on some lovely holiday cards...

(We have yet to have holiday photos taken, so you can just look at the nugget for now.)

I haven't sent out Christmas cards for years, to be completely honest. First of all, I am easily stressed out—even more so during the holidays. Adding one more thing to my plate stresses the heck out of me. Second of all, I refuse to send out cards without photos, and Jay and I rarely have decent photos taken of us together. It's a little depressing, actually. Third of all, I'm a non-decision maker and it takes me forever to settle on what cards to actually send out.

However, considering we are now officially a tiny, little family, I know this year is the year I'm going to finally buckle down and send out Christmas cards to our loved ones! Now that I think about it, I'm a little bit excited.

Anyhow, I was asked to take a peek at the selection of holiday cards over at Shutterfly, and was quite pleased with the gorgeous designs they are offering this year. I've ordered prints (and a photo book!) from Shutterfly in the past, and have always been pleased with the quality, price and quick shipping. I'm very eager to see how the Christmas cards I end up choosing look in person! I knew I wanted to find something unique and colorful, and (although I have yet to make my final decision, as per the usual) I have a feeling I'm going to adore our first family Christmas cards.

Here are a few things I like about the selection over at Shutterfly:

• There are hundreds of designs to choose from, which make it easy to find one to fit your personality.
• When you choose your card, you can order either matte or glossy (I'm a matte girl, so this is really appreciated!). I'm not sure if this goes for all the cards, but the designs I was head over heels for all had that option.
• Typography, typography, typography!
• I've recently discovered the bold and bright style of Erin Condren, and she has a gorgeous line of holiday and New Year cards through Shutterfly. I know many of my bloggy friends swear my her planners (I adore the one I have!), and I'm sure her cards are going to be very popular this year, too.

Here's the best part: Shutterfly has given me the opportunity to give 25 FREE holiday cards to three of my readers! Hurrah!

To enter to win, simply leave a comment on this post before Saturday, November 19th.

Contest is now closed. Congrats to the winners of the free cards: Cassandra M., Jill, and Christine. Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter!

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Shutterfly is providing me with free holiday cards, as well as three giveaway codes, in return for my review. The views and opinions expressed within this post and regarding these products are mine and mine alone.

the sweetest announcements you ever did see...

I recently had the opportunity to work with Tiny Prints to create some baby announcements for the wee one! I was pretty excited about it because I've heard nothing but good things about their products and, obviously, their designs are just too cute. Right? Right.

When visiting their website, I was pleased to notice just how many options they have. I was wondering if I was going to be limited to a small selection, but the options were endless. The first thing that stood out to me was all the fantastic typography! I love me a good font, and there were so many designs that featured gorgeous typography. Also, many of the cards have additional color options, which I loved. No matter what your style (classic, modern or quirky!) or price range (cards are as low as $0.69/each!), you're going to find something perfect.

Here are some of my favorite features of the announcements I ended up choosing:

I adore the color combination. I never knew it, but pink and green tend to make me swoon like no other. Also, the color worked perfectly with the photos I wanted to incorporate into the design! I loved that I was able to include four photos in the announcements—because deciding on just one wouldn't have been humanly possible for me. Have I mentioned I'm a non-decision-maker and we're lucky I was able to limit myself to featuring just four?

Moving on...

Rounded corners! Oh, the rounded corners! Between those and the square format, I was a happy girl. I was also thrilled to see that when you order square cards, Tiny Prints gives you the option of getting square envelopes—which require extra postage—or fitted, rectangular envelopes to avoid paying the extra postage when you send them. (And they don't charge extra for either size! Nice.)

So precious. (And, yes, I blurred out my last name in the photo to avoid being murdered. Or something.)

This may be my favorite feature of this design. Since the back of the card is blank (except for their logo at the very bottom), you have the option of adding a bit of text and one additional photo to that space. I added a twee photo of Eisley that I took at the hospital, as well as a bible verse that makes me swoony.

