Maren Benedict
One of my favorite things about the holidays is sending and receiving holiday photos. It’s amazing how much people, especially children, change throughout the year.
This last year I decided to send photo cards year-round because great pictures can be enjoyed all year long! I take photos of the kids with their gifts for Thank You cards, and also have begun sending them off periodically to distant family and friends.
Photo cards are quick and easy to make, too. All you need is a good photo…let it do all the work for you!
Photo cards are the perfect way to say "hi".
Let someone know you are thinking of/missing them.
Or that you are thankful for them.
Photo cards are always well received and cherished! What are ways that you share photos throughout the year? I would love to hear other ideas for using photos on cards! Leave me a comment and I’ll randomly select three people to win a copy of Paper Crafting with Photos! All comments must be received by midnight (MDT) on Thursday, Nov. 5.
Have a marvelous Wednesday!
Maren Benedict,
Paper Crafts Go-to Gal
P.S. Hop on over to Moxie Fab World today! Cath is spotlighting the oh-so-talented Wendy Sue Anderson, the creative inspiration behind our new book A Card a Day. Make sure you check back here tomorrow when we start our two-day promotion of this fabulous book! (And yes, we’re giving away free copies!)
I most often tuck photos inside a handmade card, but I love these ideas. I might have to try them.
I share photos on my blog and by putting them inside a homemade card. I love your idea of placing the photos as the focal point of the card….can’t wait to try it!
What a great idea, those are so cute! I’m going to have to try to make a few of these, they’d be perfect for grandparents!
More often than not I’ve placed the photo inside to send out. When I do add them to the card itself I try to use photo corners so that they’re able to remove it if they’d like, but I sure like the second card above where elements have been added to the photo itself! I’ll have to try that idea.
I love the idea of thank-you cards with photos of the person with the gift. Thanks for sharing your creativity!
I have not made a card with a photo yet. I put photos on my blog seeing that our family lives so far away or I tuck the photos inside of a card. I will have to try incorporating one in my card soon.
i share pics through cards, cd’s, my blog, and mini albums. for my son’s graduation thank you’s, we included a picture of him with the gift giver. everyone loved it.
I usually tuck a photo inside rather incorporating it into the card itself as well. I love to tie a ribbon around the entire cardfront (as part of the design) and let that hold the photo in place. Makes it easier for the recipient to remove the photo and put it in a frame, or a wallet, or wherever! Thanks!
I too, send photo cards year round. We live far away from all of our friends and family, and it’s a wonderful way to share our lives with them. Most especially, my son has starred in these photo cards so that his eager grandparents can see how quickly he is growing up!
I’m horrible about sending pictures. Everyone is lucky if they get to see them just on facebook!
I love to incorporate real photos in my cards. I just made a Christmas card with a winter scene photo that I took last year. You can come up with endless ideas with so many different kinds of photos. It’s a great way to combine two of my favorite activities…cardmaking and photography!
I do not use photo cards too often. I guess I need to start. Sometimes I include photos with a card, but now I think I will make it part of the card. Thanks for the inspiration.
I like to use random pics I’ve taken for “pun” or serious cards (i.e., pics of the bear at the zoo for an “I can’t BEAR to be without you”card, or a picture of nature paired with some poetry or a famous quote.). I love to photograph nature AND my family, so I am always looking for ideas to use my photos in a creative way. Thanks for the new ideas!
Photo cards are great! I also have my son make cards with me as thank you notes for gifts he recieves, and we always try and include a photo. Easy and family and friends love it!
I haven’t really made a photo card – I usually make little mini books to send to family of the kids.
But I do make thank you cards with photos. Especially for the kids birthday parties. I like to take a pic of the birthday child with each guest, and then send that with a thank you on the back a few days after the party.
We have three cats who are always doing crazy things – and when I can catch them in the act with my camera I take their photos and these photos go on my cards – I use them for ALL occasions depending on the pose I was able to capture.
I usually just share my pictures on my blog. I never really thought of making photo cards throughout the year – only at Christmas time. But this is a great idea!
I am not good at incorporating photos into a card design. I make a card and then enclose photos of my kids to send to aunts/uncles and grandparents. This gives me some great ideas though!
When I visited my parents last month, I saw they still had last year’s Christmas card with my kids’ pictures in on, posted on their fridge. This year I think I’ll try to make the photo portion of the card removable and less season-y so they can display the pictures year round.
I don’t use too many photos in my cards, but I do love to make a small acordian album to send off to family with a series of 3-5 phots of a specific event.
Usually I make small little journals/scrapbooks filled with memories as gifts.. this is my way of sharing pretty pictures!
