March 30th, 2010
As many of our wonderful clients know, in late 2009 Little Star Greetings opened our very own printing studio, allowing us to print all of your cardstock orders in-house rather than outsourcing to a commercial printer. Having our own studio has allowed us to give each and every order the care and attention it deserves and to provide even better customer service to all of our wonderful clients. It has also opened up many more possiblities for the offering of new and exciting products and options! We will soon be adding customized gift tags, placecards, programs, menus, and map/accommodation cards to our website, to accompany invitation orders (great for wedding invitations, baptism invitations and more!).
And perhaps our biggest news so far in 2010 - Little Star is thrilled to now offer 100% recycled cardstock as one of our paper options, which means that when you order one of our cardstock products (photo birth announcements, wedding invitations, baptism invitations, thank you cards, etc.) you can choose to have your order printed on cardstock which is made from 100% post-consumer waste recycled content. Our other paper options are still available as well.
~Melanie
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
November 22nd, 2009
I often get asked by our customers - what type of paper should I choose for my Christmas cards (or birth announcements, invitations etc.)? There are several options available and they all have their advantages! It really comes down to a personal choice!
Here at Little Star Greetings, your photo Christmas cards can be printed on either cardstock OR photo paper. Photo paper cards are real photographic prints, with envelopes, processed at a photolab (so these are actual photographs). With photo paper, you have the option of either a matte or glossy finish to your cards. Photo paper prints give the best photo quality, as they are processed in the same way a photograph is, so this is their main advantage. Because they are photographic prints, they do have Fuji watermarks on the back, and as such are not ideal for writing on (I know some of you like to write personalized messages on the backs of your Christmas cards, so that is a consideration).
Cardstock photo Christmas cards are printed on premium cardstock. The paper is heavier and thicker than photo paper, and has a beautiful, smooth finish to it. The actual paper weight and thickness (for those of you paper gurus out there!) is 100lb and 12 pt. We recently started printing all cardstock cards in-house in our new printing studio, and our customers have been thrilled with the quality - the colours are rich and vibrant and the paper is gorgeous - it is neither “matte” nor “glossy”, but has just a bit of a sheen to it. On the back, they are smooth white, with a small “Little Star Greetings” logo at the bottom. As an added option, we are quite happy to print a coordinating design on the back of your cardstock photo Christmas cards for an additional charge of $0.50 each - if you are interested in this option, please just make a note of it on your order form when you place your order. We have received wonderful feedback from our clients about our cardstock cards! We will be doing our own photo holiday cards on cardstock this year.
I hope this post helps to explain the difference between the paper options you have to choose from when ordering your photo Christmas cards this year! Feel free to email me at melanie@littlestargreetings.com if you have any other questions!
~Melanie
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
November 16th, 2009
Do you ever wonder which of our designs are our best-sellers? When I am designing a new collection (such as this year’s photo Christmas card designs), I often like to guess which will be the most popular … sometimes I am surprised, other times not (often my own favourites are the ones that our customers seem to love the most as well!).
So far this year, there are a few Photo Holiday card designs that are proving themselves worthy of recognition by our wonderful customers … the most popular so far are “Merry” and “Bright Mittens”:
"Merry"
"Bright Mittens"
We love both of these designs too - bright, fun colours convey holiday cheer like nothing else!!!
And now, for our ALL-TIME most popular Photo Christmas card design EVER, which is still a favourite of our customers today, for its third season in a row ……
"Classic Brown"
Classic Brown … truly a classic :) It may be time to retire this design after this season, so if you like and and want to order it, now is the time!!!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! Get your holiday card orders in soon - we can’t wait to work with you!!!
~Melanie
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
November 3rd, 2009
We are growing! The Little Star Greetings family is excited to announce our new printing studio! We are especially excited to create your Photo Christmas cards this year - cardstock holiday card orders will now be printed in-house! We would like to introduce you to Dave Severin, our new printing man. He is equipped with the latest in short run digital cardstock printing equipment. Dave really enjoys creating greeting cards and has an eye for detail and quality (that’s why he married Melanie!). Having the opportunity to print your photo holiday cards and other cardstock orders in-house has allowed us to put extra special care and attention into each and every greeting card that we create for you. We have been printing in-house for a few weeks now with rave reviews from our customers; we are set up, streamlined, organized and ready to give you the high level of quality you have come to expect from Little Star Greetings! Here are a few photos of Dave the printing man in action creating some fabulous photo holiday cards in our in-house print studio!
