as a thank you for taking the time to share Minted.com with 3G2S readers.  All opinions expressed are my own.

The time is upon us when holiday cards are beginning to be made and purchased. We send out cards nearly every year, so when I heard about Minted.com, I was excited to see what they had to offer. Minted is a unique site because they seek out independent artists and designers who have exceptional work and then showcase them on their site. Consumers can then purchase truly beautiful products that benefit the artists who made them by giving them a commission on their amazing work. In addition to selling holiday cards, they have various invitations, gifts, art prints, and more. Plus, Minted offers free printing of recipient addresses on their card envelopes, so it eliminates that hassle for their customers.

Minted has a very well-designed website with a great layout that is easy to navigate and browse through. There are literally hundreds of designs to choose from that will suit any taste. The available products are very clearly labeled and then you can narrow down choices according to what you’re looking for. They even have the ability to upload your desired photos and it will showcase them in the cards as you browse, which makes choosing even easier. For holiday cards, they have 3 options: flat, folded, and minibook cards. Once your card is chosen, you can customize the colors, shape of the card, which photos to include, and more, so you will have a card that is unlike any other and truly reflects your personal style. Upon browsing, I found many cards that I loved and narrowing down my choice to just one will be very difficult. I particularly fell in love with the minibook cards because it would eliminate my Holiday newsletter that always accompanies my cards.

If you are looking for something new and different to use for your holiday cards this year, have a look at Minted.com and see if you can find something you love.  The ones I've chosen to share are my favorite designs.  Which ones are yours?

You can follow Minted on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. If you are an independent artist, you can also visit their website to find out how your designs can be featured on Minted.com.

Find Out What's New at Tiny Prints in Photo Greeting Cards & Gifts for Holiday 2013!

Thank you to Tiny Prints for providing the gift code for our giveaway prize and for sending me one as well as a thank you for taking the time to share their new products and features with 3G2S readers.  All opinions expressed are my own.

This weekend (weather-permitting), we will be taking our children's portraits for our Holiday photo cards.  Over the past few years, it has become a tradition for our Holiday cards to feature one photo of each child alone plus a fourth photo of the three together.  Because of this, we are limited to cards that have a layout with 3 smaller rectangular or square photos and one larger landscape photo.  I usually only find 2 or 3 that I like, so I was surprised to find 7 or 8 Holiday cards at Tiny Prints with both a design and a 4-photo layout that I liked.  It was so easy to find what I needed using the filters on the sidebar to specify the number of photos, the format of the card, the size of the card, and much more.  After showing all the cards I found to my husband, we narrowed them down to the 5 pictured above.

Finding so many Holiday card options in the layout I wanted was not the only thing that surprised me while I was shopping.  I always knew that I had multiple options for color, format, and layout for most Tiny Prints cards, but this year I found that I could customize the trim for the edges and corners of the cards.  I am particularly partial to the rounded and the ticket corners.  The bracket and scalloped trim options are a little too ornate for me.

There are also new design styles for 2013 that will pretty much fit anyone's taste.  One of my favorites is the new All That Glitters cards.  These cards have the look of glitter without all the mess because the glitter is actually printed right on the cardstock.  Brilliant!

My husband and I were leaning towards the 7 x 5 Chevron Shine Flat Holiday Greeting Card.  We both liked the overall design and I loved the All That Glitters chevron background.  We still were not sure if it was the right card for us.  Then I clicked on the square format option and voila!  It's perfect!!

Now that the big decision has been made, we'll need to decide on the details . . . Should we go with the Pearl White Shimmer Paper?  Should we get the matching address labels too?  How about envelope liners?  Should we get the modified rectangular envelopes to save on the extra postage charged for mailing square envelopes?  Yes, there are a lot of decisions to be made, but I am thankful to have all these options to make our Holiday cards just perfect for our family.

