Say Cheese!

It was getting down to the wire for taking Christmas card photos and I was feeling a little antsy.  Nana bought the girls matchy-matchy beautiful Christmas dresses and I knew I wanted their picture in them to put on the card.  I tried to make us an appointment at one of the mall photo places, but Friday night is apparently not a good time to schedule a Saturday morning appt!  ;)  I considered some of the pricier options, I knew I wanted to have the images on CD and print them on-line, and all those places want an arm and a leg for CD rights.  Sooooo, being the thrifty goddess (aka tightwad) that I am, I was brainstorming for cheapskate options.  I do *own* a camera.  I have in the past been able to get pretty cute pics of the girls.  So, the only thing holding me back was a good place to take said pictures.  Studio I have not.  I wanted to have a Christmasy background that would fill up the whole space behind them.  I was a little puzzled as to where I could find this, but then, it hit me as we were driving past Bass Pro Shop.  Yes, you read right, Bass Pro Shop.  I took a looksy inside and lo and behold, they had a ginormous christmas tree all lit up and just waiting for my girls to stand in front of it and look angelic.  There's lot of natural light in there, too!  Score!  Lila was totally jazzed to get to wear her Christmas dress and cheesed it up at every turn.  Maggie was a little less cooperative and I had to be a little sneaky, but I got some shots that work great for our Christmas card!  Yay cheapskate photo session!

A few years ago I thought, "I'm going to print a photo card from Snapfish this year!". You know, the ones that have the colorful background and slots for you to upload your photos?  I went to do it and when I found out how expensive they were, I decided against it.  Ever the DIYer, I said to myself, "Why'd you buy PhotoShop if you're not going to use it?".  So, I create my own Christmas cards using Photoshop.  Then, I upload to Snapfish, or this year Mpix which my SIL Renata turned me onto.  I then print it like I would any 4x6 card and Voila! A Christmas card!  I send them at post cards and write messages on the back.  So, all our friends and family get a lovely pic of the girls with a homemade touch and I get to keep the cost down. Win, win.