CHRISTMAS CHAOS

Gingerbread House

Ho Ho Ho

I do believe Christmas chaos is familiar to all of us who have enjoyed the celebration. Geez, I really think without the chaos it wouldn't feel like Christmas. The planning, the gift buying, the decorations, the tree, the parties to go to, the dinners to have, Santa secrets..... all are fun and all loaded with the potential of chaos. Hopefully we can laugh at ourselves and enjoy the moment.

We had a great fun making the two new Christmas video cards. You will see holiday chaos was our inspiration..... gotta laugh.... gotta have fun...... it's Christmas. Ho Ho Ho!

GROOVY HOOPER

E-Motion Cards - Hoop La La.....Check out this Groovy e-card. So much fun!!!!

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TO ALL MY PEEPS...

TO ALL MY PEEPS ...... YO...DJ Granny-D in Da House... Don't get OLD get NOIZY! Happy Birthday PEACE OUT video e-card is outrageously fun and Noizy with DJ Granny!

Click here to view video e-card or send.......Get Noizy!

www.e-motioncards.com

Super Video E-Cards for Father's Day!

SUPER DAD (click on title to see card)

Great news in time for Father's Day e-cards....E-MotionCards just got lucky and so did you!

A super motion graphic designer is now creating VIDEO E-CARDS for E-MotionCards and for you to send out into the world....totally awesome cards! See for yourself and keep checking back as he is working fast and furious to explore all the ideas he has flying out of his head. Lots more in the works! I'll be back soon.... have to go see what he is up too now........this is a too much FUN!

REMEMBER WHEN YOU. (click on title to see card)

Check out all of the E-Cards. HAVE FUN..and SEND CARDS to all the FATHERS you know and everyone else for that matter. Why not?

VIDEO E-CARDS NOW SHOWING!

                                              Swing into Fun!

                                             Hoppin Bunny

                                        Amaryllis

                                             Our Flag

                                        Summer Days  

                                             Twirl Girl

The day has come.....VIDEO E-CARDS are on the site.  Whew!

Ok, so it isn't Christmas or Valentines Day with tons of card sending going on, but it is Memorial Day, Flag Day, Father's Day, graduation, July 4th and glorious summer days!  

Well, it is so glorious outside I would love to be basking in the warmth of the sun but alas, I have cards to create!  I would say it is a draw (no pun intended).....I love making the cards as much as I love basking in the sun so more video e-cards are on the way.  I've mastered new skills to produce the cards and find the animation programs fun albeit challenging.  

There is always the element of excitement in the creative process when a door is opened to reveal a wealth of possibilities.  The growing edge and desire to push the limits, to explore what is possible creatively and technically is forever present.  Of course, one has to have mastered the technical aspect to be able to push the limits technically but within ones own capacity and level of expertise this still can be accomplished.  

I explore ideas coming from the particular emotional state of being I am in at that moment in time. Just like writing in this blog.  I can't say anything is planned ahead of time but rather being in touch with my thoughts and feelings provides the basis for the words I write or images I create. Well, as this is a commercial e-card site and  I do have to direct my thoughts to particular holidays a percentage of the time and can't be making cards of the tropical island I would like to be on rather than the graduation cards I need to be making.  Discipline certainly comes into play but and as I direct my thoughts to the task at hand fortunately I get find myself getting lost in the all consuming process of creating the visuals and selecting the music and thus transporting myself to another place. Time to get back to the project at hand.  In the meantime above are a few of the video cards I have created.  Click on the card link and enjoy!

VIDEO E-CARDS....Coming Soon!

My creative process to jump in and then figure out what I have to know sure challenged me this time! Video e-cards on E-MotionCards. Sounds rather easy doesn't it. Have the site programed, get a video camera and have-at-it. But wait......easier said than done!

Well, maybe for the technically inclined it is a piece of cake but I don't fall into that category unfortunately. I've never seen so many series of letters standing for things I don't have a clue about ever in the projects I've tackled....... ie: 2 VP 6 codec, AVI, .dv, .asf, .wmv, ITU 601, PAL and the list goes on. Now you see where I am with all of this ....still struggling.....well, actually only struggling a little bit at the moment. Wait until I get the new amazing video camera and here we go again.....but what fun that will be. Can't wait!

