We love Christmas cards! In our home, we display them on the mantle. We especially love cards with pictures. It is fun seeing friends and family from across the country and the creative things that they do for their cards. Even though social media makes photos more accessible, there is just something about a Christmas mantle adorned with Christmas cards that makes the season even more joyful.
This year, we used Mixbook to create our Christmas cards. We love all of the templates that they have to choose from. The site is super simple to use. I love that I don’t have to be a graphic designer to get a great looking card. You upload your photos and then you drop them in and move them around until you get the look that you want. I took some of our photos and edited them to be black and white. You can even have other contributors, which is great if you are doing a project with more than one person. We decided to be fancy and use one of their new foil cards. Let us know what you think of our card!
Front & back of card made with Mixbook
Share your card with us on our Facebook in the comments!
Taking photos with a newborn and toddler was no easy task. See below for our outtakes! As we decided what photos would make the card, as much as we wanted picture perfect photos, I also wanted to share some photos from throughout the year so we incorporated some of our own photos alongside the ones we had taken.
We share some of our tips for taking family photos as we put together our recent Christmas cards together.
Find the Right Photographer
-
Outfits by Feltman Brothers
Ask to see their website or portfolio. Someone might be great at taking landscape or scenic shots, but capturing photos of people especially groups of people can be difficult.
- Find someone that you are comfortable with. We found this to be especially true for our wedding photos because you are spending a long period of time with them. A photographer that is able to draw out someone that might be more shy or reserved is a gem.
- Make sure that they have the right equipment. We once asked someone for a quote and they gave us an initial quote and then gave us a revised quote because they would have to go and rent equipment.
- Be open to giving someone starting out a chance. You might not use them for a monumental photo shoot, but they might be great for capturing some other photos. One of our friends wanted to gain more experience so we were willing to be her guinea pigs and got some nice photos out of it.
Pick out your outfits
- With kids especially, as much as we want them to look great, it is also important for them to be comfortable. If you are taking photos outside, consider having a backup outfit in case the outfit gets dirty.
- Solid and bold colors translate better than prints. When we take photos as an extended family, we will pick a color and everyone can wear hues in that color. Prints can sometimes be distracting. And whatever you do avoid logos, unless everyone plans it and is okay with it.
This was one of my favorite shots
- Check the weather report. Sometimes even though we want to shoot our Christmas family photos, it is still 80 degrees outside!
Develop a shot list
- Your time with the photographer will be short, so plan ahead what shots you would like them to take. You might even email them to ask them to give you feedback.
- Prioritize your shots that way if you run out of time you have captured the ones most important to you.
- Remember that outfit and location changes take time and if you are involving kids factor even more time.
These ones didn’t quite make the cut for the Christmas card but we love the little guy’s expression because that is pretty much his personality!
Tips for Photoshoots with Kids
- Schedule breaks/down time. If you are able to, give some breathing room between shots or outfit changes.
- Bring snacks/treats to coax them.
- Schedule the shoot around naptime if you are able to. It can be hard to make cranky babies and toddlers smile or even stop crying.
- Sometimes the best photos come out of them doing natural interactions so as much as you want to get the perfect pose, also be willing to try some shots in a more natural setting.
We were given our cards through Mixbook. Navy striped sweater and white sweater dress were given to us by Feltman Brothers. All of our thoughts and opinions are our own.
