I have joined the ranks of Vistaprint.com-aholics. Help me.

I have to confess I've always regarded personalised Christmas cards and photo-based birthday invitations as more than a little cheesy, on a par with Round Robin Christmas updates and people who put turn baby photos into fridge magnets. I recall cringing every time Slim Venetian would send us photo frames made from family holiday snaps. Yes, you read correctly, photo frames made from photos. Postmodern and narcissistic, yes?

I swore I would never be one of those people. Ever.

Recently however, I wanted to make some personalised adhesive labels as a birthday gift for a friend who makes his own preserves (and has presented me with some amazing samples) and was stuck about how to do it and where to go. My brief to myself was: cheap, cheerful and not massive quantities, incorporating a low-res image, glossy stock and able to be delivered in a couple of weeks. Frustrated by my complete ignorance about where to start, I hassled a talented craft-fiend friend of mine who recommended I try Vistaprint.com. According to her, Vistaprint is "easy to use and very addictive. I use them all the time."

So I gave it a go.

I take issue with the first part of her statement as it took several goes and the eventual hands-on help of another talented craft-fiend friend to help me navigate the site and select a suitable template. After a few dodgy attempts, we found a cool template, uploaded an image to preview, selected a whizzy font, typed in the required text and voila - a page of sticky labels was born. Quick click to the shopping cart and checkout despite Vistaprint constantly prompting you with suggested added extras...(no thanks, I don't need the personalised desk calendar and shoe tree combo).

A week later, some really funky sticky labels arrived in my post office box. They are BEAUTIFUL and my chutney-making bud will most certainly love them!

Affordable? Quick? Excellent quality? Yes. Yes. Yes.

I have ordered and received graduation party invitations, another set of adhesive labels for me, and have two design projects ready to review.

Stop me before I stick my nephew’s face on a coffee mug.