To view all 708 Holiday greeting cards available from Tiny Prints for Holiday 2013, visit TinyPrints.com.  While you're there, be sure to checkout their photo gifts.  This year, in addition to photo books, photo iPhone cases, mugs, calendars, etc . . . , you will find new photo iPad cases and photo ornaments.  For a limited time, you can get Free Standard Shipping on all orders when you checkout with Tiny Prints promo code FS13.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck in the drawing!

This giveaway is open to U.S. entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. A random number drawing will be held shortly after the contest closing. The winner will be announced here and will be contacted via email. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new number will be drawn.

The Die-Cut Holiday Photo Greeting Cards I Designed for 2012 (plus a 50% Off Promo Code)

For Holiday 2012, I tried ordering my Holiday photo greeting cards from a different company . . . Paper Coterie.  This company sent me a gift code to partially cover the cost of my order if I was willing to give their greeting cards a try, so I thought it would not hurt to hop over to their website to see what they had to offer.  What I found was a large variety of very unique, modern, yet down-to-earth cards.  I was especially drawn to the cards that had sleeves that slipped over the cards because they added an extra touch of elegance to the presentation.  My husband and I could not agree on a design with a jacket, so we ended up choosing the scalloped "Happy Holidays" Shaped Card, which is a double-sided 5"x7" flat card.  This card is printed on premium 100% recycled fiber paper, which adds to its charm.

All the Paper Coterie cards have a pre-made layout, but are very customizable.  Our card started out with a photo that filled the whole top half of the front (brown side) and a place for 4 photos in quadrants on the back (green side).  I basically changed everything on this card except for the "Happy Holidays" on the front and the background colors of the front and back.  If you like a card's layout the way it is, all you need to do is upload your photo(s), drag and drop them into the photo areas, and change the greeting or signature to represent your household.

If you are in the market for unique Holiday greeting cards this year, checkout the selection at www.PaperCoterie.com.  For a limited time, you can receive 50% off your Holiday card order when you checkout using Code:  HOLIDAYCARDS2012.


Although the Paper Coterie sent me a gift code to partially cover the cost of my order, all opinions expressed here are my own.

Holiday 2010 Giveaway: $40 to Spend at Hallmark.com [CLOSED]

Every time a holiday rolls around, the name Hallmark is in the air, especially around my favorite holiday in December. Hallmark has grown far beyond the basic greeting card both in-store and online. Let me highlight some of my favorite Hallmark products for Holiday 2010 for you . . .

We have all heard of the Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments. There is such a wide variety offered every year. My favorite types of ornaments to give are the dated picture frames. I love dated ornaments period, just because they will remind the recipient of a particular Christmas with one's family. I like using the picture frame ornaments as gift topper gift tags. All I need to do is insert a piece of paper with the "To" and the "From" right into the frame.

Next, I want to show you the Hallmark holiday photo cards I will be sending out this year. For the first time ever, I did not opt for a single photo layout. I took these photos of our children myself, so I made a point of taking some individual portraits as well. This Merry Christmas 4 Frames card suited my needs perfectly. I was able to add our family name beneath the "Merry Christmas." I was also able to choose from a long list of greetings for the back, as well as customize the signature to include all the members of our family. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised to have received my cards within a few business days of placing my order.

For times when I want to give a holiday card to an acquaintance or someone with whom I have a business relationship, I often opt not to send a photo card of my family. It just seems too personal. For these occasions, I always buy one box of holiday greeting cards. There is something about foil or glitter accents on a card that always call out to me. I guess they best capture the mood of the season for me.

Something that is extremely popular this holiday is the line of Hallmark Recordable Storybooks. If you know someone who is in the armed forces or is a parent who cannot be with their children on Christmas Eve this year, the recordable "The Night Before Christmas" would be such an ideal gift to give. The parent could record themselves reading the story ahead of time. Then his or her children would be able to listen to the story on Christmas Eve at bedtime. This would also be wonderful for a grandparent, an aunt or uncle, or even an older sibling to send a child whom they will not be able to be with during the holidays.

