Christmas/birth announcement cards

I'm so excited to send out our holiday cards this year! When Roman was due on December 20th, I had it all planned to get a picture of all three kids as soon as he was born, and then send out New Year's cards and use them as birth announcements. Instead, he came November 21st, but that doesn't mean I've gotten a good picture yet! As soon as Roman fits into the outfit I planned for him, I'll attempt a picture of them - he's a lot tinier than we expected!

I've looked around at many photo sites at holiday cards, and Shutterfly has some really modern designs that I love! My favorite is the Mod Snowflakes Story Christmas Card: there's room for a picture of each child individually, along with a little information about each of them. In all likelihood, I won't succeed in getting a good picture of them all together, so this could be a better option. I'd also have room to put all of Roman's birth information below his picture to make it serve as his birth announcement too! And it's not "Christmas" specific, since most likely I won't get it out in time. The colorful snowflakes are so pretty too!

(image from Shutterfly.com)

Shutterfly also has photo calendars with so many beautiful designs. Since both sets of the grandparents live far away, this is our favorite go-to Christmas gift idea: it's practical, and they get tons of pictures of the grandkids! I like their new feature that allows you to add personalized dates to the calendar - what an easy way to make sure they never forget the grandkids' birthdays!

One other feature I didn't realize Shutterfly offered is their canvas wall art. I'd love to blow up a picture of each of my children as babies and line our stairway with them. They come in a variety of sizes, and the picture fully wraps around the canvas for a nice modern look.

If you act quickly, Shutterfly is offering 50 free holiday cards to bloggers! Go here to sign up: http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/. I've ordered many photo prints from Shutterfly, and always received a quality product!