babys 1st christmas: our christmas cards

Im a designer. so when it comes to absolutely anything that needs to be printed, i am extremely picky on the final design. my bridal shower invitations, i had to approve. My wedding invitations, I designed. My baby shower invites, I picked out. So when it came to our first christmas card with a baby, i knew i would need to start way in advance getting things together.

Enter my second obsession. deals. coupons. promos. you name it. Saving money, im in. So when I saw a groupon for christmas cards on zazzle.com i jumped at the idea. However, it was so far in advance the groupon actually expired on Nov 9, 2012. Which meant I had to get my act in order and fast.

I actually thought, this is perfect. Hubbys aunt is a professional photography and shes coming into town the weekend of Nov 3rd. It will be her first time meeting Matthew and she's already promised us since before Matthew was born that she would take some baby pics for us. So i started pinteresting away (you can check out my christmas board for my inspiration if you'd like) and set out on buying any props or clothing I would need for the photos.

Then as usual, plans never go as expected since having a child. I wont bore you with the gossipy details, but his aunt ended up not coming into town at all. And we didnt know this until 2 days prior to her expected arrival. Needless to say, now I was in a complete freakout mode that 1) we wouldnt have pictures before the groupon expired, 2) if I took the pics myself would they come out alright and 3) now I have to research how to actually take the pic I want with my own camera, and perfect it by this weekend so I can have everything in place to order before the expiration date.

So a quick trip to home goods for a textured blanket, kmart for some icicle lights and red and gold ball ornaments, and one desperate phone call to my sis to come over during my lunch break to help with my "photoshoot" and we were good to go. if thats what you want to call it.....

Here is a quick look at my makeshift photo set.

Pretty clever for never having done this. And after multiple attempts. And when I saw multiple I mean it. And a little bit of photo editing. We actually got a few good pictures.

 

 

Then came another decision to make. On top of picking the right photo, we would have to pic the right christmas card. And let me tell you, there are way to many options. I guess thats a good thing in general, but not to someone who is extremely indecisive.

 

We finally set on the one with the bundle of joy saying

And so far Ive gotten quite a few compliments on it. The only negative comments ive gotten were 1) from my husband that it doesnt show his genuine smile, but he cant complain because he was the one who chose this photo lol and 2) from my best friend who thought that since it was our first christmas as a family of three then we should have had a photo with the three of us on it. So not too bad. I can handle those comments. Next year I cant wait to be a little bit more creative since by then Matthew will be waaay more mobile and possibly have a sibling on the way ;)