Nowadays, I think most of us use pictures in our holiday cards.  Some people still print their photos and then insert them in their cards, but more and more often now people upload a picture and have their cards made elsewhere–and then they arrive all ready to go in the mail!  So easy and personal, too.  Such a nice way to wish someone well around Christmastime.

But what about other holidays?  We might not think to do the exact same thing throughout the rest of the year–but why not, I say?!  :)  You don’t always have to print a zillion cards when you order from all those great card places.  You can order one measly little card–did you realize that?  :)  (My very favorite company is probably Minted, with Tiny Prints being a close second.  They are my go-to companies these days when it comes to cards.  I also love Shutterfly, and I’ve recently just discovered Treat and Cardstore.)

Over the last several years, I have started ordering personalized photo cards for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day in particular.  I don’t think there’s a grandma or grandpa out there who wouldn’t love to receive a special card in the mail with a picture of some of his/her favorite little people on it!  :)  You can even tuck away a copy of the card for each of your children as a keepsake, just as I mention doing for Christmas cards every year in this organization post.  (It’s worth reading with more than 100 tips to help organize your home and your life!)

Oftentimes a card at your local card store might cost as much as $5 (or even more if it’s really fancy).  Depending on how many cards you order, you may pay less than $2 for a personalized photo card.  I ordered 10 from Minted this year (including 4 to tuck away–one for each of my own children), and they were only $2/each.  So not only did I end up with very special (and humorous!!) cards to send, but I actually saved money in the process!  And how many times are you searching for the perfect card, but you just can’t find one with the right wording?  (All the time, right?!)  When you create your own, however, it’s the perfect card every time!  :)

Below I will share with you a few cards I’ve created over the past several years.  This year’s card is absolutely priceless.  Just as I illustrate with the very first picture in the 100 Photos to Inspire Your Holiday Cards post, you don’t always need the world’s best shot to create a memorable card.  I have a feeling the one my favorite ladies will receive this year will be one they won’t soon forget!  :)  (If you are one of those ladies in my life–spoiler alert!!  Look away now!!!)

One afternoon my girls and I decided to write, “Happy Mother’s Day!  We Love You So Much” on the bottoms of their feet.  We all thought it would be so cute, but it didn’t exactly go as planned.  First of all, I’m lucky my third didn’t give me a bloody nose or knock out any of my teeth while I was writing on her feet because it tickled her so much–she kept thrashing around as I dodged out of the way!  But that was the easy part compared to writing on the baby’s feet!!  :)  We headed out to the driveway, and then things went from bad to worse.  Needless to say, the baby had no desire to be a part of this picture.  I had images of my four sweet girls with their arms around one another’s shoulders, their bodies somewhat blurred in the background, while I zoomed in on their feet–perfectly aligned, with the cute message easily visible for all to see.  Um, not so much.  But boy, did we laugh–the whole thing was hilarious.  (Well, maybe not to the baby, bless her heart!)

Finally, we decided that maybe she would calm down if she got to hold her blankie.  So I flew up and grabbed it, and as soon as I handed it to her, she did calm down.  But she also proceeded to lie straight back onto the pavement–I guess she was waving the white flag.  It was so funny.  At least her feet were finally still!!!  :)

I went ahead and used this disastrous photo session for our cards anyhow–and I can’t imagine anyone not laughing when opening these!  I hope they spread a little humor and fun on Mother’s Day!  :)  I used Minted this time around for my Mother’s Day cards.  I also used Minted for my holiday cards this past year (for the first time), and they were my favorite cards yet.  Their quality is top-notch, and I like that I could drag the text around to work with my picture so the words weren’t on top of someone’s face–you can’t always do that on some sites.  They also have great envelopes.  I think some companies tend to skimp a bit in that department.

The picture below was taken before the baby had her blanket to hold… I guess the red marker didn’t suffice!  This is the image I used on the inside left portion of the card.  Classic!  She really looks like she’s happy to be wishing all the special women in her life a wonderful Mother’s Day, doesn’t she?!

Here you can see how I used “so much” in my wording inside the card–my little “so much” was less than cooperative!  :)  But sometimes the worst cards end up being the best cards!!  My favorite holiday card we’ve ever received came from my friend–view it here.  It’s the first picture shown in my holiday photo post.  Her family’s photo session went much like this one did, and rather than scrap it and go through the whole thing again, she made it work for her cards–and used the wording, “May there be peace on earth… and maybe a little in our house, too!”  I laughed so hard.  Brilliant!

I love to tuck away things like this in my girls’ files, as I mention in this organization post.  I have a drawer for each of them, and I try to only save the most special things–things that are somehow representative of that stage in their lives.  (If you don’t have drawers, you can use a file box like this.  Such a great way to keep track of mementos for each child.)  I also keep a copy of our Christmas card every year for each of them, and I put that in their file, too.

These are some cards I made over the past several years.  The ones shown here were all created at Shutterfly.  They really turned out cute, too.  (The photos used here are obviously a bit more “serene” than the ones I got this year!!)

Here’s a peek at the inside of the cards, and you can also see that sometimes you can even print on the back…

One year I scanned a really old picture to use–you can imagine my mom’s surprise when she saw this little beauty inside the envelope!  (She has this card, so I just took a screenshot in my account at Shutterfly where I created it so I could show it to you.)

The inside of the card looked like this… on the left I shared some pictures where my mom was holding each of my girls, and then on the right I wrote this:

“Mom,

Thank you for being such a great example in my life.  I’m so thankful you’ve been by my side as I’ve welcomed my own daughters into the world.  I can only hope I’m half the mother you’ve always been to me.

I love you,

Christy”

It’s probably not hard to imagine that she was quite touched by this card.  As you can see, I am such a fan of making my own cards!!  They are like a gift in and of themselves when you can personalize them like this…