Can anyone recommend a Christmas Card printer?

[Sarahleigh]

Feel free to pm me if you don't want to post your 'trade secret' ;)

I'm getting approached a lot at the moment for Christmas cards. I usually use Moo cards myself, but at £20 for £25 cards + the cost of the portrait its just too expensive a price to quote.

I notice Vista print seem more affordable, but I don't know what the quality is like. Has anyone used them for cards? Who do you use?

Thanks. My portrait photography business really seems to be taking off at the moment with a nursery to photograph next week, a play group the week after & several of my clients from earlier in the year are returning after Christmas photographs. I really do appreciate your help. :D.

SarahLeigh

[Stampinupgirl]

I love the quality of vista print - plus the more you use them, the more offers they send, and it can sometimes work out cheaper to do a few seperate orders and pay just postage than actually buy the product!

If you are looking for bulk orders, look out for the free postage when you spend over X amount and those kind of deals too.

It may be worth printing a small order to see what you think of them!

[Sarahleigh]

I love the quality of vista print

Thanks. Do you think the quality of their cards is good enough to sell on to a customer? I guess I'm a bit of a print snob & having tried a number of print companies out for portrait prints for framing I guess I am very aware of how different in quality some of the printers can provide (right down to a horrid blue cast from one company & a sticky finish from another one). I was planning to give VISTA a try to get some advertising postcards & some more business cards anyway so I might get a sample card printed up to see what I think.

Thanks for your advice. Any other suggestions?

S

[Classical Genesis]

I too love Vista Print, I am about to order a batch of Christmas cards to send out to my past and current students. Everything I order from them is to a very acceptable quality and the design facilities are good, as long as you adhere precisely to the design templates provided. You can import Adobe PSD straight into the templates correctly cropped and sized. Once you are content with the quality of the card stock and their print quality the balance of design and presentation is simply down to how you use their simplified software to assemble the images and print.

They do tell you the weight of card used for Christmas cards which can be checked against standard stock so you shouldn't have problems in that quarter. Do pay for a PDF proof to check colour and positioning of images etc. this is imperative if you want any kind of perfection, especially if you are selling them on.

Why not order a small batch of their stock cards, say 10 for 3.99 + postage. You should get these fairly quickly and this may provide you with the confidence to place further orders. I appreciate your quality requirements and I believe, if carefully managed, that they will provide you with a good service at a better price than you have previously paid.

I note you require business cards and business postcards. I have large business calendar magnets produced by Vista. Most of my students are ladies and ladies do not have a habit of putting business cards in purses and wallets as men do so I design all my cards and calendars as magnets so they can be stuck onto fridges, goes down really well if much of your clientele is of the female variety This isn't a good image but you will see what I mean:-


http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn174/ClassicalGenesis/Clive/Calendar.jpg

Anyway, good luck, it will be good to see how things work out
Clive

[Seahorse]

Hi Sarahleigh
That is so spooky, I was thnking about making my collages into cards only yesterday and was looking for card printers this morning.
I shall be back here for advice.

[Seahorse]

I just looked at vistaprint...too much to look at..pretty products...I want it all....brain overload...melting ...melting...Im melting.

[HappySheep]

I too use Vistaprint - the better the quality of the uploaded photo the better the quality of the card. I also use Moo, and I have a local printer who is really a graphic designer who prints small runs only, but there is a minimum order of 9 (A6 cards) so she's good for helping you to get a good card but you have to need a larger run (with Moo you can have 25 different cards if you want). I'm not being cagey - I'm nowhere near Suffolk (and my printer is even further!) but you might be able to find someone similar near you :)
Cheers
Judith

[Seahorse]

Vistaprint question.Im going through the process of trying to get a pic of mine onto their note cards.I dont like the white strips either side of the pic so Ive tried to rejig things.
I see there is a dotted frame around the near edge of the card.Do I take it that my pic should not go outside the frame?Its just when I crop it the pic goes right to the edges(which I like).I can only assume that VP wouldnt allow it to happen if it was a bad idea.
So, do you think its ok for the pic to go right ot the edges?
Also I just read I need to pay for my original design to be made.Any idea how much?

[Sarahleigh]

The template is the full bleed size & the ditted line is the trim mark. They recommend you have your image going right to the bleed line incase the trim is a little out I guess.

I didn't use them for Xmas cards in the end as my client wanted 6 different designs (so I went with Moo). But I am, as we speak, processing some note book orders. It's my first time & I must say I don't find it particularly easy to use, but I'm getting there.

Everything you do (ie uploading your own image to use, choosing one of the options, colour changes etc seems to add a little on to the cost. The only way I could work out what the cost would be without doubt was to wizz through dummying up a fake notebook & seeing what the final price with postage was going to be.

I've also been advised to get a PDF proof as some people have had issues with missing fonts & images cropping strangely etc. A PDF proof will show you exactly what you're going to get.

S

[MihoSuzuki_com]

Have you tried CafePress?

I've heard good things about them.

Miho

[Sarahleigh]

I used Moo.com this year in the end as that's who I used last year & thought the quality was AWFUL! The paper was really thin & the print quality was quite grainy. I emailed them about it, but they haven't bothered to get back. Having printed the same picture file at home I know I could have got a better quality print if I had done it myself - gutting! Having said that, they were printed in time & no-one else will know the difference.

I also used Vista for the first time on some diaries & was really suprised by the quality.

So there you go - before Xmas I would have sworn by Moo and been wary of Vista. After Christmas I'd say steer clear of moo for anything except mini-moo cards and consider Vista.

S