Have a Happy and Low-cost High-tech Holiday Season
Published: September, 2004
Halloween , Thanksgiving, Christmas …. Boy it makes me tired just thinking about how much there is to do between now and then. So how can our computers help?
Two things you should know. One: It’s a really expensive season. By using your computer and some imagination you can create gifts and greetings that are not only personal, but end up saving you a boatload of money. Two: I’m no Martha Stewart (which is probably a good thing at the moment) but it means that if I can do these, you can do these.
First of all there are so many free things you can do. At http://cards.cardfountain/ecards/talking-halloween-ghost/index.php you can send you this cute Halloween card for free, but make the ghost say whatever I want by simply typing it in at the keyboard.
How much will your kids love getting a personalized talking video message from Santa? With www.Jinglegram.com you can send a very special Jinglegram greeting. These Santas are real pros and their delivery is incredible. A streaming video Santa greeting costs $14.97. If you want a totally personalized message you can write the script and Santa will perform it for you for a slightly higher fee. The days of long lines and sitting on laps days may be over.
Another great idea for a holiday newsletter?
For holiday newsletters …we’ve gone multimedia. It took me about 15 minutes to create a personal multimedia newsletter. I took 5 of my favorite photos from our family trip, added a little background music and some narration and captions. I’ve got what’s called a photo story ready to be emailed. The coolest thing? I used Microsoft’s Digital Image Suite 10 http://www.microsoft.com/products/imaging/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=003 that now lets you pan and zoom in on your photos to really lend some movement to the story. I can email it or send via a CD. It’s the high techholiday newsletter.
Digital Image Suite 10 let me do some other creative things that used to be very complicated.. Here’s a panorama I did of a recent trip. The software “stitches” together the pictures I took.
Another cool new idea. This started as a digital photo of my son. I used the software to create various tints — a little Andy Warhol thing. Then I sent the photo out to a company called The Personalization Station (www.fotogiftsxl.com) . They put your photo on stretched canvas. It’s ready for the art museum — or at least a great gift. You can order other gifts from photos here too …. Mugs, calendars, collages.
Here’s a wow! I wanted a digital photo charm bracelet so I had a jewelry maker whose company, Earwings, make these. You add your own photos reducing them in size and slipping them into the bracelet. Any photo editing software can resize your images.
Ready to enter the world of digital video? There’s no end to what you can do. With programs like this new one from Pinnacle Systems called Pinnacle Studio Plus (www.pinnaclesys.com) it’s a 3 step procedure. Capture your videos — if you have a digital video camera you can just import the video or if you an analog video camera you can import it or have it transferred at many photo stores. Once the video is on your PC the fun begins. Edit it by arranging the clips. Add music, narration, — even blue screens like the anchors and weatherman use, and there are lots of cool effects. Then you can share it… burn it a CD or DVD, save it and post it on the web or email it to friends. What a great holiday greeting.
Finally, here are some fun ideas to get kids into the act. We took plain old macaronis and glued them into this skeleton and topped it with a photo head. We also took the old turkey potato and added a digital image head. And of course what Halloween holiday wouldn’t be complete without a digital image pumpkin, and a spooky Halloween tree decorated with our favorite Halloween photos as a centerpiece.
One of my personal favorites? The family cookbook. Great at Thanksgiving because everyone can bring a recipe. Take a photo of the disk and the cook, type in the recipe and you’ve got a perfect family heirloom.