Persnickety Prints: Card Print Review

I don't usually print Christmas cards anymore. I do  digi-scrap a card and post it on social media for my friends and family to see. But I was curious, if I did print cards what kind of paper/print would I want? Plus, I wanted to know for some future projects/cards I have planned what I might like for different cards. So, I took my Christmas card, uploaded to my favorite individual print site, Persnickety Prints, and ordered some different prints. I thought I would share my findings....

All of the prints were spot on with the color quality.

With the press prints, you have to be careful about bleed. You can get templates here to make sure nothing important will be cut off. Thankfully, my cards were okay. You can tell on the press prints that a smidge more got cut off the edge.

Here's the lineup of what I ordered:

5x7 Press Print (No Cut, Linen Card Stock) - $3.09
5x7 Press Print (No Cut, Pearl Card Stock) - $3.29
5x7 Press Print (No Cut, Soft Texture Art, Card Stock) - $3.09
5x7 Photographic Print (No Border, Matte Photographic) - $.89
5x7 Photographic Print (Metallic, No Border) -$1.19

There are a lot more options, that's just what I chose to print.

The top three cards were with Press Print Papers and then the last two were with Photographic paper and that last, really shiny one, is with the Metallic Paper.

Here's my conclusion:

Press Print (No Cut, Linen Card Stock) - It has that really nice, canvas look. I would probably use this for individual, very special prints, prints that I didn't really want to have a photographic look to them.

Press Print (No Cut, Pearl Card Stock) - This one has a pearl sheen to it on both sides of the print. Even the plain backside of this print is beautiful.

Press Print (No Cut, Soft Texture Art, Card Stock) - The Linen Card Stock and Pearl Card stock papers have a definitive feel to them, but I couldn't really see anything in this one that stood out. I think it might have been because what I was printing was so dark. Maybe I'll try something lighter next time.

Photographic Print (No Border, Matte Photographic) - Very nice, and probably the best deal for the $$$. It still has a little sheen and doesn't lay as flat as the Press Print papers.

Photographic Print (Metallic, No Border) - This one has a metallic look to it and it's much shinier than the regular photographic print. I'm not sure that I would use this for printing cards, just because it's more expensive and the regular photographic print will do. Oh, and it also doesn't lay flat like the Press Prints.

That being said, thy are all beautiful. If I didn't have a budget I would probably choose the Pearl Card Stock for most of my invitations and cards. It's just beautiful and has that luxurious feel on the front and backside of the card.

Now I have a few Christmas cards I can actually mail out....even if they are a little late. Maybe next year I'll actually mail out cards. I'll let you know!

-Liz