I think we can all agree that 2020 has been a YEAR!  My husband and I didn’t get to do many of the things we had planned (like visiting family in Canada, have a housewarming party, and birthday parties with friends to name a few).  

While it hasn’t been a great year to celebrate, when we heard that our FAVORITE photographer, Tiffany McClure, would be in town, we booked a session immediately. Our one-year anniversary was coming up and we thought having some new photos to mark the occasion would help us celebrate. 

First off, Tiffany is the BEST!  She photographed our engagement session, our wedding, and now our anniversary!  My husband and I don’t take a lot of photos together (we’re not the most selfie-type people) so when we heard that she would be in town for a few days we jumped at the chance to have a mini session with her.  

We opted for a “fall look” for our anniversary session.  Our color pallet included dark greens and navy with a pop of burnt orange.  We thought someplace with grass and trees would help capture this look.  Tiffany is wonderful and even though we met up at a beach, she found the perfect spots for our photos.

The Process 

Minted has been a great resource for us over the years.  We’ve used them for our save-the-dates, wedding invitations, menu cards, thank you cards, wedding announcements, and Christmas cards.  While some of their products can be more on the pricier side (they frequently have discount codes available), I love that they have so many options and styles and messages to choose from.  Plus, they do recipient addressing, have coordinating envelopes and stamps, and the process is so simple!  

Being a former avid scrapbooker, and with a background in marketing design, I know about layouts, colors, alignments, symmetry, composition, etc. and Minted makes the process so easy (even if you don’t know anything about design).  Honestly, the most difficult part is choosing which photo(s) to use for the card.

STEP #1: Select Your Photo(s)

If you have a photo already in mind, great!  Step one is complete!  Minted has card styles in various formats so some styles work better with a horizontal vs. vertical photo.  You may be able to get away with using a horizontal photo in a vertical format, or vice versa, but you’ll have to play around with the photo settings to get the best fit.

STEP #2: Choose Your Card Style

Browse Minted’s gallery and determine your card design.  If you already have some decisions made ((i.e. horizontal vs. vertical, # of images, messaging, color(s), etc.), then use the filters to help narrow down your selection from there. 

My favorite feature is that Minted has a ‘find it fast’ option where you upload your own photo to easily browse and preview all of the card styles with that photo.  I think this is EXTREMELY helpful because then you can easily see how your card will look without going through each card design.  This is a HUGE timesaver as there are hundreds of styles to choose from!

STEP #3: Customize Your Design

Now for the fun part!  This is where you play around with colors, shapes, greeting message, layouts, and photos!  

Minted’s drag-and-drop editor is very user friendly.  You can change the text, font, size, and colors to create the perfect card.  You can also preview the card throughout the entire process.  

Keep in mind that just because a card says one greeting doesn’t mean that’s what you have to go with.  If a card says Happy Holidays, nine times out of ten you can change the messaging to Merry Christmas instead, or vice versa.  You can choose one of the four greetings options.  

You also have the option to add messaging and/or a design with or without photos onto the back of the card, for an additional fee.  For my cards, I opted for a simple design on the back with no messaging.  

Next, you’d select whether you’d like to include recipient and return addressing, and if you choose this option, you can select a design of your choice, including a coordinating design that will match your card design for a more cohesive look.

STEP #4: Select Your Recipients

Since I’ve used Minted before, my list of recipients is already updated and saved in the address book of my Minted account.  If you’re a new user, you can upload a spreadsheet with recipient names and addresses or input them one at a time.  With my list already in my account, I simply scroll through my address book and select recipients.  Minted will preview their name and address in the preview pane so you can see how the front of the envelope will look with your chosen envelope design.

If you’d rather address your cards by hand, you can bypass this step and simply print blank envelopes too.  

Overall, I can’t say enough about how great our Christmas cards turned out.  Minted frequently offers promotional discounts on their products so be sure to check their site for discount codes and give them a try!

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 This post was not sponsored by Minted. I just really love their products!