Three years ago my husband and I were in China on the craziest, most exciting and the best journey of our life. After six very long years, we finally met the baby girl who was destined to become our daughter and finally make us a family of three!
Every March we celebrate! Some call it "Gotcha Day", we call it Family Day. But our daughter describes it as the day "we got her and she got us!" Yep, that about sums it up.
It's no secret that our daughter is adopted, to her or to anyone else for that matter. She looks nothing like us. Although, good or bad, she's picked up on a lot of our mannerisms by now!
She is also fully aware of where she came from. We often talk of how we came to be a family. We want her to know where she was born and be able to answer any questions that may come her way, with confidence and with pride. We hope to take her back to visit someday, but until then, we are so lucky to have photos from our trip.
Photos...did I say photos. I mean thousands of photos!
We were very lucky to have my mom and my step-dad along on our trip. For so many reasons, but one major reason that will last forever. My step dad had a new digital camera and was ready to use it. We had other priorities so we were thrilled to have him be the official photographer of the trip.
Well, it's been three years, and I haven't done much with these photos, except make a mess with them on my computer (Read how I fixed that problem in, It's Time to Spring Clean those Photos!). My intentions have always been to create something super special for my daughter. Something she can look at and know where she came from.
Thanks to Adobe Photoshop Elements and Adobe Premier Elements, I now have the tools (and the push) to get this project done. A few months ago I was asked to submit a proposal for the perfect project that I could create using Photoshop Elements and Adobe Premier Elements. I couldn't be more thrilled that I was chosen. As this is the third anniversary of our "Gotcha Day", this project has brought back so many lovely memories, the timing could not have been more perfect!
I chose to do a Video Story of our trip because I had mostly photos, but a few videos I wanted to add in as well. The Video Story is perfect for this type of project because it easily places all my photos and videos into chapters, creating a really fun video. And the software is user-friendly and easy to learn on your own.
Before creating the video story, I used Photoshop Elements to clean up and fix some of the photos I wanted to use in my project. I had so much fun using all and tools, I had a hard time getting anything else done. I have a whole list of photos that I can't wait to work on, now that I've learned the quick and easy tricks. (See how I used the Photomerge(R) tool in Adobe Photoshop to fix my mom's closed eyes in Eyes Wide Open...Finally!). I even used Photoshop Elements to create collages, a creative way to insert a group of photos all at once without adding additional time to the video (she is only 4, I have to be mindful of her attention span).
In Adobe Premier, I used the "Create an Instant Movie" tool to guide me and quickly edit the videos I wanted to add to my story. Adobe Premier Elements makes it easy for even a mom like me to edit like a pro. I never knew I could do it. It has cool features like automatic stabilizer, so if you have a bit of a shaky hand with the video camera (or phone), it will just magically fix it! You can get a little more advanced too and add transitions between clips. There are so many features, I can't wait to play more.
I put it all together in this 6 minute Video Story for my kiddo to watch over and over, as I know she will. I will be adding to it as her attention span increases. I love that I can add chapters and customize the settings to my liking. Take a look at how I put it all together in Make Your Memories Come To Life with a Video Story.
Yep, this was a review for Adobe products. But I asked...practically begged for it, so that I could create this video for our daughter.
And here it is!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk2AcRQ3Abk
Learn more about Adobe Photoshop Elements and their video editing software, Adobe Premier Elements, by clicking HERE. For a limited time Adobe Photoshop Elements is available for $69.99 (regular price $99.99)! You can find Adobe Photoshop Elements on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest too.
Disclosure: I was provided Adobe Photoshop Elements and Adobe Premiere Elements software for the purpose of this review. No additional compensation was received. As always, all opinions are my own.
