Christmas Fun: The Annual Card 2018

 Remember this fantastic movie?

Sure, it might not immediately feel like a Christmas theme, but we're a Hallowe'en-loving family and sometimes the macabre seeps into everything we do. 

As usual, Grey-dog is always a participant in our annual card. So his photo was up first. I needed a view of him from below to make it work.

I think you can see where this is going... 

Some other iconic images from the movie: Jodie Foster and that lamb

Hannibal, obviously. No more iconic image than that.

Finally, the original poster.

Photoshop to the rescue! Sure, I didn't get the skin colour quite right on one, or the hairline on another, but it was crazy fun.

Front of the card in a quarter style.

Back of the card in the new Hannibal style - I mean it basically screams reindeer Christmas vibes, right?

To see last year's card, click here.

Christmas Fun: The Annual Card 2016

Guys. I know. Another rushed last-minute holiday card.

Ugh. BUT we are absolutely committed to putting out a card with some fun or some whimsy. This year we leaned hard into the whimsy of it all.

So, we took to the woods near our house and tried to get a good family photo.

Grey-dog was loving the birds. He was distracted by every sound and every flit past his eye.

M was distracted by the snow and sometimes didn't even look at the camera. The rest of us look great, thought, right?? LOL

Look over here, M!

Getting so much closer to a good shot...

Then everyone was distracted, but in a very good way. I can work with this one.

I needed to add one extra member to this photo to make it complete.

Cue funny tag-line.

Silhouette of Bigfoot just in case the other side of the card was too subtle.

Ta-da! The annual holiday card is complete!

To see last year's card, click here

Christmas Fun: The Annual Card 2015

This year's annual card was ... you guessed it... rushed yet again.

So, working my limited Photoshop skills and parlaying them into a worthy holiday card.

Step one: Come up with a funny theme that doesn't take a lot of time or effort. Mugshots!

Step two: Gather my rag-tag group and take some photos in lighting similar to that of an line-up.

Step three: Hold up a blank card for Photoshopping later

Step four: Let your kid do whatever she wants. Toddlers cannot be corralled. I repeat: Toddlers cannot be corralled.

Step five: Teach your husband about duck lips.

Finally, add this year's terribly funny photo with Santa!

I love that our mall Santa has different cards, and I absolutely love that they grabbed the "naughty" one when she started to cry. Perfection.

Not bad for a quicky!!

To check out the previous years' card, click here!

Christmas Fun: The Annual Card 2014

The 2014 annual Christmas card was interesting.
We waited a little too long before getting our photos done, and our photog friends were way too busy to get us back the photos in time for post.

Sooo, I had to get creative.

Proudest DIY Moment

For anyone who follows my blog... (okay, I guess I am really only talking to Alex of Hydrangea Girl then... *wink*) you know that my blogs have been few and far between over the past year. It has been a hectic time in the Wheele house, what with our most incredible DIY project ever!!!

Of course I am speaking specifically about the one project that I laboured on (ha... laboured) the longest.

I am pretty sure my husband would have liked to spend more time on the beginning stage of this project (hehehe) but I think we can both agree that it turned out pretty great.

I present the finished product:

Christmas Fun: The Annual Card 2013

This is a lovely winter we are having this spring, don't you think?

As we speak, I am watching the snow fall here in Carleton Place. It looks like we already have 6-9 inches out there. I wonder how much longer it will fall?

Anyway, last post I showed you all our first annual Christmas card of 2012. 
This time, I will show you this year's annual card.

Of course, we enlisted the help of our very talented friends from heLENS photography, Jeff and Helen again.
You can find their photos here: http://www.helensphotography.ca/PhotoShoots/Friends
I had a wacky idea to do a cabin theme with the whole family's head mounted on the wall. Fun idea, but the execution of it was interesting to say the least.

Christmas Fun: The Annual Card 2012

We just received another 10 cm dump of snow, so I feel justified in doing some more Christmas catch up.

Today, we talk about our annual Christmas card!

We started thinking about our annual Christmas card after we were married, but didn't actually put one out until Christmas 2012.

I am not sure what caused us to be so daring, but the idea was in my head, and there was little I could do to stop it. Also, as usual, our friends Jeff and Helen of HeLENS Photography were more than willing to help us out with this little project, no matter how bizarre.

You can check them out here: http://www.helensphotography.ca/PhotoShoots/Friends

Anyway...

...We invited them over to our house and gave them the basic concept. We were hoping to get all three of us in the photo, but Grey was less willing to stay put, or to catch the light the same way our extremely pale faces did, or keep his Santa hat on.

They say never work with kids or animals...

Awesome Interiors: The Collector

This years Ottawa Magazine: 2013 Interiors Edition came out, and yet again, it did not disappoint.

There was one particular article that caught my eye, however. It was called "The Collectors".

The description reads:
"Baseball cards. Butterflies in shadow boxes. Vintage couture. What is is about collectors and their collections? What objects do they pursue and why? Five gatherers discuss their flights of fancy". By Cindy Deachman

DIY Wedding 2010: The Big Day

The BIG DAY!!
It all came together on the big day.

You will see some amateur photos and a lot of photos from our photograper, Andrea Blair.
We were so happy with how our day turned out. Was there anything that we would have changed? Of course! But when you start nit-picking on the details, you forget what the day is really about: Love, Fun, Family, and Friends. We had the 'Fun' in spades.

This is the covered bridge at Sun Peaks Resort. We were married right in front of that heart-shaped rock.

Unnecessary Junking: Kingston, Ontario

A few weeks ago, I went to Kingston to visit my husband who was there for a week long stay. Kingston is a super cute city with a lot of heritage. In fact, Kingston used to be Canada's capital before Ottawa was named as such.

Anyway, the hotel that Hubby was staying in was directly across the street from this Antique/Flea Market.
Yes, I know people... this does spell disaster for a chronic thrift-er like me.

These photos really don't show how huge it was - there were several barns to go through.

These were the two main buildings that greeted you from the highway.

DIY Wedding 2010: Part 5

Shoes!
I love Shoes!
Since I did some creative ridiculousness with Hubby and the groomsmen's shoes in Part 4, I decided to post what I did to my own shoes as well!!

I bought these very cute shoes at a local mall store. They had just enough of a vintage feel to go well with my dress. Plus, they were at a comfortable height so I knew that wearing them for long periods would not be a problem.

Ellen's Ranch: Eclectically Gorgeous

Elle Decor recently did a photo spread of Ellen & Portia's ranch in Southern California.

You can find it at http://www.elledecor.com with the whole article.
The ranch is made up of cabins, barns and the stables.
 

Cabin 6: What struck me, was the absolute easy-going eclecticness of their ranch's decor.
They certainly have some signature pieces, like mid-century Danish shairs, but also a lot of rustic and antique furniture that makes the space so much more interesting.

Displaying The Things We Love: Lest We Forget

My husband was given his Grandfather's service medals in this modest brown paper bubble envelope.
In order to keep them protected, he kept them in it.
Knowing how much those medals meant, I decided find a way to display them.

Artwork: Drive a Hard Bargain

Stopped by VV Boutique on a lark.
Hubby saw this photograph and liked it - maybe because the landscape reminds us of home (BC).