The Ana Mum Diary

Award winning, top UK lifestyle blog, written by Amanda Cottingham from Nottingham. Featuring travel, home interiors, decor, interior design, food and fashion.

How to Capture Christmas in a Card.

by 50 Comments

What do you think of the tradition of sending a personalised Christmas card, with a photograph of you and your family on?  I love it! I think it’s a really unique way of sending season greetings to friends and family. Lots of my American pals seem to do it, as well as many celebrities, it’s also a bit of an institution seeing the photo cards the royal family send out each year isn’t it?

So this year we decided to do the same, but our card was going to be in the style of this Jessica Alba Christmas card, which I spotted last year.

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So I decided to order some PJ onsies.  I couldn’t get exact matches, but it was more the idea of casual and cosy I wanted.  I even sent The Tall Fella (my husband) off to get Santa hats, unfortunately the ones he came back with, I think were from the pet section as they were tiny (ha!) so we decided to do it without.

So here are my top tips for creating a fun personalised Christmas card :

  • Find a style of photograph that you like.  It doesn’t have to be a celebrity one like mine.  Have a search on Pinterest, there are some great ideas on there. One year I printed out the letters NOEL for each of us to hold, and it looked so effective.
  • Grab some props.  I used this photo as an excuse to buy new onsies for everyone, but you really don’t need to spend any money, just use things you already have.
  • Get out the Christmas Decorations.  I know it may only be November, but why not put the tree up a bit earlier.  Or use your Christmas card making, as an excuse to get down a box of your decorations from the loft, to give the photo that festive touch.
  • Use a timer, or remote control app.  So you’ve decided how it will be posed, the next step is actually taking the photo. If you can’t rope in a friend to take the photograph, consider other options. Lots of cameras work on a timer, if not, have a google and see if you can download a remote control app to your phone.

    Top tip: Make sure you delay the photograph by a couple of seconds giving you a chance to hide you pressing the remote.

  • Take lots of photos.  Try different poses, take around 10, and review those photographs, to see if you need to rearrange anything, before taking more if you need to.
  • Don’t forget the pet! He or she is a member of the family too right?
  • Make it fun! Especially if you have children in the photo, sometimes a little joke, telling them to shout something, even a tickle can help the photo look more natural.

Here’s how we got on:

christmas-card-collage

I really love it! I know it not exactly the same, but it has the same flavour, which is exactly what we wanted to achieve.
christmas-card

Reindeer, Unicorn, Minnie Mouse and Bear.

Of course we had many, many outtakes, but that’s what makes it fun I think. I think the dog was actually licking Miss A’s hand in this one :

christmas-3

Next thing to do it add it to Snapfish.  Snapfish is an online company that prints photographs, it also has a great range of personalised Christmas photo cards to choose from, as well as cards, mugs and calendars.  I won’t go through how to make the card, as it is SO easy, you simply find a style you like, and follow the really simple instructions.

Here is a mock-up of the card, I’ll be sure to show you the real thing once they arrive.

snapfish-layout-christmas-cards

Would you like to make your own  Christmas cards this year like me?  Well I’ve partnered with Snapfish to give one of my readers the opportunity to make a set of cards themselves with the below giveaway.

*WIN £25 CODE PLUS FREE DELIVERY*

You just need to fill in the Rafflecopter entries below, making sure you visit SNAPFISH HERE, leaving me a comment as to which Christmas card style you would go for if you won! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway start from 25/11/16 and closes 10/12/16 at 11.59pm

WINNER : Anna Neal

Comments

  2. I would choose Rustic Pine Snapshots 7×5″ Folded Card. There is such a fab choice that it is hard to choose. Thanks for the competition.

    Reply

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