Have to pat myself on the back this year with purchases for gifts and holiday cards

And I have to pat Shutterfly on the back for making it possible. Shutterfly is one of the various online photo sharing/printing/design sites on the internet. I've been using them for several years. Each year I make a photo album for each of my kids as a holiday gift so they can remember the highlights from the past year. I also make family albums of vacations and special trips. We've got volumes and volumes from Shutterfly. The great thing is how customizable the pages and the picture styles and all of the items are. There is no reason to look ordinary.

Anyway, Shutterfly has been working with a bunch of different companies this year to get 'sample' or 'prize' items to customers - House Party is giving out free photo gifts and shipping, TripAdviser is giving away Photobooks, and there are various codes that Shutterfly sends out for free holiday cards. I've been able to utilize all of the above offers and have gotten amazing books for my kids. While I usually do generic holiday cards, i was excited to try the new photo cards -- the hardest part was trying to pick which photos to use. HOnestly - I can say that they're much nicer and more personal than the generics i got on clearance at Target last year and the year before.

Now, here's the secret to why Shutterfly can give all of this stuff away....they know you're going to either come back and pay for more stuff or buy more stuff while you're there getting the free item. Take it from me and my house full of Shutterfly items.....it's great quality and a great way to make fantastic memories for your fam. enjoy!

new autograph book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Almost done with Holiday shopping

Am I the only one who does shopping for the holidays all year long and just stores it in the closet?

Then i take out the presents and wrap them one by one and put them out in the open for the kids to see and drool over.....hahahahhaha!