Things that go GREAT together!

YAY! We got our family pictures done by my super talented friend Susie. We met her at Heritage Park in Kirkland this afternoon. What a beautiful neighborhood! I told her we were looking for kind of a "school" theme, since Mike & I are both teachers, and she suggested this place. Apparently this was the site of the old Kirkland Jr. High. The building came down many years ago and all that still stands is the doorway, now covered in ivy! Hearing this, I was SUPER STOKED immediately!

Here is a sneak peak of our shoot:

Oh how I love Susie! She is a genius! I just can't say it enough. Funny thing is-when we met I was stunned to meet an "Allison" that I wasn't related to! Never in my life has that happened before. It's not like it is a common last name, considering I've never met someone with my last name for the past 29 years....so to me-it meant we were DESTINED to meet! And I am so grateful we did. She's  one heck of a talented lady-fabulous teacher, superior writer and an exceptional photographer. You should read her blog-she's a HOOT!

Which brings me to this point. What do you do with super great pictures such as these???? Duh-order Christmas Cards with them! But it gets even better, because I do my card shopping in a few minutes flat though Shutterfly.com (like many of us do for ordering things like this). Holy cow-they have so many designs I love this year, I don't know what I'm going to pick! The prices are comparable to other places, but when you add on the typical deals they are running-you just can't beat it! Here's a few of my favorites:

there's the ultimate 5x5 style-SO CUTE!....

 and the ever popular flat 5x7 photo cards....

 Ok-if you haven't caught on yet-I am TOTALLY into the monogram thing! lol

 However-I think this folded card is my favorite! You can even customize the inside to be like a little "xmas newsletter" with small pictures & all! How great is that? They have some genius stationary designers at that place! Who would've thought....card/newletter combo? LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

To top things off, I was perusing some of my favorite blogs the other day and came across a whopper of a deal offered by none other than...shutterfly:

50 FREE HOLIDAY CARDS from SHUTTERFLY.COM!!!

I am so excited. We started using Shutterfly the year Mike & I got married. We were looking for a way to compile our wedding memories for my dad who couldn't be at our wedding. Our list of priorities included: price, quality, and design. Shutterfly exceeded all our expectations! While we were on the website, we decided to do a little "surfing" and saw some cute designs for Holiday cards too and thought-what the heck, let's give it a shot! Turns out-those cards are our favorite xmas card to date. So each year, when we need things such as photo cards, photo gifts, or photo books-we don't even bother to look elsewhere, shutterfly is where it's at!

Here we are 6 years later and now we have a tradition to order photo books for all the grandparents each christmas. We compile favorite photo memories of our family from the past year (December-November) and create a book in about 5 minutes from start to finish! It is amazing and a great grandparent gift if I do say so myself! I mean, come on-what the heck do you get people who have everything? That is always the trouble with grandparent gifts and it used to stress me out in a major way! Now, I worry no more. Thank you Shutterfly! 

Over the years, I've suggested these books to friends who don't have the ambition to scrapbook but want their photos in a book without the time & hassle it takes to create something cute. It just doesn't get any easier, they do it all for you and the price is right. Funny thing is, I've received a few shutterfly birthday invites, birth announcements & holiday cards from these same friends who I sent to the site for books! I guess they fell in love as they "perused" their website too! So here's your chance to do the same. Check it out at:

50 FREE HOLIDAY CARD OFFER TO BLOGGERS