Serendipity Struck

Snapfish and I go way back.  I’ve used them for birthday party invitations, photo calendars, bound photo books, mouse pads and more.  This year, though, they may have burned this bridge.

After compiling a photo mosaic of BigGirl and BabyGirl in Picasa and adding text, I sent it to be printed (via Snapfish) at a local store (so I could pick it up that day…yes, I need immediate gratification).  I was incredibly disappointed to find that the text on my prints was partially cut off the print!  As you can imagine, this just would not do as a holiday card. 

However, I’m the wimp who doesn’t like to deal with stuff like that…unless otherwise provoked.  So, what did I do?  I made an all new (and improved) photo mosaic with one whole square in the print devoted to the holiday message, rather than overlaying the text on top of the pictures.  And, I marched my bootie into Target and insta-printed it myself.  (So long, Snapfish.)

Now…what to do with the botched prints I still have?

Don’t you just love those momentary, fleeting strokes of genius that occur in life?  I just LOVE what I’ve done with these suckers!  Check it out…

 

They are GIFT TAGS!!!  I’ve been using a permanent marker to write a quick note to the recipient on the back, and sign the whole family’s name!  I couldn’t be any happier with this idea!  In years past, trying to write everyone’s name on a little gift tag always seemed irrationally frustrating to me.  And, I love the opportunity to include a little personal note, since many of our family will receive their gifts without us present.  PLUS, if they care to keep it, they get a bonus picture as part of their gift!  I just LOVE this idea!

By the way, insert a little Green plug here, you may notice in the picture that I like to use gift bags whenever possible.  This is not entirely out of laziness.  I save gift bags and regift & reuse them for all occasions.  I keep tons of white tissue paper on hand at all times (it goes with all bags) and often purchase the plain cheap bags and decorate them myself with stickers and fun bows (especially for birthday parties, when I’m only wrapping one present at a time). 

Oh, and if you’re wondering about my NEW photo cards.  I love them, too.  This is one of those “it was meant to be” moments in life, because the second card is one hundred times better.  See for yourself…

 

And, finally, some of you may remember that my girlies and I handmade cards earlier in the year and might be wondering what happened to those cards.  Well, they went out, too!  I know how much people LOVE photo cards (myself included), but I really miss the magic of opening a card and reading a note inside.  So these were inserts in our homemade Christmas cards, and everyone received a personal note inside the card.

Here’s a smattering of our cards, prior to stamping and, in some cases, stickering.  You’ll notice the styles and level of artistry varies greatly from card to card.  I stamped each one with a “Handmade by…” stamp and wrote in “BigGirl” or “BabyGirl” and their age.

And with that, dear friends, I do believe I shall head back to my duties.  Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and my sewing machine is sick again…which is really putting a crimp on THIS branch of Santa’s Workshop.  I came within inches of buying a new machine at Walmart today just to make it through the next few days….and trying to return it after Christmas. 

Don’t worry.  I didn’t. 

Yet.