Feel like making your own Valentine’s Day cards this year? This one is easy peasy and super cute!
All you need is a cute photo and candy lips.
I used foil-wrapped chocolate candy lips I found at the dollar store, but you can also use lollipop lips.
Looking for an attention-grabbing gift? I say, go big or go home!
Create a Big Face Cutout of the gift recipient you can use for funny photos or to show support for graduates. It’s just the right size for all ages and the perfect accessory for any party or event!
Big Face Cutouts are photos printed on an oversized face cutout made of heavy-duty weatherproof paper. They can be attached to a stick so they’re easy to hold.
They’re really popular at sports games, graduations (first make sure they’re allowed by the school), and birthday parties.
Most of my friends and I have adult children. The question each year is “What do we give them for Christmas?”
It was so much easier to pick out Christmas gifts when they were small, but as adults it’s difficult to surprise them.
My friend shared her “stroke of genius” idea and came up with a Couple’s Photo Shoot for her grown adult children’s Christmas gift.
We have lots of pictures of our children but not professional grown-up photos of our kids and their spouses other than the wedding photos taken years before.
Even her adult granddaughter and boyfriend will receive a photo session. They will be so surprised!
Moto Photo packages for couples are reasonably priced starting at $55 for a one pose package.
The package consists of an 8×10, two 5×7 and 8 wallets. Gift certificates are also available to give any dollar amount you would like.
JCPenney Portraits and Portrait Innovations are also offering holiday specials.
My boss, Dennis, loves the Beatles. And yes, he’s a baby boomer! His favorite album is Abbey Road with John, Paul, Ringo and George walking across a striped crosswalk on the cover.
The Beatles had many famous photo albums but this may be their fans’ most favorite.
For one of his retirement gifts, I recreated the famous Beatles photo with Dennis and his three Team Leaders who have worked with him for 20 years.
I scoped out the many streets in our city and found the white stripes in an intersection that would allow us to recreate the photo.
I’ve known my friend, Sherry, for years and have had the privilege of meeting her parents on many occasions. When I recently attended a reception honoring their daughter’s achievement, I noticed they were holding hands across the table.
I asked if I could take a picture of them holding hands. Her parents smiled and agreed. I thought it was so precious and wanted to capture the sweet, tender embrace for Sherry.
Sherry’s parents are her biggest supporters. Their hands have held her, guided her, hugged her, loved her, and clapped for her and her awesome accomplishments. Continue Reading
My paternal and maternal grandparents and my mother were deaf so my first language was American Sign Language.
Several years ago, my mother became ill and I took her to the emergency room. It was the beginning of dementia even though we were not aware of it yet.
The wait in the ER was F-O-R-E-V-E-R! and she became extremely restless.
To help keep her calm, I suggested we take pictures of her hand creating individual letters of the ABCs in American Sign Language (ASL).
She loved it and thankfully doing that passed the time.
We later printed out photos of the individual letters to spell out the names of my brothers, my mother’s cousins and her friends. We mailed them in “thinking of you cards.”
My mother enjoyed hearing from each one that they loved her special surprise gift. Sign language is beautiful and you do not have to be deaf to enjoy seeing your name spelled in ASL.
With a smart phone or computer, you can send free thoughtful gifts anytime from anywhere by sending just sayin’ messages with quotes, sayings or phrases for any occasion.
You probably already do this for birthdays and anniversaries without even thinking it’s a gift. But it is! You’re letting the recipient know you are thinking of them.
Send encouraging messages, inspiring quotes and funny sayings to brighten anyone’s day.
You can do this by email or by text message.
There are literally thousands of picture quotes to choose from on Google.
Or do as I do and save your favorites from Facebook to share later. I even take pictures of things or places that remind me of a friend or family member to send to them later. Continue Reading
Did you know you can turn your favorite photo into a custom jigsaw puzzle?
Custom jigsaw puzzles can be ordered in many different sizes and level of difficulty. Order one the size of a postcard or choose a giant floor puzzle.
You can also purchase them with less than 10 puzzle pieces or more than 1,000!
Both children and adults would enjoy putting a custom jigsaw puzzle together, which makes it a very versatile gift.
My son, Aiden, enjoys putting together puzzles so I ordered a custom photo jigsaw puzzle using one of my favorite pictures of him. (Kids love seeing pictures of themselves!)
When my grandmother was in the hospital due to a terrible car accident, I wanted badly to cheer her up.
I hope you get back in the SWING of things soon!
She lived two states away so I couldn’t do anything in person. I needed to get creative.
I’m always taking pictures of my toddler son. There are hundreds of them on the camera roll of my phone. Going through them gave me an idea when I came across a photo of my son on a swing at the park.
Seeing his smile made me smile, and I knew it would make my grandmother smile too.
I took the photo and added colorful hearts and the message, “I hope you get back in the SWING of things soon!”
Kids grow up so fast. Their appearance changes even faster which is why us parents love to take a gazillion photos. We don’t want to forget how they looked today because they may look different tomorrow.
Think about how your friends and family feel when they only receive photos of your kiddo(s) at Christmas time. It’s torture having to wait an entire year to see how they’ve grown!
When my son was born, I started sending photo greeting cards to my family and friends for Christmas and for Independence Day. That way they get an updated photo of Aiden every six months.
It’s also a fun surprise for everyone since no one expects to receive a Happy 4th of July card in the mail! I always get great feedback.
