2011 Christmas Neighbor Gifts

For my neighbor gifts this year, I decided to do a Christmas Tree Ornament.  Since most of my friends and neighbors are in the military, or for one reason or another, move every couple of years, I decided to make an ornament that would represent their life in 2011.  And what better way to do that, than to show their home?  It's the place they build a family and memories and I'm hoping that a few years down the road, when they're living somewhere else, they will look at this ornament and it will bring back great memories of the Christmas they spent in this particular home.  

First I started with a small frame.  I went to the dollar store and found these cute little frames in a two pack with another frame that is 4x6 for only a buck.  (now I just need to think of a project that uses 4x6 frames).  I went with the silver color, because I wanted to add some glittery bling to it.  

I removed the glass and backing and placed the empty frames in a box.  Then sprayed the frames, a few at a time, with spray adhesive.  Working quickly, I removed them from the box and dusted them with glitter.  You could also use other glue, I just didn't want to have to paint the glue on.  Trying to make life a little easier during this crazy time of year.

 I bought the glitter at Michaels.  They have a lot to choose from, but I decided to go with the iridescent color.  Make sure it's superfine glitter.

To make the ornament hanger, I just used green wire and hot glue.  

Now for the crazy part.  You have to take pictures of your friends houses, and let me tell you, that was an adventure!  I decided to go with my small canon powershot camera for two reasons.  First of all, it has a wider angle than the lens on my nice SLR.  And second, I could be much more inconspicuous!  Just park on the other side of the road and roll the window down.  Although I did have a few people stare at me on some of the shots, and even had to move trash cans for one of them.  But you do what you gotta do, right? 

So in this example, this is the picture of one of the houses.  This shot is right out of the camera, after I downloaded it.  

But I wanted to add the words, "Home Sweet Home" and their address.  I did that by doing a few actions in Photoshop.  First I cropped the picture to 2.75 in wide by 2.2 inches high.  Then I changed it to black and white.  Now, to speed things up a bit, for the rest of the changes I recorded my own action, so I could do the same steps on multiple pictures and save myself some time.  I started by going to the actions menu and clicking on "create new action".  I called it "Ornament".  Then I pushed record and did the follow steps:  First I created a new solid color layer in WHITE on top of the background picture, and attached a mask to it.  Then I did a text layer with the words Home Sweet Home in red.  And finally did another text layer that says their address with a different font in green.  Then I stop recording.  

The solid color of white helps to gradually change the bottom of the picture to white, so that you can read the words better (and also mask the ugly street).  So what you have to do is click on the mask, get a brush (that is big at 100% opacity), then make sure the foreground color is black.  When you paint over the house with the brush, you will reveal the house.  If it doesn't work, just push the "X" key on your keyboard to switch the background/ foreground color.  If you show too much of the street, just click X again and repaint it white.  Super easy.  Then click on the test layers and get the move tool to move the words to a location that you like.  Here's what it looks like when it's finished.

Finally I need to get it ready to print.  To do that I go to "File" "New" and make a new picture that is 4 inches wide and 6 inches tall.  I move the window over so I can see both my new document and the picture I just touched up on the screen at the same time.  Then I get the "move" tool and drag the picture over to the new document.  Once in there I make sure the dimensions are right.  If they aren't, I go to Edit, Transform, Scale and adjust the size.  For some reason, they don't always stay the correct size when you move them to the new document.  So keep that in mind.  You can fit two pictures onto one 4x6 picture.  But for my example, I only have one on it.  Save the new document and send it to Costco to print.  

 This is how it looked when I got it back from the printers.  This is just a regular 4x6 picture.

 Time to assemble.  I trim it down to size and put a small piece of tape on the back so it won't shift in the frame.

 Here's the final ornament.  Of course the gift wouldn't be complete without attaching a wonderful poem to the ornament.

 This is the poem I used.

HOME

Home is the place your heart resides

Home is the place that you decide

Home is the womb that holds the soul

Home is the place where one is whole

Home is the glow you hold in your eye

Home is the emotion that makes you cry

Home is safe and a place of peace

Home is where all strivings cease

Home is protective against the others

Home is full of sisters and brothers

Home is where you find your rest

Home is where you feel your best

Home is a memory that follows your being

Home is a dream for those agreeing

Home is the place where reserves fall

Home is the place you yearn to call

Home is where the family meets

Home is a place of restful retreats

Home is the place you know you’ll be heard

Home is the place where nothing blurs

Home is all these wonderful things

Home is the place you develop wings

Home is the place that you’ll find one day

Home is the place where your heart will stay

I printed it on regular paper and rolled it up with a ribbon around it.  Then put everything in a cellophane bag with a pretty ribbon.  I think it turned out cute and my friends really like it.  Merry Christmas!!!