Christmas is over, but that does not mean the fun has to end.  Consider letting me help preserve your Christmas moments with some beautiful photo treatments for your digital picture frame.  Let everyone in the family share the magic of the season with some matted photos that will help keep the spirit alive all year long.  Enjoy this week’s offerings as the new year approaches.  All the treatments pictured here are designed for 1024 x 768 resolution.  Other resolutions on request.

Digital Photo Matting

Capture the holidays with pictures and photo matting treatments.

Digital Awards

Another dazzling way to achieve recognition.

Inspirational and Humorous Plaques

Keep your favorite inspirations handy and motivate your day.

Digital Greeting Cards

Send your greetings via email and reach everyone you know.

Digital Promotional Products

Commemorative Photo Treatments

Do your photos a favor and use us to build great commemorations.

Festive photo matting looks good on a digital picture frame or computer screen.

  Digital Awards

Use your pictures to create inexpensive and fun awards.

 Inspirational Plaques

Photos look great on inspirational plaque designs.

 Digital Greeting Cards

Send family and friends custom greeting cards for all occasions.

Commemorative Photo Treatments

Commemorative photo treatments give your photos the notice they deserve.

Business Promotional Products

Use our products to promote your business!

Inspirational plaques from photos.

Hypnotic Inspiration

Imagination makes a difference.

Looking ahead.

Autumn inspiration.

This week brings another round of dazzling digital award design ideas that bring unexpected glories to a deserving audience.  My first award brings prestige to my endeavors, straight from the Famous Academy of Bloggers and Technicians in honor of imagination found right here at Matte Watch.  The composition brings a rich highlight to the selected photo of a fine sculpture which provides the central theme for this award.  With any luck, the site will be honored with more of these accolades.  If your site deserves a similar honor, you are welcome to comment on why you should be in line to receive your own award.  So far, the Academy has only issued two awards, which is one more reason why Matte Watch belongs to an elite group.

Imagination is a wonderful thing...especially when it is recognized.

The next award suggests a concept that is rarely found among neighbors across the country today.  Made from the fall photo of a quiet Leawood Kansas location, the award suggests something that can be shared to bring any neighborhood closer together and express pride in the community.  Since the award is a digital composition, everyone on the block could easily share in the recognition on a regular basis.

Could this be your neighborhood? Yes.

My third award for this month could be used to honor those individuals who are able to look to the future for better days and dreams ahead, and who actively pursue bringing advancements to life.  The photo composition is used to represent that visionary focus into infinity, taken on the landscape of the Nelson Art Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.  Who do you know that is deserving of this fine form of recognition?

The world of tomorrow, are you ready?

The final award installment is aimed toward the unsung heroes that bring us all a sense of tranquility through the art of a well planned landscape.  The matted photo shows just how much beauty can be added with a splash of color from fall blooms, and well planned fall colors.  I would like having lunch on this patio, surrounded by so much beauty, I might forget about wanting to go back inside to work on a warm afternoon.

Have you noticed your landscape today?

People take pictures to preserve the memories of important occasions, precious moments, events, places, family, friends, and a host of other reasons.  Some images are lost in obscurity over time, some are classic, and others become lasting impressions of times gone by.  No matter how good or bad a picture turns out to be, it is kept for reasons often forgotten.  When your photo is important enough to become a keepsake, it is also important enough to commemorate.  Depending on the subject of the pictures, the emotion, memory, and details about the shots can range from elaborate and deep, to simple identifiers to preserve reminders of when and where they were taken.  For my own part, if there is not enough meaning to remember a photo, there is not enough reason to keep it.  For the photos that mean the most, I have a number of ways to help you commemorate and showcase the personal thoughts associated with them, in a fashion that gives them the valued treatments they deserve.

The first example shows one technique for providing a photo commemorative.  With a rich combination of matting techniques and prose, the photo is elevated to a level that tells the viewer that this is an important image.  Do you want to take all your photos to this level?  I think not, but everyone has a few special memories that deserve to be preserved at this level of attention.

Photo, prose, matting tell the complete story of your images.

The next commemorative example is a step down from the first.  Certainly, the matting treatment gives the picture a boost over plain display, but the added description which identifies the date, location, and subject of the shot help to enhance and identify the purpose behind it.

Showcase even simple compositions with meaningful commemorations

The third commemoration provides a matted photo with a simple label to remind the owner when and where the photo was taken, notated directly on the digital matting.  This is a nice alternative to scratching out a hand written note on the back of a nice print.

Labels on matted photos provide succinct history

In the final example, the photo itself is altered to reflect a thought or mood for the scene, coupled with another matte label.  All these treatments work well for a digital picture frame display, or as a computer screen wallpaper. 

