Best Ways to Feature Favorite Photos for the Holidays
By: Barbara Kotsos
Gifts from the heart really are the most meaningful for our friends and family – and what is more expressive than a great photo of someone you cherish? There are many thoughtful ways to incorporate a photograph into a gift. Although always appreciated, don t limit your options to simply printing a photo and placing it in a pretty frame. There are other ways to use that one perfect picture to distinguish it as something special. At www.EpsonCreativeZone.com, you ll find lots of ideas to get you started – and all of the templates, projects, and designs available can be downloaded for free! Everyone will appreciate a collection of photos saved on a CD. Think about all of the group events, family occasions, or parties during which you captured great snapshots over this past year. Why not save that collection on a CD for everyone who attended the event? Better yet, with the use of an Epson printer that prints directly onto CDs, you can customize the CD with one or more of the photos saved on the disc. It s an instant and personal reference to that event! Add a few pieces of text, like the date of the photos or occasion – and don t forget to include the “gift tag” saying it s from you! You could go one step further – make a custom cover for the CD to match, using more photos saved on the CD. We ve made it easy for you! Go to Project #112 at www.EpsonCreativeZone.com and download the ready-to-print templates to make this project, already designed for holiday use. Or how is this for a fun holiday party idea? At your next event, make sure each of your guests leaves with a souvenir photo of the evening . . . but don t just hand them each a photo. You can easily print (ahead of time) a number of decorative photo mattes to fit any common size frame. While the party is underway, snap some photos and print them instantly using your PictureMate® Personal Photo Lab or other printer. When your guests are ready to go, hand them their photos attached to a decorative matte! Choose to frame it or not – it s an instant gift and memento of the festive occasion. Again, you ll find some ready to print mattes just awaiting the right photo in Projects #110 and #92
at www.EpsonCreativeZone.com! You could add text such as the date or event by using the text box feature in Microsoft ® Word. How about an entire gift book for a collection of photos to commemorate the year or a special event that took place this past year? Making someone their very own customized coffee table book, complete with pages of glossy photos and a cover featuring personalized text and pictures is something you simply could not find at the mall. Go to: www.epson.com/StoryTeller for more information or to order this project. Once you create the pages for one StoryTeller™ hard cover book, you can print out as many copies as you want to give, and get more mileage out of the time spent creating the first one. The next idea is very basic, but people really appreciate the personal touch. Let the wrapping on your gifts be a meaningful part of your presents this year. By creating your own customized wrapping paper, you can color coordinate all your gifts or assign a specific design for each gift recipient (for easy under-the-tree identification). You could go one step further by using the text box feature in Microsoft Word to print a pattern and insert one or more photos of your gift recipient directly into the wrapping paper design. Do that and no name tag is necessary! Start with the collection of holiday patterns provided in www.EpsonCreativeZone.com projects #67, #68, #69 – or any of the other winter themes listed in the “Patterned Pages” category. Last but not least – let your favorite photos be a year-long gift to your friends, once you highlight them in a custom calendar you make yourself. Project #96 at www.EpsonCreativeZone.com includes templates to print beautifully designed calendar pages. Unlike other more generic programs, this project has pages with the correct weekdays and dates filled in. All you need to add is your photos. If you like, you can customize specific dates to make note of birthdays, anniversaries, or other dates to remember. Any family member will appreciate the reminder for all family occasions – as well as the latest series of updated family photos. At this hectic time of year, we can all benefit from avoiding the crazy mall shopping scene. Stay home and leisurely browse through your year s best photos. Your biggest dilemma will be deciding which of the many projects available to you at the Epson CreativeZone site you would like to make and for whom! Happy Holidays from all of us at Epson! And may the New Year be full of wonderful photo opportunities for you and your family!
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