Family Christmas Card 2011

final outcome

Last year I made my family a Christmas card to send out to family and friends. I wanted to go bigger and better this year and had a vision. About a month ago I was surfing the web (do people still use that lingo?) and I came across a really funny image from one of my newest favorite shows, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The image was so cheesy... goofy.... funny.... the image was so... so.... my family! Over Thanksgiving I discussed my vision with the family, and to my happy surprise, each member was excited to give this concept a try. So I mapped out where everyone was to stand, we color-coordinated our outfits and had my uncle take a few pictures of us using Summer and Steve's brand new amazing camera. Everyone nailed the expressions perfectly.

Now came the tough part... Lot's of photoshopping and color correcting. I decided to cut up two different images into clipping paths and replace them together, moving myself to the outer left side and squeezing us all together a little bit closer. I played around with the hue/saturation/level/and brightness a bit until I was happy with the outcome (I wanted it to be bright). Then the background was made, shadows were added, and the text was the finishing touch. Taaaa daaaaa!

Hope you all enjoy the time spent preparing for the Holidays, I know I am!

Inspiration: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Original Photo 1: Used Summer, Me, Dad, Kipp, and my Mom from this image 

Original Photo 2: Used Steve, Nickee, and parts of the table from this image

Last years Christmas Card, a little more classy haha