The DIY Holiday Card

I heard a piece on the radio last week about the decline of the annual holiday card.  And you know what?  It made me sad.  I love social media, I love how connected we can be, I love seeing my friend-from-elementary-school's kids growing up on Facebook.  But I also love mail.  Oh, how I love mail!  And I love seeing those cute family photos, I love hanging them up across the mantle, and I actually keep them.  I do.  I have a special album.  I'm not a keeper of many things, but yes, I keep those holiday cards.  

The thing I don't love is how expensive it can be to have a nice card printed.  So - you knew where this was going, didn't you? - I made my own!

First, I bought some kraft paper card stock and envelopes, some cute Christmas washi tape, 

and pulled out my glue and paper trimmer.

Next, I went to an online infographics design house (like Piktochart) and played with one of 

their free pictograph designs, changing a font here, switching up the layout there, 

to make our year-in-review blurb.  

Then, I printed it out, two on a page, and took it to my local copy center 

to have it copied onto my card stock.

Trimmed it all up to make 5"x7" cards.

Then, I took my stack of family photos - which we took ourselves using a tripod and my husband's mad photo editing skills, then had printed at Costco - and using a dot of glue in the middle, and washi tape at the edges, attached them to the back of the card.  

Done!  Here's the front and back.  And each card cost about 70 cents, including the envelope.

Happy Holidays!