Five Homemade Photo Gifts

Photo Collage
This is a simple and easy gift that will be greatly appreciated by friends and family. It can be a specific theme, or just all about the people you love. I have given photo collages to many of my family and friends. If you frame the photo collage, it can actually make for an interesting piece of pop art.

One of my favorite things to do with photo collages is to focus around a famous quotation. I will search online for quotations that fit the theme I am going for (mothers, family, friends, babies, etc.). Once I pick the perfect quotation, I print it out on a decorative piece of scrapbooking paper. This becomes the center of my collage. The other photos are then arranged around that quotation, and it makes for a fun, personal, and thought provoking work of art.

For a detailed step-by-step guide, read "How to Make a Photo Collage."

Photo DVD Slideshow
If your computer has a DVD burner, it is likely that you have the software to make a DVD slideshow. Although it is not always highlighted on the packaging, most DVD burning programs allow you to make a slideshow with photos and music, which can be played on any DVD player.

The program I use is called "MyDVD," but most DVD software programs do have a slideshow feature. To create a slideshow, you will need to pick between 20-40 photos. This is usually the amount of photos that fit within the constraints of a single song. You can also do several slideshows, each with different music.

You can even add a slideshow at the end of a DVD with home movies on it, or vice versa. For my mother-in-law's birthday, we made her a DVD slideshow with tons of family photos. At the very end, we added a video of my husband and our son singing "Happy Birthday."

This is an especially great gift for family who live out-of-town. It is cheap to ship and a way to keep in touch.

Photo Magnets
Everyone loves magnets! They can be stuck on the refrigerator or dishwasher at home, or for those work in an office, they can be stuck on the filing cabinets for a great way to personalize your office space.