A Quick & Simple DIY for those Christmas Cards You Received

I am not a keeper of many things, but I can't stand just throwing all of those Christmas cards we get from friends and family every year. This year, I decided that instead of tossing them all in the trash, I would punch holes in each of them and let the kids enjoy them. I will keep them out for a couple more weeks, but then I plan to put them away and bring them back out at Christmas. I think it will be fun to make a book each year and then have them out at Christmas each year for the kids to enjoy looking back at.

It literally takes less than 10 minutes to put one of these little "books" together. Just punch holes in each of your cards, hook them all on a binder ring, and that's it. I added a twine bow on mine just to give it a little more pizzazz. 

 

This year, I started a Holiday Friends Card Exchange where I invited some of my Instagram friends to participate in a card exchange with our children. Each family participated made cards with their kids and then sent them out to each family. Our children had so much fun receiving cards from different places and looked forward to checking the mail each day as well. They love flipping through all of the cards they received.

I will actually be doing a Valentine's Friends Card Exchange also, for anyone who is interested in participating. This is a great opportunity for those families of children who are not yet in school or home schooled and don't get the chance to exchange cards with friends like so many children who are in school get to do. Space is limited, so be sure to follow me on Instagram and lookout for the sign up announcement.


                    

Signing Off for Christmas

I want to thank every single person who has supported Six Cherries on Top in 2013. What an incredible year it has been and I am truly blessed to be part of a community of people that is so supportive and uplifting of one another. Thank you for being the support I needed through my weight loss journey and the loss of 50+ lbs too. Even when I was away on my blogging break earlier this year, I still appreciated every email from those who were just "checking in" to see how I was doing. I have become friends with some seriously amazing women throughout my 5 years of blogging, and this year that list of women has only grown as I have gotten to know you all. I look forward to nurturing these relationships even more in 2014, as well as making many new friends along the way. 

Although I will be away for the next several days, I invite you to follow me on all of my social media outlets. One of my favorite things is interacting with all of my friends through posts, tweets, and photos, and I would love to follow along with you as well.

                    

 You can also friend request me at my personal Facebook page HERE. 

From my family to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and hopes of a Happy New Year! 

Linking up with The Paper Mama for her annual Holiday Photo Challenge. 

Happy Thanksgiving from Our Family to Yours!

And for those who have been anticipating the Christmas card of Jason and I this year, here it is.

I look so much like my mother right here it is scary! 

                    

It's Time for Christmas Cards

I have been making our family Christmas cards myself every year and have gotten a lot of great feedback from friends and family about them every time. I always create the card myself and then usually upload the image to some place like Pear Tree Greetings, where they are printed onto a card.

 

The last couple of years, we have only had the kids in the photos, because honestly, I was not comfortable in front of the camera. I was overweight, and every single photo I had taken of myself, I felt like I wanted to cry. Therefor, it was so much easier to just get the kids together for a card.

Since I have lost over 50 lbs. this year, I have gained a bit of my confidence back, and have plans to go in a completely different direction with our cards this year. I have decided to have a photo card of just Jason and I. Not just because I have lost the weight, but because the last time we took a quality photo together was the year we met. The time is overdue for a few new ones. And since this will be the first photo in such a long time, I have decided not to go with anything silly, although, that is normally my style.

I look forward to sharing our card with you in the next week or so.

 

Sending out Christmas cards is very important to me even though the number of cards I receive in return has greatly decreased in the last few years. I don't know if it has anything to do with the economy and that some people are trying to save money or if the internet and social media has made others feel that connecting with friends and family during the holidays is less important.

I personally feel that receiving an ecard or email wishing me Merry Christmas is tacky and so impersonal. Even if I have to get my kids to draw pictures on construction paper, my friends and family are going to get a card from The Moore Family.

*No judging involved here if you don't send out holiday cards. We all have our own ideas of what is important and this just so happens to be one of mine.


Do you send out holiday cards? Have you noticed a decrease in the number of cards you get each year as well?

Would you like to receive a card from our family this holiday season? I would love to swap cards with all of my closest blog and social media friends. We all deserve a little happy mail every now and then. If so, please email me with your address and sometime in December I will be sending them out.

