Heirloom Highlight: My Personal 2014 Holiday Cards

Truth: I've never struggled so much to get holiday cards in the mail than I did in 2014. I am usually that person who has their cards sent off for print in early November. In 2013 I was completely on top of things, from having my dear friend Jainé take our photos, to having my design files sent to the printer by November 1st. I adored these gold foil cards that I sent in 2013 to friends, family, as well as gold foil cards sent out to my Sincerely, Jackie clients and industry friends.

But this past year was an immensely different story. My husband and I hosted 30 people in our new home for Thanksgiving, so my life was completely consumed with turkey related details for most of October and November. There was no time for new photos, and I had to tuck the idea of holiday cards in the back of my mind until after Thanksgiving. I took a few days off to recoup after the entertaining feat, which included two deep fried turkeys, one baked ham, a massive gravy disaster, and an emptied liquor cabinet. Once my turkey coma ended, I was hit with the realization that Christmas was SOON. Like, no time for foil cards, and barely any time for digital printing!

My personal cards were a bit more time sensitive this year, so I designed and printed them first. They needed to serve as both moving announcement and holiday cards, since I never sent official moving announcements when we purchased our home in May. A lot of my family members send holiday cards, and I knew they didn't have our new address, so I needed to send mine out stat.

As I talked about in my yearly recap, 2014 was such an important one for me personally and for Sincerely, Jackie - a year that truly changed my life. Every year I include a little summary on the back of my personal cards, to let friends and family know about any big things in our lives. I love writing the yearly note, and I think our recipients enjoy the brevity and good humor of it. Since we didn't have time for new photos, and since we look exactly the same as we did last year, our cards used a few of my favorite photos from last year's shoot. I also used my new favorite faux gold treatment, and a clean, simple greeting that highlighted our new home address. They were printed on cotton paper and the rich red color made the gold and white design details stand out. I sent nearly 150 of these, so I cut costs by pairing them with classic white cotton envelopes, printing guest addresses on my home printer, and using an address stamp for our return address.

I really love the way these turned out, and I'm thrilled that I didn't have to break the bank for them!

Come back in a few hours to see my Sincerely, Jackie business holiday cards. I'll give you a hint - they're deep blue, and so, so Sincerely, Jackie.

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Sincerely,