I share most of my good photos on my blog. Sometimes I’ll send one in a card, but I haven’t tried any photo cards yet.
i JUST made a photo card for my mother in law. She sent my two kids a GREAT package for Halloween. So i took some pics of them in their costumes and made a card using pictures of them together in the card. For example. (we) a pic of both my kids (heart) love U. The whole card was like that. Kind of like a candygram without candy and using photos and symbols instead…hehe. It was a lot of fun!!
Too cute! I usually make a book up for my girls, and they can add stickers to it and show it to there friends. They enjoy it.
Hugs
Tanya
I found this really cool collage photo thing on walmart.com. It’s a great way to display many pictures all at once. I Love it!
I once received a photo postcard. I believe it was a photo glued to an index card with a message on the back and then they laminated it. It was a super fun way to keep in touch with an old friend!
Great blog entry. Photos can be sized to fit into gift card holder cards, too. That way they can be taken out without damage to the photos. Thanks for the chance to win!
I love how you incorporate you pictures into the fronts of your cards. They look amazing. I don’t typically do that, but just might have to start. What I do to share pictures with family and friends is send out a photo with a card every so often, as well as update my blog regularly with family photos.
Now this is just priceless. Any relative would love to receive them. I might have to try to create some of these. Thanks so much for the inspiration.
We almost always do photos on our thank you cards for the kids birthdays. But, I have already used photos on the birthday invitations too.
We always do a Christmas photo of the kids and a family newsletter for all our family and friends at Christmas.
I share a lot of photos on facebook
I cut ppl’s faces out and put them on cute bodies and send it out as their Christmas card! haha Or make mini scrapbooks for friends. They always love those.
I’ve used photos that had too much wall or sky as a card front, typing a sentiment in the empty space (or using a rub-on, sticker or stamped sentiment). This works well with landscape pictures that have a broad expanse of sky. I also made a b-day card using a photo of my brother leaning against a blank wall and added a birthday sentiment. It makes a cool card, especially if the person receiving it also has ties to the picture!
I often make photo books as presents. I am actually working on one right now for my grandparents of them and my daughter for Christmas!
Thanks for the great ideas.
mostly I just send links to online photo albums or email select photos… then there’s always the scrapbooks too, hehe!
Love all these ideas!! Keep them coming….I am making a list.
I love your card ideas. I most often share my photos through email with family, but I think I need to use more on cards. My daughter really enjoyed taking pictures of flowers this summer and she made a nice set of cards with the photos as a gift for her grandma.
HA! Usually IF I share a picture, I just tuck one in a card……but NOW I’m inspired Maren…..THANKS!
~Shari
This is really inspiring – instead of one staid family photo taped INSIDE the once-a-year Chritstmas card, moving the photo to be part of the design on the card front! I LOVE it! I usually send photos in email or share in online albums, but these cards become mini scrapbook pages that can be displayed in the recipient’s home.
I also love it that you can make these scrapbook style photo cards without the committment or the PRESSURE of trying to do a whole album!
I am terrible about getting my photos printed, but I do share on FB, blog and email.
I stick them on a paper wrap with a candy bar inside. Sweet memories haha
Maren, these are adorable!!!
I like to use photos as a background and then layer with stamped images. Or make a “photo frame” on the front of the card
maren love your cards great job. I love to upload photos to shutterfy and then email to all my siblings that way they can print out the photos they want and i don;t feel like i need to print out a ton at christmas time to send out. I also like to make double pocket cards and add a wallet side photo in one of the pockets.
I often do the old stick a picture in the card. However for a Christmas card/gift for a few relatives I’ve made Paper albums or photo sharing cards.
I’m totally amateur at photos on cards….I think I might have glued a picture to a card ONCE. Thank you for the inspiration & a chance at the magazine/book – I could really use it
I never make photo Christmas cards but absolutely LOVE the idea of incorporating photos into cards throughout the year! I usually just slip photos inside the envelope with the handmade card so I would love a copy of the Papercrafting with photos for a little inspiration!
I love your photo cards! How inspiring! I will definitely have to include these in my must-makes from now on.
Thank you!
Southernmrs
at cox dot net
I haven’t used photos on cards because I don’t have a husband or kids to include in the photo with me. I have included photos of me and the pup in cards before. Next year maybe I’ll get a pict with the pup and design my card around that. Great idea!
Blessings,
Christine
I try to do photo Christmas cards with a family photo on them.
I like to make my photo a magnet and attach it to the front of the card so that it can be pulled of and put on the fridge. The receiver can keep the whole card, just the photo or nothing. Options…
I think photo cards are great for crafting with kids who can’t write yet. My kids have fun colouring and drawing on a card for grandma, and the photo is their “signature” and a special treat for grandma to see.