7 Tips for Gifting the Ultimate Custom Photo Blanket

This post has been sponsored by Collage.com.

My father just celebrated his 78th birthday.  It feels like we just celebrated his 70th.  I really wanted to show him how special he is to everyone and how much we appreciate him for all the caring things he does daily.  We ended up gifting to him a photo blanket from both my family and my sister's family.  This might be one of the best gifts we've ever given my dad.  That we were able to present it to him collectively, made it that much more special.

I designed this custom sherpa photo blanket using the tools on Collage.com.  I learned some tips and tricks while doing so that really made this one-of-a-kind blanket into a cherished keepsake for my dad.  I'm happy to share what I've learned, so you can create the ultimate custom photo blanket for your loved one.


7 Tips for Gifting the Ultimate Custom Photo Blanket . . .

1.  Keep the best part hidden.  When presenting your sherpa photo blanket, fold the blanket with the image side facing in.  This way, the recipient will see and feel how soft and cuddly the blanket is, while the best part is still out of sight. When your loved one unfolds the blanket, the one-of-a-kind design will be revealed, causing many Oooo's and Aaaaah's to ensue.

2. Select photos from both the past and the present.  Before you even think about choosing a layout, carefully select which photos you would like to include on this photo gift.  Consider choosing photos from important past memories, such as a wedding, a graduation, or a favorite photo of someone who is no longer with you.  Also include photos from the present to represent things that make your loved one smile today.

3. Choose a blanket that suits the recipient's lifestyle. The sherpa throw was perfect for my dad because we live in New England.  He will be able to cuddle up with the throw while watching football during the chilly fall and winter months.  A queen size blanket would be too large for his needs.

4.  Choose a template that accommodates and shows off your selected photos best. There is a large selection of pre-made templates to choose from on Collage.com. If you don't see one that fits your needs exactly, you can always create your own.  Remember that some templates have areas that can be customized.  For example, the template I chose originally said "Best Grandma Ever", but I was able to change it to say "Grandpa" instead.  I was also able to change the the font size and reposition the text.

5. Use the same filter on all your photos. Since you are using photos taken at different times and in different places, they may not look cohesive when displayed together. Running them through the same photo filter will help with that.  For example, I applied the San Carmen filter to all my photos.

6. Use the highest quality photos in the larger photo fields. Likewise, reserve the lower quality photos for the smaller photo fields. If you have a photo that is a little dark or could be crisper, you can use the built-in photo editor on Collage.com to brighten, sharpen, and crop your photos.

7. Select a background that suits your photo collage. Although it may not seem intuitive, you should choose your blanket's background when the rest of the design is complete.  Select a background that shows off your photos best.  Try to avoid backgrounds with colors that clash with your design, and backgrounds that compete with your photos for attention.  You want your photos to be the stars of the show, not the background.

I have to say that choosing the photos for my dad's blanket was the most difficult part of this project.  Once I had settled on those, the tools available on Collage.com made the whole process super-easy. There's also a guide that tells you what date you should receive your photo gift by for each shipping method, so you can be sure to receive your gift in time for Grandparent's Day, Christmas, or any other special occasion. Be sure to check for photo blanket deals and free shipping deals on Collage.com before ordering.

Like this photo gift idea? Pin it for later . . . 

Who do you know who would love a photo blanket of their very own?

Tell us in a comment here.

4 Thoughtful Gift Ideas for Tweens

Thank you to Mixbook for sponsoring this post about thoughtful gift ideas for tweens. All opinions expressed are my own.

We have not one, but two tweens in our house!  Our twins turn 10 this January, and are growing increasingly difficult to shop for when it comes to gifts.  It's such a tough age because they are no longer little kids, but they are not yet teens.  Here are some ideas for thoughtful gifts you may consider for your tween . . .

1.  Custom Poster - If it's time to take down the little kid posters from their room, a cool custom poster would make the perfect gift.  Choose a special photo of a person, place, or thing, and have it printed on a large poster that fits that empty wall space.  Regular posters work fine, but an acrylic or metal poster print would look super-cool on your child's wall, not to mention they would be more durable than the standard poster.  Some fun subjects for a poster would be your child and his or her BFF, your family pet, or a special place that holds wonderful memories for your child.

