Merry Feature: Queen In Between

Who: The Fabulous Family of our friend, Shelly

Location: Research Park at Texas A&M University

Props: Just their new pup, Dutch Buddy

Here is some of our favorite pins featuring fur babies... 

1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Clothes:  With one child already on her own and another playing college baseball (mommas note: this was last year - he has since signed with the... ASTROS. Y'all - isn't that AMAZING!?) picking a date for family pictures is really tough. I really only hire a photographer every other year but having great family pictures is important to me. The day could not have been more perfect. In Texas, we only color for like 3 days and we hit the park at the PERECT time for fall colors which worked perfectly with our wardrobe. See THIS POST for more info on how I pulled these outfits together.

YOU REALLY WANT TO CLICK ON HER POST!!!

Also. We are LOVING plaid! LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!! Here were some of our favorite pics from the season...

Dad / Mom / Daughter / Son

And here were cards we loved that feature plaid...

day dreams paper via Etsy

Minted

Tiny Prints

Photographer: Sarah Burns from Butterfly Chaser Photographer (not taking new clients)

Card design: Nichole at Quick Design (Cindy and I passed like thieves in the night picking up our Christmas card orders... haha!)

MoMments: Having kids from a previous marriage has always made the Christmas card tricky since I have never felt my current last name truly represents my bigs. I also love to note everyone's age as a point of reference so typically I list names and ages for each. I also, personally, love seeing the changes in my friends' children from year to year so adding individual pics of my own kiddos is something I try to do. I love that it shows a little bit of their personality and their place in the family.

Keeping a good attitude on picture day is so important. My advice is to always expect the unexpected! Keith was delayed leaving work due to a flat tire so after shooting pictures for an hour my very patient photographer posed us and we stood waiting and with the very last bit of light from the day, Keith drove up, threw on the shirt I brought him and we got the perfect shot for our card.

Ummm. Shelly. You really are a queen. We are not ashamed to admit we may have handled that situation a little differently... perhaps like this... 

Source

Sarah got the perfect shots and Nichole pulled them together with the perfect layout to showcase the pictures!

We couldn't agree more! LOVE this card, your style, and your ability to focus on what matters! Thanks for sharing Shelly!

Connect with Shelly:  {Instagram} {Bloglovin} {Pinterest} {Facebook}

Good Tidings...

Who: The Hot Mess Munsons - Josh, Cindy, Caroline, Annaliese and Millicent

Location: Lick Creek Park; College Station, TX

Clothes: Gap, Inc. should totally pay us. The only items not from Banana, Gap or Old Navy are my scarf and our shoes. Oh, and Annaliese's necklace - it came from Charming Charlie's and the hair flair - Caroline's hair pin is from MMK's stash of fun hair supplies and Millicent's headband is from Icing.

Designer: Nichole Quick of Quick Design Company

Photographer: Again, you may have heard of her... Sarah Burns of Butterfly Chaser Photography.

Favorite Thing: You may recall our card from last year; we LOVED it…but it was a lot. This year I knew I wanted only one image on the front and when Sarah emailed me the pics I knew this was the winner. I am a sucker for good back lighting! And like almost every other person in America, I am in love with the large loopy glittery (or foil pressed) message scrolled delightfully across an image and when a Merry Momma sees something she likes, she runs with it. We chose to use the phrase "Good Tidings" (which is a little different than the normal Merry Christmas we use) because really the message of Christmas for us is about the good news…the news that Jesus Christ was born, died for our sins and then rose again. And, because we MM are all about the honesty, I LOVE our outfits. Many, many, many a text were sent to MM Katy and Sarah about these clothes. I think Jesus likes them too. And Jesus likes tattoos…if you look closely you can see the girls' tats on their arms/hands. (Don't worry, they're fake!)

Extras: Every year Josh writes our year-in-review… I love that he does this and I love that he made people gasp a little this year (and I have received quite a few texts about this poem's ending! ha!)

