Saturday, December 8, 2012

Photo Cards: Monthly Make and Product Review

For Christmas every year, I like to give some hand made cards.  This year, I decided to do something different. I made cards featuring my photography and had them printed at Snapfish. I made several themed sets.  The first set (above) features "sea" photographs.
The second set has a "land" theme. 
The third set features photographs of Ireland.  I also printed a pair of sympathy cards.
It was a lot of fun to make them, and I'm really glad that I did (and I'm calling them my Monthly Make for December). But, to be honest, I'm not completely sold on Snapfish. I found the website a bit difficult to use because it seemed to over-crop my photos, which limited the choices of photographs I could use.  Also, the pricing was very confusing (I used some discount codes), though they ended up being very reasonably priced.  Finally, while I liked the smoothness of the cardstock and thought they did a good job on printing the images, I would have preferred for the card stock to be a bit thicker.   I would have used a different website, but I couldn't figure out how to use the ones I looked at! I do think I want to make more photo cards in the future, but I want to try a different site next time. I'm not very good with technology, though.  So, I'm looking for recommendations for a very easy-to-use sites to make photo cards.  As well as any comments you have on these sets.

22 comments:

helena said...

excellent idea to use your art - I'm inspired to copy this idea.

You might want to look at Moo http://uk.moo.com/products/greeting-cards.html
I've used them for business cards and was pleased with ease of use and quality of product. Not sure how they compare to prices on other sites.

Jane said...

what a great way to use your beautiful photos.

Ladkyis said...

I have used Moo too, I don't think they are cheap but they certainly have quality

Anonymous said...

What a great idea and they look super. Thanks for the info on snapfish, I'd be interested in hearing of any sites here in North America that are better.

Karen said...

You chose beautiful images. I have favorites among each of the sets. I've used Zazzle for the postcards for Kat's exchange and the quality and customer service was great. For Christmas I made a calendar for Sarah and Adam at Shutterfly--easy, peasy and nice quality.

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

I love your photo cards, Rinda! I've used Snapfish before too, and I wasn't happy with the weight of the cardstock nor the quality of color in the printed photos. I do love Moo.com though, and I highly recommend it! The quality of their product is outstanding, site is easy to use, and their prices are reasonable. That's my recommendation. :o)

Alison said...

The cards look lovely Rinda....I've just finished writing mine today, though the non-UK or Spanish ones went last week
Alison xx

Sian said...

These look fantastic! I'd love to see a close up of your Irish ones especially.

I've never done anything like this - but I too have heard good reports from Moo

Missus Wookie said...

Lovely - the sea and Irish ones especially. What a nice idea tho'.

Considering my table is covered with Christmas cards in various stages of creation this made me smile :)

Elizabeth said...

What a nice idea, and your photography is top notch.

Irene said...

Nice pictures make great cards and your cards are beautiful.

Jimjams said...

WOW - they look great (from here) - what a clever idea to use your beautiful photography like this. No help with other printers though as I've never done anything similar.

scrappyjacky said...

Great idea,Rinda.....they look wonderful.
In my local photography shop they slightly changed the setting on my camera so that the photos I took would be the right size for digital prints and wouldn't get cropped.....apparently the standard setting on cameras is not correct for printing 6 x 4 digital prints....which seems a bit odd!!!

Denise said...

What a great idea Rinda,I've tried Snapfish and wasn't too impressed,and I always have the problem of size when I get my photos printed.I wonder what the setting is on the camera to make it right as Jacky says? x

Miriam said...

Another one for http://uk.moo.com. Your cards are beautiful Rinda. I use a Mac & have most of my printing done by them but I have used Moo & like the quality of the card.

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Lou said...

wow these are lovely Rhinda -such a lovely idea.

I used snapfish for a long time and then they changed the weight of the paper and i found rainbows in photos that didn't have rainbows. Especially noticeable on white parts of the photos. I will have to have a look a Moo.

Abi said...

Oh these are really lovely Rinda. I like the sets you have chosen. I use photobox but I'm unsure whether they are just a uk based company. xx

Missus Wookie said...

was thinking of this post today as I read a recommendation for Persnickity Prints - the review was impressed with the thickness of the cards and the quality of the print.

Hope that helps!

laurie said...

these are beautiful, and useful, gifts. i love that they are made by you, your vision and talent - homemade is always best. :-)

~*~Patty S said...

Your photo cards are lovely ... each one so special with a story to tell.

I have tried postcards on Zazzle but found it difficult to get the wording on the back right and found it difficult in general. The refund policy if you are not happy is excellent.

Sounds like Moo is one to try thanks to your other comments.
oxo

Lynda said...

These are great! I've not tried them but a friend of mine has hers made at digital lizard and she really likes them. The set of cards she gave me are really professionally done.