Last year I created a photo book of all my Project 365 photos from 2015, and I cannot tell you how much I LOVE it!  After looking through it at the end of last year, it really renewed my motivation to continue with the project for another year.  So, for 2016, I'm doing pretty much the same thing again, but I thought I'd share again in case any one else would like to do something similar with their 365 photos. 

Ever year, I like to give gifts that are a little more personal, and I have found that using some of the many photos I take each year is a great way of doing it.  The recipients (especially Grandparents!) love the gifts as they are so thoughtful, and I like the idea of my images not just sitting on my computer but out where they can be enjoyed.

Here are 10 photo gift ideas, including a few that I am in processing of making for this year, and some that I have made previously (I like to mix it up each year!)  Most of these photo gift ideas will take under a couple of hours to make, and I tend to use the same gift for different family members, so I do the work once, but buy or make two or three copies and I’m done :) 

There are also different price points here - some you can make yourself, and some that are higher end, and some that are more fun gifts, so there should be something for everyone. Here goes! 

Although one photo can speak a thousand words, sometimes a few more can tell it better! A photo storyboard or collage is a fantastic way to display multiple images of similar photos, or even tell a story through your images. Here are some tips for making yours look as good as possible, along with links to some free collage and storyboard templates, and even how to make your own if you are feeling inspired!  

I am a huge believer in printing out your photos and enjoying them in the here and now, but I appreciate it can get a little bit boring to keep putting them into frames all the time!   So, here are 8 creative ways to display photos in your home. 

I don't take credit for this idea - there are loads of variations on this theme around Pinterest, each with a slightly different take on it, and this is mine..  It's so simple to do - you just take any glass bottles, or jars, and pop in your images for an instant photo frame that's a little bit different. 

Last week I finished photographing around three years worth of artwork and the resulting images are all now stored nice and neat on my hard drive.  Whilst this is great as it means it is all backed up - and out of the way! - I don't really like having things just stored digitally.  For me the whole point of keeping these is so that they can be enjoyed in years to come, but also in the here and now - people don't generally flip through a hard drive in quite the same way! 

So, I had two goals in mind when photographing the artwork - Firstly to have it out on display, and secondly to have it saved for long term, but in an accessible way.  Here's what I've done so far...

Every week my son will come home from school with at least two or three new works of art - and possibly a certificate or two - which up until now I've simply been tossing into a large storage basket. Even though not every single one makes it into the basket,  the pile is still getting pretty big, so to stop it from becoming overwhelming, I've decided to take action on the artwork! 

One of the things I have done differently this year to my family photo books was to add video to them!  This is such a fun little addition - hearing voices and sounds along with the photographs really helps bring some of them to life, especially videos of things like school performances or dancing, but even just hearing how voices sound adds a little extra! 

Give your mom an amazing gift with this FREE Mother's Day Template for creating your own Interactive album in Photoshop! 

I appreciate i'm a little early, but if you are anything like me, projects that used to take one or two days to complete now can take weeks instead, so I thought I'd post early to make sure you have enough time to use this Mother's Day Template if you wanted to! 

The idea for this album came about after my mother received a christmas card from my son. It was the first time she had been given anything with his handwriting, and there were tears in her eyes as she read it. (bless her, she also wanted to frame it!) I knew then that a little book with some recent photographs, along with his writing and drawings would make a perfect gift for Mother's Day, so this album was created. I love it so much that I thought I'd share it with you guys if you wanted it too. 

I'm in the middle of giving my home office a bit of a makeover and have just made one of these photo collage prints for over my computer desk so I thought I'd give you a bit of a tutorial on it. 

I am forever changing out images (drives my husband insane) so over the years I have grown adverse to actually hammering any nails into the wall so this particular way of displaying photos is ideal for me!  Creating a collage also allows me to show lots of completely different lifestyle images, without having to worry that they are not "arty" or making sure that they go together - again, ideal since that is the type of images I mainly take! The best thing is it is so simple to do, and you can have it up on your wall in a couple of hours tops so there's instant gratification. 

Yay! - links to over 100 free photoshop collage and storyboard templates for you to enjoy! These were such a hit when I posted these previously that I thought I'd share them again.

Personally, I love making collages or storyboards in photoshop - they are a great way to show a lot of your favourite photos at the same time, and if someone else is willing to share their hard work and save me the time, all the better!