Kelly Purkey

You want to know the truth? I am not the biggest fan of the holidays. They stress me out, there's too much pressure, my strongly introverted personality wants to hide away, and I feel like I am just not freaking jolly enough. Whew. It felt good to confess that. Over the years I've learned to give myself a little grace and do what I can to get through December. There are events and things and details that I do love, so I focus on those and let myself savor the good. And hide under the covers, if need be.

So all that being said, every year I do attempt to do a December Daily album to document the month. (Want to learn more about December Daily? Start here on Ali Edwards' site.) This year I designed + released two special holiday themed kits in my shop geared towards doing a December Daily. A few weeks ago I shared a video on my YouTube channel of the main kit and also the album that I put together using it. Click to watch below or you can view it on my YouTube channel:

It's now the eighth and have I worked on my album? Well... no. I have been completely overloaded with work and taking breaks to spend time with friends so I don't go insane and let's be honest again - I'm not good at any kind of daily ritual. I haven't even taken photos each day which only dawned on me last night. Fail. I think that's why I set up my album to not be in pockets like my Project Life. That way, if I need to, I can add in nothing at all but a few words for some days. Mental high five.

I do plan on sharing a walk-through video of the completed album later on and if you subscribe to my YouTube channel you'll be all set to automatically get updates when I post new videos.

Also, I have three other videos to share in case you're looking for some holiday gift ideas. These were made earlier in the year, but I thought I'd include them in this post in case you're looking for something to put on your wishlist.

The beginning of this video has a demo of the Epson Picturemate PM-400 photo printer, which is the only printer I've used this whole year. I love it and it's the perfect tool to set you up for 2017. 

This is a video I created demoing the new Instax SP-2 Share printer which is the gadget that I never knew I needed but now can't live without. It's so fun to play with and I'm excited to be utilizing it in some fun ideas for Fujifilm. Don't forget to pick up some Instax film too, it's a great stocking stuffer!

And last, here's a video I made sharing a photo book I made using Artifact Uprising (and here's the blog post with more info.) This is one of my absolute favorite projects documenting last year and the quality of the photo book still makes my heart flutter. If you're looking to give a gift, I highly recommend going with any of Artifact Uprising's products. I've also have a video sharing my first book made with Blurb.

Alright, that's what is on my Grinch-y mind for today. I hope that you're enjoying the holidays in your own way, whatever that may be!

If you've been searching for the perfect holiday gift, I've got a fantastic suggestion to share with you! I'm partnering with Framebridge today to talk about their online framing services and how easy it is to have your photos (and more) custom framed + shipped to your front door. That's easy with a capital E.

This year has been a special for me in terms of travel, I was very fortunate to cross a lot of places off of my bucket list. I have thousands of photos to capture those experiences and combined with an apartment full of blank walls - it was good to get Framebridge involved. I chose four of my favorite photos from 2016 (one from Iceland, Morocco, Paris, and Tokyo) then had the digital files printed & framed all on the Framebridge site. The entire process took me less than half an hour. So easy.

I also want to quickly mention that you can send items in to Framebridge and have them custom framed. If you have art prints, vintage photos, posters, memorabilia, diplomas, etc to be framed they'll do those for you as well. My next order will be some restaurant menus I've saved from special nights & tasting menus. Can't wait to get those preserved and hung. In the meantime, my digital prints came back and they were perfect.

My apartment is modern and minimal, so I went with the Irvine frames with two of them being the Irvine slim style. The material is great and super sturdy. The selection of frames you can choose from has a variety of colors and styles. The mats are included and I love that I didn't have to worry about measuring anything on my end. I simply selected what size I wanted the photos printed and they did the rest. These photos were all taken with my iPhone and the print quality honestly is really impressive. They did a great job with saturation and crispness, which is always important to me and I'm sure to you too! I love the results and couldn't wait to get them hung. Empty walls no more.

The prices are surprisingly affordable (trust me, I've checked out many custom frames before and could never bite the bullet on the bill) and they'll ship bubble wrapped and secured tightly to you for free. You can order a 5x5 Instagram print with a custom frame for only $39 and that includes shipping.

If you're ready to give Framebridge a try, you can save with my promocode KELLYPURKEY15 - expires 2/28/17. It'll be the perfect gift to give this winter, even if you're like me and giving the gift to yourself & getting your favorite photos framed. I'm so glad Framebridge reached out to me to sponsor this post because I'm genuinely excited to share this company with you and know you're going to enjoy using them to get your memories framed.

It's starting to feel very chilly here in PDX and it's getting me in the winter mood. We're only days away from December and it's definitely time to get those holiday cards done. Last week I shared my $250 Minted giveaway along with my favorite holiday card designs in this post. Now I wanted to share the Minted card that I customized and am thrilled to be sending out this year!

I went with this non-photo card this year and Minted had an awesome selection to chose from. No worries about my lack of a perfect photo. The paper is super thick, great quality, and the hand-pressed foil... oh the foil! I went with the gold glitter option and it is beautiful. Just the right bit of sparkle.

In addition to my cards, I ordered coordinating address bands for the envelopes and custom postage stamps. Because isn't accessorizing half the fun? Don't forget you can also select a coordinating design for the front of the envelope when you have Minted address them for you for free.

I may not be on the front of my holiday card, but I did put my smiling mug on the postage stamp. You can upload any photo or use a design that coordinates with your card.

Take advantage of Minted's Black Friday sale until midnight tonight and save on your big order. Splurge on those coordinating address stickers! Also expiring tonight is my $250 giveaway - hop over to this page to enter. Thanks to Minted for collaborating with me on these holiday card posts and happy start to the holidays. 

I'm thrilled to partner with Minted.com again this holiday season! They are one of my favorite companies to work with and offer top-notch products. I just placed an order for my holiday cards and am excited to share those with you next week. In the meantime, I wanted to share a round-up of some of my favorite designs with you. Hopefully this will get your wheels turning for ideas for your own cards and they're on sale right now so start browsing:

To start I wanted to mention the Find it Fast option, which allows you to quickly preview card designs with a photo you've uploaded. Saves so much time browsing and helping to narrow it down! Just turn on the option when you're on the holiday cards page:

Minted does some amazing foil pressed cards and to help you choose, here's a look at my favorite designs:

ONE | TWO  | THREE  | FOUR  |  FIVE | SIX  | SEVEN  | EIGHT

This year I went with a non-photo card and it was hard to narrow down which design I wanted - too many good ones to choose from. Here are a few of my favorite ones:

ONE | TWO  | THREE  | FOUR  | FIVE  | SIX

With your cards at Minted, you can have them addressed for free - yes free! They have matching envelope designs, liners, and even return address labels. I also added some custom photo postage stamps to my order. So much fun. 

Now for the best part... Minted is giving away two $125 credits for my readers. CLICK HERE to enter the giveaway now through November 25th. I hope you've enjoyed this little peek at the options for creating your holiday cards at Minted. I'll be back with more details about my cards for this year!