Saturday, December 9, 2017

The Ruderman Annual Christmas Card Fun 2017


Our Christmas card has been put in the mail.  It's probably safe to post this blog since the secrecy pact we keep throughout the year is now null and void .

I am an old-fashioned Christmas card nut.  I adore them.  If you go to the trouble to photograph your family, put it in and envelope, stamp and mail it, then it is most definitely going in a place of honor for the next several months! I attach them to ribbon I hang on the back of two closet doors in our front entrance so I can see them long after the last Christmas decoration has been put away for the season.


After a year of bantering back and forth, we finally decided on a Norman Rockwell themed card.  For me, it is an ode to my beloved Uncle Norman who left us in October.  My uncle was the patriarch of our family.  Beloved and held in high esteem by all who met him, he was a writer himself and seemed to me, to live his life much like a Norman Rockwell painting. Forever the smiling and dapper gentleman.  Always loving, always loved.

While perusing the internet and brainstorming ideas, we found these endearing Norman Rockwell paintings. Most of them are from old magazine covers of The Saturday Evening Post.  The scenes seem to depict a simpler time, joyful and absolutely perfect for a festive Christmas greeting (especially one with a funny dog)!





Our next step was to dig through old clothes and closets to find bits and pieces of outdoor gear in the same color scheme Norman Rockwell seemed to prefer.  The best part of this expedition was the realization that Norman Rockwell must have been truly painting from life events, children who had rushed out the doors with whatever warm clothing they could find.  NOT a matching designer snowsuits on one of them! As we dug, we found old hats from my sons preschool days as well one that was a joke for my husband whom we lovingly refer to as Clark Griswold. In baskets we haven't touched for years, we found plenty of inspiration.

In years past I would have photographed each of us separately, but this one just seemed to be begging to be photographed as a whole.  We climbed onto an old toboggan and using a remote control, (in my son's right hand) we begin the shoot.

After what seemed like a million shots,  we finally had one that would work!  WOOHOO!  Now to see if we could get one of our silly dog.. hmmm...






It turns out that our dog was actually the easiest part of the shoot!  I threw his ball and my husband stood at the bottom of our sloped back yard snapping away.  It didn't take long to get the floppy ears, hanging tongue and smiling eyes we were hoping for!






I headed back to my desk for the part I always enjoy most, Photoshop!  I went back and forth to the The Saturday Evening Post covers that I found myself most drawn to.  My favorite things about those covers were the little things like the circle used to highlight the painting, the motion marks of the sledders, and the cost always written boldly on the cover.

With a quick search on Youtube.com.. I found and offer my special thanks to Pixelator for some of the "Norman Rockwell" techniques I used - (you can find the same technique how to video here):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT7VZ4KY3RM. I added a few tricks of my own to create the motion, snowy painting effect and magazine cover look I was hoping for. 

In the end, I decided the name on our card should be The Christmas Evening Post since it was our Christmas card after all.  My teenage son wasn't sure his friends would get it, but after I asked him if they would know what the The Saturday Evening Post was, he laughed and agreed it could keep its name!


We have had so much fun with this little family tradition over the years.  If it made you smile, then it has done it's job!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!  
We hope 2018 brings you a year filled with old fashioned love and laughter!












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