This is a sponsored post from Shutterfly and Global Influence, but all opinions and photos are my own. 

Hello September! There are already a few leaves in my yard, we turned off the a/c and I bought two new throw blankets today. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still 75 degrees out, but I’m totally ready for fall (just like every other blogger, right? Why are we all so obsessed with fall?) To mark the end of summer, I put together a photo book with Shutterfly’s new Photo Story iPad app.

They have lots of cute designs and themes to choose from for almost any occasion

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Oh, right, I had a giveaway going on. Sorry for the delay, folks! Winners coming atcha right now!

#17 – Katrina!

#43 – Henria O!

#36 – Jenn Smith!

Congrats guys! I hope you love your Shutterfly cards. I’ll email each of you a code ASAP so you can get started. I ended up spending WAY too much time today looking at EVEN MORE designs but eventually I managed to choose. Want to see?

(That card is attached to the Shutterfly site and if you were to click through and purchase a card I think I get a coupon. I’m not trolling for commission, I just couldn’t figure out how to get a screenshot that wasn’t super blurry and/or possibly violating their TOS.)

My BFF Erin took the photos. Expect a whole post of them for Wordless Wednesday!

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

I spent two hours yesterday trying to pick a family photo from our beach pictures to put on our Christmas cards. I was super excited to get them designed and ordered and maybe even addressed before Thanksgiving. I am On Top Of Things! I am Planning Ahead! I have 9 whole weeks to get this done! People will know I thought of them BEFORE January 1st! (Although last year’s late card can probably be excused due to the baby-having I was busy with the week before Christmas.)

Of course, after two hours staring at 300 practically identical photos I decided I didn’t like ANY of them and we’ll have to take a new one. I just can’t bring myself to put a photo of myself in a tank top on a Christmas card. OK FINE, so the real reason is I’ve lost 10 pounds since that trip and who wants to send every single person you know a picture where you’re fatter than you actually are? So “take a really awesome family photo” is on our list of things to do this week, right along with “clean entire house” and “knit a couple of sweaters”.

FORTUNATELY, Shutterfly makes the rest of the card super easy. Even more fortunately, they offered me free Christmas photo cards this year (although my beach photos were already all uploaded to their site, since I ordered an adorable photo book for Sara, the friend whose birthday we were celebrating) in exchange for telling you all which one I like best. How could I say no?

Pros: Lots of pictures, classic design, short and sweet

Cons: My family is never going to look that picture-perfect and I’m jealous

Pros: Cute and creative, I look good in blue

Cons: Not very Christmasy

Pros: I don’t have to write a separate Christmas letter!

Cons: I don’t think we did enough interesting stuff this year.

Pros: Fresh design, love the message, could use a black & white picture so our clothes don’t have to match

Cons: I CAN’T MAKE UP MY MIND!

Now here’s the best news of all: Shutterfly has given me three codes, each good for 25 free cards, to share with you.

Leave a comment below telling me about your holiday card tradition – do you skip them? do you write the BEST family newsletters? do you make your family wear matching pajamas and pose in front of the tree? – and I’ll use Random.org to pick a winner next week. You don’t have to be a blogger to win, just make sure you use an active email address when you leave your comment so I can contact you if you win.

Good luck! Are you totally freaked out now, thinking about how Christmas is only 9 weeks away?