I think I can do what I want with zazzle...

I gave up on Tiny Prints/Shutterfly this year. Even with the discounts the prices were pretty absurd and it seemed harder than usual to construct what I wanted. Very frustrating. So a friend posted something along the same lines on FB and eventually ordered cards from a Costco. Another friend recommended Walgreens. With the discount there, I ended up saving almost half the price of Tiny prints, and was very pleased with our cards on premium card stock. Plus I was able to pick them up the next day!

Thanks OP...I'll check out costco...didn't even think of them.

I was going to suggest zazzle. Then i saw you have already discovered them. I use zazzle for lots of things.

Annie, have you taken a look at Vistaprint? I order my business cards thru them and have always been happy.

Thanks Dawn, will do.

Hallmark card software

I've used Walgreen's to make nice custom cards from my pictures.

I looked at Walgreens but again, not enough flexibility to do what I want to do.

Check out Minted.com Their quality is wonderful. One big plus is you can have Minted address the envelopes for you! You send them a spreadsheet. I had difficulty with transferring the information from my spreadsheet to their form. A really really nice customer service person walked me through it.

Did you try Printique? They used to be Adoramapix. Excellent photo quality. Mpix is my favorite (I use them every year, waiting for their 50% off sale, which I think is going on again right now), but I don't use folded cards and I never looked into borders, so I guess I'm no help. Good luck!

With what you are looking for, you might be better off using a local quick printer like Minuteman Press.

You can create an 8.5 x 11 card that folds to 8.5 x 5.5* pretty easily in any word processing program. You can import the picture you want and the border you want and then put the message you want on another page for the card interior. Print proofs on your printer until you are satisfied, then give Minuteman Press a high-quality PDF of both pages and a sample from your printer of what you want your card to look like. Ask them to create a proof for you to approve before they print anything.

Quick printer staff do this all the time and should be able to help you with your project too.

* Ask the staff for help if you would like to do other sizes. The printer should be able to hook you up with envelopes too.

I ended up going with Vistaprint...they had all the flexibility I needed and the software was very easy to use. The cards are ordered and hopefully will arrive soon.

I appreciate everyone's helpful suggestions. Thanks! You guys are the best!

What a timely thread, Annie. For years I’ve used Shutterfly, creating our special New Mexico-themed Christmas cards. The quality has always been great, but the cost for 70 cards has gotten out of hand, IMO. I’ve been throughly frustrated these past couple of weeks about it, and wondering where to look next. I now have good options. Thank you!!!