Thanks to suggestions from my web designer, friends and reading the manuals over my head, I was able to put together my first video card and much to my amazement it actually is working on the beta site. Surprised me I guess more than anyone else. Hours and hours and actually more hours were spent experimenting with checking this box and not that box or downloading one way then the other way. Mistake that really drives me nuts is when the video movie file renders out at 95 mgs or thereabouts when it should be 2 or 3 mgs and I don't have a clue which box was checked to cause that huge file to be created. Anyway, you get the gist of the frustration. When you see my first video e-card you will know I am smiling and I'm at least on top of the learning curve.....not completely on to the other side as there are so very many details to master...but close.

Now my mind is spinning with ideas for the video e-cards...... gee, wish there was a great costume house within a reasonable distance like Palace Costume in Los Angeles that has floors of fabulous period outfits where I could easily find fun garments for 50's type images or my favorite prop houses, Modern Props or Hand Prop House in LA that are loaded with quirky and unusual props. Nothing like being served a cappuccino by one of the sales personnel in Modern Props as he or she greets you in the lobby wearing a white space-like outfit. Well maybe a trip is in order for some photo shoots in LA! My bags are packed.....but wait, where is the video camera? OK all in time!

Love these props and wardrobe below.......... Keep checking back for the video e-card updates!


Sources: Modern Props, , Ozzie Dots, Palace Costume all in LA, CA.

Fly On Over

Halloween is a great time to surprise friends with scary and fun e-cards. No other holiday offers such freedom to be silly and frivolous in our choice of cards or who we send the cards to. It is the time for our playful spirits to come out frolic.

As for me, I have the same freedom in designing the cards. Last year one of the cards I designed was a funny card using my royal standard poodle as my alter ego wanting to be a "Rock Star". He didn't mind the wig and receiving my undivided attention, in fact he got bored and went to sleep giving me the opportunity for the final shot of the card.

This year, well, I dipped into the dark side of Halloween and created as scary a card I could; scary in a psychological sense using a fly as a metaphor for something that is disturbing and creepy. I never really have any idea of what I am going to do when I start out projects like this card. Rather than trying to come up with a great idea I look for objects or things that "speak" to me. Actually I learned long ago doing window display to pay attention to the things I am drawn to forthose things hold within them the seeds for conceptual ideas - solutions to my design task of the moment.

Walking down the aisle of halloween costumes I noticed one lone mask of an old woman that had the look of a great character rather than the grotesque. Nearby on a peg I noticed these creepy eye-balls that were just the correct size for the mask; some red pupils, some blue pupils. Next to them was a package of flys, yes plastic flys, why not. Perfect! It's a start....and oh those fake eyelashes are a must. The old woman spoke to me and from there I had the beginning of the card I was about to make.

All my years of experience in window display, set design and photography come into play when I create the motion cards. I found scarves and fabrics to use for the old woman, applied her eyelashes, put her in eyeballs and took photographs of her in varying positions. We spent awhile together as I became in awe of how photogenic she was. She definitely "spoke" to me and the flys, indeed they added the element of repulsion I was seeking to create a creepy Halloween experience.

Now the time had come to import the photographs into the Flash animation program, find suspenseful music and go to a place within to create a visually stunning and perhaps delightfully disturbing, if disturbing can at the same time be delightful, e-card.

Now I must admit I struggled with this part trying one thing then another never pleased with the outcome and starting over. I always am a bit envious of creative people who conceptualize and have everything planned out before they start. Unfortunately, I am not in that category. At times the path is revealed quickly but most often I work and rework the piece as ideas float into my consciousness. I'm as curious as to how it will unfold as anyone else would be.

My creepy Halloween card is almost complete and I reach the point to decide whether or not the flies fly into the old lady's mouth. I decide not to have that happen thinking perhaps maybe that is just "over the top". The next day I look at the card and know a few flies have to fly into her mouth, after all, didn't I want to make a really creepy card! Yes, so in go the flies into the old lady's mouth. A-la and there you have the story of "Fly on Over" - a Halloween card for my website E-Motioncards meant to be quite creepy! Enjoy.