Thursday, January 26, 2012

Relive the vacations every day- Creating a photo montage of your family vacations


Have you ever had one of those vacations that you and your family will always remember?

Most families do have such vacations, although it can vary from an exotic vacation to a foreign country, a trip to good old Disneyland, or even a nice picnic or outing to other places, near or far. It actually does not matter where you get to have your vacation since the best part that you and your family would remember is the fun you guys had back then.


 Naturally, you would want to relive and keep those good memories fresh all the time, but how can you do it apart from sitting and looking at the photo album during those nostalgic moments? The answer to this is simple- make a photo montage.

What is a Photo Montage?

A photo montage is basically just a single picture that is made after mixing up and superimposing other pictures. It can also be just a mix of different photos that have the same theme which, in this case, is your family vacation.

What do you need to make a photo montage?

To start with, you need to have either digital or real copies of the photographs. These days most people have only digital photos stored safely on their hard drive, so that should not be a problem.


You can make a photo montage with some programs like Adobe Photoshop or After Effects so you need these software tool. You can then take a printout of the photo montage you made and put it up on a wall.

Can I make photo montage with printed photos?

Yes, you can also make a photo montage on your own with real printed photographs.

To make a good photo montage, you need to have a good base to start making the montage. You can get a plain or textured poster board or paper as a base for the photo montage.

There is just one rule for making a photo montage, and that is that there are no rules. You can add any number of photographs and paste them in any way you desire. The point of a photo montage is to make an artistic creation with photographs, so the choices are left completely to you.

You can select the best photos from your vacation- priceless moments or some silly photos of you and your kids. You can also paste the boarding passes for the trip if you have them with you.

Other ideas include some small items or keepers that you found or bought from the place you visited.

You can cut out some photos to make interesting shapes as well. For example, you can cut out photos of your trip to Disneyland and make it resemble the contour of Mickey Mouse. Moreover, you can also draw or paint some objects on the montage itself. The idea here is to let your imagination and creativity run wild and make a photo montage that represents the great time you and your family had during the vacation.

The ideas given above are just a starting point. If you use your imagination, you can really create a unique and beautiful photo montage that reminds you of your most memorable vacation.

A trip down the memory lane- Photo Collage Gift for your parents


For many people, the first and only heroes in their lives are their parents, and for obvious reasons. Parents welcome their children into this world, teach them core values, and play a huge role in shaping their personalities. So, if there is a list of people you’d want to thank for any of your successes in life, your parents would probably top that list. However, when your parents have given so much to you, what kind of gift can you possibly give them? The answer is simple- give them memories to cherish.

Memories are a priceless gift for anyone, even if it is not your parent. In order to trigger the trip down memory lane for your parents, you have to give a gift that reminds them of the best moments of your life, and what better way to do that than by making a collage? A picture itself, as they say, speaks a thousand words, so imagine what several photos representing the best days of your parents’ lives would say to them- it would be magical, to say the least.

·         A photo collage art craft for your parents will include all kinds of photos that are based on your parents’ most memorable days. So if you have a good number of such photos- 15 to 20 is a decent number- then you can definitely go ahead with this idea.

·         For starters, you can select photos of your parents together during the ‘good old days’.

·         Next, you can choose some of their wedding and honeymoon photographs- two memorable moments that they would definitely cherish.

·         Once that is done, you can choose some photographs of yourself or your siblings as babies. If possible, the photos should be of the best moments for them as parents, like the day you first crawled, walked, or spoke. You could also add pictures of other memorable moments that your parents had with you, like some memorable trips that your parents took with you as you grew up.

You do not need to limit yourself to just the above choices of photographs. If you have some more photographs that you feel would make a great addition to your parents’ photo collage, then by all means, add them.

·         Once you have collected the photos for your collage, you can then look for the right base to paste them on. The base can be anything from a poster board or mat board to even a flat paper- these options are easy to work with, but you can choose others as well.

·         Now that you have all the essential elements- photos, base, and the right amount of glue- you can get started with your collage work.

·         Of course, you can also add additional elements like ribbons, strings, fabric, or any other material that you find interesting.

·         You do not need to rule out unusual materials either- you can choose anything from blurry photographs to even sandpaper.

·         As you add more photos to your parents’ collage, you can even paint the background and add some filling material between them to make it look more amazing.

 Once you are done with the photo collage, your parents would definitely realize the effort that has gone into it and would cherish your gift for a long, long time.

Photo craft ideas for your living room- Showcase your personality

If you have a bit of a creative streak in you and a stack of neglected photos in your closet, you probably need to read this. You could even find the right ideas here if you are looking to redecorate your living room and showcase your ideas. Now, your question at this point would probably be “What is the idea being discussed here?” The answer is ‘photo crafts’.

Photo paper craft is an amazing way of applying your creativity and working on an unused stack of photos lying in your house. In fact, you can try out photo crafts even if you do not have any photos. All you need to do is click or find some interesting photos of your own. This is relatively easy nowadays thanks to the Internet. Even cameras are quite affordable today, so get one if you have some time to kill and some ideas in mind.

If you have the desire to try out some photo crafts but do not have any ideas, then here are some fun ideas for you. With these fun photo craft ideas, you can get your creative juices flowing and convert them into beautiful additions to your living room-

• A photo bouquet

A bouquet is a beautiful item by itself, but it can get even more beautiful and magical with some magnificent photographs attached. A photo bouquet is one of the most innovative ways of using special photographs and converting them into something more special. Although it can be a just a little tricky to make, the outcome is amazing. Truly, this is one of the best ways of using your passion for photo crafts to add beauty to your living room.

