Pretty Little Nest: Sending holiday cheer

It's December and I'm ready for all the Christmas cards to start appearing in my mailbox. If you have sent me a card in the last 10 years, I have it. Heck, if you have EVER written me anything, I have it. That includes notes passed in 7th grade and the first ever e-mails I received in college. With us moving, I am slowly trying to get rid of such things because no one wants to see my high school angst in print. But looking through past Christmas cards, I just can't toss them. And I really don't want my friends and family to toss mine. I want my card to get Oooos and Ahhhhs.

Lucky for me I work at Night Owl Paper Goods, a local stationery studio which means I am surrounded by pretty. Now, by local I mean we are a small business hidden away in an industrial part of town but we ship worldwide and can count Paper Source and Papyrus as clients. And by pretty I mean I want everything we make. We make a lot too — cards for every occasion, calendars, journals, bookmarks, custom wedding invitations and more.

Note cards and journals featuring the art of Dolan Geiman.

These critters are so cute! I've already got one.

I am biased* but here the best reasons you should order your Christmas cards, like me, from Night Owl Paper Goods:

1. COMPLIMENTS. Last year, I had several folks go out of their way to tell me how much they liked our Christmas card. That had never happened to me before. If it's a competition to send the best card, I won. I plan to win again this year.

2. SERVICE. Our custom card team of Megan and Josh are crazy quick. I work with these folks and was amazed how fast they got me a proof and then worked with me to get the best resolution on my photos. They are working hard right now to make every customer happy.

3. CHOICES. Close to 180 designs to personalize. Flip your card over, 12 choices of backgrounds. Choose your envelope color. You can design it to look exactly how you want.

4. QUALITY. Once your card is printed — either on pretty wood or nice, thick paper — we check for any errors/blemishes and then check again. I can tell you, we only let the best ship out. I don't think it will surprise my friends that as a perfectionist, quality control is an area I really shine. All our products are made in the USA using eco-friendly processes. And you should see how much we recycle.

The only problem I have with ordering my Christmas cards from Night Owl is choosing which card. I have a tough time deciding. Below are some of the contenders … friends and family will just have to check their mailboxes soon to see what I decided.