Got to give credit...

...where credit is due.

The narcissist in me would like to claim the perfection that is our baby announcements and Christmas postcards as all my own. Alas, I can only stamp my name on the ideas behind their creation. I insisted on getting Curtis' announcements letter pressed. And if you know anything about letter press, you know that it is insanely expensive to get something custom made, as every component has to be hand set. Therefore, since Matt and I are not "made of money", (no matter how hard we try to think we are) I set to searching through site after site, dozens of Etsy listings and even looking into purchasing some sort of letter press to do it on my own. To send 100 announcements afforablely, I could find no solution, until Emmy came to visit the baby!

Turns out, our good friend Emmy Rice, freshly out of graphic design school, is beginning her own business, including the art of letter press! So, Matt offered his photography services in exchange for a discounted announcement. I merely showed her a few designs I'd come across in my extensive search for a cheap yet classy announcement, and she took care of the rest (though the photograph of Curtis is Matt's and I assembled them). I feel they truly reflect the perfection that I see in my newest baby boy.

*Don't forget, you can click on photos to enlarge!

As for our Christmas card, well, where do I even begin. For a little over a year now, I have been suggesting to Matt that I wanted a "family" picture that includes every member of the household (yes, that means pets as well.) But I wanted us all to be doing our own thing, you know, like a picture with more than one focal point. And I wanted it to be a little dark, or creepy; unnatural if you will. After months of blowing me off (and I say this in the lightest respect, as it is not uncommon for me to come up with off the wall ideas that probably should be ignored on a daily basis), something suddenly clicked, and I think it was that Matt had finally thought of the perfect photographer to pull it off; Chris Mullins.

So, a week or so before Christmas, the whole family joined in a group effort to recreate the chaos of our daily life. The secret to the photo? It is 4 seperate shots. I then took the picture file to my favorite, local, family-owned printing shop, Almar, and asked them to turn it into a postcard. I did type all the wording and the font, but that is all I can say about that. As I have said before, if I were to choose any other line of work, it would be designing invites, announcements, etc, I just enjoy the process and the product so immensly.