OK, so I have drawn up my images for xmas cards and now I need to have them printed. I'm not selling them. I just need about 30 for myself and about the same for work (a different image for each). So I'm trying to figure out where to get them printed. Kinko's quoted me $2/each. My offset printer that I use for work stationary said he couldn't beat that since they need to be full-color and in such small numbers.

I'm about ready to go with CafePress at $11/6 including envelopes (Kinko's doesn't include envelopes!). But before I do ... does anyone know an alternative?

Thanks,
Jess

I don't know of any cheaper alternative, but what kind of designs did you draw? I am about to tacke this same project, but I have no clue what kind of cards I want to make... something more "holiday" than "Christmas"... I think.

Both are sort of winter scenes. You know ... snow, trees, forest, stars, snowflakes.

You can see my personal one at: http://www.cafeshops.com/jmk

Jess

Cute. I just feel weird making snowy scenes on my cards, because I live in Texas. I have seen snow in person once!

I am going to continue to think on it, but I have a feeling I will end up with a photo of my cats wearing santa hats. :)

You could do a cool desert scene with a lighted cactus. :)

I don't know if this would work for you, but last year we printed our images on the home computer, pinked the edges and then stuck them to the front of the cards (blank cheapies from Michael's. We home printered the inside message... or I guess you could stamp) with those little double stick tape squares used for scrapbooking. Printing out your images on sheets and then transferring them to cards might be the most cost effective.

Since most people on my list don't celebrate Christmas, I was thinking of doing a New Year theme, but wasn't sure what there was besides champagne and balloons, and that wouldn't work so well for the alcoholics... ideas?

Kinder, how about just a winter scene reflecting a seasonal theme, or something to do with new birth of a new year? Welcoming the New Year doesn't have to have anything to do with balloons and booze!

Sadly, BlueGroove, I just moved to California this year and would feel silly sending out winter scenes - though coming from Minnesota I miss them terribly!

I think there's gonna be a lot of candles and animals, animals are always cute.

And for the people who are cool enough to not get huffy over a Christmas card, there's my favorite:

outside: make a lip print and put an asterisk by it
inside: "* mistletoe not included"

You wouldn't believe how hard it is to make a good looking lip print!

kindarana, just a cool looking "2004" design? Fireworks? Hmm... maybe I should do a new year's theme too.

Hi Jess,

Why do you need to have them printed? I could understand if you were doing large quantities commercially, but for personal use, why go to all that expense? Unless you are doing very large volumes, you will really get nailed on the cost with printers. They do not like having to produce a camera-ready plate for a very small job, and you get charged accordingly.

I usually do 40-50 Christmas cards every year and I do each one by hand. Last year I even did pop-up cards. If you devote an hour or two each night to it, it's really not a big deal.

If you don't have time for that, the other option is to buy the perforated notecards at your local office supply store, that are meant to be fed through a home printer. Usually there are 2 cards per sheet (depending what size you want). They come in a nice heavy cardstock weight and various finishes...parchment, etc. You can get the envelopes to match. Just print off your image on each sheet, tear at the perforations, stick in an envelope and mail!

p.s. they are cheap too. I think I paid $13 for 100 cards, and about $8 for the envelopes.

For the third year in a row, I will be using Papercandy's "Gift Girl" stamp:>http://www.papercandy.com/Catalog%20pages/ChristmasOne.htm

Year #1: stamped and embossed silver or gold
Year #2: stamped onto shrinky dinks with a hole, shrunk, put on embroidery thread and had "Happy Holidays" stamped on to an attached tag
Year #3: I'm going to stamp her on the front of the card and color in the boxes. Then I'm going to cut out three sides of the boxes. Behind the boxes will be a little message on colored paper that's attached to the inside of the card (they may be more like postcards).

I want to see how many years I can get out of one stamp.

I love all your ideas! So creative! I'll have to think about doing hand-made Christmas cards next year. If anyone has pictures, I'd love to see 'em.