How to Photograph and Print Your Own Holiday Cards

This post is sponsored by Staples. All ideas and opinions are my own.

If you’ve been around these parts for a few years, you know that we love sending out holiday cards. And usually, we take the photos ourselves one way or another. This year was no exception, but I wanted to make a super simple wall decoration for the photo that we could recycle and use around the house with our holiday decor. I also wanted something that would be fast to make and easy to photograph, because with two tiny people running around, you’ve gotta move quickly to make it all happen. We enlisted the help of Staples Print & Marketing Services to check our holiday cards off our to-do list quickly and easily, leaving more time this holiday season to enjoy friends & family, bake, and relax! So here’s what we put together, and how you can photograph and print your own holiday cards with Staples.

For the backdrop, we wanted some large lettering on the wall that would provide a pop of color, and could be reused later. So we went to Staples and had a poster printed with the words “be merry” in a vibrant red. I designed the sign to maximize space on the 24″x36″ size so that the letters would be nice and big (which is why the words are perpendicular to one another), and then cut out each word with scissors. We lined the back of the words with movable glue dots and affixed the words to the wall so that they looked like they were sort of floating. (It’s also totally affordable — a really cost-effective way to create a backdrop and some holiday decor at the same time.)

To snap our photos, we used our usual method of a camera on the tripod and a remote shutter. That way we can all be in the photo at the same time, and we can wrangle the kids and help them smile or pose, or whatever they need. We decided to have some Christmas props to give them something to do in the photos. Once the kids were settled and the camera was set up, we snapped away! It’s pretty fast and furious when we do it this way, because the kids only last for so long. But we definitely got some good snaps!

After we made sure we had some good shots, I edited them a bit and uploaded them to Staples.com to order our holiday cards. They have a whole bunch of really beautiful card templates, but we just did a simple card with the photo on the front and a personal message on the back, so the wall sign could really stand out. It took me all of about 5 minutes to order the cards (and they can print your return address on the envelopes, which will save me SO much time when we’re sending them out). And they turned out beautifully!

So what’s your holiday card vibe? Do you send out cards? I just love to get photo cards in the mail from friends and family to catch up with everybody’s lives. I think it’s such a beautiful tradition, and it’s one of my favorite things to do around the holidays. I usually wait until the kids are asleep, turn on a Christmas movie, and have a good ol’ snail mail party, stuffing envelopes and addressing them to everyone on our list. And this year, I’m feeling particularly festive with our fun “be merry” sign around the house. Happy holidays! xoxo