Special effects, matting and labels convey mood, impression and intent for special photos

Share your memories with friends and family by commemorating the occasions you want to remember.  What can I do to help you give your pictures the kind of appreciation they deserve?

My first design for this week provides a bright mixture of colors and textured accents to get you in the mood for the fall season.  I decided to use this design as my own screen wallpaper for the month.  With enough space to add events and company logos, this would be a good basic promotional calendar design for just about any business to capture the attention of customers who are ready to see something memorable from your business.

Calendars make great desktop accents.

The second offering of the week is a brightly colored calendar cube design that has enough punch to satisfy any calendar buying enthusiast.  I like to use this kind of design in my digital picture frame to add dimension and flair to any room in the house.  This calendar page is tempting to keep on hand after the month has passed.  It is also good for posting event information in a simulated metallic etching, all at no extra cost per image.

Who says calendars have to be boring? Not me...

If you like green marble texture, the third calendar for this week will appeal to your senses along with the embedded matted photo accent which further enriches the image.  This composition might go well with marble counter tops or other marble design accents around the house.  Using virtual materials makes it easy and affordable to look rich on a working person’s salary.

Virtual elegance can be yours now.

The last calendar for the month uses metallic accents to enrich the fall photo theme, through a blend of textured copper and brass coloring in a simple, yet elegant design.  This type of calendar design also lends well to promotional calendar purposes, adding snap and value to events, advertising, and company logo impressions.  All these digital designs carry the added value of being produced once, then replicated as many times as needed for no extra cost or effort.  Just get a page and send it to all your customers or friends via email or by loading them directly into a digital picture frame.  By spreading the electronic images, there are no mailing or printing costs to make a big hit.  Where else can you get designs like these for so little?

Beef up your promotional reach for less than a song...

This week begins with showing off four new digitally matted pictures, using four variations of matting compositions which help to accent photo highlights, raise the quality of the content, and challenge traditional matting techniques with some unusual flair.  Using a digital photo frame to display your matted photos gives you the ability to have an excellent showcase for your creative works at far less cost than matting and framing your pictures using traditional methods.  If you are still not convinced that a digital picture frame is the answer, these compositions can be printed and framed using traditional frames, or as screen wallpapers on your computer.  I use all three ways to keep my pictures out where I can see them.  Well, it is time to deliver the goods.

My first picture of the week was used to make a birthday card for my brother last month, so I thought I would run it through the presentation cycle for this month.  I took the picture in Overland Park because I thought the sculptor did a good job of capturing that mental state of children when they glide off into their imagination and spend time living where they want to be, rather than where they are.

Plane, bird, or rocket, this metal kid is on his own cloud.

Second on the list is a photograph with more subtle matting highlights, and the bright fall colors of a neighborhood walk on a sunny day.  It is always great to watch the leaves turn vivid colors and think about somebody else having to rake them up when they finally come down.  This year has not been so nice around here, so I got out one of my shots from the past.+

I am always a sucker for autumn colors.

The third matted photo was also one of my favorite past fall pictures.  I did something a bit different with the combination of highlights, textures, and the accent lines around the outer matte edges.  These kinds of simple variations would turn out quite expensive if they were produced using traditional matting. 

Country Club Plaza - a nice place for colorful autumn shots.

My last photo in the sequence was taken on the grounds of the Nelson Art Museum in Kansas City.  Some might immediately ask, “Where are the people?” My answer is that for some reason, I seem to live in the part of our dimension where I can get lots of shots with no people in them, even in crowded places.  It might be somewhat related to all the time I spent in my younger years talking to people’s backs at parties.  I just seem to be where nobody else wants to go for the moment.  At any rate, the matting for this photo accents that unusual perspective with its nebulous outer limits quality of colors and blobs.  You have just crossed over into the Twilight Zone.

Picture if you will, being alone...very alone.

This week, I bring to a close the representative examples of how one set of four matted digital photos can be expanded in a variety of different presentations.  Though I have displayed several variations of examples over the past few weeks, the unique treatments have shown only one possibility for each offering.  With digital photo frame content, each new presentation format can be complimented by more combinations of backgrounds, color, and prose which bring added interest to your own eye for subject matter.  Each new photo treatment is created with the goal of increasing appreciation for the original work on display.

As I put together the greeting cards for the week, I took the time to design something that was inspired directly by the visual composition.  Some of the designs were easier to do than others, but all of them represent something that pointed to someone I know and enjoy being with.  This first card would be a thoughtful message to send to a friend who might enjoy receiving an uplifting message.

Give a friend (and me) a lift. Send them a digital greeting card today!

