Post cards

   I did a couple different post cards. Three of them are holiday cards and the last one is a personal card.
 

   Merry Christmas Card

   This first christmas card I started by shift-clicking while in the text tool so that each letter was its own layer. After this I started with MERRY. I created a bevel and emboss for all the letters, however I alternated the bevel from outer bevel and inner bevel. I also created an inner glow as well as a slight drop shadow. Then I added a drop shadow to CHRISTMAS I also then alternated each letter with a glow that starts from the edge and then one that starts in the center. I then placed images that had something to do with christmas in each one. After doing this I realized that the that the glow that started in the center did no look good with the pictures so I changed them to all be glows starting from the edge. After this I realized it was kind of difficult to see the letters, so I added a thicker stroke to them. After all of that I created the gradient background and border. The very last thing I did was go to the shapes tool and picked the the leaves, and put them in each corner.

 Personal Post Card   

   This card was pretty easy. The very first thing I did was look for pictures that I wanted to add to it. I mostly used morguefile.com I also went to google and searched for images that are labeled for reuse. After I had a bunch I went into Illustrator and made the letters for my name. I made it so that each letter was it's own layer.  I then placed the images into my letters. Then I added the background and outline of the letters of my name. After all of this I added my last name to the corner. The very last thing I did was I added my personal logo that I had created earlier this year.

Family Christmas Card

   With this card I wanted to make it so that it would represent my family and so it could be something that we could send to other loved ones. 

   To start I gathered all the images that I wanted to use. Then I put them into the same folder so that I could find them easier when I needed them.  I then spelled out MERRY and made it so that each letter was on a different layer so that I could add a different image to each one. I then stared placing the images in and making them clipping masks. After I was done with that I opened up the shapes tool and made a heart. Then I added pictures to the inside of that too. Then I add the FROM THE CHITWOOD FAMILY and CHRISTMAS text. After this I gadded an inner glow, bevel, and drop shadow to MERRY and the heart. Finally I put in the background. I had a lot of different backgrounds set up, however I liked this one the best.

Happy Thanksgiving Card

   This card I based off of the fall card. It was really simple. I created the letters then placed the images inside also making them a clipping mask. Then I added THANKSGIVING in a nice font. The very last thing that I did was add a stroke to my text along with adding a drop shadow.