Go green: Sending digital holiday cards

Your family has gone "green" in so many other aspects of your life this past year. Why not round out 2012 by lending the environment one more helping hand and sending out your holiday cards digitally?From websites that are dedicated to saving you hours in line at the post office to apps that make sending your cards as easy as uploading a photo from your phone, you'll never have to address another envelope or peel another stamp again!

Smilebox

Using Smilebox to create digital holiday cards is perfect if you want to go a little bit more custom than a standard template, but aren't a Photoshop maven. The program is free to download and installs directly onto your computer . Once you're in Smilebox, you can pick from one of their dozens of holiday card templates, including photo card templates that will allow you to customize colors, fonts and number of pictures, and personalize it with your family's details. Once it's perfect, sending it via email or posting it on Facebook is as simple as another click, and all for free.

Still working on getting a picture for your cards this year? Here's how to capture the perfect Christmas card photo>>

justWink

This app allows you to send holiday cards directly from your iPhone, which is perfect, considering all of the great photos of your kids are on your iPhone anyway! Download the free justWink app, pick your favorite card and upload a photo from your library. You can easily add a customized message and, our favorite part, you get to create your own signature, using your finger on the screen of your phone for a truly personalized touch . Send via email, Facebook, Twitter or text message — all for no charge.

PicMonkey

Who remembers the online photo editing website, Picnik? Who cried when it was acquired by Google and shut down, ending your fun and easy way to edit photos and create cute cards? We're raising our hands. Well, there's a new Picnik on the block that's helping to mend our broken hearts — PicMonkey! Just like Picnik, PicMonkey is easy to use, offers most of its features for free and is a fantastic option for creating a digital holiday card this year. Upload your favorite photo, use their editing tools to make it perfect, add fun text and winter graphics and you're ready to save and send. PicMonkey allows you to save your projects in high-quality digital files, making them as pretty as possible for emailing and posting online.

Paperless Post

If you are a digital mom and haven't experienced Paperless Post yet, you're in for a treat. In fact, you may want to sit down because you may swoon over the custom look of these digital holiday cards. Best known for their online invitation service, Paperless Post also allows you to send custom cards, such as for the holidays. Once you pick your design from their drop dead gorgeous collection and add your personal details, you can easily upload your address list from your email provider and send it. There is a fee to send your digital cards using Paperless Post, most costing under a $1 each to send.

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