LOVELAND, Ohio — A Loveland woman has reinvented the holiday card tradition by creating the most unusual family photos you've probably ever seen, starring only herself.
For the past 11 years, Brynn Shuller has been Photoshopping herself into multiple characters to create her own awkward family holiday cards, which she sends to her real family and friends.
WATCH: Viral holiday cards feature one woman as a fictional family
"I love having people take a second look at it and being like, what, those are all the same person," she said. "I like the reaction. I like making people laugh. I just love doing goofy, quirky things. And that's why I carried it on over the years."
It's something she enjoys doing in her spare time when she's not doing graphic design.
The creative project began when she walked into a dollar store. Since then, she's created more than 50 pictures featuring what she calls "The Brynns," a fictional family consisting of a happy-go-lucky mom, a dad, a cheerful little daughter and a son who's not happy to be part of the family photos.
"In 2015, it was Halloween, and I saw some costume chest hair, and I was like, I'll probably need that someday. I like random, obscure things, and about a month later, I got this like random idea or saw a family with a guy with a vest with chest hair coming out, and I was like oh I can probably do something with that and then the rest of the family, the idea of the family kind of came from there," Shuller said.
This year, "The Brynns" went ice skating at Rockefeller Center in New York City.
"Basically, I dress up as each character with wigs and a mustache for the dad, black lipstick for the son and then take all their pictures together, and then Photoshop them all together, and that's it," Shuller said.
The entire process takes about 45 minutes, and Shuller has mastered the art of changing costumes in public locations.
She's traveled cross-country with her fake family from Los Angeles back to Cincinnati and has even taken them on international trips. The next Brynn family vacation is scheduled for Iceland in September.
Her real family gets a kick out of the creative holiday cards.
"My dad said I look like my mom as the mom character. My mom gets offended," Shuller said. "I just talked to my cousin, and her daughters are obsessed with it."
Her TikTok videos featuring the characters Byron, Brynnda, Brynnie and Frank have gone viral multiple times, gaining over 230,000 followers over the years.
The Frank character, the emo son, particularly resonates with viewers.
"The Frank character, the emo son, is like, 'Oh, I had one of those growing up,' or 'I was one of those growing up," Shuller said.
The viral success has led to requests from people who want their own awkward holiday cards created.
"I like the reaction. I like making people laugh. And people are always guessing what I'm going to do," Shuller said. "I get a lot of requests, I put them on Etsy for people to buy, I don't sell them for that much, I try to send out about 40 to 50 each year.
If you want a Brynn Family card, Shuller can be reached on her TikTok and Instagram @brynnified.
This story was created with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
