Holiday Cards + Letting Things Go

I absolutely love the holiday season.  The lights on the trees... the chill in the air... the traditions... the peppermint hot cocoa... you with me?  I even enjoy most of the little nagging holiday to do's, but this year I'm nine months pregnant and energy is in short supply.  So, in the interest of keeping things stress free and simple I'm allowing myself a few shortcuts.  

The first thing I'm letting go of is designing my own holiday cards.  You guys know how much I love to design, but I spend way too many hours agonizing over the details.  So instead I've opted to order our cards from Minted this year.  Their founder spoke at Alt SF this summer and I really admire their business model.  They source selections from independent designers worldwide, and I love that you can add extras like rounded corners and kraft envelopes (check + check) to personalize everything.  I had trouble narrowing down my options, but the card below was my second choice.  That's Caitlin with her 'best friend' Andy the giraffe.  I decided not to share our official card with you yet since I haven't sent it out family and friends, but it might possibly be even cuter than this... I'll share it on instagram after they've hit the mail.

Oh, and another thing I'm taking off my to do list (possibly forever)... fighting crowds at the mall.  Sorry Black Friday. My goal is to do as much of my shopping online as possible, which is a new thing for me, but working out great so far.  I still prefer to have the gifts shipped to our house so I can wrap them myself... because honestly I think that's my favorite part of gifting.  When I was shopping for the Minted cards I discovered they now have a gift wrap section too, complete with custom wrapping paper and some of the most beautiful ribbon that you ever did see.  Why hello, gold glitter and red velvet!  I think some of these beauties need to be paired up with my geometric gift tags, wouldn't you agree?

I'm not sure if I'll be back here again before Christmas or the baby arrives, so if not I wish you all a safe, happy and party filled holiday season.  I'll be back as soon as I can to keep you posted with the big news.  Merry happy everything!

This post was sponsored in part by Minted, but my good opinion of their products is all my own.