Special thanks to Shutterfly for sponsoring today’s post. All opinions are entirely, honestly my own.
If you’re anything like me, you probably have a keepsake box or drawer where you hold on to things you can’t bear to part with…things that are special and meaningful but not especially useful. Mine is filled to the brim with cards and photos, along with invitations for weddings, showers, and baby announcements. But what if instead of getting relegated to a box, those things could turn into thoughtful gifts? It’s so easy to do…take a look at what I did for my friend Erin!
When Erin’s littlest love, “Squishy,” was born, I was honored to be there with her during part of her labor and to be one of the first people to meet the new baby. I also know that with two very energetic toddlers and a baby in the house, she doesn’t have the time she once did to preserve photos and memories, so I decided to do something for her to help celebrate and remember his birth day. One of my jobs when I visited the hospital was to take photos with my fancy camera, so I had lots of pictures to choose from. I went on the Shutterfly website and used a few of my favorites to create a birth announcement.
I decided to emphasize the large photo of “Squishy” by leaving it in color, then I turned the other three photos to black and white right there in the Shutterfly editor. Then I entered his weight and other birth details. Once the announcement arrived, I needed a good way to display it. I went to Goodwill and hit the jackpot…they had frames of all shapes and sizes for less than $2 a piece.
I chose seven of them {you didn’t really think I’d buy just one, did you? A girl’s got projects in mind all the time…} and took them home to my craft room. I grabbed some DecoArt Metallics paint and got to work turning a plain old wooden frame into “Shimmering Silver.”
Once it was totally dry, I popped the announcement in, and voilá! A thoughtful gift Erin can display!
This is such an easy and inexpensive thing to do, and it’s something any new parent is sure to love. Not only that, you can do the same thing as other events come up in the child’s life! For example, here’s how it looks with a birthday invitation! Seriously, how cute is this kid.
Over time, you can create a whole display showcasing those special memories instead of just having them tucked away in a box somewhere!
If you’re wondering what’s in the middle, I also made Erin a Shutterfly photo cube to display some of those special photos of Squishy as a newborn. I used his birth photo on the top, then entered his information for one of the sides. Next to that, I chose a photo of the entire family.
For the remaining two sides {the cube is open on the bottom}, I chose photos of each of Squishy’s brothers meeting him for the first time. Look how adorable they are! I love having those moments not only captured but displayed! Because of the colors on the block and the huge variety of colors within the original photos themselves, they looked best when I changed them to black and white in the Shutterfly editor. It gave the block a cohesive look and I really liked the effect too.
So there you go, friends. A super-simple, inexpensive gift idea that any mom will love! And don’t limit yourself; you can do this with wedding announcements, engagement announcements, wedding invitations, or anything at all!
Who do you know that would love a gift like this?
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