Christmas Cards
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Christmas Cards
November 2004
We are looking for a cheap, easy place to get a family photo
taken and
made into holiday cards. We want the border of the cards to be
completely plain--just a blank white space for a message. We used to
get our photos done at JCPenney's, which was cheap and easy and
did an
ok job, but they stopped offering plain-bordered cards. I phoned
Sears and they don't have plain-bordered cards either. I wanted
to go
to Picture People at the Hilltop Mall, but they no longer have a
store
there (or maybe they never did and I hallucinated it).
There are two portrait studios at Hilltop: Photo Magic and Picture
Perfect--has anyone tried these?
I saw in the archives a few recommendations for Expressly Portraits,
but they're no longer at Hilltop--does anyone know if they have
another location nearby?
We're not necessarily opposed to private photographers, but they'd
have to be super-cheap (JCPenney's costs about $40 for unlimited
sittings for a year, plus about $1/card).
Cheap, but not cheesy
I used Walgreen's last year and was very happy with the cards.
It was very cheap. You just have to supply the picture or
negative. I can't remember which. So, you might not be able to
have a professionally done picture and then use Walgreen's b/c
you won't have the negative. Many of my friends and relatives
used Costco and loved the cards. Again, you have to supply the
negative or picture. Hope that helps!
jodi
If you have a digital camera, why not try an on-line service
and do it yourself? We really like Ofoto--we've made moving
announcements, photo books, calendars, etc. Lots of people I
know also like shutterfly.
Jennifer
My family doesn't care for the heavily decorated cards either.
Have you thought of using a photo that you like of the family
from earlier in the year, then taking the negative or CD to
Walgreens or Long's and getting photo cards made? You could
even have a friend take a roll of film of you and your family
right now if you want a current photo and use one of these
pictures. I've seen advertisements for 20 photocards for
$14.99. You have the option of choosing a saying (Peace, Happy
Solstice, etc.) along with your name. We did this last year
instead of going to JCPenney's and it worked great. No sappy
borders. And I put the order in only a couple weeks before
Christmas and got the cards back in time to mail them out for
Christmas eve arrival (okay, so that was cutting it close!).
Monika
November 2002
Hi,
I have a new Sony digital camera that I love, but I'm not sure
how to get the photos from my camera to my computer. I took
some great photos of my sister's kids that she wants to use for
her annual Christmas card, but I need help in getting the photos
to her! I've seen lots of people use photos on holiday cards -
but can I use a digital photo to make them?
Thanks
Mary E.
Your Sony camera should come with all the software and cables
needed to get the photos from the camera to your computer. For
instance, the FD Mavica model comes with a USB cable and Pixela
Image Mixer application, which most likely has an assortment of
templates for holiday cards.
Patrick
You have three options. (1) You can take your camera (or
removable memory medium from the camera) to a photo shop where
they can access the picture and make prints for you that you can
mail to your sister and she can insert in regular photo cards.
(2) You can upload your photo to a website like shutterfly or
ofoto, resize it or make other changes, and then have the site
make prints and send them directly to your sister (again, for
use in regular photo cards). (All digital cameras come with
software that lets you upload pictures to the computer; it is
also part of operating systems such as Windows XP and those for
the newer Macs. Once you have the picture on your computer, you
need to download the free ''uploading'' software from the website
you want to use.) (3) You can also work with one of the
websites to make your own cards online. Then what your sister
will get will be cards with your picture printed right on the
card (you can add fancy borders, etc.). The last is
particularly good if your sister is short of time, because it
eliminates the step of putting the photo in/on the card. Have
fun!
Stephanie
Last year we used snapfish.com with cardstore to create the whole card and were really happy
with them. You can upload your image to them from a scanned image, take it directly via cable
from your digital
camera or get it from their processing.
Good Luck.
For using digital photos for holiday cards check out
shutterfly.com They will process your digital photos (ie
make lots of photo quality prints). You can also post your
pictures online to share with family & friends.
patricia
I'm responding to the question about digital photos.
I work at Ofoto - a digital photography site which is designed
for digital camera owners who want to get prints from their
digital photos and easily share them. Lots of people have
digital cameras and aren't sure how to get high quality prints
and other photo products (like Holiday Cards, Photo Calendars,
Framed Prints) - that's exactly what we do. We are owned by
Kodak and print on Kodak paper. You asked specifically about
Holiday Cards and we have lots of amazing holiday card designs
this year (they come in sets of 20 cards & envelopes). If you
visit the site, www.ofoto.com, there are instructions on how to
upload the photo to us and make your card - it's really easy!
Another great photo product that makes a great holiday gift for
the relatives (especially grandparents) is the Photo Calendar.
You get to pick the 12 photos to display, photo captions and the
design of the Calendar.
Hope this helps!
Tammy
On page 28 of the November 2002 Costco Connection magazine, it
describes their new digital and traditional holiday photo
greetings available at the 1-hour photo. Most of our local
Costcos have the new digital printers (not available at South
SF, Fairfield, Vallejo). The digital printers can use 35mm,
APS, photo CD, Zip disks, Smart Media, Compact Flash, Memory
Sticks, SD and maybe others. They can crop your photo. They can
also print non-holiday photograph-quality photos. I hope this
helps.
Jill
Sept 1999
Since my daughter was born, when Christmas rolls around we have been
sending out those photo Christmas cards. I really like sending them as
well as receiving them from others. I would like to know where other
parents have gone to have their cards made and how much it cost. I used
Walgreens for a while, but found their quality diminished year to year
until I was very unhappy with what I got from them.
Mary
We have our photo Holiday cards done by Color Express on Shattuck Ave. (near
Center). We are usually very late with getting a decent photo for our card
and they can print them in a day or two. The quality of the work is very
good as they have done photo and slide work for the research labs that I
have worked in. The price depends on the number of copies that you require
and if I remember correctly it is $.55 and up. And the owner is a very nice
person!
Denise
We've been pretty happy with CostCo. Pretty good prices and decent
quality. Get your order in early, though, since they have a pretty high
volume!
Dawn
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