Tinyprints.com a Review and Giveaway

Heather says:

So, I have a confession and it’s not even Sunday, I know! Who’s running this joint anyhow? I’ll be honest, I am the worst person when it comes to sending any kind of cards, birthday, holiday, sympathy, thank you, whatever; they just don’t happen. Not too long ago I found thank you cards for gifts received at Christmas- wait for it- 2004. They were addressed and even stamped, but somehow they made it to the filing cabinet instead of the mailbox. Coincidentally (or not) that was the last time I’ve even attempted to mail cards of any sort.

I’ve also had two more kids since then. Oh, I go through the motions, I make the kids wait while I write down who got what from whom, but somehow that list never makes the next couple of steps. I usually throw it out sometime in March as I can no longer stand the guilt.

So now we’re onto confession number two. Even though photography is probably my 1st no, that’s eating, 2 no, that’s cooking, 3rd no that’s reading, 4th no, that’s reading while eating. Well, photography definitely makes into the top ten of things I love doing. The sad truth is, I never print my photos. I’ve ordered a couple 8×10s to enter into a competition and last Christmas I gave Tim a bunch of my prints framed -yeah, those? They are still sitting in a stack in the closet, don’t ask.

So just like the cards, it just doesn’t happen.

In September I met @paperfans from Tinyprints. Apparently he looked at me and said, “Hey, she looks like the kind of lady who takes pictures of her kids to make Christmas cards in plenty of time for the holiday season.”

Shh, I won’t tell if you won’t.

Under that assumption, I was given a chance to review their services.

In a word? Fab.

The hardest thing about the whole ordeal (and any kind of shopping is an ordeal for me) was trying to find a picture of my stepdaughter where she wasn’t rolling her eyes at the idea of someone taking her picture. She’s got it rough, her mom is also something of a shutterbug so that adds up to a lot of eye rolling. Trust me, the rest of the process was a piece of cake.

If you’re even more design challenged than I am, you can upload your pictures, set your price range, and hire a personal shopper* to put together your card. Neat. I almost went for that, but then I realized I wouldn’t know if the process was easy or not. Then I’d have to make stuff up for you guys and well I don’t do that.

*The personal shopper service is currently on sale for $24.95, but that’s applied to the cost of your order, so if you spend more than that, it’s covered.*

Having four kids who rarely look in the same direction meant I needed to use a template with at least four slots for pictures. Amazingly enough someone there understands and there are plenty to choose from.

There was space for a fifth picture on the inside flap, but since I also slack on the whole family picture thing -sheesh, are you sure this a review and not the Sunday Confessional?- I left it blank. The next day I got a phone call from Tinyprints, which freaked me out a little at first. It turns out a human being actually checks the orders and wanted to be sure I hadn’t intended to put a a picture in that slot.

How friggin’ cool is that?

So Tinyprints? Fab.

But wait, there’s more. . .

Tinyprints.com has been kind enough to offer two $50 gift certificates for readers of Home-Ec101.com.  As usual there are three ways to enter.

1. Comment. (I set the bar high).
2. Mention this contest on your own blog, Facebook, or messageboard/forum and post the link to that mention in a new comment. (Don’t spam a forum, only do this if a) it’s allowed and b) you’re a regular participant. I do expect manners, ’cause I’m mean.)
3. Tweet about the contest and link the url of the tweet in a new comment.
   To grab the url (that’s the link) of your tweet, right click the time-stamp (that’s the part that says 30 seconds ago or about 8 hours ago) and select copy link. Paste that into your comment.

Winners will be selected by random drawing.

Remember entries 2 & 3 get their own comment. If you put two links in a comment, you will trigger the spam filter and I don’t like going in there, it’s a nasty place.

This contest will be open through 9pm Eastern on Saturday November 28, 2009. The winner will be announced on Sunday November 29.

Good luck!

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