Life is crazy at the moment - besides general family, birthday, ballet, life stuff (which you can read about over at picklebums), I’ve been up to my ears in blogs and christmas cards!

Thanks to all the wonderful families who ordered Christmas cards in the past few weeks. It’s just about time to stop taking orders for these as it is only 39 sleeps to christmas (if the sign at the supermarket this morning is correct)! I will still take one or two last minute orders for the pre-made Christmas cards this week, but you will need to email me asap and you will need to have your photos ready to go, otherwise you will miss out.

In other design news… I am working hard on a bunch of digi scrap goodies to go into my ’stocking stuffer’ - a christmas grab bag that will go up in the store at PBP at the start of December. Eeek! I only have a couple of weeks left! I need to stop  blogging and start designing!

I did manage to sneak this into the shop at PBP today though…

It’s only AUD $2.50 - which is less than $2 US at the moment… so go grab a bargain!

I’ve been quietly working away on some Christmas cards. Yep, I am getting organised early this year and so can you, because these cards are pre-made templates which you can order now!

There are six designs to choose from.  When you order just let me know which design you’d like, send in your photos and I’ll send you back your own custom designed card.   I will do some basic customisation of these cards (adding/changing text, photo corrections and manipulations, some basic colour matching of elements and design) to make these cards really fit your photos and personality.

These are all ‘print your own’ cards, so what you’ll get is a digital image file (jpeg or flattened psd whichever you prefer) which you can either print at home or have printed  professionally. For an extra fee I can animate your cards and make them email-ready so that you could send them all digitally and save on printing costs.

So here are the designs you can choose from

‘Classic‘ - a clean, elegant design.
Good for use with a single portrait image. This design can also be order in a minty green colour way.

‘Modern’ - this is a bold, bright, contemporary design.
This design needs three photos which can be cropped to square. This design can also be ordered in a range of bright Christmas patterns.

‘Whimsy’ - bright fun and funky!
This design works best with a single landscape photograph.

‘Shabby Chic’ - a little bit shabby, but very sophisticated.
This design works best with a single image that can be cropped to almost square. This design can also be ordered with a green base colour.

‘Multi‘ - A clean, sleek design to showcase multiple images.
This design will work with twelve or nine photographs which can be cropped to squares, or two landscape images, or one large portrait photograph.

‘Realistic’ - All the rage at the moment in the digi scrapping world, this design is so real looking you could reach out and touch it. This design works best with a single landscape photograph.

How much does it cost?

All pre-made cards cost $15 - which includes integrating your photographs into the above designs and basic customisation.

If you order your card before the end of October I will discount the price for early birds to $10.

To add basic animation and make the card email-ready, please add an extra $10 to the cost of each card.

The turn around time for these cards is approximately one week, but I only have a limited amount of time so therefore I am offering a limited number of custom slots for these cards, so first in best dressed. Please email me via the contact page and make sure you include your email address, the name of your chosen design and any changes/customisations you’d like for your card. When I receive your order I will email you and let you know where your order is in my timeline and when you can expect to get your card design emailed back to you. We can also discuss any other issues you have and you can then email me your photos.

Payments can be made via direct deposit (Australian Customers only) or I can send you a paypal invoice. Please also read through my faq and make sure you understand all the information and terms of use before you order.

I will also be offering a very limited number of custom slots for one of, totally unique, designed especially for you Christmas cards. You can see some examples of my work from previous years here in my portfolio. The earlier you order these the better, but last orders will be taken for these mid November with an end of November delivery date (depending on printing needs). Standard design fees of $30 per card apply for these orders, plus any printing and shipping if needed.

I will not be taking on any more blog design jobs until the new year. If you have already emailed me about a design for your blog, don’t worry I will still find time to slot you in somewhere, but if you are not already on my list, you’ll have to wait until next year… there simply isn’t enough hours in the day.

Hey that rhymes!

Anyway…. just a quick community service announcement to say that I am sponsoring two challenges at PBP at the moment!

For starters I am hosting a Button Challenge - To scrap a lay-out using buttons and prove to the Picklemama (the name we affectionately give the owner of PBP) that buttons are not boring!
You can go grab this freebie right now and join in!

I was also approached by Pat the Pickle, who asked me, ever so nicely, if I’d contribute a freebie for the current pickle jar challenge and I was more than happy to oblige.

You have until October 15th to submit your lay-out and get the above freebie as your reward!

So go get busy!

Browsing through some blogs today and I cam across some great photos of a little girl and a little mirror! Such a simple idea that has such great results! I am so stealing this idea and taking some photos of my kids with a mirror!

I spent a bit of time browsing around Corey’s blog, Living and Loving Every Minute of It and ooh there are lots of gorgeous photos there! Go and check it out for lots of photography inspiration!

So I am in the midst of trying to design my calendars for this year… I always make a few as Christmas presents and this year I will offer a few custom slots for those who’d like to have their own personalised calendars to give as gifts or keep themselves (check back in a week or two for more info on ordering a custom designed calendar. This year I have decided to give CD case calendars a go…. but oh there is lots of great calendar goodness out there tempting me to do something different!

This calendar by jessgonacha at Etsy is just delicious… the colours are gorgeous and I love the way she has this mini version hanging on the wall.

This calendar wallpaper by Christiaan Postma is just way cool…. not sure where you’d put it, but still really ace!

Now this you just have to have… a bubble wrap calendar… imagine all bubble popping fun. Though I am pretty sure we’d not be able to restrain ourselves to the current day in this house and the whole year would be popped before the end of the first week!

So much calendar goodness and it’s not even the end of the year yet!