There’s nothing better than a handmade gift. But handmade gifts take TIME. That’s why we’ve put together a list of four personal gifts you can make in less than 20 minutes.
Ready? Open up Picaboo X, pour yourself a glass of eggnog and let’s pump out some custom holiday gifts.
Gift Idea #1
Want to create a book around a specific event like a wedding, weekend getaway, summer vacation or a party? BookGenie makes it easy. Here’s how it works: Every photo you take is stamped with a date. BookGenie reads the time stamps on each picture and groups them together. All you have to do is enter the dates you’d like to include. BookGene will magically import those images in less than a minute. Then, you’re in creative control. Review your layout, add, delete or switch images. See how easy it is, follow the steps below or watch this brief video.
Step 1: Open Picaboo X and select BookGenie from the left sidebar. You can select a certain date range of images by creating a “New Event” or choose from preset times: Last 3 Months, images from 2010, 2009, etc. If you select a preset time, you can skip Step 3.
Step 2: Choose Landscape or Square book style.
Step 3: If you selected “New Event,” enter the dates of the event. If you selected a preset date, skip this step.
Step 4: Select a theme for your book. Choose from a variety of events and styles: Birthday, Catalog, Seasons, Wedding, Travel, Baby, Holidays or No Theme.
Step 5: Now, BookGenie gets to work pulling in your images. Don’t worry, you can always delete or add any photos to your book.
Step 6: After BookGenie magically makes your book, it’s your turn to take the creative reigns. Add backgrounds, captions or embellishments to make it perfect. Customize your book so that it could only come from you.
Gift Idea #2
Picaboo calendars are a unique and personal gift that lasts all year long.With hundreds of themes and the ability to add pictures and text to the days of your calendar, this gift is a perfect expression of your creativity. And no one will know you made it in less than 20 minutes! See how easy it is, follow the steps below or watch this brief video.
Step 1: Open Picaboo X and select “Calendar” under the category heading.
Step 2: Select the theme you wish to use. Choose from hundreds of themes like holidays, kids, gardening, colors, vacations, etc. You can always customize your calendar after it is created.
Step 3: Choose the month you’d like your calendar to begin. It can start on any month you wish. Then select the special dates you’d like to add. Include birthdays, anniversaries or holidays. You could even make up your own holidays. Like Soccer Sunday or I Love You Day. And to make your life easier, Picaboo X remembers your dates, so you don’t have to!
Step 4: Import your photos. You can import them from your computer, iPhoto, past projects, Facebook or Flickr.
Step 5: Picaboo X builds and adds your images to your calendar.
Step 6: Once your images are imported, review your calendar to ensure the right images are on the right month. You’ll probably want summer images during summer months and holiday images during the winter. Make sure to “Preview” your calendar before you order. And that’s it! A personal and fun gift that your loved ones will treasure.
Gift Idea #3
A sports-themed collage
Show off your collectibles or your talents in a fun Picaboo collage.
Collage posters are a fun and unexpected present. You can make a collage based on your summer vacation, an eventful soccer game or just your favorite images. Here’s how to make a collage poster in four easy steps.
Step 1: Open Picaboo X and select “Collage Poster” under the category heading, “Prints and More.”
Step 2: Select the images you want to include in your collage. You can choose images from Flickr, Facebook, iPhoto, your computer and previous projects.
Step 3: Select “AutoFill.” This will automatically place your images into your collage. You can always add, delete or change the contrast of an image at any time. You have complete creative control!
Step 4: Now, you’re in the creative seat. You can keep the collage as is or customize it. Picaboo X offers over 70 layouts options for collages with one image to collages with more than 10 photos. If you’re low on time and happy with the layout, click on “Preview” just to make sure each picture looks perfect. And then you’re done!
Gift Idea #4
Like to write letters or take notes? How about To-Do lists? Picaboo makes it easy to create one-of-a-kind note cards and stationery for someone you love. Just follow these quick and easy steps.
Step 1: Open Picaboo X. Select “Greeting Card.”
Step 2: Select “My own design” and pick your layout: Folded or Flat.
Step 3: Import your images. The sky’s the limit when selecting the right image for your note card. Sunsets, drawings, vacation pictures, poodles or bridal shots–the world is yours. You can choose images from Flickr, Facebook, iPhoto, your computer and previous projects.