2.  6" Tablet - If your child is too young for a smartphone, but finds a full-size tablet to be too cumbersome to carry around, then a smaller 6" tablet might be the solution.  A tablet, like the Fire HD 6, is about the size of a large smartphone, making it super-portable.  With an Android OS, your child will have a plethora of apps to choose from without having access to a smartphone.  Be sure to include a tablet case with your gift.  Most are quite inexpensive, so it's a no-brainer to add that extra protection.

3.  Experience Gift Card - A gift card is always a safe gift for anybody on your list, but what about giving a gift card or gift certificate for something your child can experience?  How much fun would it be for your child (along with a friend or sibling) to create a painting, paint pottery, take a cooking class, experience Taekwondo classes, learn about archery, etc . . . ?  The possibilities are endless, and the memories made from experiencing something new will last forever.

4.  Photo Calendar - If you like our idea of a custom poster, but are having trouble narrowing down the subject matter to just one, a custom photo calendar is a smart solution.  A calendar is the perfect gift for your tween because he or she is starting to have 'plans' to keep track of.  Having a place to record play dates, study dates, team games and practices, dance recitals, and friends' birthdays will also help your tween to feel more organized.  When the year is over, you can frame each photo from your calendar to make a photo wall in your child's room.

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Have a fun and thoughtful gift idea for tweens?  Share it with us in a comment here.

Our Thoughtful & Easy-to-Organize Teacher's Gift Idea from the Whole Class . . . a Wall Calendar Filled with Students' Quotes!

This is my second year organizing classroom gifts for one of our children's teachers.  Somehow it always seems that there is one room that does not have a Room Parent, who usually takes on this and other important tasks.  Last year, another parent and I teamed up and we were floored at how difficult it was to arrange the Holiday gift.  More than half the parents did not provide contact information for the student directory, so we had to send home letters to the families without drawing attention from the teacher.  The participation was staggeringly low, even though we only asked for $5 per family to go towards both the gifts for the primary teacher and the assistant teacher.  I was shocked and a bit dismayed.  The experience was so difficult that the other parent and I agreed not to attempt organizing an end-of-the-year gift.  Instead, we came up with thoughtful gifts on our own for our children to present to their teachers.

This past Holiday, I was presented with the same problem.  There was no official room parent, so I stepped up to organize the classroom gift.  This time, things looked more promising.  Nearly all the parents had provided their email for the student directory, which was a good sign.  I had learned from past experience to make participating as easy on the parents as possible.  I even offered to take contributions with cash sent to school or via PayPal.  So, I came up with a teacher's gift idea that would make it easy on the parents and would be unique and super-thoughtful . . . a personalized wall calendar filled with quotes from the students about their favorite things.  This was easier to do than it sounds.  All you need is to know how to use Google Forms and Spreadsheets, have a basic graphics program where you can turn text into an image, and have a place that prints custom photo calendars, like Walgreens.


Tips for making a 'Favorite Things' Quotes Wall Calendar for a Teacher's Gift from the class . . . 

1.  Create a Google Form with clear instructions for the parents on how to interview their children and how to submit their children's responses in the blank fields.  I found it easier to use a fill-in-the-blank format for the questions.  Be sure to include a mandatory question asking for the child's name.  I offered a wide variety of interview questions, with some pertaining to certain times of the year, but, to make this low-stress on the parents and students, I only made two of them mandatory . . . what the child's favorite thing about their teacher is and what their favorite thing about 1st grade is.

2.  All the interview responses will automatically be collected in a Google Spreadsheet.  At this point, you should figure out how many quotes you would like to include per calendar page and decide if you would like to make a 12-month or an 18-month calendar.  Based on the responses I received and my wanting to include 4 quotes per page for a 12-month calendar, I figured out that each student should have 3 or 4 quotes included in the calendar.