Every year on Christmas Eve before bed, my husband reads "The Night Before Christmas" to our three children. This year, he will read this version of the book and then allow the children to look through and listen to him retelling the story in the recording. There is even a place for us to personalize the book inside.

(Click any image to enlarge)

As you may have guessed, I have barely scratched the surface of the vast assortment of holiday products offered by Hallmark. To learn more, visit your local Hallmark store or pop onto Hallmark.com to see what Hallmark has to offer both online and in stores. If you are planning to order cards online, you can save 30% off your card order when you use Code: BLOGHER30 at checkout. This offer expires on December 31st, 2010 and cannot be combined with other promotional codes.

Thank you to Hallmark for sending us complimentary sample products to base this review upon, for giving us a gift code to use towards a holiday card order for this review, and for providing a second gift code for our contest prize.

What you can win:
One lucky reader will receive a $40 gift code to spend at Hallmark.com (Code expires 12/31/10).

Limitations:

This giveaway is open to U.S. entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. If you enter anonymously and do not include a valid email address in your comment entries, I will not be able to notify you should you win this random drawing.

How to Gain Entries:

Browse the selection of Hallmark holiday cards. Then leave a comment telling me the name of the card that appeals to you the most. You MUST do this to be eligible to win this contest.

Extra Entries:

1) For 5 extra entries, leave a relevant comment on one of my non-giveaway posts. Then leave FIVE separate comments with the name of the post on which you commented. You will earn 5 extra entries for each different non-contest post you comment on.

2)

For 5 extra entries, enter one of my other contests. Leave FIVE separate comments here telling me which contest you entered. You will earn 5 extra entries for each contest you enter.

3) For 10 extra entries, join the Hallmark Crown Rewards Program. Then come back here and leave TEN separate comments telling me you did.

4)

For 1 extra entry each, if you are a Friend of mine on Facebook and/or if you have "liked" the 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires Facebook page, then leave a separate comment here telling me so with the link to your Facebook profile.

5) For 1 extra entry each, follow Hallmark PR on Twitter and/or "Like" Hallmark on Facebook. Then leave a separate comment for each with the link to your Twitter or Facebook profile.

6)

Follow me on Twitter. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your Twitter profile.

7)

Tweet about this giveaway linking back to this post. Then come back here and leave the link to your tweet in a separate comment. You may do this once per day until the end of the contest.

8)

Subscribe to this blog's feed. Or you can follow me through Blogger or subscribe via email (widget is on sidebar). Then leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

9)

Subscribe to A Blog of Goodies' feed (the sister site to 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires). Then leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

10)

Add my button or blog link to your blog's sidebar. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your blog.

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(All entries will be verified prior to awarding this prize.)


Random Drawing:

This contest will be closed on Monday, December 13th, 2010 at 11:59pm EST. A random number drawing will be held shortly after. The winner will be announced here and will be contact via email or through their blog. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new number will be drawn.

Good luck in the drawing!

I Should Have Used the Free Personal Shopper Service from Tiny*Prints

I am extremely excited that my holiday photo cards have shipped from Tiny*Prints! I will, of course, share them with you when they arrive.

I just wanted to state how I regret not taking advantage of the new Tiny*Prints Personal Shopper Service, which is free until November 15th, 2009. Because I am such a control freak, I ended up spending about 4 hours looking through the vast selection of designer holiday cards repeatedly, thus driving my husband crazy. It took the first two hours for me to narrow my choices down to ten. Then another hour for me to narrow it down to five. After my husband picked his favorite of those 5, I spent the last hour trying decide if I should go with the red or the white card.



So if you are planning on ordering your holiday cards before the 15th of this month, I highly recommend that you try this free service. It will probably save you quite a bit of time and frustration.

Also, before you order, check out this page for current Tiny*Prints Coupon Codes and Promotions.

Look for my "Shop 'n' Share" post coming up soon about my holiday cards from Tiny*Prints!