April's Holiday Card - 2021

April’s holiday card for this past year was pretty awesome and I love how it turned out. She convinced her son to post in a bathrobe holding a soda can and I went to work in Photoshop to turn him into Uncle Eddie from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

I was able to include their two dogs in there as well and it was so much fun to work on. It was actually an interesting challenge to get the photos to match since any photos I could find of this scene from the film were quite grainy.

What a fun and hilarious idea for a holiday card, thank you, April!

Our Holiday Cards - 2020 & 2021

I realized that I never shared my family’s holiday card from 2020. It was an interesting year for sure. It was also the first year we opted to skip the professional photos with Santa that we’d been doing for the past six years and instead we just put my iPhone on a tripod and took photos in our bedroom. It was a year of unintended togetherness and we all survived. The photo quality wasn’t great, but it kind of fit for how 2020 went.

On the back I shared a bit about what we were all up to during the year.

This year I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. 2021 was a year of road trips for us since my husband spent the whole year on sabbatical, so we traveled during every school break and a few times during the summer. Then the second half of the year was dedicated to my oldest and I training for our taekwondo black belt test.

So we decided to have our travels be the focus of our holiday card this year. I put together a collage of Polaroid photos from some of our adventures and then the back listed some of the highlights of our year and a salutation.

The photo on the back was taken at Sand Hollow State Park by the amazing Arika Bauer from Zion Adventure Photog. She took wonderful family photos for us just after Christmas last year and I adore how they turned out. If you’re ever in southern Utah and want some fantastic photos to document your travels, or even just a beautiful backdrop for family photos, give her a call. She works great with kids and she’s even done engagements and proposals.

Both this year and last year, I had my cards printed at my local Office Depot. They’ve done a good job every time I’ve had something printed and they get it done quickly; usually done the same day. When I have the time to place an online order, I usually go with Overnight Prints.

Here’s to getting further through a pandemic and hopefully moving closer to a life that’s closer to the normal we had before. Happy New Year!

What is Direct Creatives?

I have a little store on Direct Creatives. DC is a marketplace for small business owners to find tools to use for their own branding, customers, and social media presence.

If you’re a small business owner and you’re responsible for your brand, Direct Creatives has artists, creators, and coaches selling content that you can use: custom design services, consulting services, background papers, graphics packs, fonts, worksheets, and templates just to name a few. You can also find Trello Boards, hostess coaching, e-books, templates for Canva and PicMonkey, gift certificates, and more. You can find tools to help with your business that you didn’t even KNOW you needed.

If you want to add even more to your toolbox, you can sign up for Direct Creatives Insider. DC Insider is a monthly, virtual subscription box for small business owners. Each month features something different to add to arsenal. One month was about the basics of using Trello for your business. Another month was about Asana as a tool for your business. One month featured the ins and outs of using watermarks to brand your graphics and photos (I hosted that month!). Learn how to create e-Books in Canva or the basics of PicMonkey for creating graphics. Every month features something new. Joining DC Insider also gets you exclusive discounts from the store that’s hosting each month along with fun, themed graphics that you can use in your own branding.

In my Direct Creatives store, I sell branding packages. I will design your logo and help you establish a visual brand for your small business; including business cards, social media banners and cover images, profile pics, watermarks, rack cards, postcards, stickers, and more.

I also sell background papers and stock photography that can be used for social media and I’m constantly adding more of these as I create them. You can easily add text to these backgrounds and photos using design software like Canva and PicMonkey or Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop. I have some other items like customizable holiday cards, customizable cootie catchers, wall calendars, and artwork in there too.

I will continue to add items to my storefront as I learn and figure out how I can use my skills to help small business owners rock their brand.

What do you need for your small business??

Direct Creatives Black Friday Sale

I have a little store on a website called Direct Creatives. DC is a marketplace for small business owners to find graphics and tools to use for their own branding, customers, and social media presence.

If you’re a small business owner and you’re responsible for building your visual brand, Direct Creatives has artists and creators selling content you will be able to use: design services, consulting services, background papers, graphics packs, fonts, worksheets, and templates just to name a few. Here’s how to get there:

Alex Tebow on Direct Creatives

In my store, I sell background papers that can be used for social media. I sell stock photography, holiday cards, a few cootie catchers, and I sell design services to create a custom logo or your own brand. Below you can see the deals I’m running there through Sunday.

Holiday Cards 2019

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I had holiday cards on my mind this weekend. I’ve been playing with watercolor elements lately and created these new holiday cards. They’re all listed in my Etsy shop along with a bunch of favorites from past years. Clicking on each photo will take you to its listing on Etsy.

This one below here has accents in gold glitter! I think I’m going to have to make another one or two that also have that fun glitter.

Hoping to add some more if my kids and time lets me.

Santa photos by Fotofly.
Family photos by Jessica Kay Photography and Cari Hollis.