3.  When making your images of the quotes, be sure to change the color of the quotes you've used in order to keep track of how many quotes you've used from each child and to avoid duplicates.  Be sure to make your image in a high resolution format (300 dpi).  If you don't have a graphics program, you can download Gimp for free.  You can make the quotes as simple as you'd like or use different fonts, colors, etc . . . I tried to be sure to include any seasonal quotes on the images to be used on the relevant months in the calendar.  I also made sure to include all the students' quotes about their favorite thing about their teacher and about their grade.  For any families who did not submit their children's quotes, the students' names were still printed on the front cover of the calendar with the rest of the class.

4.  Ordering your photo calendar should be pretty easy.  I used Walgreens Photo, which is extremely user-friendly.  All you need to do is choose the size and format for your calendar to get started.  Then you can choose a theme and customize each page of the calendar with your image, text, and different backgrounds.


For the classroom's Holiday gift, we included this calendar along with other goodies and a gift card in a gift basket.  The teacher was so touched while reading all the quotes that it brought tears to her eyes.

For the end-of-the-year gift this year, I will be making a design with all the student's names on it to print on a canvas tote bag for the teacher.  I think I will be using Walgreens Photo again.  I was pleased with the results last time, plus they always have coupons available on photo gifts and I was able to pick the finished product up at our local store.  Of course we'll be filling the tote with a gift card and other fun things for summer vacation.  Do you have any suggestions about what kinds of things we should include?

Find Out What's New at Tiny Prints in Photo Greeting Cards & Gifts for Holiday 2013!

Thank you to Tiny Prints for providing the gift code for our giveaway prize and for sending me one as well as a thank you for taking the time to share their new products and features with 3G2S readers.  All opinions expressed are my own.

This weekend (weather-permitting), we will be taking our children's portraits for our Holiday photo cards.  Over the past few years, it has become a tradition for our Holiday cards to feature one photo of each child alone plus a fourth photo of the three together.  Because of this, we are limited to cards that have a layout with 3 smaller rectangular or square photos and one larger landscape photo.  I usually only find 2 or 3 that I like, so I was surprised to find 7 or 8 Holiday cards at Tiny Prints with both a design and a 4-photo layout that I liked.  It was so easy to find what I needed using the filters on the sidebar to specify the number of photos, the format of the card, the size of the card, and much more.  After showing all the cards I found to my husband, we narrowed them down to the 5 pictured above.

Finding so many Holiday card options in the layout I wanted was not the only thing that surprised me while I was shopping.  I always knew that I had multiple options for color, format, and layout for most Tiny Prints cards, but this year I found that I could customize the trim for the edges and corners of the cards.  I am particularly partial to the rounded and the ticket corners.  The bracket and scalloped trim options are a little too ornate for me.

There are also new design styles for 2013 that will pretty much fit anyone's taste.  One of my favorites is the new All That Glitters cards.  These cards have the look of glitter without all the mess because the glitter is actually printed right on the cardstock.  Brilliant!

My husband and I were leaning towards the 7 x 5 Chevron Shine Flat Holiday Greeting Card.  We both liked the overall design and I loved the All That Glitters chevron background.  We still were not sure if it was the right card for us.  Then I clicked on the square format option and voila!  It's perfect!!

Now that the big decision has been made, we'll need to decide on the details . . . Should we go with the Pearl White Shimmer Paper?  Should we get the matching address labels too?  How about envelope liners?  Should we get the modified rectangular envelopes to save on the extra postage charged for mailing square envelopes?  Yes, there are a lot of decisions to be made, but I am thankful to have all these options to make our Holiday cards just perfect for our family.

To view all 708 Holiday greeting cards available from Tiny Prints for Holiday 2013, visit TinyPrints.com.  While you're there, be sure to checkout their photo gifts.  This year, in addition to photo books, photo iPhone cases, mugs, calendars, etc . . . , you will find new photo iPad cases and photo ornaments.  For a limited time, you can get Free Standard Shipping on all orders when you checkout with Tiny Prints promo code FS13.

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Customize a Visa Gift Card with a Photo plus a Personalized Message on GiftCard.com

Thank you to GiftCard.com for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon and for providing an additional product for our contest prize.  All opinions expressed are my own.

