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Monday, January 18, 2016

New Year Cards & Getting Organized

      Today’s post is sponsored by Minted, but my love for their products is all my own!
minted, happy new year, 2016, goals, personalized stationery, hand lettered


Happy new year (again) and as I write that, I actually can not believe we are well into January already, it's crazy right? At least now I feel like this past week I established a work order again after the two week . . .  (okay three week) hiatus I took to relax and recharge during the holidays. This Christmas season went fast for me and I no sooner got all of my decorating done and presents wrapped, then I blinked to find it over, just as quick. One of the things that I had to let go of over the holidays is sending out holiday cards to my friends and family. Some years I just can't even deal with it if I am feeling rushed or pressed for time and 2015 was ONE of those years. But once the holiday passed, I felt like I really missed out, so I decided to go ahead and do something about it and did something different . . . sent New Year cards! 

I have never sent New Year cards and I'm telling you what, after sending these out this past week, I think I may do this every year as I discovered a few things: I was able to take my time sending them, plus they will probably get noticed more (since they are not competing with all the other cards) and it's like sending a nice unexpected surprise for all to receive in their mail!


I chose my New Year cards from Minted and their selection is amazing, who knew that sending New Year cards was a thing? I think it's awesome, that the cards are designed from a community of artists that they have chosen because I for one, can appreciate that and would love to someday have one of my designs possibly listed! ;) Dream big right? But the choices were many and I love being able to upload my own personal photo and it will let you see what your photo looks like in the designs you are considering! It's great!! After playing around with a few different options, I narrowed down my choice by choosing a card design that people could cut the photo off of the top of the card and keep or frame, if they wanted. It's like getting double the fun with my design I picked . . . a card for now and then a photo for later!

A couple reasons you will love these cards: when I got these cards back from Minted, the finish on the cards was very matte and printed in thick cardstock which makes them very durable and not flimsy! Once you choose your design, you have options on colors as well - I enjoyed being able to match up the design and type with the colors in my photo. The hardest part of creating your own cards is picking out a great photo! I hired a photographer back in the fall to take some pics of my mom & dad for their anniversary gift and I jumped in real quick to get this one taken of me and my daughter and I am so glad I did. She is growing waaaaaay too quick and looks about eighteen in this pic (sigh) and she's only twelve!!! So when I needed a quick photo for these cards, I thought why not use this one? I love it, so will my family and it's one I will cherish forever!


Truth. I am one of those people who notice the little things, details, special little touches . . . so every time I get an order from Minted, they never disappoint on their packaging and branding, I mean look, Brian packaged my order and hand wrote it to me with my name . . . it's the little things! ;)

 

packaging, branding, minted, black and white, silver foil designsending new year cards in the mail, addressing, hand lettering, send love
happy new year cards, minted personalized stationery, personalized cards


Since it's a new year and like everyone else, I am TRYING to get organized and start the year off on a good note, I decided to check out what else Minted had to get me organized and boy was I loving what I found! I'm one of those people who like to have numerous journals around for jotting down ideas when they strike. I also need to have a sketchbook of some kind nearby, to sketch out a design that I don't want to forget or want to put on paper to see if it's going to work.

One of my goals this year is to get all of my items organized with my business, to find places for everything, create a better brand awareness and to work the hardest I ever have on my BIG goals I have set for this year! I am definitely getting organized in style with these perfect pieces I found and ordered from Minted. My favorite part is that everything can be personalized how I want it. 

Check out what I found: 'the Great Ideas' journal is what I will grab to sketch out a new design or lettering idea which is why I had "EC inks" personalized on it as it will be used just for that! The two books with this happen to match (which rocks) and they have my business name on both. One is a journal that has lined pages in it for me to write down notes for my business and keep track of all of those lofty goals for 2016! ;) The other book is an address book. I had never considered having one for my business but it makes perfect sense as I have met so many amazing people who I like to send notes too or a small surprise every now and then, so this way all of those contacts have a place to call home in my new address book! Look at that . . . I am already MORE organized! ;)

getting organized with journals, personalized stationery, the great ideas
business address books, get your contacts organized, minted
the great ideas, personalized stationery, minted, journals, organization
business journal, branding, black and white, business organization
personalized stationery from minted, new year cards from minted


I loved partnering up with Minted again this year as I truly do love their products and can't wait to use all of their journals and books to keep me organized this year! Have you purchased anything from Minted before? Let me know below as I would love to check it out!


Thank you so much for letting me share this product with you and for supporting the brands and companies that help support my blog! 




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Looking forward to seeing you again! :)

29 comments:

  1. I love Minted. I have ordered my Christmas cards from them the past few years and have been very happy with them :)

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  2. I have never heard of the brand before but since you have impeccable taste I will take your word for it. Great photos as usual!

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    1. well isn't that a great compliment - why thank you!!! ;) I appreciate that!

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  3. How fun are these !!! I love them and minted !! Laci

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  4. Those are absolutely beautiful paper products. I've never even thought to send New Years cards, but what a great idea.

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    1. yes I am rather happy with the idea of sending New Year cards - so much easier ;)

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  5. I love sending cards for absolutely any reason at all. I bought my Christmas cards from Minted.

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    1. that is great & yes I agree, sending cards for no reason is the best ;)

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  6. These are so cute. I love minted!

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  7. It has been ages since I've sent cards of any type, but these cards are beautiful! Minted always has the best selection.

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  8. I've never sent NY cards. Fun idea.

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  9. Very beautiful cards. I would like to order some.

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  10. I love this idea! And Minted is always a good choice. Your pictures turned out beautiful, by the way!

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  11. These are too cute!!! I need to check them out!! Love your photo!!

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  12. I've never ordered from Minted but they are, of course, very popular among the wedding blogs; right up there with Wedding Paper Divas. I've done New Year's cards in years past when I knew I was just not going to get Christmas cards out before the holiday and agree that they are a nice change of pace. This year I'm thinking of doing Halloween cards and getting it all done early!

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  13. Great idea to do New Years cards! It's a lovely way to kick off the year, and much better than trying to cram in everything around the holidays. :) You chose cute designs, and I think you should go ahead and try making your own!! You never know if someone will purchase it, and you can make money off of it! (I used to work for Zazzle, and I made a number of designs back in 2006-2007 that, to this day, still get ordered now. So, it's a fun and worthwhile experiment to try out, imo.) :)


    xo,
    lauriel (EyeForElegance.com)

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  14. Those are some lovely pictures. I need to work on that more. The cards and notebook are lovely as well!! You make them look ever better with your photography skills!!!

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  15. Good idea. I've never thought to send New Years cards before.

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  16. Yeah, I definitely should have done this! I had planned to send out Christmas cards, but my kids would not cooperate with a picture. Apparently I can't send the card without the picture...

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  17. I've purchased items from Minted before, and I absolutely loved them. I'll have to restock now.

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  18. I have heard of Minted, but I've never tried ordering from them. I will keep this in mind.

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  19. What a fun and creative idea! I wish I had thought of this before the new year. Thats a super cute website too.. Ill have to check it out. Thanks for sharing!

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  20. Omg what a cute card!!! We did a New Years card afew years ago because we ran out of time at Christmas

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  21. Whenever I miss sending Christmas cards, I think about doing New Years Eve ones. Now, I missed that train…so I'm thinking about doing Valentine's Day cards.

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  22. I have heard a lot about Minted but haven't heard a personal testimonial. Sounds like I need to check them out.

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