Step 4: Add captions, backgrounds and embellishments to create a special card. Inspirational quotes, funny comments from kids and the place where the picture was taken will make your note card memorable.
Step 5: When you order your note cards, make sure you select our Signature Stationery paper.
And that’s it! Four unique gifts you can make quickly that everyone is sure to love. Take a look at the products above. Can you think of someone on your holiday gift list that would like one of these gifts? Add their name and the gift they’d like to the comments below and we’ll randomly pick 2 comments and award them $10 in Picabucks! Winner will be announced here on Thursday, December 15, 2011. Update: Thank you for submitting your comments. The winners have been chosen and notified. Stay tuned for more chances to win Picabucks.
Looking for more gift ideas? Check out our Top 12 Holiday Ideas.
I hadn’t seen the stationery yet – great idea. I would definitely make this for my Mom (a kindergarten teacher) to use as thank yous to her students.
Memorable Event book for my Mom – We went on a 5 day trip to New York City Together. We had a spectacular time and made memories to last a lifetime. I’d make a book called “We’ll always have NYC!”
I would pick to use the Genie Book feature and make my huband a wedding album from our wedding on 11-11-11, we have yet to be able to do anything with our disk of pictures thanks for this chance@@@@@
My mother, Jan, she’d love the collage. She has 4 grandkids now, it would make her cry her eyes out
my friend’s husband is in army and she would love to write him on cutsom stationary. wonderful idea.
My mother and mother in-law would absolutely LOVE the memorable event book. Considering my husband and I just got married in August of this year (: Great idea!!
The custom calendar would be great for my niece, Lynn. We have so many birthdays & anniversaries to remember ~ being able to add pictures & text would be great!
My in-laws get a huge 12×12 photobook of all the latest and the greatest photos of the past year. It’s their favorite gift of all.
I also did a huge 12×12 photobook for my BFF of her wedding. She loved it so much she reordered it for all her special family members who wanted something to remember that event by.
I have made several books cards mugs and calendars. Calendars are the gifts I am giving this year to my parents to help remember dates and special occasions, etc. It the gift that last all year and is sooo fun to make!
My mother-in-law would love a calendar. She lives in The Netherlands and we rarely get to be with her. Having our photos on her calendar would help her feel closer to us.
Hey Marie! Your comment was randomly selected and you will receive $10 in Picabucks. Please email FBFan@picaboo.com. Thanks so much for your comment!
My younger brother is leaving for college next year, and he may not admit it, but I know that he would love the a collage of his family and friends to take with him.
My sister in law, I’d make a college for her with her fantastic cakes so she has a quick place to show off her work.
My husband Michael. This has been a very difficult year for us but things are looking better! A collage poster with pictures of the good things from this year would be a blessing. We did have difficulties but many times of happiness too.
My mom would love a calendar. 12 months of her 5 grandkids.
love the books – great gifts for my daughters or myself!
My best friend Allison is getting married and she would love a memorable event book.
Papa Sugar would love a calendar full of picture memories of Grandma Sugar <3
I am thinking of making my nephew Noah a collage poster. Great idea!
My Mom would love a memorable events book!
My husband Mark would love a photo book. he stays home with our son and takes 100s of photos a week. It would be great to put them all in a photo book.
You’ve convinced me. I am going to start in January and make sure I take one “couple” picture each month and save them to make a calendar at the end of the year.
custom stationary for Mom
my mom would love a photo book of her grandchildren.
thanks,
laura
My daughter, an art student, a collage of the incredible works of art she is creating
My best friend would love the collage! She has 2 beautiful children and a wonderful husband to fill the collage with pictures & memories of
My 95-year-old Mom would love some note cards. She tries to remember people close to her with regular notes. She is so thoughtful!
Would love to make a special event photo book for my mom. She’s 86 and her memory is failing. Would love to have pages with each of our families, along with everyone’s names, to help her remember. Maybe add some special memories of her and my dad…she misses him very much, as we all do.
My daughter would love a book about her children.
My mother in law would love a custom calendar with pictures of her grandchildren!
Grandma would love the Collage Poster!
My friend Lois is so good at cataloging her children’s childhood through photo books. I should take a lesson from her
I love the stationary. I would make some for my husband, who is a teacher. He gets many gifts around the holidays and at the end of the school year, so he could use them for ‘thank you’ notes.