I make no secret of it that I am just a fool for personalized gifts.  It used to be that personalized gifts cost quite a bit more due to extra fees, but thanks to technology, that is no longer the case.  These days you can add a personal message or a photo to almost anything for just a few dollars extra.

On GiftCard.com you can add your own image to a Visa gift card for just $5.95 (plus the denomination of the gift card) with Free Standard Shipping!  My husband received this unique little photo gift for Father's Day a week early.  I chose to put his new favorite photo of our children on the gift card.  If you do not have a personal photo you would like to upload, you can always choose from thousands of pre-made designs from the Visa gift card gallery, which cover almost every occasion, including but not limited to Father's Day, graduations, weddings, teacher's gifts, housewarming, and much more.  There is also the option to print a personalized message on the gift card at no additional charge.  You can choose any denomination for your special gift card between $10 and $250.  As an added bonus, your gift card is mailed to you or the recipient in a personalized greeting card of your choosing.

These Visa gift cards are currently not reloadable, meaning you cannot add additional funds to it after the gift card has been created.  Despite this,  I know my husband will still be keeping this card after the balance has reached zero.  It does make a very unique keepsake and is an easy way to carrying around a photo of our children in his wallet without the worry of bending a fragile photograph.

To learn more about these custom Visa gift cards, visit GiftCard.com's faq page.  In addition to Visa gift cards, you can also find retail store gift cards and e-gift cards on this site.

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An Original and Affordable End-of-the-Year Teacher's Gift Idea from the Whole Class!

I have several friends who are teachers and have heard it from the source about what teachers love (and what they don't love) to receive for Holiday and end-of-the-year gifts.  How many mugs, magnets, and bottles of scented body products can one person use, right?  Gift cards are always a great way to go, but if you feel they are just too impersonal, here is an idea for a teacher's gift from the whole class that will truly be a cherished keepsake.  In fact, the same teacher could receive this gift every year and would still love it because no two will ever be alike!

I'm talking about a School Photo Book from Blurb.com.  Each student in this year's class could have one or two pages devoted to him or her.  All you need is for each parent to contribute one or more photos of their child and a few dollars to go towards the cost of the book.  Blurb books start at just $12.99 plus the cost of shipping, so one classroom of 20+ students could make a beautiful book for just $2 or $3 from each student's family.  To make it even more special, you can have each child contribute a quote about their favorite school memory from this year.

Through 5/31/13, you can receive 15% off a School Photo Book when you checkout using Promo Code: MYSCHOOLBOOK on Blurb.com.

A Stunning Photo Canvas Portrait of Our Children by Canvas Memoirs

Last year, we had a really difficult time photographing our children for our Holiday cards.  After much frustration all around and about 70 clicks of the camera, we ended up with 2 usable group photos.  One of them turned out to be one of the best photos I have ever seen of our children together.  It was taken by my husband who must have worked his magic on them somehow.  I think only he can make them smile like that in unison.  So, when Canvas Memoirs invited us to try out their services, I knew right away that I wanted to have this group portrait transformed into a photo canvas.

I have to say that, when I unboxed the 20x30" gallery wrapped photo canvas, it took my breath away.  I think if someone had presented this to me as a birthday or Mother's Day gift, I would have been in tears because it was such a stunning representation of our children.

(Click any photo to enlarge)

If you take a look at the photo above, the printing is such high quality that it captured even the smallest freckle on our son's face.

What I was most impressed about with Canvas Memoirs, aside from the print quality, is that an actual person checks your order.  This is something that I have found not to be the case with many photo gift services.  Canvas Memoirs will make recommendations based on your particular photo and product ordered.  For example, since my photo did not have much room around the edges, they recommended that I use a mirror or blurred mirror edge instead of trying to have my photo continue around the sides.  I opted for the blurred mirror edge and am extremely happy with how naturally it blends in on the canvas.  Canvas Memoirs also offers free touch ups and other photo enhancements.

