School of Decorating

Decorate with Confidence and Create a Home You Love

  • Free Class
  • Videos
  • Blog
    • How to Decorate
    • Simple DIY Projects
    • Life Tips
    • Success Stories
    • Our Home Tour
  • Classes
  • About
  • Contact

Joy to the World – We Took Our Own Holiday Card Pictures

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, on purchases made after following an affiliate link. See my full disclosure here.

November 5, 2013 By Jackie

When we couldn’t fit a session into our busy schedule this year for holiday pictures with our family photographer, we took matters into our own hands. After our recent success with a DIY photo booth for a party, we decided to set one up and take our own holiday card photos.  This was such a huge success, it might become a yearly tradition!!!

Tips fr Creating Your Own Holiday Cards | tealandlime.com

5 Tips for Creating Holiday Cards

1.  Make It Special

Set the stage for a great photo with a simple backdrop to fit the theme.  We loved the map backdrop we used for the birthday party photo booth, but not the Happy Birthday banner hanging in the background.

With a little modification we knew the same backdrop would work great for a “Joy to the World” or “Peace on Earth” holiday card. For our holiday photo session, I re-hung the atlas tapestry in the dining room, but instead of the birthday banner, I strung up a garland and our DIY colorful ornaments.

photo-booth-set-up

photo-booth-set-up-2

2.  Choose the Card Before Taking Pictures

This is a tip I picked up from our family photographer.  Always plan what you want to use the pictures for, before taking the pictures.  Before the photo session, we picked out a holiday card. Having such great results with our magnetic photo message boards, we were excited to work with Pinhole Press again on another photo project. We chose this Joy to the World accordion style card, with room for 5 photos.

Knowing we had 5 photo slots to fill, we made sure to have at least 5 planned poses for our photo session; one family pose and 4 different poses of the boys.  For the 5 photos, we needed 4 portrait pictures and 1 larger landscape picture.  When planning a photo session, it is extremely helpful to know the minimum number of shots you need and how to orient the photos.

Pinhole Press Accordion Holiday Card

3. Brainstorm Poses and Props

To keep it interesting we brainstormed a few pose ideas (like reindeer antlers with hands) and props (like christmas lights).  When it was time to take the photos, we used our camera on a timer to take a whole bunch of photos. We had fun coming up with different pose ideas on the fly. The boys even came up with a few of them.  We took several photos of each pose and chose the best during editing.  During the shoot we encouraged each other to come up with new poses to try.

Pinhole Press Accordion Holiday Card

4.  Do Something Unexpected

Our favorite pose was a last-minute idea my hubby spotted online. We wrapped up the boys in christmas lights and taped their mouths shut, with SILENT NIGHT written on the strips of tape.  We left this to the very end, knowing they might get distracted playing with tape and the lights, which they did.

DIY Holiday Card - Silent Night Kids Pose

We knew the family picture would be perfect for the front of the card, the series of the boys together on the backside, and the silent night picture in the other slot on the front of the card.

Pinhole Press Accordion Holiday Card

pinhole-press-card-back-2

5.  Opt for One Stop Ordering

At this busy time of year, I appreciate getting everything done quickly and efficiently.  I love that we can take our own pictures and create a holiday card we love. Using the Pinhole Press editor we were able to upload and edit the pictures to look exactly how we wanted in just a few moments.

I really appreciate the order size flexibility, with minimum orders starting at 10 cards and discounted prices for 20 or more cards. We have a small mailing list for our cards, so it was lovely to order only the 30 cards we needed.  While we were at it, with a few more clicks, we created and ordered coordinating address labels.

Pinhole Press Accordion Holiday Card

Bonus: Order Matching Photo Products

Since we had so much fun with this photo session and loved the pictures, I wanted to commemorate them in another way besides just our holiday card. Pinhole Press has some fun photo products. I ordered our family photo as a 12-piece puzzle.  I chose the puzzle with the largest pieces, so our youngest could play with it too.

