I realized that I never shared the holiday card I created for April back in 2022. Her son was totally down for this fun idea and I went to work in Photoshop to make it happen. It was a little tricky getting the lighting right and finding that ventilation shaft photo background. I absolutely love how it turned out.
Yippie ki yay, Merry Christmas.
Also, Die Hard is most definitely a Christmas movie.
Our friend Jaxon had an assignment in his class where he asked friends and family to send postcards and notes claiming they met the Gingerbread Man on their road trips and travels. I leveled up on our adventures and had a TON of fun in Photoshop adding the Gingerbread Man to some photos and sending fun messages to Jaxon’s kindergarten class.
I have had the privilege of creating some of the most creative holiday cards with Laura over the years. She comes up with some of the most fun ideas. Sometimes they are simple, and she does most of the work from a photography or Photoshop standpoint and all I’m doing is adding text. Sometimes it’s more elaborate and we have fun with Photoshop together. It’s an adventure each and every time.
2020 was quite a year, and her card reflected that sentiment exactly.
Laura did most of the Photoshop on this gem with the gremlins. How about a zoomed in look at those photos!
Click here and you can see every holiday card I’ve done for Laura. It turned out awesome. Thanks, Laura!!
We’re still dealing with a pandemic and I fully expected our kids’ teachers to send emails asking us not to send valentines to school next week. Our 1st grade teacher actually did, and then rescinded and laid out plans to have us send valentines to school ahead of time and kids will do lots of hand-washing before valentines are exchanged.
My 5th grader informed me that this will be his LAST year exchanging valentines at school because in 6th grade, middle schoolers don’t do valentines anymore (insert eyeroll).
Since we spent the first half of the school year attending school virtually, it became apparent how valuable dry erase makers are in our classrooms. Dry erase markers are used every day in both my kids’ classes to reduce the amount of paper used and hopefully reduce the number of high-touch spaces. Caps get lost and markers dry out, they are played with, and our teachers end up going through Expo markers like water.
We wanted to do another year of candy-free and non-edible valentines, so it was fitting for us to give Expo markers this year and we brainstormed a bunch of fun, punny sayings to put on them.
To save time, instead of drawing my kids’ faces, I created cartoons using a free Photoshop Action Set. The drawings we used on last year’s valentines are now more than two years old and my kids’ hairstyles have changed a lot, it was time for something new.
Expo markers came in packs of 18 at Sam’s Club, so I bought four packs and bagged up the extras into Ziplock bags for both teachers with their own cards.
Supplies & Cost Breakdown:
4 packs of 18 Expo Markers - $54.96 @ Sam’s Club. I think they were cheaper at Costco, but my local store was out.
1 roll double-sided tape (I considered picking up washi tape, but decided to save a few bucks)
computer and printer - I used the free Toon Artist Photoshop Action from Adobe to turn my kids into cartoons. Then I created the heart pattern, added text, and put it all together in Illustrator.
I already had all of the supplies listed except for the markers, so the cost came out to $.94 per valentine. It probably would’ve been cheaper if my Costco had these markers in stock, online lists them at 18 for $10.99. A pack of 36 markers is currently $21.27 on Amazon, or a box of 12 for $7.95, but I didn’t want to wait for shipping. I probably used a few bucks in printer ink, but I use HP’s Instant Ink program, so I have no idea how much that ended up being.
These were definitely more than I would have liked to spend on valentines, but they turned out cute and heck, next year we’ll only be making them for ONE class.
And in true reMARKably average parenting fashion, these were done a full week early because I got my weeks mixed up and thought their Valentine’s Day parties were THIS Thursday instead of next Thursday. In the end, I didn’t really need to save time and I could’ve ordered Expo markers from Amazon. I’m going to bed now.
Laura’s awesome holiday cards are always creative and they never disappoint; and this year was no exception. I also need to give her family credit for being so enthusiastic about these fun holiday cards.
She took photos of everyone in the family separately and I pieced them together in Photoshop. I LOVE how it turned out. The comic book theme with the text totally meshed with the silliness of the photo.
And how about a zoom in on those joyriding kids, freaked out parents, and a terrified pug!
Thanks so much Laura and a very Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Click here to see all of the fun holiday cards I’ve done for Laura and her family.
Laura’s family welcomed a new puppy in 2018, so she brainstormed some fun ways to include their new pug in their holiday card. Their holiday cards have always been out-of-the-ordinary and loads of fun, so that somewhat became the theme for the card; introducing Mr. Bean into the family… that way he knows what he’s getting into.
Using Photoshop, I created a bulletin board and added all of the holiday cards the Kaschak family has sent in the last eight years. I’m proud that six of them were from me! If you search through my blog, you can see each of the ones Laura and I worked on together. Then Mr. Bean and the kids were added in front. The kids are holding their favorites from over the years.
The back of the card had a beautiful photo of Laura’s kids and a simple greeting. Such a fun card to work on, thanks Laura!!
Check out all of the fun holiday cards Laura and I have worked on together.