There are currently 27 different size and shape options available on Canvas Memoirs.  Each of those are available as a rolled canvas, a .75" gallery wrapped canvas, or a 1.5" gallery wrapped canvas, which was what I had opted for.

I love this photo canvas so much and can be confident that it will not deteriorate anytime soon because it has been coated to make it waterproof, scratch-resistant, and UV-resistant.  I hope to have this canvas hanging in our home even after our children have grown up and have started families of their own.  I will always cherish it.

To learn more about Canvas Memoirs, visit www.CanvasMemoirs.com.  Currently, you can take advantage of their 50% off promotion and their $14.95 flat rate shipping or free shipping on orders over $150!  The 20"x30" gallery wrapped canvas I received would cost just $58 (not including shipping) with this promotion.  Mother's Day is coming up in just 2 months and then Father's Day right after that.  Personally, I would love a few smaller gallery wrapped canvases that could sit on the shelves currently hanging on my living room wall mixed in with a few of my other favorite things.


Thank you to Canvas Memoirs for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon and for providing a gift certificate for our contest prize.  All opinions expressed are my own.

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"Say It With Photos" Easy DIY Photo Gift

Last Spring, I took photos for a DIY photo gift that my children presented to their Dad on Father's Day.  Although my husband loved the gift, I was not completely satisfied with it and had been thinking about how I could improve upon it since.  The two main things I did not care for were the small size of the photos and the quality of the photos, which I had printed on my own printer.  The prints had come out a lot darker than the actual digital photos.

Since it had almost been a year since I had taken the photos for the original photo gift, I thought it would be a good idea to take new photos of the children holding the same letters, but a year older.  This was the perfect excuse to revamp the photo gift into something with a larger scale and better photos.  Instead of printing the photos myself this time, I used the Walgreens Photo service via the Walgreens Mobile App.  It was super-easy to do.  The app recognized the photos on our Android phone and I was able to order 5x7 prints of the 7 photos I needed for same day pickup.  You can see more photos of the app in use here (and checkout how much I saved on my purchase using my Balance Rewards Card).

Today's Project:  "Say It With Photos" DIY Photo Gift

SUPPLIES NEEDED

white 9"x11" foam sheets (1 per letter)

red wooden heart (or a red foam sheet)

scissors

5x7 photo frames (1 per letter)

5x7 photo prints (1 per letter)

Step 1.  Using the white foam sheets and scissors, cut out the shape of each letter in the message you would like to spell out, trying to make your letters as large as possible.

Step 2.  I used a red wooden heart I had purchased from the craft store.  If you would like to include a heart in your message, you can either purchase one like I did or make one yourself out of a sheet of red foam.

Step 3.  Take photos of your letters with the desired people or pets.

Step 4.  Have good quality prints made of your photos.

Step 5.  Insert each photo in its own photo frame.

That's it!  You're done!!  Now all you need to do is create a nice presentation.  I did this by only using reversible wrapping paper and a peel and stick gift topper I had purchased at Walgreens when I picked up my prints, along with two colors of curling ribbon I already had on hand.

The reversible gift wrap was solid red on one side and red polka dots on white on the other side.  I wrapped each photo frame individually and bundled them together in a stack.

After tying and curling the ribbon, I attached the peel and stick heart and folded the layers up at the creases to give it a 3-dimensional look.

Here we are!  It was so easy to do and I love how the gift turned out (both inside and out).

How to make this project your own . . . 

• If you are spelling out something short, like the word "DAD", you could easily use larger size photos for this project.  How about 8x10s or even poster size?
• Rather than using people or pets in your photos, you could take photos of the letters in sentimental places.
• Wrap the gift in brown paper or newspaper.  Then top it off with some lace and a sprig of flowers.
• Use a different style and color painted photo frame for each letter for an eclectic look.

If you happen to not have time to make a photo gift yourself, you'll be happy to know that you can order photo gifts, such as photo books, photo canvases, photo wall calendars, posters, and more, all for same day pickup.  You do not even need to take brand new photos.  Thanks to Walgreens Innovations, you can use the Walgreens Mobile App to order photo gifts using photos from your phone, Instagram, or Facebook.  For great Valentine's Day gift ideas, look for the 14 Gifts of Love shared daily by the Walgreens Community on Facebook.


