I take a lot of photos, especially of my son. Not only do I photograph him in order to preserve memories, blog and create albums, but I spend the second half of each year trying to capture the perfect Christmas card photo. Since he was born, I've been sending out Christmas photo cards to family and friends. I like creating them and seeing how much he grows from year to year. I also love receiving photo cards at the holidays, since I don't always get to see how big my cousin's kids have become or an old friend's family has changed. My sister always has great success with card photos, which isn't an easy feat with four kids.
This year I've been snapping pictures like crazy, mostly because my tempermental four year old has caught on to me and now refuses to pose for photos anymore. So, that means no professional photos this year for us! Last year I took a great photo of him in a pumpkin patch that became our card.
This summer, while on vacation at the beach, I managed to get one half decent shot of him. I must have taken close to 50 photos to get one full head shot with half smile. He's such a bugger! I found that if I just keep taking candids, and talk to him without letting him know I'm snapping photos, I can get some decent shots. I've already starting checking out holiday card patterns at Tiny Prints to figure out what I'll use. I've found so many cute styles this year that it is hard narrowing it down to one. (I may end up using two differnt ones!) Here are a couple of styles I am considering so far:
I like this ornament style one. It has a classic look and the photo I'm planning to use would look nice on it. I also like the black & white photo look. Tiny Prints gives the option of using a photo in color, sepia or B&W, and I've been able to view how each color option changes the look of the overall card.

A completely different look would be this blue peppermint streamers flat card. I think the light blue background would also look great with the beach photo of the monkey boy. I also like the color combination of light blue and red.
I also found some fun address labels and self inking return address stamps on the Tiny Prints site. I am planning to order one of the self-inking stamps, as it is so easy to use year round, not just at the holidays. We have two last names in our house, which are not hyphenated, so creating a stamp for our return address using our last names can be tricky, since we can't use a single initial monogram. I found a style at Tiny Prints that will allow me to have both of our last names on the label stamp and still look elegant.
Tiny Prints has a blogger program that allows bloggers to share their holiday card tips and ideas in exchange for 50 holiday cards. If you are a blogger and would like to sign up, check out this Tiny Prints link for more information! That's what I did!