When I get started writing greetings, it never takes long to turn toward the humorous side of life for a quick chuckle.  The second greeting might be taking a bit of a chance to give your spouse on a wedding anniversary, so it would be a good idea to have a back up plan ready in case the sentiment goes unappreciated.  I thought this idea would work for those who are married to someone with a good sense of humor and a tight budget.

Cute, now what did you really get me for our anniversary?

My third digital greeting card would make a nice birthday greeting for someone who sees themselves as a bit on the nerd side of the fence.  If you think this item is funny, you might want to try this one out on one of your friends.  Of course being labeled as a “square” is a bit out of date for some people, politically incorrect, and potentially over the top, but who cares?  I liked the way it came out, so here it is.

It all depends on how you look at it...

My last birthday greeting card for the week was designed to be gifted by the over thinkers among us.  If you are the type of person who needs a justification for every action, and who will look at everything you can find before making a decision, then you may want to bookmark this card to come back to, when you have finished your search.  Rest assured that when you come to me to help you create that special greeting card you have always wanted to give; I can put together a nice piece of work that will not be found on every shelf in town. 

It is nice to think someone goes to a lot of trouble to find the right card.

This week, I am focusing on four digital plaques made from the digital matted photos of flowers that I started with.  Whether I am making funny digital plaques, inspirational, or something in between, these virtual plaques always liven up my digital photo frame content, and bring me another way to enjoy the variations made from my digital photos.

My first composition uses a lively photo matting design, and surrounds it with a cloth texture.  Though the design may appear a bit busy to some, my wife confirmed that she liked it, so I went with the 2 of 2 votes on that one.  Of course the quotes on the plaques for this week all came from the unrehearsed, spontaneous responses to the compositions spoken by my favorite author and critic.  This way, whether the sayings are original or not, I merely ensure they are the most recent. 

A bold and monumental tribute to flowers - right.

The next funny digital plaque is designed to help my buds who just do not seem able to grasp the concept of romance.  This one is for their wives who rarely see a flower, much less their husbands. So, as your guy heads off on his fishing or hunting trip into the woods, you can turn on the digital photo frame, and dream that he just offered you this beautiful bloom.

Romance never dies...just the fish.

The following humorous plaque carries on with a less than favorable eye for beautiful flowers.  In the sea of poetic quotes about flowers, I have personally never encountered this expression of perspective before.  This is another example of testing whether the photo or the caption gets the most immediate attention.

Grass will not grow? Remember this lawn secret.

This kind of thinking leads to the final and ultimate question for this week.  The plaque offers yet another thought I have not heard anywhere other than Matte Watch.  Though this week’s virtual plaques were largely focused on humor, flowers still make a good foundation for lots of different sentiments.

The logical mind at work.

When it comes to using digital matted photos of flowers, there may be some question about how these can be used to create digital photo frame awards. There millions of reasons why digital images should be used to brighten someone’s day, and here are only four of them.  First up is an award I designed and awarded to recognize the power of being anonymous.  Since the folks in Hollywood have a little show they call the Oscars to congratulate themselves on doing their job, I thought it might be nice to acknowledge someone without all the fanfare, and just go straight to a nice looking award.  Instead of adding an arm load of flowers with the award, I just put the flowers on it to complete the combination.

I want to thank the academy for this beautiful award.

The next award is dedicated to all those grocery store florists who are just starting out in the field, and may need a bit more time under their belt to truly learn the art of flower arranging.  By earning the Psycho Florist Arranger digital award, these beginners can have a nice way to find out their choices in colors and mistaken arrangements have not gone unnoticed by their adoring public.  Added to this excitement, is the distinction of being bad enough to win a coveted award for such work.  Such an award could possibly be used for a last day at work celebration planned for the recipient, sending them off on the next step of their new career with their first victory under their belt.

Inside joke - "flunked again."

My next award is possibly a bit obtuse on first glance.  One might question why a matted photo of a flower would appear on an award for best Halloween costume.  The award is appropriate if the flower photo was the Halloween costume.  It is also appropriate to put a matted flower on the best costume award if recipient was not wearing a costume.  Onward.

Give someone a hug today.

The final offering this week is based on an observation made by my wife.  I worked the original digital flower shot onto the award to signify something for the picture of Dr Oz to be looking and smiling at.  If this final award were to be presented to anyone other than Dr Oz, the meaning of its inscription might be more difficult to explain why you would be giving it to someone else.  The world of digital photo frame content has the potential for a significant change in the way we display our lives.  Instead of cluttering our homes with trophies and memorabilia, we can dial up all our recognition in one easy to use place. 

The Vulcans are among us.