Friday, November 2, 2012

Holiday family photos & cards... completed.

***CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR $50 MINTED GIFT CARD WINNER: ANDREA L.***
(I will email you with details about your prize. Thanks for participating everyone!)

All photos in this blog post are by David Lim at our home in Singapore (Caribbean at Keppel Bay).
 
This year, I decided to stay on top of things so I don't find myself rushing at the last minute to get our family photos taken, and then order our holiday greeting cards. I really wanted to have a nice family photo of AJ, Linna and I taken in Singapore and use it on our holiday greeting cards. So after looking online and speaking with a few moms here in Singapore, we decided to have photographer David Lim take photos of us at our home in Singapore. We also chose to once again use Minted for our holiday greeting cards, as we were very pleased with the ones we ordered last year!





My personal favorite photo.


David Lim is a father of three gorgeous girls and a pretty well-known photographer in Singapore. We didn't want to spend a lot of money on a photo session, but wanted someone who could capture some moments for us during our time here. For about $200 (Singapore dollars), David will come to your home (or location you chose for an outdoor session), photograph your family, give you a few printed images, as well as your other images on a CD. We really liked working with David because he has an "eye" for great lighting, location, and works pretty quickly. We did an outdoor session at our condo, and because of the heat in Singapore, we didn't want to shoot for any longer than an hour. If you know the Saighs, we tend to sweat... a LOT! David photographed us in so many different locations, captured photos of Linna by herself, Linna with AJ, Linna with me, as well as photos of the three of us together. You can also have a photo session in his studio if you can't take the heat. We are very pleased with his quick turn-around, and the results of our photos!






Since we were also happy with the final results of our holiday greeting cards last year, we decided to once again use Minted. I am a big fan of their variety/selection, and we literally just popped one of the family photos David Lim took of us in Singapore into the template, and POOF... our holiday cards are completed! I wish I had the creativity and patience to make my own holiday cards, but Minted is enough DIY for this mom this year! For as little as about $.85 per card (prices go up from there), and about 15 minutes of your time, you can have your holiday cards made, ordered, and shipped to your home. The card stock is a really thick paper, so you don't have to worry about your holiday cards looking "cheap". You can have your return address printed on the envelope too. I'm willing to pay a little bit extra for convenience and simplicity around the holidays:)

Our holiday greeting card by Minted from last year.
Linna was only three months old in this photo!


I can't wait to have our holiday cards arrive at our home in Minnesota, so I can get them out EARLY this year! I know it's just past Halloween, but that means we're getting closer to the holiday season:)

Love her face.
 
 

YOU can win a $50 Minted gift card, just in time for the holidays! Simply become a "follower" of the Minnesota Baby blog (you must do this in order to be eligible to win), and comment on this blog post (below) telling us what your plans are for holiday cards this year (are you planning on sending them out?, do you even do photo cards?, etc.). It's that easy! One winner will be selected at random on November 15th. Good luck!

22 comments:

  1. Doing photo cards of out baby. Want to include his 3 month 6 month 9 month and year photo since his birthday is shortly before Christmas. So excited!

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  2. I do photo cards every year and I too have already been thinking about what to do for them this year'b

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  3. We just finished up with an amazing local photographer from "Tiny Sparrow Foundation." We never used to do Christmas/holiday cards but since our baby was diagnosed with cancer, it has become a {new} tradition. This will be the second year of doing it and I am so excited to pick out our holiday card! I had never heard of Minted and am in LOVE with their designs! :)

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  4. We're having our first professional pictures taken since Charlie was born (he's 9 months). We can't wait, then we'll definitely send out cards this holiday season. Your pictures were beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

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  5. We send out holiday cards every year and have ordered them from a couple different places. We tend to look for a good deal! We've ordered from Tiny Prints & Target, and would love to try Minted :)

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  6. I always order cards from Minted! They are my go to place!

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  7. Last year was the first year I failed to send out Holiday cards (since my daughter was born). It is my goal to get them out this year!!!! I have never heard of minted, but I love your cards from last year!

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  8. We usually do tiny prints, but of course I'd happily order from Minted with $50. In any case, I already have my photo picked out! It was taken in our backyard this summer by Karin Newstrom (www.karinnewstrom.com). After our dog Chester won a free photo shoot in an online photo contest, Karin came out to our house and offered to photograph not just Chester but our entire family! She is fantastic, and I cannot wait to create a holiday card from the awesome photo she took. She even managed to get the dogs "smiling," haha!

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  9. We will be doing christmas cards for sure I'm just trying to figure out the right pose. We have two boys a 3 year old and 3 month old. I really like the pose from your card last year so maybe we will try something like that with the boys. In the past we have used Shutterfly and Tiny Prints. This is the first time I have heard of Minted and we would love to try them!

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  10. We send out photo cards. It's so fun to get photo cards from all of our family and friends in return. But since we just moved, I think this year's card will just be a pic of my daughter instead of the whole family. Life's too crazy right now to find a photographer and get that all arranged. :) Your pictures look great! We have family members who use minted for their holiday cards and the quality is really nice!

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  11. I love sending and recieving photo xmas cards. We send out over 100 cards every year!

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  12. We typically send out a card with a personalized greeting hand written inside along with a picture we put in the card. My husband just got back from a year deployment at the end of May and we recently made a military move to Hawaii from DC. Our family is in Minnesota so we know holiday cards will be extra special this year. I always find it exciting to take the holiday picture every year and send out the cards knowing that people are going to put that picture up on their refrigerator!

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  13. Plannin to sed them out but unsure of a picture I want to use yet!!!

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  14. I love sending out and receiving Christmas cards.
    I follow you on twitter.. I did not see GFC so I was not able to follow you there

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  15. We love sending photo cards out to our family and friends every year. It is also nice to put in a note about all the things that have happened in the past year. Last year we did it all. A holiday card, letter, and birth announcement since our son was born on Christmas day! This year will be much simpler at least.

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  16. Love sending out but love receiving them more :) This year I am still stumped on what photos to use. Would be excited to try minted!!

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  17. Last year (my sons first Christmas) I had pictures taken at the picture people and ordered cards from them. Planning on the same this year.

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  18. i do love to send out photo holiday cards... this year i plan to get it with all the kids in one place at the same time!

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  19. I have sent out photo cards with a picture of my daughter on them since her first Christmas! Sometimes I put one together online, have them mailed to me, and them mail them out. Other times I print the picture and place it inside the card.

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  20. My plan is to go to JC Penny and have them do it! LOL. Every year we do it ourselves and I spend a good hour in front of a kiosk making it and have to restart a dozen times. This year, I'm trying something new!

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  21. With 4 kids we always do some sort of photo card so I can show them off!! Usually we take the photo at home and just add it to a card. I love that with today's technology you don't even have to get professional pictures taken to have professional looking cards done!

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  22. We always send photo collage cards featuring my husband and I and our 2 boys :)

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