My Custom Holiday Cards with Mixbook & FREE Card Offer for PBG Readers!

custom holiday card review 2016 2017
This is my last post before the start of the Thanksgiving holidays and I'm surprised to say my holiday cards are printed! This almost never happens to me - I'm usually the one scrambling at the last minute to get my cards done. This year I had a little help - the folks at Mixbook asked if I'd like to review their holiday cards and I jumped at the chance! I picked several of my favorites and tried the different paper options. It's the equivalent of being a kid in a candy store for a paper and photo lover like me!

Mixbook Holiday Custom Cards Review

One of the huge reasons why I love to make my holiday cards with Mixbook is the level of customization you can get on these cards. (Mixbook calendars are just as customizable. Check out my recent review here.) But before I get ahead of myself, for those of you who just want drag and drop - not a problem, you don't need to do anything to these cards, they come fully designed. But if you want to, you can tweak just about anything on the cards for maximum flexibility and personalization. Pretty frequently I've found card designs I like on other sites but when I upload the photo or photos I plan to use, they don't fit quite right. Either the photo box is not sized to fit my photo properly, or text covers someone's face, or I can't fit my text in the particular space allotted. Then I end up having to scrap the whole thing. You won't have that issue here.

For example here's the Golden Wreath design.

Mixbook custom holiday card review 2016

Mixbook custom card designs

As you can see in the design workspace there's a bunch of layouts to choose from. I wanted to include a couple more photos in the back, so I just added two text boxes and moved the existing elements to the right. Easy! You can also choose from a ton of tasteful clip art to add to your card. You can also upload your own stickers and backgrounds to your card. So if you're an avid digital scrapbooker you can import your embellishments and use them within Mixbook's software. Just click on "Stickers" at the top left of the main workspace, then click on "Browse Stickers" then "Upload Stickers".

Digital scrapbooking with Mixbook

You can see the back of my finished Golden Wreath card at bottom left. These are back sides of some of the cards I made. I love being able to design and add more photos on the reverse. You might guess I'm kinda photo obsessed!

Photo Book Girl Review custom Holiday Cards

 

Sizes and Paper Choices

Most cards are 5 x 7 in size and in second comes 5 x 5 cards. There are a smattering of 4 x 8 and 4 x 6 cards, and one lone 3.5 x 5 card.

Below are the card designs I favorited when I was making my cards. In the end I decided to print more of the two Year in Review designs that you see above. I love being able to include little snippets of things that happened this year. I enjoy reading them when my friends send them to me as well.

Mixbook card designs review

With Mixbook you have three papers from which to choose. (The prices below are for 5 x 7 cards. Sale prices below reflect a 40% discount with exclusive Photo Book Girl reader promo! Through 11/30/16. New deals pop up all the time - be sure to check out my deals page before you order for the latest discounts!)

  • Satin Finish $1.59 $0.95

  • Signature Matte $2.29 $1.37

  • Premium $2.99 $1.79


Below are the 3 papers in order - Satin at the top and Premium at the bottom. I know it is hard to tell, but the Satin one at the top has a slight sheen to it, while the other two are matte. The Satin paper gives you slightly higher contrast and punchier color. Matte papers tend to mute colors and in this case that's true but it's only very slight here - hardly noticeable. Between the two matte papers - Signature Matte paper and the Premium paper, I'd say the Premium one has slightly higher saturation and higher contrast. The Premium paper is also heavier than the other two (130 lb.) and feels more hefty, more substantial. It flexes less when you flap the card and it does feel more luxe. I don't think you can really go wrong with any of the papers - it just depends on the budget you want to spend.

Mixbook photo cards personalized

Other Options

You may have noticed that most of my cards have rounded corners. It's a look that I personally like a lot. Most companies charge an extra cost for rounded corners. At Mixbook it's $0.19 per card.

Blank envelopes are included, but a new feature this year is envelope printing. You can have Mixbook print return and recipient addresses on your envelopes so you don't have to. Adding a return address will run $0.25 each or $0.75 each to get both return and recipient addresses pre-printed.

GET 10 FREE CARDS FROM MIXBOOK!

I'm sure you've heard enough of me talking about my cards - check it out for yourself with 10 FREE cards! This is a special extended deal for PBG readers who didn't already order their free cards earlier this month.

Deal #1

Mixbook

10 FREE CARDS!

Coupon Code: FREE10

Valid for ten flat card items of equal or lesser value free. To redeem this offer, add 10 or more flat cards to your cart. Can be different styles and paper types. Not valid for folded cards. Limit 10 free cards per Mixbook account, shipping address and billing address. Just pay shipping (mine came to $3.89 for continental U.S. - yours may vary by location).

Deal Expires: 12/20/2016 11:59pm PT

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Deal #2

Mixbook

40% off ALL Cards!

Coupon Code: PBG50

Deal Expires: 10/30/2016 11:59pm PT

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Deal #3

Mixbook

FREE Addressed Envelopes + 40% off all cards! 

Coupon Code: CRDLBL

Deal Expires: 11/22/2016 11:59pm PT

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*Disclosure: This post is a sponsored post and contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I may receive a referral fee. Regardless, my opinions are my own and I always give my honest opinion, good or bad.