New babies need announcing! Different cultures do this differently - in the Netherlands, where our first son was born, the announcements are ordered in advance, and all that is required is a quick phone all with the pertinent information once baby is born, announcements are printed, and sent off as quickly as possible, arriving at their destination the day after they've been sent! We've noticed a lot more photo announcements here in North America and decided to go that way when Annalies was born.
But...once you've decided to send a photo announcement, you have only just begun! Then comes: do we design them ourselves or have them created? And, there are many businesses out there offering birth announcement services. Well, we decided to have someone more experienced than ourselves design our cards, and when we found
Buttercup Prints, we knew we'd come to the right place! Their webpage features many different designs. All are customizable in a multitude of ways. Right from the beginning, our communication with Jana and Yvette, the ladies who run Buttercup Prints, has been excellent. They're quick to reply, offer suggestions without being bossy :) and do everything they can to make the customer happy.
Choosing a design was a bit tricky at first, as there are so many great announcements available! And, if we hadn't found one that we liked mostly, Buttercup Prints will create one "from scratch" at no extra cost! How cool is that! Finally we decided on "
August Y", but we didn't want a 5"X5", but rather a 4"X6". No problem, the design was quickly altered to fit the size we wanted. Each time we asked for a change, a new sample image was sent to us very quickly, so we could see what it would actually look like.
Buttercup Prints will print and mail you the announcements for a reasonable price, including envelopes. We wanted to send our announcement in with our Christmas cards - timing was right, and it would save us a lot of postage overseas! A huge plus was the fact that Buttercup Prints will email you the finished digital file and you can print it yourself, at home or at your local favourite place to print digital photos! Another bonus of a 4"X6" announcement!
Changing the size was no problem and neither was changing the layout either. Instead of 3 photos along the right side, we only wanted 2. We also wanted to include some Dutch, and metric measurements for our Dutch family and friends. Once again, it was no problem! Along the way, we decided to change a few more things, and each change was made promptly and exactly the way we wanted!
And the finished product: you can see for yourself! We are really pleased with the announcement, and have received many compliments on it!
By the time we got around to sending our announcements, we'd already started receiving gifts from local family and friends, and needed Thank You cards. One night during a mid-night feeding (when I get my best ideas lately!), I wondered what it would be like to have a card with the same design as our announcement. In short order, I had a digital file for that as well, and because I wanted to print 4 cards on a sheet of cardstock, Yvette made a pdf of 4 cards for me - saving me a bunch of work! Originally, I'd thought of buying pale pink cardstock, and printing on that, but my husband was worried the pinks might not match up. So we got out our supply of white cardstock, and this is what we ended up with:
Exactly enough room to write just what is needed, and not too much room to fill up either! Lazy me!
Buttercup Prints will also design invitations for you: christening, birthday, wedding - you name it! We've just passed the holiday card season, but really, you should check out their greeting card selection as well and keep them in mind for next year - I'm sure you'll be happy with the result!