 

How can you recreate this card: There are two key elements to this card - coordinating outfits and great sunlight. To achieve the look you want, start early and seek advice. I started working with the color scheme and knew I wanted navy and hunter green, I found the scarf online and it just popped out out me. So then I just started working from the scarf. I had Caro in a white shirt for a bit, but after sending a pic to Katy and Sarah we all agreed it was too much of a contrast and I went on a hunt for a coral shirt. I choose this scheme because it will go well in our home. Turns out it looks pretty good on a Christmas card too. And lighting…y'all…dawn or dusk are best. Talk with your photographer and be on time…20 minutes later and the pics look completely different.

Get PINspired:

Parks and woods are great for the outdoorsy look -

Both pictures are from Heather Armstrong Photography

And Minted and Tiny Prints have great single pic cards with delightful sayings options:

Minted

Tiny Prints

Good Tidings y'all! 

I hope 2015 is full of good news for you and your family!

WWLW: Guest Bloggers - The Fisk Files

You know WHAT WE LOVE (Wednesday)? Guest Bloggers! Today's guest blogger is Britt Fisk of The Fisk Files. The Merry Mommas have known Britt since college and we absolutely adore her and her precious kids, and Jeremy, too!

Thanks so much for sharing Britt…

Thanks for letting me guest post today, ladies!  I've always been a huge fan of Christmas cards.  I love sending them, but I love receiving them even more.  When Jeremy and I first got married, we sent a card of the two (well, three!) of us, announcing our pregnancy that first Christmas together.  Then year-by-year we did a few things differently here and there. Sometimes the card included the whole family, others just the kids.  However, I've seen a theme emerge.  I'm a one-picture kind of girl.  I love collages from others, and I think the accordion style Christmas cards are so fun, but this is us. 

This year, it's a photo of just the kids...it's just easier for me that way.  I can snap the pic, and we're good to go. So, at the end of October, we headed down to the creek.  Jeremy helped me get the bench (and the kids!) set up.

This one was a contender...

This was a bit too far away for me...

And, I almost went with a black and white.  Gosh, I love a good black and white.

But, this is what we chose...

I'm a sucker for a foil pressed card. 

Plus, I love to give a tiny update, directing friends to more on our blog.

This year, I even uploaded my addresses I had on hand at the time so Minted could print my envelopes (for free).  It's a time saver for sure.  I bought a few extra envelopes, thank goodness, because I have already found a few misspellings on my end.  Oops!

The cards hit the mail this week, and we wait for the afternoon mail delivery to see what cards we can open together each evening...one of the highlights of our days this Advent season.

Throughout the year, Your Merry Mailbox gives hundreds of ideas for your next Christmas/Holiday card.  They've picked amazing ones to showcase, and reading the posts feels a tiny bit like the joy of ripping open the envelopes that hold those priceless cards.

They asked what makes me merry...hugging my little ones, a warm cup of coffee, the support of my loving husband, the assurance that there's a greater plan, a cozy blanket on the cold Winter days, messages from sweet friends, and letters in the mail...among many others.

Merry Christmas to you!

Festive Friday with the Malnars

Who: Justin, Meredith, Jackson and Andrew Malnar

Location: Texas A&M University Campus, College Station, Texas 

Clothes: Meredith shopped at some of the Merry Mommas' favorite spots - Macy's, Kohl's, Old Navy and Target.

Photographer: Sarah Burns of Butterfly Chaser Photography

Designer: Meredith (way to go Momma!)

Meredith's Comments: I typically let the photos determine the card rather than the other way around. This card was no different. I knew I wanted to do our photo shoot on the campus of Texas A&M...we have taken A LOT of pictures over the last 4 years and had never taken pictures on campus. Justin and I got engaged under the Century Tree so it is a place that is meaningful to us and we wanted to have pictures to capture that. Since we were taking pictures on campus, I decided maroon needed to be in the color scheme, but I wanted it to be more subtle than our game day jerseys.