Also, since there was enough space on the back, Jay and I ended up writing thank-yous on the back of some of the announcements we sent out. Perfect! We were so thrilled to send out these announcements and have heard nothing but glowing feedback from our friends and family. Makes me happy as a clam.

I also had a chance to peek at the many cards that Tiny Prints offers, and can I just say…I WANT THEM ALL! Perhaps this will be the first year (in about four years) that I actually send out a Christmas card. I mean, hey, now that I have a tiny family of my own, I suppose it would be a good idea.

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I'd like to thank Tiny Prints for giving me the opportunity to review their product! Tiny Prints provided me with these birth announcements in return for my review. The views and opinions expressed within this post and regarding this product are mine and mine alone.

on traditions (of yore)...

This is sponsored content from BlogHer and Folgers.

I've always been a girl who is slightly obsessed with the holidays, and this year will be no exception. As I sit on the couch while I wait for my first batch of pumpkin chip muffins to bake, I can't help but feel like a small part of me is back home again.

I'll admit it: I'm totally the girl who goes into Michaels in mid-October and wants to dance down the holiday aisles while throwing garland in the air and singing Christmas carols. While wearing a fancy sweater and eating fudge. (I'd bring my own fudge, obviously.) I think what I love most about this time of year is the fact that it always makes me feel young again. Even though I'm all grown up, even though I'm far away from my family, even though my husband and I are busy attempting to create traditions of our own, I can't help but get that warm, back-home-again feeling in my heart when the weather cools and the holidays are around the corner.

Here are a few of my favorite holiday traditions (of yore, because I am obviously no longer a little girl):

1. Watching holiday movies with my parents and sisters. Now, let's be honest with each other here: How many people actually wait until after Thanksgiving to start watching their favorite Christmas movies? NOT THIS GIRL. My sisters and I would hardly be out of our Halloween costumes before we were crawling around the basement looking for the boxes full of holiday decorations, books and movies. Every year we'd watch Miracle on 34th Street and Home Alone like it was the very first time we had seen them. And every Christmas Eve we'd watch Prancer, my favorite holiday movie. ("PRANCER LIVES IN THE SHED BEHIND MY HOUSE!" Seriously, everyone needs to see this movie. It's epic.)

2. Holiday treats. Between the aforementioned pumpkin chip muffins and the belgian waffles (topped with whipped cream and strawberries!) that my dad would always make on Christmas morning, there were many delicious goodies that filled our kitchen! I have no idea how I wasn't shaped like a blueberry as a child due to all the fudge, sugar cookies carefully decorated by my sisters and I and mugs of hot chocolate that filled up our holiday season. Note to self: Actually take time to make each of these treats this year. And bring most of them to work for other people to eat, so I don't have to also invest in new pants. Amen.

3. Carving pumpkins. Playing in the leaves my dad would rake into neat piles. Cutting snowflakes out of coffee filters until the actual snow fell from the sky. Driving through the city to look at houses decorated in thousands of twinkling lights.

4. Christmas Eve dinner. Now, this is going to sound silly, but I think that's why it is so endearing to me! Every Christmas Eve (for most of the years I lived at home) we would have dinner at Pizza Hut. I'm sure the people working at Pizza Hut were judging us, thinking we were some lazy family who didn't feel like cooking on a holiday. But, really? My mom would spend all of Thanksgiving and Christmas in the kitchen, and we all figured the best thing to do the day before a holiday would be to have someone else cook for you. I also loved that it was something that nobody else I knew did. It was this quirky little tradition that each of us looked forward to every year.

So, it's your turn. What are some of your favorite holiday traditions? Sweet, quirky or delicious...I want to know!

Do you have a holiday story you'd like to share? Give the rest of us the warm fuzzies by entering the Folgers "Home for the Holidays" Essay Contest! Tell Folgers about the best part of wakin' up for the holidays. Click here for all the goodness. If you would like to read 9 other bloggers' stories about their holiday traditions, please visit the BlogHer.com round-up page here: BlogHer.com exclusive offers page!