More Christmas cards

 

Megs asked me to put together their Christmas card again this year. Megs' man likes to send cards with pictures. This posed a problem. That would've been an expensive photo session if I'd've come down from WI. She thought about asking family when everyone (but me) was home for Thanksgiving, but that didn't happen.

So, they went and took pictures of each other. That's right, It looks like Megs and her man are standing next to each other. But, this was two separate photos. Megs did a great job of selecting a place that made it easy for me to blend the photos. By selecting a neutral background, I could easily overlay the pictures and blend away the differences. It looks even more like they are standing next to each other because of the line in the sidewalk that Megs is standing on.

Megs sent me these pictures late one Sunday. I told her that I wouldn't be able to get to the card before the following weekend because I would be traveling for work. But, I sat down to look at the pictures and to see what could be done. As I said, it was easy to combine the picture. Then, I started adding the additional holiday elements and sent it to Megs for her to tell me what she wanted me to do differently. This was the first time I think I've ever designed something for her that didn't need at least a little tweaking. Which made a liar out of me, since I said I couldn't finish until the next weekend.

I'm happy that Megs and her man liked the card, and I hope that everyone who got their's in the mail felt a little more holiday cheer for it.

Oh Tannenbaum

Well, there you have it, start to finish on my Christmas ornaments for Freshly Blend's Fifth Annual Ornament Swap. 

Supplies:

balsa wood

acrylic paints

two sizes of silver jump rings

plastic ornaments from target

ribbon

First, I painted the balsa wood using almost every shade of green that I had. I tried to mix the paints to create a lot of interest in a small space. That way, when I next cut the pieces for the tree, the detail of the painting would still appear.

The hardest part was punching the holes in the balsa wood for the jump rings that articulated the tree. I used a pencil to poke the hole since the wood was so soft. But, several times, the jump ring tore the thin wood. If someone wanted to do a similar design, I would choose a little heavier balsa wood. I think there were a couple that were heavier but could still be cut with scissors.

Then, I added a larger jump ring at the top to attach the ornament and the ribbon. To package these up for the swap, I cut cardboard to sandwich the tree while the ornament was to the outside. I do hope that all the ornaments arrived intact.