Posted in News, Photo Christmas Cards, Photo Holiday Cards, Uncategorized | No Comments »
October 28th, 2009
So, after writing our last blog entry about getting your photos and holiday cards done early this year, we thought we should take our own advice! Our family photo shoot took place yesterday. Maybe it’s just us but it seems a family photo shoot these days is a momentous event. We had visions of beautiful leaves and perfect lighting surrounding shining smiling little faces captured perfectly for our photo Christmas cards…. well …. the photographer was late (not her fault - she was stuck in a traffic jam on a rural country road while a house was being moved!), the lighting was too dark, and the kids were getting anxious, hungry, and rather runny-nosed from the cold (thank goodness for photoshop - we are very skilled at editing runny noses here so if you need that done for your photo holiday cards this year, just let us know!). Even though the conditions were not ideal, our talented photographer, Danine Burke, managed to capture some wonderful shots and we are excited to use them for our Christmas cards! Here are a few of our faves:
Now on to choosing just the right photo holiday card design …
Posted in News, Photo Christmas Cards, Photo Holiday Cards, Uncategorized | No Comments »
October 27th, 2009
Have you had your family photos taken yet? The fall season is a beautiful time for family pictures - warm, rich colours go exquisitely with many of our new photo holiday card designs. For example, our new Holiday Swirl 2 design and our Peace Love Joy design feature rich browns accented fall reds and holiday green - these seasonal designs looks beautiful with fall coloured photos or black and white photos, as do any of our other Christmas designs.
We are expecting a very busy year for photo Christmas cards - get a head start and get your family photos done now so you can beat the rush and also take advantage of special pricing until November 8. Order early! Beat the rush and send us your beautiful fall family photos to create your photo holiday card. We look forward to working with you!!!
~Melanie
Posted in Photo Christmas Cards, Photo Holiday Cards, Uncategorized | No Comments »
October 8th, 2009
I have a confession: I’m already getting excited about Christmas!!!! I know it’s only October, but this is when Christmas card orders start to come in (some years even in September!), so we start to get into the spirit a little early around here :) Holiday card season is so much fun - we LOVE seeing and working with photos of your family and your little ones to create that perfect photo Christmas card. We often recognize families who have ordered in the past and it is such a joy to work with you year after year, and to see your families grow. And of course we LOVE new customers too - it is a privilege to work with each and every one of you to create a special and unique photo greeting that your friends and family will cherish for years to come.
For those who have been asking, and anyone else who is wondering: We are going to start adding the NEW 2009 Photo Holiday cards to the website tomorrow (Thursday October 8). It may take me a few days to get them all up on the site, so please be patient, but you can start checking out new designs tomorrow and I hope to have everything up by Saturday!!!! :) We are SO excited about this year’s Christmas card collection and cannot wait to create the perfect photo holiday card for you this year!!!
~Melanie
Posted in News, Photo Christmas Cards, Photo Holiday Cards | No Comments »
September 22nd, 2009
Wow - what gorgeous weather we are having here in sunny Alberta :) It’s hard to believe summer is officially over tomorrow, with forecasts of sunshine and 25-30 degree temperatures predicted over the next few days :) Our Summer Special promotion (receive 10 free cards with any order of 50 or more) will be extended until this Friday, September 25. We are currently getting our 2009 Holiday Card line ready (yay!) for release and will be debuting that on the site soon as well. If you would like to be notified of when the holiday line is released, email me at melanie@littlestargreetings.com.
~Melanie
Posted in News, Uncategorized | No Comments »
July 31st, 2009
Here are the details of our current card promotion being advertised on our homepage: Place an order for 50 or more cards of any kind (birth announcements, wedding invitations, wedding announcements or thank you cards, baptism or birthday invitations, or any other product) and receive an automatic 10 extra cards FREE with your purchase. You don’t have to do anything else, just order 50 or more and when we print your order, we’ll print and ship an extra 10 to you, absolutely free! 
Have a great day!
~Melanie
Posted in News | No Comments »
July 24th, 2009
Good morning! It’s a gorgeous day here in sunny Alberta - some time at the lake this weekend is definitely in order :) For those who have been asking about the new photo wedding announcement and thank you card line - it’s coming soon! I’m in a designing frenzy right now (in a good way). But first, a few new photo birth announcement designs to share with you - the baby boy and baby girl versions of this latest announcement card are inspired by bright, warm summer days surrounded by nature in bloom. The pattern is a custom pattern that I created from scratch - so you will absolutely not find this anywhere else. I’m thinking of doing a bridal shower invite or wedding invitation with this pattern as well, maybe in a different colour scheme - wouldn’t that be a pretty invitation? If you like this pattern and would like a custom card design of any kind (wedding announcement, birthday invitation, etc.) done using it, drop me a line at melanie@littlestargreetings.com and I’ll hook you up
Gabrielle Jordyn Photo Birth Announcement
Donovan Jake Photo Birth Announcement
Happy Thursday!
~Melanie
Posted in Baby boy, Baby girl, News, Photo Birth Announcements, Thank You Cards, Wedding Announcements | No Comments »