Shutterfly bought Tiny Prints in 2011, so you can access this sister service from Shutterfly’s website. Tiny Prints is a photo card service that lets you create and customize stylish greetings for any occasion. We were impressed by how modern, creative and professional many of the design templates were. However, this is not a good service for anyone on a budget; it’s one of the most expensive photo card services we reviewed.
For $35, including tax and shipping, we could purchase 10 photo cards printed on the least expensive paper – half as many cards as we were able to get from the lowest-priced services. For a pack of 15 cards, the price per card was about $2.34 – more expensive than most other companies. You can order a single card as a proof, but after that, the quantities can be purchased only in multiples of five.
We ordered a card printed on signature cardstock and another printed on pearl-shimmer cardstock. The regular cardstock cards printed beautifully; they were less grainy than most other cardstock cards and had great color accuracy. Unlike with most other services, Tiny Prints’ pearl-shimmer cards didn’t alter the coloring or the clarity of the images. The shimmer added a fancy touch to our Christmas cards and really brought out the reds. Both cards’ backsides featured a snowflake pattern on a red background, with Tiny Prints’ logo printed very small in the bottom middle. Of all the companies that print their logos on the cards, this one was the least obtrusive.
The pearl cardstock was slightly thinner than the signature cardstock, but both felt substantial enough to match the fashionable designs. The envelopes were a little nicer than average but not the best we’ve received. We ordered the basic white envelopes, but Tiny Prints offers a variety of envelope colors, as well as designer envelopes featuring themes and designs outside the normal selection of options. These envelopes would work especially well for wedding or fancy party invitations.
Tiny Prints' template designs and paper quality, as well as the photo reproduction, were amazing. The templates had lots of personality to match the occasion, especially compared with other photo card printing services. We found photo cards with intricate text, shapes and embellishments next to stylish plain cards. Your selection depends on your personality and the purpose of the card.
This service can send you envelopes ahead of the cards so you can address them and be ready to put them in the envelopes, seal them and send them. Or, if you're crunched for time, you can have Tiny Prints address, seal and mail your cards for you once you establish an address list as part of your account. It costs more, but the mailing option is very nice, especially during busy holiday times.
Tiny Prints also offers a wide selection of envelopes and liners for added class and character. This service even has a nice selection of trims for each of its cards. For a small added fee, you can add scalloped edges and other details to make your design memorable. There are also many template options with foil accents to give them some modern flair.
The Tiny Prints website provides an impressive selection of quality templates for holiday photo cards. Some other photo card sites have more designs, but none matches the consistent quality of Tiny Prints. There are cards for Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali, Halloween, Rosh Hashanah, Easter, Chinese New Year and many other holidays, and the templates are modern and attractive.
The non-holiday selection is also impressive. There are cards that can be personalized with a photo for new-address announcements, thank-you cards, graduation cards, birthday invitations and many more. You can access your photos from most social networking and photography sites. You can upload photos from your own hard drive, or pull them in from Shutterfly, Google Photos, Facebook and Instagram. In addition, you can apply different colors, trims or styles. Tiny Prints even makes suggestions for colors and fonts that fit with the overall style of the card.
It’s fun and easy to create your card. You drag and drop your photos where you want them and substitute your own text for the template text. You enter in the information for your card, and Tiny Prints places it on the digital version of your photo card. However, if you want to customize your photo card, the site can be frustrating to use. Going outside the templates is harder on this site than it is with other services that let you easily delete text boxes and other features.
If you want to stick closely to the already-attractive templates, however, you'll have no problems using Tiny Prints.
Tiny Prints' customer support is excellent. You can reach representatives via many channels, including phone, email and online chat. The company also guarantees your satisfaction; if you don’t like your photo cards (unless it’s due to your own typos), Tiny Prints reprints them at its own expense.
Perhaps the best evidence of Tiny Prints’ commitment to exquisite design is the company blog, which offers advice on hosting great events. There are even collections curated by big names in style.
Tiny Prints offers a wide selection of gorgeous designs, and the printed cards are impressive. However, the pricing is pretty high. If you’re willing to pay for the convenience of having your cards addressed and mailed for you, this is a great service to use. It’s an especially good option for formal events, given the many envelope customization options. Tiny Prints is easy to use, and you will likely be thrilled with the results. But if you’re on a budget, this isn’t the photo card service for you.