Meredith's Favorite Thing: My favorite thing is how wonderfully Sarah was able to capture the realtionship between our two boys! Watching their relationship grow over the last year has been so fun and the two images featured on the front of the card perfectly captured their very real expressions of their love for each other. Sarah posted these two images together as a "sneak peek" shortly after our shoot and my first reaction, of course, was to swoon. My very next thought was "that's our Christmas card!"

Connect with the Malnars:The Malnar Family

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Merry Mommas' Thoughts: Both of the Merry Mommas have siblings and both of us LOVE our siblings. There is just something about brothers and sisters and this card really showcases that love and we LOVE it! Meredith also did a great job having the clothes coordinate, but not match. 

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How can you recreate this card? Cute kids, gorgeous outside spaces and Chuck Taylors...we are in love! Below are some direct links to help you get this look!

Chuck Taylors: Every member of the Munson family has a pair of CTs and Merry Momma Cindy thinks your family should too! Really, they are the bomb (welcome to 1991!). They are cute, comfy and aren't as tennis shoe-ish as a pair of sneakers. Even Shaeffer thinks so!

Maroon Pants: We are tickled MAROON with Meredith's pants! We may have mentioned (one or two times) that the Merry Mommas' are Aggies. And everyone knows that you can never ever have too many items in your closet that are maroon when you are an Aggie! And, well, honestly, almost everyone looks good in maroon, so even if you aren't an Aggie, purchase some maroon pants anyway. We even think the men in our lives need maroon pants, so we are ordering these! (And the great thing about H&M is the very inexpensive price tag because we aren't really sure Ryan and Josh are going to wear these...but we are getting them anyway!)

H&M

And Merry Momma Gigi (that's Katy's mom - she's the best) just picked up a pair of these jeggings for both of us! We LOVE JCP! How cute are they going to be with...a chambray shirt!

 JCP

Chambray Shirt: See what we did there? :) Again, EVERYONE in your family needs a chambray shirt - Momma, Daddy, boy, girl, even the family dog!

Click HERE to see other ways to get Momma Merry!

Told ya, even the dog needs one!

(And we know it's sold out...

we just had to provide proof that you could buy your dog a chambray shirt

...from ANTHROPOLOGIE!)

Cool Campus Locations: Okay, folks...this is where the Merry Mommas need YOUR help! We know where the cool places on Texas A&M's campus are - the Century Tree, the BIG ring, the Administration Building, but we don't know other COOL CAMPUS locations. Tell us where you went to school and the IT place on your campus to take pictures! (For real, please comment! Pretty please! Let us know you are reading this! And if you are an Aggie, tell us other cool place to take pictures on campus!)

Get PINspired:
1. Ain't no love like a sibling love!
2. Who doesn't need a little peace and joy in their lives?
3. And of course LOVE!

Merry Monday from the Markeys

Who: Pete and Samantha Markey and their twin daughters, Avery and Camille

Location: Bryan, Texas

Props: Christmas lights

Clothes: Pete's sweater is from Kohl's, Samantha purchased her dress from TJMaxx and the denim jacket is from Old Navy. The girls our outfitted by Target (fave!). 

Photographer: Chantal Bergeron of Whimsy & Style Photography

Samantha's Comments: I chose our colors because I wanted photos I would enjoy seeing all year long. 

Samantha's Favorite Thing: The photo, the light, the GOLD!

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Merry Mommas' Thoughts: We love the family picture and the individual picture of each girl. As twins, they probably get LOTS of together attention, but we love how this card lets them have their own space. And, as much as we do not like glitter in our houses, we LOVE LOVE LOVE glitter and sparkle on cards and we love how the glitter/sparkle on the card helps highlight the lights in the trees behind the family.

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How can you recreate this card? The Merry Mommas know you are busy, so here are some direct links to help you make a card like this your own!

