Christmas Planning - Part 2 - Christmas Cards - Filofax Friday

Welcome back to part two in my 2014 series on Planning for Christmas. I really hope you enjoyed last week and that it has not only given you some food for thought with regards to your own planning but that it has inspired you to get started too.

This week I wanted to look at planning for Christmas cards. Every year we like to send out a more personal card to our friends and family, particularly as some of them are accross the miles. Sending out a personal card means we get to have fun and share a bit of our humour with our family that we don't get to see all that often and then they get a lovely personalised card from us. It is hard work but we do enjoy it. I am not afraid of hard work it just takes a little time to put it all together and that is what planning is for!

If you would like to see the making of our 2013 Christmas card here is the video. Whilst we ended up with just one photo, it was actually all stitched together in photoshop and comprised of 13 images, yes 13! It was all good fun and now the process begings for 2014.

Obviously you don't have to make your own Christmas cards like we do but I am sharing with you what we do and the process and planning behind it all. I do encourage you to try it though, use your phone and do a family selfie or use a self timer on your camera then upload your image to somewhere like Moo.com, Vistaprint or Photobox and use their templates to complete your design. It is relatively easy and not too costly either and of course doing it early enough means you can shop around and wait for good offers! If you need some help and ideas for yours, Pinterest is a fantastic source.

Before the shoot takes place (we do shoot it ourselves) we like to have a think and jot down any ideas that we have, maybe even do a sketch of how we want it to look. We do need to bear in mind that whatever we do, we need to be able to photoshop the girls in and that is a huge cobsideration. I use the above 'shoot ideas' sheet to jot these all down on and this is a free download below.

Once we have finalised / agreed on an idea it is all just a matter of bringing it together and I do that using the above insert, again this is a free download for you below. We are leaning towards something like the image shown on the insert which I found on Pinterest, just with a little tweaking. I use this insert to work out all the props and outfits needed and all of that razzamatazz! Believe me it really helps to have it all planned in advance.

We usually shoot the card in October to allow for any re-shoot, editing and to get it off to the printers, some take longer than others to come back. As I said we have family and friends all over the place and the last posting date to Australia is 4th December - it will soon come around!

Of course buying cards is totally good too so please don't think that I am dissing that at all because I am not. There is still planning to be done for that though, they are available to buy in the shops now so why not buy them and hey, let's go really crazy and start writing them out! Everyone you do now is one you don't have to do later and just think how smug you will feel when on 1st December you can tip them all into the post box, hey why not on the last day of November so people get them on the first!

I also like to take stock of my Christmas card tracker. I like to track who I have sent cards to so that I can make sure no one has been duplicated or worse, missed! Having time to do this means that you are less likely to forget anyone as you can add them to the list but you also need to know who you are going to send to so you order the right amount of cards.

Download
This week's download contains the pages as show in the video as both personal size and A5. You will need software that can 'unzip' the folder to release the files as both pdf and jpeg.  To download the files for week 2 please click here. Please note that the inserts that I am offering as freebies as part of this series are different to the ones that I sell, so if you have already purchased a set of my inserts these are in addition for you. If you haven't purchased any of my inserts and would like to or just have a nose at them you can view them in my Etsy shop here. Please note: These inserts are entirely free and a gift from me and only the inserts provided are free, I say this because I know some people might prefer one of the other designs that I offer but it is only the ones in the freebie set on offer at this time.

Next Week
So there we are folks, I hope that has been intersting for you and has inspired you to get started with your cards. I will be back next week for more Christmas planning and this time looking at budget planning!

Giveaway
I am so pleased to have what I think is an awesome giveaway to go along with this series and I hope you will agree. The giveaway is brought to you by myself and the lovey Charlotte. Please do thank Charlotte for her kind generosity by visiting her:

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/CharlottesWeb86
Blog: http://therobinsnest86.weebly.com/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/handmadebycharlottevictoria

Charlotte has only recently started her blog but you will not be dissapointed, she has some lovely images and planner lovliness so please do go and have a look.

So what can you win....some lovely things that is what my dears! I have three prizes for you... the first prize is everything that you see in the photo below which is.... from me: a brand spanking new red original Filofax which retails for £60.00 on the Filofax website, Christmas sticker sheet, candy cane planner charm, washi sample card and your choice of Christmas printable inserts from my shop. From Charlotte: a Christmas fly leaf, dashboard, set of dividers and pen. Everything that you need to plan your Christmas this year and every year after!

The second prize is everything you see below...from me: a Christmas dashboard, washi sample card, sticker sheet, Christmas tree planner charm and your choice of Christmas printable inserts from my shop. From Charlotte: a set of beautiful Christmas dividers.

And last but not least the third prize is your choice of Christmas printable inserts from my shop.

You want to enter? 
If you would like to enter the giveaway to win the Filofax shown above please rafflecopter below.  To enter you will be asked to follow both mine and Charlotte's Etsy shop which is mandatory to receive your entry (this is just as a thank you for hosting the giveaway but you are not expected to make a purchase!). All other 'follow' options are optional so don't worry if you don't have those accounts, it just gives you extra chances to win.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

By submitting an entry to this giveaway you agree to the following Terms & Conditions:

• Open internationally
• You must be over eighteen years of age or have parental / guardian permission.
• I will package the item(s) and will send in good faith but I cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage to the item in transit.
• The prizes stated above are the only prizes - no alternative colours, no cash alternative.
• The inserts are digital for you to print at home and will not be supplied printed.
• Three winners will be chosen at random and notified by email. Winners will be announced on this page after the closing date.
• If the winner(s) do not respond to my email within 48 hours a new winner(s) will be chosen.