These holiday cards were just submitted by the Bale family and they are some of the best series of cards I’ve seen this year. I adore how this family really goes for it every year always with a creative sense of fun and flare. It helps that Dad is pretty skilled at Photoshop, though it should be noted that the photos for all of these cards are taken by themselves with a timer. I am in awe.
This was their card in 2007. It’s a fabulous Christmas card where they are helping each other get a star on the tree using in the style of “Cirque du Bale”. I’ve seen many cards with this theme. but this one is particularly imaginative in the way they lean against each other. Lori Bale (Mom) says that they did this in 5 shots all photoshopped together by Dad. The dog was separate, Mom and Dad were taken in front of a green screen, then one of Mom and her daughter, then one of the kids, and finally, the tree was added into the back ground as the 5th shot. This card is a huge success; it’s one of my all time favorites Christmas cards. It’s incredibly creative and incredibly well executed, a perfect combination.
This is the Bale family Christmas card 2000 of the family reflected in an ornament. This is a wonderful idea which I’ve seen quite a lot, but this one is very well executed. I think I may do a blog posting soon showing all of the ornament reflection shots I’ve come across.
Here is their card in 2001. Great Christmas card of kids inside of a snow globe. This is a fun twist on the snow globe card with the kids looking at it from outside as well as being inside. I did a posting on snow globe Christmas cards which this card would fit into perfectly.
Here is their 2003 Great Christmas card of two kids looking inside their fish bowl decorated for Christmas. I have never seen the fishbowl theme, I love the hats on the fish. I wonder if the line inside the card was “Fishing You a Merry Christmas”?
This is the Bale Family Christmas card from 2004 of a photo of their dog stealing a slipper of one of the kids. It’s such a cute idea for a Christmas card. I am curious if this was one shot of photoshopped together.
Here is the Bale family card from 2005 where each member of the family holds a blank card and they are photoshopped one within the other. Photos of frames within frames are another theme I may explore in another posting.
The Bale family Christmas card 2009 made with Sparklers with time lapse photography. See more cards using light and time lapse photography.
And here is their card form this year, 2010. I love it! They posed the family into a scene mimicking the Norman Rockwell painting, “Freedom From Want”, but with a modern twist. This reminds me very much of a card by Theresa Thompson mimicking the same painting. Notice the dog, the lizard and the rabbit at the table. I also like the original Norman Rockwell painting in the background.
And finally in honor of the day, here is a New Year’s Day card from the Bale family from 2002. On this one they photoshopped more confetti into the picture.
A huge thank you to the Bale family for taking the time to share these with me. I look forward to seeing what they come up with next year.
Happy New Year!
More Christmas cards are coming they are still coming in and I am struggling to keep up.
A fun way to make a boring beach shot fun for Christmas is to pose with a sand snowman. What better way to winterize a beach photo? Here is one I did once. The kids loved posing with the sand snowman they had helped make (and RE-make every time it collapsed). Hint: bring a spray bottle of water to help keep the sand moist.
Taken by Karen Robert
All it needs is a kid next to itFound at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamk/2398891839/
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamk/2371842490/
How do they get the sand to stick together like that?
I had such fun with my last posting on great pumpkin carvings, that I decided to keep going. Some of these examples are just plain beautiful instead of scary and gory. And I found a few more amazing sculptures of faces. With this wealth of creative ideas, I may need to go for it and carve something fun this year.Remember, to help preserve your pumpkin, make sure to spray it with a cleaning spray containing bleach. It will make it last twice as long. and anotherand anotherand anotherand another and anothrI liek this fun texture with leaves
I found this at: http://www.myhomeideas.com/holidays/pumpkins-10000001665908/leaves-10001391453681/http://thecasualperfectionist.com/category/blog-business/custom-image-header/www. lartedellintaglioYoung HOuse loveYoungHouseLove.comMartha StewartMartha StewartMartha stewartMarthastewart.comGreat big enormous pumpkin sculpture, carving of a facehttp://www.almightydad.com/holiday/pumpkin-carvings-most-creative
I know that the following pictures aren’t cards. But somehow pumkins carved in a really cool way seems relevant to my site. I presume that people who like creative cards cards tend to be people who like creative pumpkin carvings, so I hope I am playing to my audience. Here are my top 30 picks for the best jack-o-lanters out there. Most of them I found at extremepumpkins.com, an extremely cool website dedicated to amazing Pumpkin Carvings. I bow down to this site because it’s my kind of thing. Some of these images I also found somewhere else on the World Wide Web. It’s random, but enjoy.
Photo by Skisussy at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/skisusy/4019372187/in/pool-1168009@N20/
And finally, here’s a tip. To keep your pumpkin from deteriorating, spray it with a cleaning solution that has bleach in it. The rot won’t set in as quickly.
Send any my way which you think are worthy, and I will post more on Halloween.