GLITTER & SPARKLE: Y'all, if you find a card website that does not feature GLITTER & SPARKLE, let us know. We can't. GLITTER & SPARKLE are the it thing this year. In fact, the folks at Pear Tree Greetings have an entire section dedicated to it. The designers at Minted are specializing in foil pressed cards and Tiny Prints has lots of both. Our favorites are below!

Minted

 Pear Tree

Tiny Prints

HEADBAND: If you are an avid reader of Your Merry Mailbox, then you know we love an accessory - specifically hair flair! They just make photographs pop. Samantha did a great job using two different headbands in our featured card today - way to go HOT MOMMA!

Icing                              Anthropologie

(one of these headbands maybe showing up in a Merry Momma Christmas card!!! Which one do you think it will be?)

CHRISTMAS TREE: Want a card that features Christmas trees?

 

Love this POST CARD from Minted. Yes, we said POST CARD.

(Click on the link, come on...do it!)

 Color. We love color.

SWEATERS FOR HIM: Pete's sweater rocks! Let's all order something for the men in our lives today. (And if you are a man reading this, order yourself something!) (And we have a price point for everyone.)

                              $                                                  $$$                                                   $$                

Get PINspired:

Bright clothes, we have some ideas for you!

Nothing says Merry Christmas like Christmas trees and lights!

To "dye" for Christmas card

Who: Chad, Lamar, Emory, Anne Carson, Andrew and Luke Ontko

Location: Bryan, TX.  Field off Hwy 21

Props: Bench- borrowed from a friend

Clothes: Most clothes purchased on ebay and from our closets. (Which is something the Merry Momma's LOVE...SHOP YOUR CLOSETS, dear readers!) I got the scarf at Maurice's.  Emory's shirt is from Justice, Anne Carson's dress is Children's Place.  I believe Luke's shirt was originally from Target (however, I got it at Once Upon a child).  My shirt was from Ebay, and Chad's was from his closet.  I prefer finding items we already own, if possible and consigning for as much as we can.

Comments: I really enjoy designing cards myself.  I got the "paper" as a free download.  Then I used a bit of the color in Chad's shirt to match us up.  I wanted to emphasize what Christmas is really about with our card.  Sarah rocked the pictures, so I wanted to show them off. 

Designer: Me!

Photographer: Sarah Burns of Butterfly Chaser Photography 

Favorite Thing: Being IN the card.  As a fellow photographer, I'm NEVER in pictures.  I love how effortlessly Sarah engages our family and gets true emotions from them. 

Blog: A Time to Dye

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Merry Mommas Thoughts: First of all, we think that a family of 6 looks amazing together. They just look stunning and so happy. These colors work so well together and are just timeless. Lamar did a great job of coordinating everyone without being matchy! We love the individual shots of the kiddos that capture their sweet personalities in this one tiny moment of time. 

How can you recreate this card?: Have four babies and still look 20 years old. No? The key to this is to be in your element. Nothing fancy or over the top - just simply be you! We love this card so much! We don't even know this sweet family (formally) but we feel like we do because they welcomed us in! Thanks, Ontko family!

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Get PINspired: We were inspired by Lamar's blog and business (if you didn't click on that link, then go do it now. Seriously. Go. She dye's her own yarn and it's beautiful!!!) so we looked for images and cards that had some type of yarn ... 

1. You can use yarn to display your card
2. Yarn bombs? You've never heard of them? Us either and how sad we are... they are PRECIOUS!
3. Yarn for Rosco and yarn for babies
4. Frosty the Yarnman
5. Words in yarn
6. And check out this fun idea for yarn embellishments

Home for the Holidays

Who: We 5 Kings

Location: Field by our home (top) and the treehouse in our backyard (bottom)

Props: Blanket, s'mores goodies, hot chocolate, treehouse 

Clothes: Ryan's sweater - Next Direct, Emmy's dress - Next Direct, Landry's dress - Next Direct, Girls' tights - Next Direct, Radley - shopped his closet, Katy - Head to toe Target

