For My Niece...

I recently became an uncle. Yea, uncle Tony. Bad to the bone. Now don't take offense here but I've always thought babies were ugly - especially newborns. They're just weird looking. Well, I still think newborns totally look like aliens, but my niece is becoming a little girl and she is just the most adorable little girl I've ever seen. She freaking loves me - job well done on my part. Newborns are usually terrified of me, but I've managed to make this little girl love me. Can I get a heck yeah?!

Any who, one of the perks of having a brother (the bother being me) who is a photographer and pseudo-designer means unlimited baby photos and awesomely designed birth announcements, birthday invites, thank you cards, etc. When my niece was born, I had never taken any photos of babies before. I had no idea how to approach it. I just started taking pictures the way I knew how and I ended up with some pretty special photos. The first thing I designed for her was a baby shower invitation. I hadn't even met this little girl and I was already working for her.

This invitation generated a lot of buzz. People were bringing the invite into baby stores as they were buying things for the shower just to show it off. Family and friends kept saying how they've never seen such a detailed baby shower invitation. Again, one of the perks of having me as a bro!

After the baby shower invitation came the birth announcement. My niece and I had a quick little photo shoot for this card - she didn't even have enough power to hold her head up! She was still firmly in the sleeping/pooping all day phase.

After the birth announcement came the hotly anticipated 1st birthday invitation. I had a lot of fun with this one. The photoshoot for this card was the first time I have taken pictures of my niece without my sister there. Obviously, she loves her mama very much. I didn't realize how calm my sister kept her during shoots - but let me tell you, this photo shoot was a nightmare. I managed to get some awesome pictures but it was a huge pain! She was crying in 75% of the pictures. 1 out of 4 isn't bad though. I made it work and we got a nice invitation out of it.

The latest design from yours truly is the thank you card for my sister (technically from my niece, but lets be real. She's still completely illiterate). I had total freedom to design this card however I saw fit. I took some elements from her birthday invite for the sake of consistency and just ran with it. I knew I wanted to frame the images of her, so I found these great free Photoshop brushes online after a quick Google search. They worked perfectly and were exactly what I was looking for.

The images from her thank you card are the latest images I've taken of my niece. She had just turned one the week before and they doubled as her one year pictures and pictures for the thank you card. As you can see from the card she is far from the sleeping/pooping phase. She's running around like a mad woman. It's adorable. She started walking at like 9 months and I don't think she's sat down since. It's truly an honor to have her call me uncle.

Surprise 30th Birthday

My brother recently turned 30. His wife decided to throw a surprise party for him, knowing beforehand how much he despises being the center of attention.

"Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new." ~Brian Tracy.

My brother's wife and I collaborated for a while during the lead up to the party. We first created birthday invites to be sent to all the guests. I designed the cards and would send them to her for approval. We went through multiple versions of various cards until we settled on one that was most like my brother. The man loves pirates, black, red, and gray.

That is the final version of his invite that we decided on. Feedback was tremendous from the guests. Everyone loved it and agreed that it couldn't be any more like my brother. I mean the guy proudly flies a Jolly Roger (Skull & Crossbones) flag from his garage. So proud, in fact, that he has several of his neighbors doing the same thing. He has created a little pirate-flag-loving community. It's awesome, hilarious, and terrifying for anyone who doesn't understand why there's a group of people living next door to each other flying pirate flags.

After the card went out, my sister-in-law thought we should have some type of guest book for the guests to sign as they walk in. Back to the design table I went and came up with another awesomely pirate themed product.

That's the cover and first two pages. I alternated every other page with a collage of images and a place to sign your name. On the signing page, it says "Scribe Ye Moniker 'N Leave a Memory if Ye Wish." Thanks to a quick Google search for "pirate translator," I found a bunch 'o websites offerin' free translation to shout like a scurvy pirate. I used burnt pages and scrolls to make it look like an old treasure map and added in the burnt edges around each photo to make it look like just that, that the photo has burnt edges. Magical, I know.

After we agreed on a final design for the book, there were only a few small details left to take care of (aside from renting the space, getting food, drinks etc) to make this pirate themed party complete. My sister-in-law ordered those fake tattoo sleeve socks (is it a sock? You slide it on your arm and it looks like tattoos), eye-patches, mustaches, hook-hands, and a million other fun little piratey things.

A few weeks before the party we had one final idea - to create this huge welcome sign as the first thing the guests (and guest-of-honor) see when they walk into the room. It would say "welcome to the party, sign the book." Something along those lines. Back to the design table. It didn't take me long and there weren't many drafts (if I remember, there weren't any drafts. The first design was the one we printed). I brought back the Jolly Roger, the black, the red, and the Pirates of the Caribbean themed font.

I had this printed as a 20"x20" wall panel and used an easel to stand it up right behind the signature book. Guests would see this huge monstrosity, get a chuckle, then sign the book. My brother - who thought he was coming out for a few drinks with me and some friends - saw it and immediately turned around and tried to escape!

All-in-all, the party went great. Everyone had an awesome time and loved all the attention that my sister-in-law and I paid to every little detail about the party. You only turn 30 once! Might as well do it big!!