By Marcelle Costanza
Before I purchased my first computer in 1995, I was pretty much like everyone else. Near the end of the year I would buy a few boxes of Christmas cards to send to family and friends. But once I got that first PC and I discovered clip art and a desktop publishing program called Printmaster, the holiday season changed forever!
That Christmas season in 1995, I designed my first humorous holiday card featuring my husband in a starring role. It was a simple plain-paper, quarter fold card and I used a photo I had scanned into my computer, added a text balloon and digitally signed our names. Everyone -- including my amazingly good natured husband -- got a huge kick out of that card and a tradition was born.
Each year the cards became more elaborate and some more "active" designs had me starting on construction right after Labor Day because they were so labor intensive -- no pun intended! One action card involved my husband's face peaking out from inside a chimney when the card was opened; another featured a Christmas tree popping out of the card with my husband's face hidden in the branches. It took a lot of work and I wound up with some pain in the aging wrists, but it was well worth the effort.
As my photo editing skills increased, the nature of the cards began to change and my husband now has to pose for each individual card design. Even he doesn't know what the card will look like or why I have him getting into weird positions until the first draft of the card is completed and printed. But because he is so good-natured, he goes along with the photo shoot. He's a ham and enjoys being the star of the show.
DNA experiment gone bad
The card in 2004 sported my husband as a DNA experiment gone bad. The Christmas before, he was "elected" to play Santa for the little ones at his cousin's house. I wish I could show you the video of him attempting to get into that Santa costume. It was so comical, I laughed so hard I couldn't finish taping. He is truly a clown at heart. So in 2004, I used that hysterical incident and in the card we tried to turn him into the real Santa. Remember I said "DNA experiment gone bad" --he wound up as Rudolph instead! You can see him in Figure A.
FIGURE A
A little creative photo editing with Photoshop and my husband became Rudolph, complete with a bright red nose. (click for larger image)
Snow globe
The card in 2005 was -- I think -- my best effort. I wanted to place him inside a snow globe. After some searching I found a wonderful tutorial by Sue Chastain on Ask.com for creating a snow globe in Photoshop. I simply replaced the Teddy bear with a photo of my hubby and the card in Figure B was born. I printed this one on a high-gloss card stock and I can't tell you how many phone calls we received after that card was mailed out!
FIGURE B
Thanks to Sue Chastain's tutorial and my ever-patient husband posing in strange positions without asking questions, this card was a huge success, and my all-time favorite! (click for larger image)
Put a sock in it
I'll have trouble out-doing the snow globe but I'll keep trying! This year I was at a slight loss for ideas and on top of that my business was so busy I didn't get around to even trying to design the card until the beginning of November. Since I had trouble finding images to edit, I searched for free or low cost photos.
I hit the jackpot! There is a site called istockphoto that has print-ready photos for as low as $3.00! You cannot beat that price! Dreamstime offers comparable pricing but they require you to buy "credits" as soon as you sign up. You can do this for as little as $20.00 but istockphoto does not require you to pay for anything until you are ready to purchase an image -- a definite plus in my opinion.
So this year's card includes an image from istockphoto and an edited photo of my husband who could not for the life of him understand why I had him pose as I did , as you can see in Figure C.
FIGURE C
A print quality image from istockphoto for only $3.00 became the basis for this year's card -- and matching postage stamps! (click for larger image)
But once I printed the first draft, I could not stop chuckling and when hubby saw it the result was the same. And this year I went one step further. Since we use Stamps.com for shipping for our business, I decided to order Photo Stamps with the same photo that's on the front of the card.
Stay tuned for next year
Every year, it becomes an adventure trying to come up with new ideas. Folks start asking in August what this year's card will be like. It has also been suggested that I start a professional line of holiday cards featuring my dear husband. I'm sure he'd be thrilled, since if it did as well as a retail line as it does with friends and family, he would finally be able to get that Mustang he's been whining about!
Marcelle Costanza started crafting as a hobby over 20 years ago, making holiday gifts for family and friends and selling some items at local flea markets. When she got a PC in 1995, she became hooked on computer crafting. With the skills she acquired from computer crafting, she made a career change from medical practice administrator to graphic designer, desktop publisher, and webmaster. She launched her business, The Crafty PC, in 2000. For more information, visit http://www.thecraftypc.com.