We had professional cards made in '07 when Courtney was just a few months old, but then I made them in '08. I uploaded some cute pics to a photo developing website and voila! Pre-made/personalized Christmas photo cards.
2009 was a crazy year for us, so I skipped the cards. We were just about to move, I didn't have computer access, and I wasn't really up for all of the work, since I was newly pregnant and severely nauseated.
2010 was my second attempt to make our own cards. This time I simply took a pic of the kids wrapping a gift and then wrote a sentimental little "Merry Christmas" note at the bottom with my Photoshop program. It was a lot more work than I expected, since I was still learning the program. Top that off with a trip to the emergency room after one of my props fell on my then three-month old's head, and it was just more trouble than I bargained for. Don't worry, I learned my lesson and he was completely fine.
Over the last year I've learned a lot about photography and Photoshop. It's been so much fun! I am still no pro, and I don't have a DSLR camera- but I am happy with what I have. I started a little photo-blog (which I haven't updated much lately due to the recent move), walked through a few tutorials on Youtube and improved quite a bit (at least, I think so??).
So back to 2011. The plan was simple: Sit our family in front of the fireplace and set the camera on a timer. Easy. Oh, except that I lost the most important piece of my tripod on a hillside in the middle of nowhere. That wasn't going to stop me, though. I fixed my hair, did my makeup, made sure all of the kids' clothes were clean and waited for Hubs to get home... and waited... and waited. He rarely works late, but he did that night. He's amazing. He agreed to still do Christmas pics, even though he got home after dinner. He hopped in the shower and when he came out, he found the kids dressed and the camera set up on a dining room chair that was propped on top of the coffee table.
Let me just show you how it went.
Here I am with my 4 yr old taking a test shot to see how I needed to set up my lighting. Notice how excited she looks to be there:
Thought I'd take a few cute shots of the kids before Keith was ready. This is what I got:
Round 1: Got a couple of good ones, but had trouble with Courtney:
Round 2: Totally forgot to turn on my flash. Here are the highlights:
Round 3: My 1 yr old was completely obsessed with his tummy:
Round 4: Not even worth mentioning. This pic will give you a jist of how it went:
All in all it turned out great. So why not just hire someone to do them? I don't know. I suppose I'm prideful to some degree. Stubborn, too. I don't want to pay money for something I *think* I can do. Of course, I understand completely that a pro's pics would be higher quality, better design and cleaner composition. Not to mention it would relieve me of quite a bit of stress. Part of me also just really enjoys the challenge. I love creating things myself. I loved the entire process, crazy as it may have been. It gave me something to blog about, at least, haha!
So there you have it. Here is how it turned out. All in all it was a great memory-making experience. I will be emailing cards this year, sometime in the next week or so. Here it is, a bit early, for all of you who read my blog:
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