I am starting to think about our Christmas Card. Too early you say? Aaaw, then I guess you don’t know me…I am obsessive when it comes to Christmas cards. I am considering going to even greater lengths this year. I have been thinking of trying to do a stop motion video. Stop motion videos are all the rage as you can see from my previous posting on Save the Date videos,; quite a few stop motion videos made the cut. So I ‘ve been scouring the web in search of an idea which is not too hard to do for our Christmas card. I thought I’d share with you some of the best ones I’ve come across. Who knows, maybe you’re as crazy as I am and I can inspire you to do an over the top Christmas Card using stop motion this year. Hey, if people can do it for their Save the Date cards, then why not for their Christmas cards?
This one is called The Human Skateboard.
This one is a Thanksgiving themed one:
This video is an old favorite, seen millions of times on You Tube:
But it is not as famous as this one, seen over 13 million times on You Tube:
It is called The Last Laugh
The only stop motion video for Christmas that made the cut is this one which is an ad:
Many of these videos I discovered thanks to Smashing Magazine with an article on their favorite stop motion videos. However, they also have some tutorials on how to do stop motion videos and it looks very tricky. I hate to admit it, but I think it is over my head. I think I need to wait until my son and my nephew are in college. One wants to study animation, the other wants to study film, so I’ll wait until I can hire one of them. In the meantime, if anyone does anything like this for their Christmas card, or for any other occasion, please let me know because I would love to feature it.
I found some great 4th of July Cards which are unique and inspirational. None of these are commercial cards by the way, all are people’s individual creative efforts.
This digital collage is by Pamela027 on Flickr, it is so creative and inspiring.
I saw this on an ad for http://www.pasanellaandson.com, but I don’t think they created it. If so, my apologies to whomever made it for not giving you credit, it is a fabulous 4th of July message. I love words spelled out by sparklers, they are not that hard to do with a long exposure, yet so fun and creative.
This is creative 4th of July collage was again posted by Pamela027 on Flickr
This card was sent out as a shout out for the 4th of July by Daniel at DanielDunlapphoto.com
This digital art of a flag swirling around was done by Leoncillo Sabino and posted on Flickr.
This great dog (is it a basset Hound?) 4th of July card was also posted on Flickr by Komissarov
Oh why not post this one from OliviaMunn.com..she’s in the spirit of the 4th.
A 4th of July photo of a flag in front of the Brooklyn Bridge posted by Houry Photography on Flickr.
Here are a few of the best cards Mother’s Day Cards I could find. These were actually made for these people’s mothers or wives; none of these were commercial cards. This is what makes them so great, the time and effort going into them are enough to make any mother smile. These are good inspiration for images, if you need the sentiments to go inside your homemade card, you can find ideas in my previous blog postings. In my next posting I will post 15 funny mother’s day quotes.
The following card was made by a guy named Danny for his wife, Bess. She was three months pregnant for mother’s day and he had been taking pictures of her growing belly. You can see it at www.dannyandbess.com. I bet Danny’s a great Dad to little Punchy.
Call me crazy, but my guess is that this Mother’s Day card is from a teenager. He remembered!
www.flickr.com/photos/skewgee/144964022/
This must have been from a Dad to his wife. It may not be the most sentimental Mother’s Day Card I’ve ever seen, but it’s the thought that counts. And, hey, it’s a sweet great photo. I’d be psyched to get this.
www.flickr.com/photos/tine05/3518751510/
Yes, she did receive this vacuum for mothers day. Isn’t she lucky? And then her husband took a photo of her with it for posterity. Truth be told, she actually did ask for the vacuum, and it is a fabulous photo, so I’d say she had a pretty good day.
This card was actually made as a birthday card for this woman’s mother. I thought it was a good idea though for a mother’s day card as well.
www.flickr.com/photos/evaxebra/3268050977/
For the following card, gardener Arthur Darragh used 480 plants in flats to spell out “Happy Mother’s Day” on lawn in the Livingston section of Staten Island
This is a somewhat less sweet mother’s day sentiment. It was probably done to get ratings on YouTube instead of a thank you for their mother. But it’s funny nonetheless.
I’m absolutely certain I will be getting an amazing mother’s day card like these, full of forethought and love. I hope you do too.
I leave you with a quote about women. While it doesn’t really pertain to mother’s day, I love it anyway.
Welcome to HoHumCards.com, formerly Merry Christmas From. Here you can check out creative cards, submit your own unique creation, and get creative card-making tips. Learn more about HoHumCards.
by Karen Robert
Here is their card in 2001. Great Christmas card of kids inside of a snow globe. This is a fun twist on the snow globe card with the kids looking at it from outside as well as being inside. I did a posting on snow globe Christmas cards which this card would fit into perfectly.
Here is their 2003 Great Christmas card of two kids looking inside their fish bowl decorated for Christmas. I have never seen the fishbowl theme, I love the hats on the fish. I wonder if the line inside the card was “Fishing You a Merry Christmas”?
This is the Bale Family Christmas card from 2004 of a photo of their dog stealing a slipper of one of the kids. It’s such a cute idea for a Christmas card. I am curious if this was one shot of photoshopped together.
Here is the Bale family card from 2005 where each member of the family holds a blank card and they are photoshopped one within the other. Photos of frames within frames are another theme I may explore in another posting.
The Bale family Christmas card 2009 made with Sparklers with time lapse photography. See more cards using light and time lapse photography.