Comments: I wanted our color pallet to blend, so I intentionally ordered everything from Next waayyyyyy back in August. (You say crazy, I say prepared). ;) This was the original layout:

Which is a little "blah" and the sweater I ordered for me fit horribly. Radley's shirt was adorable, but the blues were off. SO, then I ordered a dress from ModCloth for me (that I LOVE) but Cindy was a great bestie and told me the hard truth that it just didn't work for this set up. (See... everyone needs THAT person) So I went shopping for me and ended up with an unexpected pop of yellow {again} so I switched Rad to make our picture more warm and flow better. But we also made sure that he and I weren't "stacked" at any point. 

Designer: Me with my bestie PicMonkey! This is seriously a great tool for when you need to make cards, picture collages, or even tiny edits of your own!

As an aside - it was not the original plan for me to design this card. The Mommas may look like we have it all together, but y'all... I was a ginormous mess this year. Long story short - last minute, down to the wire, ball of not-so-merry Momma was me. :)

Photographer: The one and only Mrs. Sarah Burns of Butterfly Chaser Photography

Favorite Thing: The shoot turned out exactly how we wanted it - a reflection of us in our home. I had been planning to use the treehouse as our backdrop for this year's card since the boys (Ryan, Pete, and Pops) starting building it in September 2012(!) and I am thrilled with how it turned out. We actually sent two versions in the mail bc we couldn't pick a favorite family picture. The day of this shoot as we were putting the kids to bed Radley said, "that's the most fun I've had taking pictures, Momma" and it was true! (Although Emmy said, "but they weren't just of me" #diva)

Extra: We always send a letter to accompany our card, and highlight our year according to scripture. However, this year I was PINspired by our "mini newsletter" post and decided to give it a go myself and I LOVED how it turned out. I was able to add a few more pics in that didn't make the card and do something unexpected, too. We still included scripture and chose two verses that reflected our theme and the season!

Blog: The Queen of the Kings (click that link for a view of the entire photo shoot!!)

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Katy's Thoughts: That's a pretty adorable looking family :). 

Cindy's Thoughts: Well, it is safe to assume that you all know Merry Momma Katy is my bestie and so I love everything about this card. And of course I love the color pallet (I may have seen these clothes a couple of times before I got the actual card in the mail as we discussed lots of options). And of course I love the tree house, s'mores and warm fire. But what I love most about the card is how much it reflects the Kings. Their HOME is just what this card reflects. It is warm and cozy and welcoming. The door is always open, there is always something yummy to eat and a kind a sweet face to greet you. And that's what this blog is about. Yes, we love a good prop and some fancy clothes, but what we love most about it is how each card reflects its sender and spreads the MERRY!

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How can you recreate this card? We love the idea of family photos that are in your element. Bundle up everyone in your favorite spot on the couch. Do you host game nights - then do a life style shoot with everyone going head to head. Props and set ups and themed shoots are great - but NEVER be afraid to just be you!

Get PINspired:

1. Thinking about getting cozy by the campfire? We LOVE it - this family set up a tent. Love the added fun this bunting adds to the scene. This family is also good with sharing the s'mores!
2. There are TONS of mini-newsletter templates... check out our entire board!
3. Two words: Messy pigtails. 
4. I am slightly obsessed with Radley's hair these days. Boys can also rock long locks!
5. And let's discuss his puffy vest. Yep. OB-SESSED! We pinned a few more on our Getting Merry - Toddler Boys Clothes board, but this one is our favorite!
6. And - if you are inspired to build a treehouse - check this out. (!) We LOVE this one!

So... now it's time to start planning for 2014! The first thing to do is pick a fabulous photographer and ONE lucky reader already has that taken care of!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS JAMIE B!!! 

Thanks to everyone that entered! We (including Sarah) are so overwhelmed with your response!!