As soon as we finished designing a holiday card for 2016, Laura was already brainstorming ideas for 2017. She and her husband wanted to show off their favorite holiday movies and it was a blast coming up with the best ways to do that. I did some creative Photoshopping with movie posters and headshots of each of their family members and this was the final result.
I absolutely LOVE how it turned out!!
Check out all of the fun holiday cards Laura and I have worked on together.
Laura comes up with the most FUN holiday cards every year. She gets creative with photography and I'm always happy to add in my skills with Photoshop too. Check out her cards from 2014 and 2015 too!!
For 2016, there was a lot of brainstorming with Laura wanting to show both the good and seemingly bad to some Christmas traditions. Below is the final result.
I’m betting that getting her kids to cooperate was the HARDEST part of this project.
Check out all of the fun holiday cards Laura and I have worked on together.
Laura’s holiday cards are so much fun to work on and always so creative. In 2015 she put in most of the work getting her family to pose for such a fun photo in different stages so she could put them together in Photoshop. I helped out a little with cleaning up in a few spots and then I added her photo to a background, added some faux scotch tape and the text.
I really love how it turned out.
I’m sure any parent has felt this way at some point during the winter holiday season, hahah!
Check out all of the fun holiday cards Laura and I have worked on together.
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.
We don’t do much to celebrate Valentine’s Day in our family. It’s just not a holiday we celebrate; even back when my husband and I were dating.
With our boys in school now, Valentine’s Day is back on our radar and every year I fully expect my boys to want store-bought, character valentines. It’s been a few years now and they’ve surprised me with wanting something custom-made by their mom. I’m not sure whether to feel used or that I set myself up for it.
The year my oldest was in kindergarten, we missed his party because he only attended school three days a week, and the Valentine’s Day party fell on a day he didn’t attend. I thought I was off the hook with valentines until he went back to school after the weekend and a box of Valentines and treats was waiting for him from his classmates. I felt like a stellar parent.
The next year I knew he would have been happy with character Valentines from Target, but I wanted to do something fun and non-edible since there were a couple of kids in his class with scary allergies. We already had a bunch of bacon bandaids, so I made this little card and printed them onto card stock, then added the bandaid with double-sided tape.
The following year, my oldest set his expectations high with something fun again and considering the sheer amount of candy he got the year before, I wanted to try and avoid food again. So we went with hand warmers! I took his photo and played with it in an iPhone app called PicsArt. Then I added the background and text in Adobe Illustrator. We stuffed the card and a hand warmer into a some 4-bar envelopes I had left over from a baby shower and done!
Last year (2018), both kids were now in school and my oldest wanted to use PicsArt again to make some fun photos. I asked both boys to put on a red shirt and they chose the same Manchester United jersey. Then we made their cards with PicsArt, a little Illustrator, and we taped mechanical pencils and Dove chocolate hearts to their cards.
This year, I was feeling very meh about Valentine’s Day and was all set to hit up Walmart and see what boxed valentines they had left 3 days before their school parties. Then my oldest asked what fun Valentines we were going to make this year and if we could go look on Pinterest for ideas. I couldn’t say no. We searched for non-candy valentines and saw a couple of baggies of Goldfish crackers with a fun, fishing-themed greeting. That was the winner! My boys (especially my oldest) are WAY into fishing right now.
Here’s what we made:
We already had a box of Ziplock snack-size baggies that we weren’t using much (they’re so small!), so we bought a few big boxes of Goldfish Crackers filled enough for both classes. Then I took photos of each of my kids in good light and re-drew them in Adobe Illustrator, added the cartoon-y fisherman bodies, a less-then-thrilled fish, and Voile! The “Hooked on You” graphic is on one side and the “Fishing you…” graphic is on the other. The only difference is the names and different heads, of course.
I saved some time (because I created these 2 days before the parties) and had everything printed onto 8.5x11 card stock at my local Office Depot. I trimmed the pages, scored, and then stapled them onto the baggies that my boys filled. I really love how they turned out…. so much that I may add them to my Etsy shop next year that others can customize.
I know there are only a few years where we’ll get to make Valentines for school. I’m pretty sure they stop around middle school. Whether you celebrate or not, have a Happy Valentine’s Day!
With another year, came another fun holiday card for my family. Every year for the last 6 years we’ve had Santa photos taken with FotoFly, and it’s become a fun, family tradition. I make a point to schedule the photos right before Thanksgiving so I have time to design a card!
My boys love to dress in the same outfit and they now give input on how they want to pose with Santa too. This year, my 9yo had the idea for his brother and him to wear their “wedding clothes” and sunglasses and pretend to be Santa’s bodyguards. I thought it was a cute idea and we went with it. Of course, the night of the shoot I completely forgot the suit jacket for my youngest (In my defense, I was suffering from a nasty head cold). Even without the jackets, the photos turned out cute.
I have to give a shoutout to my friend Amanda for coming up with the fantastic words for the front of our card. That part is always the hardest for me!
Here’s the back of our card:
I had these printed with Overnight Prints. They turned out great and were very affordable. When it was time to mail them, I really like to get colored envelopes, so I picked some up from my local Paper Source in their Clover color. I would have preferred a shade of red, but they didn’t have enough on the day I went. I should have thought of that ahead of time and ordered from their website.
Relax, that’s not really the Wiselka Family’s address.
I printed names and addresses onto the envelopes using the same fonts I used on the card. My trusty HP laser printer, that I’m sure is more than 10 years old, but it still does a great job.
I don’t get to do much design work for my own family, so our annual holiday card is one thing I really look forward to designing every year. I think my kids love getting to add their input too.
Merry Christmas!
Holiday cards are up in my Etsy shop and will be available until December 14, 2018. If you don’t have any Etsy account or would prefer to place an order outside of Etsy, you’re welcome to send me an email and I’ll get your holiday card made.
Here are some of the designs I added this year. Click on the images below to link to the listings on Etsy.
These two designs also have the option to showcase one portrait photo instead of two landscape.
This one below can be done with either a blue, red, or green background.
I also added our holiday card from last year. You can choose between a green, red, or blue faux knitted sweater background.
I added two background variations to my popular Santa’s Most Wanted holiday card.
The design below is a variation on the Santa’s Most Wanted Card that I created for a client a couple of years ago. This one really cracked me up! Through the listing you can choose from three different chalkboard background colors: red, green, or blue.
If you’d like to customize any of these designs with different colors, fonts, or layouts, it’s totally doable through a custom order. Just shoot me a message or email with any questions you may have: alextebowdesigns@gmail.com
Happy Holidays!
Last year I created this fun Hanukkah-themed cootie catcher. My youngest loved figuring out how to make it work. Today through Monday, December 10th, it’s just $1.00 in my Etsy shop. After purchasing you just download the file and print as many as you need. The file is sized to print on 8.5x11 paper and folding instructions are included… you know, in case it’s been while since you’ve folded one! If you live where A4 paper is the norm, shoot me an email and I’ll be happy to send you the file at that size.
Here are the “fortunes on the inside:”
·Keep your head high and watch birds soar, keep your head low and find four-leaf clovers.
·Let your heart make decisions, it does not get as confused as your head.
·Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become.
·Sun always shines after a downpour.
·You will see something today that will make your heart shine.
·Today is the day to show someone you care.
·Happiness is hidden everywhere, you just have to look for it.
·Your life will be healthy and harmonious.
Enjoy!!