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How to Easily Edit a Photo to Create a Personalized Holiday Card

Do you mail out Christmas cards every year?  It’s a treasured tradition of mine.  Not only do I send them via snail mail, but I’m one of those old-fashioned people who loves to hand-write a personalized message to each family, so my cards are always open-able with a front, middle and back, as opposed to the more common “postcard” option.   Before I had 3 kids, I’d actually hand-make the cards too.  Much has changed since the addition of our third sweet baby, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. 🙂
Now I’m drawn to simple yet personal cards that of course include a recent family photo.  When I receive holiday cards from friends and loved ones, I love a good family picture that shows how the kids have grown and changed over the past year…especially since we don’t see them on a regular basis.
With a brood of kids that keep me constantly hopping, I don’t have loads of extra time to spend making a card.  So this year, I opted to simply edit a family photo in PicMonkey and print it off as a press card.  I sincerely thanked myself for doing so, because it was almost effortless, and yet the results were pretty fantastic, if I do say so myself.
 What do you think?
Oh how I love my little family.
Do you have a photo that you would love to personalize/winterize and send out as a holiday card?

There are lots of editing options available in the free version of Pic Monkey, but many more if you’re willing to upgrade to a Royale very-reasonably-priced paid membership.  Some fun options to play around with are: text, borders, labels, flourishes, textures, overlays, touch-ups, and effects like black and white, sepia, and frost. You can also make collages, which is another great option for a holiday card if you want to use more than one family photo.

For our Christmas card this year, I chose to use a Winter theme with “Flakery” add-ins and a snowflake frame.

Here’s how to replicate the simple process for your own holiday card.

Go to Pic Monkey and click on “Edit a Photo” at the top. Choose a photo from your computer that you’d like to edit.  Now click the Snowflake icon at the bottom of the list on the left hand side (with the “New” orange banner).  Click “Winterland” and then “Flakery” under “Overlays”.  Now choose a snowflake design and position it where you’d like on the photo.  You can re-size the flakes by pulling the double-sided arrow up and down when the snowflake is selected.  Now you’re ready for the frame!

While still in Winterland, click on “Winterscapes” under “Frames”.  I chose the snowflake option.  It will display on the bottom of your photo.  Change the color if you’d like.

Now add in your text by clicking on the “Tt” icon on the left and selecting a font.  Change the size and color to fit your card.  If you’re planning on printing this as a press card, you’ll want to position your text so it’s far enough away from the borders, so it won’t be cut off in the printing process.
You’re done!  It really only takes a matter of minutes to turn a photo into a fun holiday greeting card that can be printed and sent to friends and loved ones.  Just be sure to leave yourself enough time to receive the order, fill out the cards, and send them back out.
I received a package with my high-quality, gorgeous press cards from Artsy Couture just a few days ago.  Love them!

I’ll be hand-writing a personal message in each one and mailing them off very soon.  It’s quite the process, but I love the thoughtfulness of an old-fashioned pen-on-paper sentiment.

Happy Holidays!  Isn’t this a fun time of year?
Disclosure: I am a PicMonkey affiliate, but was not compensated for this post. I was given free product for review from Artsy Couture.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Cute card. When I was single I made cards every year, wrote letters or notes and sent them by mail. Now I do good if I get one card out, but then there is only the two of us. I love using Picmonkey to edit my pictures.

  3. Ugh, I am so late with our Christmas cards this year! I normally go all out with my cards, but I'm running out of time. This is a fantastic idea! And you have a beautiful family btw!! :)

    Debbie @ One Little Project

  5. I haven't done my Christmas card yet, but was planning on doing them with PicMonkey. These turned out great! Stopping by from Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop.

    Gracielle from http://mommya-z.com

  6. I got mine through shutterfly--and later thought I really should have done this! What a great tutorial. Thanks for linking up with the Bloggers Brags Pinterest Party. I have pinned your post to the Bloggers Brags Pinterest Board!
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