• A photo collage

While collages are a pretty old idea, they still make an amazing addition to your living room. It is fairly simple to make a photo collage. All you have to do is think of a basic idea or a theme, get different photos related to that theme, and stick it onto a solid base. A lot of additions can be made to this basic idea. You can change the layout, add some interesting and beautiful accessories, or do anything else that may strike your mind to make the photo collage more beautiful and unique.

• A photo wall

This is similar to a collage, but it is much bigger and does not really have to follow a theme. You can hang or attach photos on a single wall in any way you want. You can place the photos evenly away from each other or in any vertical or horizontal or even a diagonal pattern. The choice is left completely to you and your creativity, which is why this is such a great idea for the living room.

The ideas given above are just the tip of the iceberg as far as fun photo crafts go. You can explore a lot of different options as well. Simply let your creativity run wild as you transform your living room into an even more unique and beautiful place.

Kids love Photo Stickers- How to create them?

Many kids love to personalize the things they own. In most cases, it just means writing or engraving the owner’s name on the item. However, it doesn’t always have to be that plain or boring. Photo stickers have been around for a long time, and they are perfect for personalizing things and also making them look really awesome.

                               
The best part of a photo sticker is that you are not limited to just a few items. You can pretty much stick any photo you want on an item that has the place for it. You can stick photos on your child’s pencil case, notebooks, and lunchbox, for example. You can even stick photo stickers on your own items, like your bag.

Moreover, photo stickers are also great for all age groups. It does not matter if it is a toddler or a small kid, a teenager, or even an older person- photo stickers are appealing to one and all. So if you are thinking that your child or you have outgrown photo stickers, think again. A photo sticker might just be the thing to add a little spunk to your life.

A photo sticker can be anything. It can be a passport photo print of you or your loved one, or it can be the picture of your child’s favorite cartoon character. It could also be a photograph of your teenage child’s favorite singer or actor, or even yours. The possibilities are limited only by your own creativity. You could stick multiple stickers in any pattern that you like.

So now that you are interested in making some innovative photo stickers, here is a complete guide to making them on your own as well as some tips:

The first thing you need to do to make a photo sticker is to choose the right photos. Now, there is no limit to what you can choose, but make sure that you follow the criteria below:

·       *  The photo is appropriate for the item where it will be stuck
·        * It is the right size for a sticker

Moreover, you would also need a computer with Internet access to make the sticker.

 Once you have selected your photos, all you need to do is visit a website where you can order personalized stickers. Most of these websites would have cropping features as well, so you can choose the right size.

Alternatively, you could print out the photos on your own with Inkjet sticker paper. You can find this kind of paper in your local store. Once you get the sticker by order or from your printer, you are done. Now you can just stick the photo stickers wherever you want to.

There are a few things to be kept in mind while choosing a photo for your photo sticker. For one, photo stickers are really small and so, the subject of the photo has to be at the center and fill up the frame. Since the photo sticker would be small, you would not be able to print one with too many faces or subjects.

From the above, you can see how easy it is to make a photo sticker and personalize the items in your home. So now you can stop writing names on each of these items and add a really personal touch to them.

Cherish those memories- Create a Photo Collage of your Wedding or Honeymoon Photos

If you would ask any married couple about the most memorable moment of their lives, the answer would probably either be their wedding or their honeymoon, or even both. A wedding and honeymoon are two very important moments because they mark the beginning of a new life- a life filled with that special someone, a life with promise.

It is no wonder then that everyone who has ever had a wedding or a honeymoon would want to capture and cherish those memories through photos and videos. Naturally, photo albums and videos are the first and often the only choice for couples. While keeping a photo album is the best way to preserve those precious memories, it does have a downside- you would not actually see those photos unless you open the album. In these hectic times, you may not get the chance to see your wedding or honeymoon photo album for months or even years.

If you really do want a method of keeping the memories of your honeymoon and wedding fresh in your mind, then make a photo collage. A photo collage is pretty easy to make, and it can also make a beautiful addition to your home. With a photo collage of your wedding and honeymoon, even visitors can see it and refresh their memories about that time. This can make for hours and hours of conversation where you can relive your wedding or honeymoon all over again.

As an example, just imagine this situation- your parents or friends would visit your place and find a collage of your wedding or honeymoon. At that moment, their minds would be transported to those memorable times. While this may not seem like much, that moment would make a lot of difference to them and to you as well.

Many people stay away from making collages of their wedding or honeymoon because they find it too difficult. This is not entirely true as you can choose to make a photo collage far more easily with your computer. With the help of photo editing software like Photoshop, it is really easy to make an interesting photo collage in a matter of minutes. Once you make a collage, you can print it out and frame it for your wall.

While computers have made it really easy to make a photo collage for your wedding and honeymoon, there is no greater thrill than to sit down and make one on your own. During every step of making the photo collage, you can relive more memories of those two best moments of your life.

A real photo collage made of developed photos is easy to make too.

1.    You’d first need a strong base for the collage. A mat board, poster board, or any flat paper should do just fine, because they are also easy to work with. Naturally, you'll need a good printer, such as the Canon printer MG6270.
2.   The background can be anything you like. Considering the fact that you are making a collage of your wedding and honeymoon, pink would be a good option. However, the color selection is totally up to you. You can even add different colors for different sections.
3.   Once you get the colors, just paste the photos however you want them with strong glue.

As you can see, a photo collage is easy to make but still remains one of those priceless additions to your home.