How We Made Our Holiday Card

This year’s holiday card was actually pretty easy to put together because we already had most of the supplies. I also had experience based on the card we did in 2012, it was the same process of laying on the floor and shooting from above. I love the whole creative process of it, trying to come up with an idea and only using things I’ve made or objects from around the house.

We did the whole thing in the dining room because the room is larger, easy to clear (just a table and chairs), and gets great light through the sliding glass doors. We laid out the navy blue sheet on the floor first, then added a white duvet to the “bottom” of the picture for snow…

Next we added the mini tree that we had purchased a steep discount at the Far Hills Rummage sale. I wrapped the bottom with a piece of cardboard to make it look more tree-like. We also added some gold tinsel for decoration and as a rope for Oliver to "pull" the tree.

We laid the tree down on the sheet and plugged it in, hiding the cord under the duvet. The stars were white felt, laid out on the blue sheet.

Next we added the felt ornaments to the tree and tweaked the arrangement on the sheet. I did some pre-Oliver test shots from above on the ladder.

Finally the scene was ready for Oliver. I took about 300 photos of just him. He was very cooperative but I knew we only had one chance at getting the "perfect" photo, so I wanted as many options as possible (which is probably why we ended up with two perfect ones!).

Georgia's session was after Oliver's, because they don't cooperate well together and it's too hard to wrangle both at once. We really only got one good shot of her laying down, so that was the one we used and then I photoshopped her card into Oliver's. I think it came out really fun.

Now I just have to start brainstorming for next year's card...

See our 2012 holiday card, our 2013 holiday card, our 2013 holiday card how to.