One of the many modern conveniences of internet shopping is the ease of finding great invitations and stationery online.  I love the advantages of selecting the exact card in the perfect color, ideal paper, appropriate font and a style you want for an event or occasion.

I shared with you my joy with this process when Mr. B and I ordered Christmas cards online a few years ago.  Then, in 2011, I needed invitations to our son’s engagement party, that is when I discovered Minted.

As a company, Minted has been around longer than I realized (started in April 2007), but what sets it apart is their use of independent artists.  Their high end paper goods come in all imaginable shapes and sizes and serve all of life’s celebrations and holidays.

Their photo-Christmas cards are unique and can be customized with details such as shape, color details, photograph and include your personal names and dates.  It’s an online interactive creation and fun to see the options appear before your eyes.  Here are some of my favorites.

Minted recently started a blog, Julep.  “…a lifestyle blog dedicated to helping the busy, design-savvy woman create beauty all around her.”  The contributors are creative and share the most original ideas.   It sounds like a challenge, but after nearly an hour perusing their site, I realized there were so many items I wanted to revisit for party ideas and DIY projects around the house.  They’ve succeeded in giving a hand with creativity and specific how-to tutorials.   You’ll find a wide array of design ideas for home and party.  The DIY tab gives you detailed direction on the project you select and most are doable for everyone, even me!

The table below was set for a recent Minted Design Summit.  The team started a fun new Minted Party Ambassador program where you can apply for free party decor if you’re willing to blog about your event.

This is a feature for fall wedding ideas.  Now you can see how it was easy to loose myself on their new site for quite a bit of time...

I love the tutorial on making these beaded lights.  The Edison bulb dresses up any light fixture, doesn’t it?

These cupcakes!  This will be in my Halloween file for 2014.

These little beauties can be used throughout November and December…here’s the ‘how to’

If you haven’t ordered your cards for the holidays yet, check out Minted.  If you need some additional inspiration for decorations or gift ideas, visit Julep.

Disclosure: Minted sent me an email inviting me to post about their Christmas photo-cards and to share details about their blog site, Julep.  I was offered up to $75 credit to Minted to participate.  All opinions and ideas are my own.