Before, After & MINTED Personalized Christmas Cards for the WIN

Early for Christmas card browsing? Certainly not. Because how will you decide? If you have browsed the range of gorgeous designs for darling Minted personalized Christmas cards, you know the amazing options. Can it truly be headache-free? You don’t even need a family photo to make it “custom.” Personalizing with your name on the front feels special too. Every single MINTED item I ordered was better in person. Not a small thing! Minted personalized Christmas cards with an all-in-one design are also budget-savvy. Is it time to deck halls? Maybe. But at least we’ll most likely be zhushing, not wrecking balling the place like its 2021. (Scroll on to see how far we’ve come as we revisit the before/after of our dining room.)

Darling Minted Personalized Christmas Cards

What to do should you find yourself without a flattering photo of you on a beach, near the Eiffel Tower, or cradling a new grandchild? Deep breath. Photos will likely never be able to reflect what is truest in our lives. It’s totally okay if the obligatory family photo for the Christmas card is absent this year.

Feel free to skip “picture perfect.” Two Christmases ago, we used the self-timer on an iPhone for a ridiculous 5-minute photo shoot.

Let’s face it. Your friends may prefer seeing you in your natural habitat more than posing on a beach.

Not that your friends don’t want to see you happy. But I think in an age of artificial intelligence and social media posturing, it’s refreshing to see what is most real.

It is why our silly 5-minute photo shoot card is a fav since it honestly did happen in the middle of an ordinary day of renovating the house in grubby clothes.

If You Capture a Photo for Your Minted Personalized Christmas Card

It took us all of five minutes to snag our photo and about five minutes to upload it to Minted. For that card’s design, I skipped the option of adding additional photos. PEACE TO YOU RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE made it extra personal to me. Have a quote or scripture that always lingers in your thoughts? Customize your card with it!

Another idea that is mostly headache-free? Personalize a card with: a favorite photo you took, that snowy landscape, or your home’s exterior. Our renovation progress is what we were celebrating that year. Here’s what our dining room looked like in its before…

and during…

You may recall we were careful in the removal of the built-in china cabinet and repurposed it in our kitchen.

A glimpse of mauve carpet (above) made us smile.

How’s that for keepin it real? If you have grandchildren or young children involved in sports or the arts, you may have a wealth of possibilities for a personalized holiday card.

As emptynesters, it was renovation progress dear to our hearts that year.

Shop Our Dining Room

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Holiday Essentials Keep it Streamlined

I am all for easy peasy. Thanksgiving week is typically when our tree goes up, and pre-lit wreaths will emerge from basement boxes.

And every single year, I experience a bit of a freakout as a blogger.

How am I going to reinvent but stay true to my sensibilities?

And how will I bring forth anything worthy of social media posting?

Such freaking can push one beyond healthy limits of nervous system regulation, doncha know.

Such freaking can cause one to question the ridiculousness of all the trappings. To resent all of the woes that steal wonder from the holidays.

That’s when it is time to take a break from all the thinking. To play Christmas music. To sip something soothing. And to pray for help; to return to our senses with an open heart.

Christmas Decorations More Timeless Than Trendy

I can rely on these essentials each year because they aren’t trendy or disposable. If you’re frugal and practical as I am, timeless always feels right. These decorations won’t look silly in a decade.

How to decorate with sacred little gold boxes?

Truly there are endless options. I placed them on a brown transferware china on our entry’s console:

You could also embellish a special gift with a heart. What about threading ribbon through the top for an instant Christmas tree ornament?

I also love the idea of writing a special message inside. Could it be a prayer request if you’re keeping the little heart box for yourself? Maybe an affirmation?

Since they are hinged boxes, it’s easy to slip photos or love notes inside. Best of all, they don’t feel like seasonal decoration. They need not be packed away after Christmas!

Old School Organization

An essential I use for the holidays and beyond? This customized journal/notebook from Minted. I have ordered these time and time again.

You could add photos of loved ones on a notebook’s inside cover…instant prayer list or blessing list…BOOM.

My notebook is for lists which help manage the holiday details of hosting, cooking, baking, and shopping. Could I just as easily use a Notes app on my phone? Sure. Except.

I find uncommon joy from pen and paper. It’s satisfying to cross off a completed task on the list. Be totally rad and old school!

Psst. Also, phones run out of juice. A hard copy means I’m not inconvenienced by technology. (And if we’re honest, isn’t technology too often a headache?)

Even if you’re not a list maker, this journal notebook makes an excellent gratitude journal. I jot down inspiring quotes, ideas to research, and bits of poetry.

What About This Year’s Card?

I have always loved the Met collection of cards from Minted so maybe this ballerina since I won’t need a photo…

But I also love this Garden Peace design:

YOU: That’s it? That’s all of the essentials?

ME: I wasn’t kidding about easy peasy! A notebook, quality-made personalized Christmas cards, and small timeless embellishments to display all winter.

If you made it all the way here, thank you for traveling here to the land of ads and affiliate links. I know it can be disruptive and try to dial back the number of ads within posts. (This means my small business income is half of what is was.)

With abundant competition online, mostly from robots and ai, it’s trickier than ever to earn income for creation behind the scenes. Most folks don’t realize a blog requires full-time hours and endless pivots with platform and algorithm fluctuations. I am ever grateful for your support pinning images and quotes and reading me in every post.

Peace to you right where you are.

-michele

Thanks for shopping RIGHT HERE to keep decor inspiration flowing on Hello Lovely!

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