Nothing like retirement to allow you to get lost in a hobby or two. One of my favourites is Gimp, a powerful little piece of open-source software (think free Photoshop) that was my go-to photo editor as an IT instructor. Together with Shutterfly, an online photo-gift service (think Martha Stewart meets Hallmark), it has changed the face of my card-giving, literally.

What began as a bit of fun at my own expense (a friend asked what I was going out as on Halloween and I emailed back a doctored photo of my face superimposed over that of an Elvis impersonator) quickly expanded to the digital transformation of family and friends. Once I discovered that I could send a personalized birthday or Christmas card, including postage, for less than it would cost just to buy a runofthemill generic card at the store, I was smitten.

You too can transform your birthday calendar into a catalogue of potential victims, sorry, recipients. Then, like mine, your lucky acquaintances (and who’s photo is not in Facebook?) can breathlessly await the arrival of their own personalised orange Shutterfly packages in the mail.

Thank you Gimp.

“Who sees the human face correctly: the photoeditor, the mirror, or the painter?”
Gimpy  Picasso