Pinhole Press Photo Puzzle

Then, I ordered a memory card game using all the pictures from our session. I love that the boys can interact and play with these pictures over and over again.

pinhole-press-memory-game-cards

The memory game is a set of cards with two of every shot.  Such a fun way to print out all the fun pictures that didn’t make the cut for the Christmas card, like my son’s impression of a yeti.

Pinhole Press Photo Memory Game

yeti-face

READER DISCOUNT: To help you create your own holiday cards, Pinhole Press is offering Teal & Lime readers an amazing 33% discount off your holiday card order, through Cyber Monday (Dec. 2nd)!  Use code tealandlime at checkout.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Pinhole Press.  Pinhole Press provided me with the products shown for review.  The project idea and all opinions about the photo products are my own.

Previous Post
Semi-DIY X-Benches
Next Post
Be Inspired: An Inviting Home

Comments

  1. Candace @ Vintage News Junkie says

    November 5, 2013 at 1:01 pm

    These are so stinkin’ cute, Jackie!! What a fun idea! Joy to the world… the backdrop couldn’t be more perfect! I love the small details with the ornaments above.. and the picture with the boys tangled in the lights is by far the best!! I LOVE THIS!!

    • Jackie says

      November 5, 2013 at 2:13 pm

      Thanks Candace! We had a lot of fun with those lights :)

  2. Rebecca L says

    November 5, 2013 at 1:09 pm

    Love it!!!!!!

  3. Jen says

    November 5, 2013 at 2:49 pm

    Love everything about this! Such beautiful and fun photos and I adore all of your selections. That puzzle is amazing. :)

    xo!

    • Jackie says

      November 5, 2013 at 3:14 pm

      Thanks Jen. After the novelty of the puzzle wears off, I think we might frame it as a keepsake!

  4. Gwen says

    November 5, 2013 at 2:58 pm

    My friend did their own timer family photo same spot at their yard for years and I looked forward to it! So its neat you’re considering this tradition. I totally loved Silent Night!! And the entire shoot looked like u were happy!! Very good ideas

    • Jackie says

      November 5, 2013 at 3:13 pm

      Thanks Gwen. That is a great idea…to do the same pose or background each year. A bet after several years it is fun to compare.

  5. Thuy says

    November 6, 2013 at 8:07 pm

    I am inspired!! What a great looking family!

  6. Amanda says

    November 19, 2013 at 7:19 pm

    I just got my cards that I ordered through the site and they came out SUPER cute! Thanks for sharing the site and the coupon.

  7. Stormie says

    January 11, 2014 at 10:44 pm

    Where did you find the lovely backdrop? So awesome!!

    • Jackie says

      January 12, 2014 at 5:51 pm

      Stormie, You can find the atlas tapestry here in four different colors. (affiliate link)

Hi, I'm Jackie. I believe you are the best person to decorate your home and I'm here to help.

I teach online decorating classes to help you create your dream home. Click on the images below to learn more about each class.

Take an Online Decorating Class

Best for beginners!

12 Class Bundle!

Get a free copy of my book
Free Decorating


Start reading now...

Follow Me Here

Categories

  • How to Decorate
  • Simple DIY Projects
  • Life Tips
  • Success Stories
  • Our Home Tour
I believe you are the best person to decorate your home. You just need a dash of courage and a dose of decorating know-how. That's why I created School of Decorating.

I know how frustrating it is to feel like failure at home. I also know how amazing it feels when decorating finally makes sense and your home reflects you. I want to share what I've learned so you can create a home you love without years of trial and error.

Get a free copy of my best-selling book Free Decorating

  • How to Decorate
  • Simple DIY Projects
  • Life Tips
  • Success Stories
  • Our Home Tour

© 2018 School of Decorating
 · Terms of Use 
· Privacy Policy
 · Disclaimer




This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.

Necessary Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.