Paper Culture Review

I just placed an order for personalized holiday cards on PaperCulture.com. The company is sponsoring this review and this month's giveaway of three $25 Paper Culture gift cards for three of our readers. Here's a summary of my shopping experience with Paper Culture.

Selecting A Card

The selection of stationery on Paper Culture is impressive. It was clear to me that combining the right card with the right photo could result in a clean, simple, yet emotionally moving greeting card.

However, that was where I was nervous, my family hadn't taken professional or formal holiday photos yet, so I wasn't sure about using a design that required a photo. However, many of the examples included casual, candid photos of families.

In the end I went with the design pictured above because it features our family, but doesn't require the photo to take up the entire card. Personalizing the card was easy. In fact the only difficult part was gathering addresses because I hadn't sent out cards in a few years.

Choosing a Mailing Option

Entering addresses with the order isn't required, but the free mailing and addressing service that Paper Culture provides makes so much sense for me as I would only put off addressing the cards when they came. It also saved me the $8.99 it would have cost to have the cards shipped to me.

Another benefit of submitting the addresses is it allowed me to choose the exact number of cards I needed rather than ordering multiples of 10. You also get to personalize a note on the back of each card if you desire. Or you can just write a sweet standard message sandwiched between the recipient's name and your salutations.

The con of having Paper Culture send your cards out for you is you don't have extra envelopes to mail those last minute cards that come up during the season. You also don't get the free kraft keepsake gift box.

More Cool Features

• Other perks you get at Paper Culture include rounded corners on all the cards. You also get the option to have a professional designer proof your card before having it printed. I did this and it added a day or two to my order time, but that just gave me more time to find my addresses.
  
  
• Customer service at Paper Culture is outstanding. I called to ask some questions during my order. They answered the phone promptly and clarified everything I needed to know. I liked being re-assured that my order was being handled properly.
  
  
• Also when I did get my order submitted I found a few errors I'd made on the addresses. I emailed customer service. They emailed me back letting me know they'd made the changes to my address list. Again communication along the way is comforting.
  
  
• Finally, I love that Paper Culture has some eco-friendly features you can't find elsewhere. For instance on your first purchase you are getting a tree planted in the honor of whomever you choose at no cost to you. (I dedicated mine to my daughters).
  
  Also all cards and envelopes use 100% Post-Consumer Recycled Paper.

Time to Shop

So that was my experience thus far. I look forward to getting the cards I sent to myself for keepsakes and hearing my family's reaction to the girls and how they've grown. I can actually check something off my list. Now it's time to shop for gifts.

Below are a few seasonal offers going on at Paper Culture:

50 for 50 sale at PaperCulture.com. Get 50 FREE Thank You Cards, Note Cards & Personal Stationery when you buy 50. Use 50FREE at checkout. Ends 12/7/11. Shop now and save BIG!

Get Free Shipping on your Paper Culture order of any size! Use code: FREESHIP at checkout! Shop now to take advantage of this great deal, ends 12/15!