I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Walgreens #HappyHealthy #CBias #SocialFabric.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Easy Craft: DIY "Spell It Out" Photo Gift

This is a photo gift craft I had done for Father's Day earlier this year.  I think it would make a great Holiday gift for almost any friend or family member because this craft has so many possibilities.  I got the idea when I saw a baby photo example on Pinterest from a blog called The Coleman Chronicles.  This was really so simple to make that I don't even think I need to write out a formal tutorial.  Basically, all you need to do is . . .

1.  Buy a horizontal or vertical collage frame that fits the number of letters in the word or phrase you want to spell out.  I got my frame at A.C. Moore for under $10.

2.  Since I did not want to spend a few dollars per letter on white wooden letters, I just bought some inexpensive white foam sheets and cut my letters out of those to spell "We [heart] Baba."  If you have any letters that are shown twice, you can reuse a single letter rather than make more than one.  I did buy the wooden red heart though because I would probably use that again in the future.

3.  Have your child or children hold each letter and take a photo.

4.  Print your pictures out on your own printer or have them printed by a photo service.

5.  Trim your photos to the right size and put them into the frame.

That's it!  You're done!!

(Click any photo to enlarge)

If I had to do it all again, I would have had my photos printed by a photo service because my printer just makes everything look darker and duller than it really is.

Regardless, my husband loved this photo gift!  It sits right on his desk in his office at work.  What would your "Spell It Out" photo gift say?

Show Off Your Favorite Photos with a MailPix Wrapped Photo Canvas

I have pictures of my children hanging all around our home, including a few large poster prints, but the one photo canvas I have made from a picture I took of my husband and our now nearly 9 year old son when he was just 3 is my absolute favorite.  There is just something about putting a photo on canvas that makes it seem more timeless.

Since I recently took photos of our children for our Holiday cards, I thought the photo of the 3 children together would look beautiful on canvas.  Because I wanted to adhere to spending about $100, I tried the photo out for size on a 20" x 24" MailPix canvas.  As you can see below, if you shoot your photos with a D-SLR that usually takes photos that are less boxy, this size canvas will cut off quite a bit of your photo.

(Click any image to enlarge)

When I tried the photo out on the 20" x 30" canvas, it looked perfect.  However, it was out of my budget, so I decided to use their individual portraits to make a set of 3 8" x 10" canvases.

Using the MailPix software to position and size my photos was extremely easy.  I did find it a bit odd that I could not look at the portrait in a format that was not landscape.  I actually had to tip my laptop sideways to be sure I had each photo centered properly.

Our 3 canvases arrived extremely well-packaged.  All 3 were perfect!  I am extremely happy with how the canvases kept the details, colors, and lighting of my original photos.  These canvases are wrapped around a wooden frame and neatly stapled on the back.

(Click any photo to enlarge)

Below you can see how the image wraps around the sides of the frame and around to the back.  That is why it is so important to follow the guidelines when positioning your photo during the ordering process.

Since my husband had just moved into a new office, he was so proud to hang these three canvas portraits on his wall.  I had always pictured them hung three across, but he chose to hang them vertically, which fits the space much better.  He said that everyone at work made remarks about how great the portraits look.  It is hard to believe that they only cost $35 each to make.

MailPix offers 6 different sizes in photos on canvas.  In addition to these, they also offer other photo gifts, such as photo books, ornaments, calendars, bags, glass cutting boards, jigsaw puzzles, fleece blankets, and much more.  Right in time for the Holiday, when you register on MailPix, you receive 100 4" x 6" prints for free!  After you register, be sure to stop by the MailPix Deals page to see what special promotions are currently being offered!

Thank you to MailPix for providing complimentary product samples for us to base this review upon and for providing an additional product for our contest prize.

A Note to 3G2S Readers:  In the spirit of the Holidays, you can earn an extra entry by liking the non-profit food pantry that I have identified as needing some fans on Facebook.
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