It's that time of year again!

Well... almost! It's no secret that I won't start "Christmas" until December. I'm firmly planted in the - give the turkey time to digest before you put the decorations up - camp! (Which in itself is new to me. After 10 years in Scotland I've gotten, sadly, used to the Christmas decorations going up as soon as the Halloween candy comes off the shelf.) However, there IS one thing I do believe you can pre-prep. Not that I manage to that often because I'm such a slacker I always wait for the perfect find. Christmas Cards! In the past I've always tried to find a box of cards with the cutest animal in a santa hat. Cue many boxes of commical penguins or whimsical mooses. (Look at that, I only wrotes mooses, I totally resisted the urge to write meeses.) Now that I'm a mother though... there's obviously only one Christmas card theme that will do. My daughter... with a cute animal in commical Christmas decor!

Last year was my first Christmas card free year since, well, ever. I'm pretty sure I have a really good excuse though. We left Scotland in a whirlwind of packing and anticipation on December 13th and arrived into the exact same atmosphere at my parents place. It's an odd kind of year when you're all preparing to move somewhere else. (We did, however, manage to convince Dad that we needed to put up the tree!) Honestly though, I worried. Would people think I shunned them because I didn't send a card? Then I took a deep breath and pulled it together. Hopefully everyone on my Christmas card list would know that I was moving. Plus people tend to remember the cards they got and don't tend to dwell on the cards they didn't.

So this year, we're settled. Mostly. We're renting but it's an 18 month lease. After apartment hopping the first half of the year I feel like I can finally take things out of boxes and stay awhile. Our new neighbors have started decorating their homes in a professional fashion that strikes fear into my (keeping up with the Jones) heart and makes the little kid in me go *squeee!* both at the same time. There is ONE thing I can do well though. Cards! I can internet (yup it's a verb now folks, just accept it) and I can internet well!

I knew I wanted to make custom cards this year I just hadn't decided which site I wanted to use. I used vistaprint for Jessica's annoucments but America has such a wealth of choices that I knew I was going to have some searching to do. Enter the blogosphere. What better way to find products, ideas, and oh my gosh the CRAFTS!! (Yes. I'm a bit craft mad at the moment. I don't need a 12 step program just yet, but I'm pretty sure my afflication is getting worse rather than better. )  Hello Tiny Prints!  More than one blogger on my reading list is talking about them so I thought I'd check them out and see what all the fuss is about.

Their selection is HUGE and everything is fully customizable (so I can add in all the melt your heart toddler cuteness and kitty cats playing with santa hats that my heart desires!) So far I'm leaning towards

but I'm me. So it's entirely possible this is not the card that will arrive from us at Christmas... maybe

One thing's for sure. There will be something SUPER adorable heading to my family and friends this year, but it probably will not inculde a penguin on a toboggan. Their economy shipping gets them to you in 8-10 days and they have a 2 day super rush for the procrastinators out there *cough cough* I mean me..... 

I'll let the proof be all tasty in the pudding (sorry it's late and I get my figures of speech all messed up at the best of times, so proof flavoured pudding is indeed the metaphor I will use tonight) and I'll let you know how they look when they arrive. 

Now I just have to arrange to get some card worthy photos!

ps. because you KNOW I'm not a full price retail kinda girl... if you order today you get free shipping using CYBER20 and they look like a site that does run deals. Plus, a custom card site WITH a blog... Tiny Prints well, that's just kinda groovy. (As I tend to say - if a store doesn't have a web pressence they're dead to me! :D)

pps. It's only the 29th so I'm breaking all kinds of rules here, but.... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!