It's NaBloPoMo, which means I will be blogging every day in November. I do hope you will follow along here. 

                    

the paper mama's holiday photo challenge

like i said yesterday, i am so excited about this challenge. i don't really enter many photo challenges any more like i used to, but i definitely look forward to this one every year.

so without further ado, here is my entry into the paper mama's holiday photo challenge.

we celebrate christmas, so this will also be the christmas card we send out this year as well. family members always look forward to our christmas card every year. i decided to go in a different direction and do black and white with a pop of color this year. i really love them!

be sure to head over and check out the challenge and enter your photo as well. and, if you need further motivation... there are prizes to be won! woo hoo!

joni - sixcherriesontop (at) gmail (dot) com | twitter | facebook | pinterest | instagram: sixcherries

the paper mama's holiday photo challenge starts tomorrow

tomorrow starts the annual holiday photo challenge over at the paper mama, and i am pretty excited! this will be her third year doing it and it is one if my favorite things to link up with every year. i love seeing everyone's creativity put to work for this! i assume most people use their creations as their yearly holiday card... i know i do, so if you are already planning to do one, you might as well link up! today I thought I'd share our photo/card from last year in case you weren't around then to check it out.

have you ever participated in chelsea's holiday photo challenge? are you going to participate this year? you totally should! not only is it tons of fun, there are prizes up for grabs! be sure to check it out tomorrow, and i hope to see your photo linked up with the rest of us.

need some ideas? check out these photos from 2010 and these photos from 2011. 

   

joni - sixcherriesontop (at) gmail (dot) com | twitter | facebook | pinterest | instagram: sixcherries

PLEASE VOTE FOR ME! PLEASE?

remember our christmas card?



i was so excited to find out that this christmas card made it to the top 30 over at the paper mama's holiday photo challenge. 

NOW...i need your help to make it to the top 10! please click the link below and vote for me so i can make it to the top 10. simply click the link below and scroll down to the voting tool to vote. 
i am #4.

you can vote once a day today, tomorrow, and wednesday. please vote each day if you don't mind. 


thank you so much in advance! you rock!


joni - sixcherriesontop (at) gmail (dot) com | twitter | facebook | pinterest | instagram: mamacherry

holiday card deal at snapfish!

i got so wrapped up in creating our 2011 christmas card this past weekend, i almost forgot that i still needed to send them out to friends and family once i was finished. i have enjoyed sending out photo christmas cards to friends and family every year but have always hated the prices that come with them. a few years ago when our family size started to increase, i stopped sending my photo cards, because i just couldn't afford it. so instead, i started sending those cheap premade cards that come in a box. i really dislike those kind of cards because they just don't have a personal touch like having a family photo adds. 

so then, i started doing a little hunting around the internet and discovered a deal for "free photo cards, you just pay shipping". of course i snagged that deal in a heartbeat. then i realized the following year that if i just took the time to dig deep, i could pretty much find a free card deal every year. 

and that's what i have been doing ever since. i have not had to pay for my holiday cards for quite a few years now.

this year i found my deal with snapfish. 

snapfish is offering 20 FREE 5×7 stationary cards ($34 value) when you use coupon code “HPHOLIDAY11” at checkout! you just have to pay shipping.

if you are looking for a good deal on your holiday cards, be sure to check out snapfish and use the code above. 

please note: i don't know when this coupon code expires so hurry now before it's too late. i just used it today so i know it is still good for today. 

joni - sixcherriesontop (at) gmail (dot) com | twitter | facebook | pinterest | instagram: mamacherry

the paper mama's holiday photo challenge

my kids were completely uncooperative this year for photos but we made the best of things and i am definitely pleased with our 2011 christmas card. 

 

chelsey, over at the paper mama is having her second annual holiday photo challenge with lots of great prizes to be won. be sure to go over and check it out and enter a card of your own as well. lots of fun!

update: joining angry julie monday's holiday card link up too! stop by and share your 2011 holiday card.

joni - sixcherriesontop (at) gmail (dot) com | twitter | facebook | pinterest | instagram: mamacherry