Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Holiday Card 2007

About that holiday card...

Well, there I was, stuck for an idea for a card that wouldn't take me ages to put together, was funny and had the whole family in it. Ali convinced me the image should have all 5 of us in it instead of just the kids.

This is what I came up with:
"Twins for Christmas? You shouldn't have!"

I built the background in Photoshop from some brushes found here. The hardest part was wrangling the family for the shot itself: keeping Caitlin up on her knees to keep her in frame was tricky, as was setting the timer and rushing over to my spot with a baby. Yeah, a remote would make it easier, but it appears that mine was eaten by my basement. Since I wasn't trying for the "perfect" shot, I took what I got on the 5th image. There's only so much wrangling a pair of 3 month olds and a 6 year old will take!

Then I listened to Swistle and decided that I might as well include a short letter. I think the picture was worth more points than the letter, though. Those of you that received it can score it in the comments section! Those of you that didn't will have to base the scoring on the image alone, and the knowledge that I completed them on 12/24 and got them out before the end of the year. Points for me since I did the photo, editing, and letter entirely on my own. Eric helped with the stuffing and mailing. And! I did it in the same year the twins were born. Surely that is worth a couple of points!

Next year I'll have a pair of ~15 month old twins and a 7 year old. I'll be lucky if I capture a single image with them in the frame.

So tell me what you did. Leave a link in the comments so I can go ooh and ahh over your family picture.

4 comments:

Missy said...

I really like that picture. You did a great job on it!

Bunny said...

Oh, gah, we had our family portrait done at Penney's. It looks exactly like all those old family portraits you find in boxes in your parents basement decades later where you will laugh at everybody's hair and outfits. So, it was nice, plain, but not great. Next year I will have to take the photo myself. I think I can do a better job than the teenager making minimum wage.
oh and btw, i love your picture. What a cute idea!

2Forgetful said...

What a clever idea! It took exactly 86 photos of my almost two year old twins before I found one where they were:

-both in the picture
-both looking at the camera
-not hitting their sister
-not crying
-not covering their face with their hands
-not picking their nose
-not showing a mouth of half chewed goldfish
-smiling
-looking like something I would want to share with 60 of my family and friends.

And then, the only good picture had to be cropped to take out the flashlight one of them was holding.

I wanted people to see their dresses and even their personalities. So I ended up making a collage of all the "rejected" photos with the caption: See how many pics it takes to wish you...

Then inside the card was the ONE good photo with the words "Merry Christmas".

Woman with a Hatchet said...

Thanks, ladies!

MB, I like your idea of the collage of bad pics. Makes me think about planning next year's card!

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