FIGURE B

Thanks to Sue Chastain's tutorial and my ever-patient husband posing in strange positions without asking questions, this card was a huge success, and my all-time favorite! Click picture for a larger image.

Put a sock in it
I'll have trouble out-doing the snow globe but I'll keep trying! This year I was at a slight loss for ideas and on top of that my business was so busy I didn't get around to even trying to design the card until the beginning of November. Since I had trouble finding images to edit, I searched for free or low cost photos.

I hit the jackpot! There is a site called istockphoto that has print-ready photos for as low as $3.00! You cannot beat that price! Dreamstime offers comparable pricing but they require you to buy "credits" as soon as you sign up. You can do this for as little as $20.00 but istockphoto does not require you to pay for anything until you are ready to purchase an image -- a definite plus in my opinion.

So this year's card includes an image from istockphoto and an edited photo of my husband who could not for the life of him understand why I had him pose as I did , as you can see in Figure C.

FIGURE C

A print quality image from istockphoto for only $3.00 became the basis for this year's card -- and matching postage stamps! Click picture for a larger image.

But once I printed the first draft, I could not stop chuckling and when hubby saw it the result was the same. And this year I went one step further. Since we use Stamps.com for shipping for our business, I decided to order Photo Stamps with the same photo that's on the front of the card.

Stay tuned for next year
Every year, it becomes an adventure trying to come up with new ideas. Folks start asking in August what this year's card will be like. It has also been suggested that I start a professional line of holiday cards featuring my dear husband. I'm sure he'd be thrilled, since if it did as well as a retail line as it does with friends and family, he would finally be able to get that Mustang he's been whining about!

Product availability and resources For more information on the snowglobe tutorial, visit http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshop/l/blsnowglobe1.htm. For more information on istockphoto, visit http://www.istockphoto.com. For more information on Dreamstime, visit http://www.dreamstime.com. For more information on Photo Stamps, visit http://photo.stamps.com.

Marcelle Costanza started crafting as a hobby over 20 years ago, making holiday gifts for family and friends and selling some items at local flea markets. When she got a PC in 1995, she became hooked on computer crafting. With the skills she acquired from computer crafting, she made a career change from medical practice administrator to graphic designer, desktop publisher, and webmaster. She launched her business, The Crafty PC, in 2000. For more information, visit http://www.thecraftypc.com.