Ready for the holidays? I know, me neither. But it’s coming and you know how fast it comes and goes. So this week I went in search for ways to help you and me ease into the holiday rush with fun finds that will help get you organized and ready for another season of Christmas cards and gift giving.

Display your holiday cards, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas cards with this curly wire holder from Pottery Barn. Keep all those gift bags organized with this organizer from Target. And the Wall Mounted Craft Organizer, also from Pottery Barn, keeps all your wrapping equipment neat and tidy.

In a previous post, I matched your style to the latest Tiny Prints Christmas Cards. Today, I’m doing it again, pairing pretty patterns with designer desgins to help you pick out the perfect photo card that matches you and your family.

For the ANIMAL LOVER: If you have an animal lover or two or three, you’ll definitely want to send one of these.

Brand names. If you love GAP and anything cooked up by Rachael Ray, you’ll love these brand name styles.

Trends. It’s always hard to catch up with the latest trends. But fashion forecast says that trends like plaid and animal prints are here to stay.

Gone are the boring holiday cards of yesteryear. Today’s Christmas cards come in so many different colors, styles and designs that it is easy to find just the one you’re looking for. From traditional to modern and simple to ornate, Tiny Prints offers a variety of ways to say “Happy Holidays.” Here are a few to get you started on finding the perfect card to fit any style.

For the traditional family. If you love Santa Claus and Christmas trees, then these themed Christmas cards were made for you.

For modern simplicity. Bold graphics display traditional themes and winter scenes in a modern way.

A passion for floral design. Christmas cards are beautiful in reds and greens and Christmas trees, but are just as gorgeous in floral prints.

Right now, prices across the Tiny Prints website have been marked down on all of our classic 2007 holiday designs before they officially retire later this month in order to make room for our fresh, new 2008 collection. But some of the classic designs are so adorable, I hate to see them go! If you’ve fallen in love with any of our 2007 holiday greeting cards or party invitations, and need a little help customizing them for 2008, read on for a short tutorial on our fantastic personalization options.

One of my favorite parts of shopping at Tiny Prints is the amazing personalization engine that allows you to transform any design into the card of your dreams. The process is incredibly intuitive and easy to use, but for those of you who are new to Tiny Prints, I’ve come up with the following step-by-step instructions for customizing any of our designs!

1. Select a card. Browse through our classic holiday greeting cards, and take a sneak peek at the upcoming 2008 collection! Once you have selected a design, click on it to get to that design’s Product Page.

2. Click on the pink “Personalize” button that appears to the right of the design image. This will take you to the first step of the personalization process, which will prompt you to enter certain information. Type in your family name, family members’ names and any other information it asks you. Then, click “Next” on the bottom right of the screen.

3. The next page gives you a chance to change just about any text on the design! Click on the area of the card that says “2007,” and a text box will appear. Type in “2008″ or whatever other text you want to customize, upload your photos, and click “Next” to approve your design and complete your order!

4. Relax! Even if you forget to change a piece of text, each and every card that passes through our company is cropped, edited and perfected by a graphic designer. If you let the “2007″ slip by, a designer will call to inform you that he or she will fix it for you!

That’s it! It’s really that easy to turn a classic design into a fresh and modern one. So get out there and start personalizing your Christmas cards and holiday party invitations. Happy holiday shopping!

Whether you’ve just opened shop, have an established business, or are managing this year’s Christmas party and business Christmas cards, you’ll certainly need to send out those courtesy Christmas cards and important holiday party invitations to your employees and customers this year. With summer barely over, it may seem outrageous to think about the holidays already. But look how fast summer went and think of how good you’ll feel when it’s all done! No rushing around searching for cards and invites on top of getting your own personal Christmas shopping done.  Here are a few tips to help get you started on the holidays a little early this year!

1) The best thing you can do for yourself is to start shopping early! The earlier you start the more choices you’ll have and chances to make changes to your online cards. I’ve already seen several stores with their Christmas ornaments going up.

2) Make it personal! You can make your business Christmas cards personal by adding the name of your company on it or a photo of your whole crew. I think it’s a great way to make everyone feel special since it’s personalized.

3) Let your creativity flow! While it’s always appropriate to send cards with Christmas designs, you can also go the other way and be unique. These Tiny Prints cards show you don’t have to go with the typical red and green card to spread holiday joy and cheer!

4) Be unique. Send out cards with multi-function. Calendar cards like the ones below can be used throughout the year.

In the garden, I’m known as a “purple thumb” because I am uniformly mediocre. While typing, on the other hand, there are only certain words that bring out the worst in me, and I’ve found that these same words hang up others as well. Interestingly, in our line of business, phrases and words such as Christmas cards, holiday party invitations, church, reception cards and restaurant are constantly blighted by misspellings. Christmas frequently becomes Chirstmas or Christams cards, if you don’t believe me, do a search online for either spelling and be prepared to feel embarrassed for the authors. Likewise, party invitation suddenly becomes party invitatoin, church becomes chruch, reception cards become receptoin cards and restaurant devolves into restaraunt or restarant. Why these words are jumbled and not others, I’m not entirely sure, but I’m not ready call myself “all thumbs” just yet. Ironically “misspell” and “ignorance” are on lists of most misspelled words too.

You feel better now knowing you’re not alone, don’t you? I do!