My mother-in-law, Cathy, would love the custom calendar w/ pics of her grandchildren!
I would love to make a calendar for my grandma with the kids pictures.
My mom would love for me to make her a Calendar!
Grandma Ruth would love a photo brag book of ALL her grand kids!!
My husband’s aunt would love floral stationary.
I would get my mom the custom calendar ! And my family the custom greeting cards for Christmas!
My mother and mother-in-law would love the calendar
Rick would love the Book Genie book of all our hiking adventures over the past year.
My niece lisa who is pregnant!
Misty my neighbor handmakes and sells jewelry. She’s been wanting help creating an advertisment. I think making a collage poster with pics of her jewelry would be perfect.
My niece would love a album or collage of her wedding. She’s been so busy with university she hasn’t had time to do one.
My parents would love a calendar with the whole family in it! They always have some calendar they got for free on the wall and a personalized calendar to replace that would be great!
My mome, Vera, would love a calledar to look at family pictures all year long.
I’d love to make my daughters a book about the time they were flower girls in a wedding.
custom calender…..it would be awesome to win this for someone specail
I would make my mom a custom calendar of her grandchildren.
My sister in law loves to write letters. I’d love for her to get a gift of stationary. And my husband would love a collage poster.
I would love to make a collage for both my 6 yr old (to remember kindergarten), or my 2nd grader. They both love pictures-and pictures of themselves is even more fun.
I know my parents would love a photobook. They live overseas and miss all those special growing moments with my two babies.
I think the stationary would be a great gift for my mom & mom-in-law!
I would make a collage poster for my parents with photos of their grandchildren from this year.
I think the custom stationary would be a great gift for my mom & mom-in-law!
I would really like to make a collage poster for my parents with photos of their grandchildren from this year.
My husband would put to good use the Personalized Stationary and my mom would love a calendar!
I would make an event book for my husband – our wedding!
My husband – The custom calander. We have a three year old daughter and I already have an idea of which photos I’s used for each month…I could even do a photoshoot with holiday themes.
A calendar for my grandmother!
Oh my mom, Betty, is a writer. I bet she would LOVE to have new stationary this year. What a great gift idea!
My mom – a calendar!
My mom would love a calendar with all of the important dates on it.
A memorable event book for my brother of the summer vacation we took together this past summer. Great idea!
I would love to make the collage poster for my parents! They would love it!
The grandparents! They love the calendars, specially with their grand-daughter’s pictures.
Photo collage for Grandpa’s 90th birthday
My friend Judy would love the stationary.
My Parents would love a calendar featuring their 4 grandchildren. They can’t get enough of them!
My mom-in-law loves the custom calendars … as long as they’re full of pictures of her grandkids.
My mom would LOVE a calendar…and I would love making one for her.
My son’s teacher would love the collage poster as an end of the year gift!
My dad would love a calendar.
love the stationary idea. We had our 3rd baby this year and I cannot get enough ‘thank you’ cards…and love the idea of having a card personalized with updated photos of the baby when I send so many thank you’s out after Christmas!!
I will definitely be using the stationary as thank you cards
My daughter would love the stationary!
Mom would like the stationary
My mom sonjeh would love a calendar
I need to order me a copy of my book. My son took mine because it featured him.
My sister, Jeanne, loves to write letters the old fashioned way: pen and paper. She would love the personalized stationary. My sister, Julie, is still in college and she would love the collage posters.
For my twins- a custom book of their first year!
My girlfriend, Scarlett, who is getting married in March would love some custom wedding stationary!
Love the idea of the collage poster.
Hey Jessica! You’ve been randomly selected and will receive $10 in Picabucks. Please email FBFan@picaboo.com to receive your Picabucks. Thanks!
what a fun idea, I just ordered a book for me and one for a gift. My mom would love the shopping list, I could customize it to her grocery needs. My daughter, Maggie would love her own calendar too!
I’d make a calendar for my brother who is a brand new grandpa. I’d fill it with photos of Harrison!
My mom would love to make a calendar or a custom notecards on your site. She makes lovely thank you notes already…. just by printing out the pics and putting them on blank cards….
My mom loved my calendar last year, this year I made a book