Valentines Day Gifts

Someone sent us a comment a few days ago saying he saw a New York Times article about a company called PhotoFiddle.  So I took a look at the site, and it seems like it would be a great idea for a Valentines Day gift.  PhotoFiddle takes your pictures and turns them into an oil painting, with a bunch of different options.  Anything from black and white, kaleidescope, colored squares, film negative strips, or even collage, which is depicted below (not so well - I think they’re careful about people stealing images).  It’s a pretty cool site - would be perfect for couples.

Do you ever go through your photo albums and think that you just can’t get enough of seeing your favorite candids?  There’s been some photos I have of family or friends that I know I could just stare at all day.

And, better yet…… I could stare at my favorite photo while staying all warm and cozy.  Ah yes……. a photo blanket.  It’s actually a neat idea and one that’s for anyone.  The neat thing is that TreasureKnit offers not only blankets, but pillows, bags, collages, and even towels.

You know when you were little, you made sand castles on the beach or wrote little messages?  Well, how about writing a romantic sand message to the one you love and framing it as to look at it all the time? 

This is a perfect, and very inexpensive gift if you live in a warm place near a beach, but most of the US is covered in snow around this time of year.  If this is you, then there are sites that can help you with this idea.  They will take the picture and you pay of it.  It’s still a great gift that your special someone will cherish forever.

Nice list Hot Chick! I only threw up in my mouth when I thought about watching a few of those. Oh, just kidding. Well, only half-kidding anyway. I’ve never seen Love and Basketball, but I’ll have to at some point. And I need to make a Chick-Flicks that Guys Don’t Mind Watching list.

With no transition, I wanted to mention Canvas on Demand again. I talked about this a long time ago, but these canvases are just incredible. My boss recently got one for his father-in-law’s funeral. Every single one I’ve seen so far has nearly brought someone to tears. Basically what they do is take a photo and enlarge it to a mixture of a painting and photo and imprint it on a canvas. You’ll really have to see it to appreciate it, but they make perfect Valentines Day gifts.

Nice, good one Hot Chick!  The Princess Bride is a classic.  Did you know that Andre the Giant once drank 119 12-oz beers in a 6 hour period?  Inconceivable!  Can’t wait to see what’s next.

So I was scouring the web for different gift ideas, and I found a great site that you can go to for many different personalized gifts, MemorableGifts.com.  They have a lot of gifts there that really qualify as ‘gifts you give when you have no idea what to get but don’t want to get in trouble by giving a gift certificate’.  And yes, that’s a new official gift giving category - don’t act like you wouldn’t get in trouble if you bought a gift card - even if it was to your loved one’s favorite store.  My favorite of the ‘gifts you give when you have no idea what to get but don’t want to get in trouble by giving a gift certificate’ is the personalized CD/DVD cover.

This is a pretty cool idea - you make either a mixed CD of your favorite songs, or you make a DVD of videos or pictures together.

I know I’ve had a lot of photograph ideas but I keep finding more and more unique ideas to share.  This idea is actually pretty cool because you can turn one of your simplest photos into a magical light. 

What’s so neat and different about this magical light is that there is no actual photograph within the picture.  Light Affection takes the photo that you provide and carves a duplicate copy for display.  The light is placed behind which displays the beautiful illusion of your memorable moment.  It’s simply a unique way to show someone you care and can be a great gift for anyone!

Do you have way too many pictures of your sweetheart or even family and friends around your house?  well, I’ve thought of a way to display your favorite pictures but in a more rotating fashion.  It’s a personalized photo calender that can be pictures of your realtionship or family. 

It’s a cute gift for anyone really, including Mom and Dad.  It might even be cool mixing your relationship with family and friends.  That way, if you’re sick of looking at your significant other, just wait until the month is over and flip to a picture of you and your friends.

I can’t believe that in that rambling on about movies and sports bars and Hooters, you actually think I made a valid point. Sweet - I’ll pat myself on the back for that one. However, I’ll try not to sound so bitter this time.

I ran across a site today called FrameMyPhotos.com. It takes a your photos and digitally frames them so it’s easy to send out for Christmas cards, Birthday Invitations, Birth Announcements - really any reason you can possibly have for sending photos either on the web or the actual physical photo. The cost is next to nothing too - looks like some pretty cool software.

You could send this custom photo gift along with your e-card in the morning, flowers in the afternoon, dinner at night, and you have a nice little day planned.

Have you ever struggled with ideas of what to do with your special someone? You could watch tv or a movie but then you’re not really conversing at all. You could read, but then again there lies the question of how to communicate. I enjoy playing board games, but I’ve run out of new ones to play. Ok…… how about putting together a puzzle? Not just any puzzle….. maybe a puzzle of each other or a memory captured by picture.

With these romantic puzzles, you can use photos or pictures sent in by email. These can be gifts for anyone. How about a portrait puzzle for Mom and Dad? Or even fun pictures of the kids.

My favorite puzzle idea is the marriage proposal. How cute would that be to be putting the puzzle together and put in the final piece that has “Will you marry me” on it? Definitely a great way to a girl’s heart.

Do you ever worry about losing your priceless possessions like your pictures, videos, letters, etc? I know a lot of people who have been affected by floods, tornadoes, or simple carelessness and will never get those items back. Hopefully the memories remain, but you can’t really pass them along to future generations.

On the web, the risk is dampened some. It’s very easy to save your pictures, videos, and emails. But what happens when your computer crashes (like I’m sure all of us has experienced)? And what if you lose your backup CDs? Your priceless moments may be gone forever.

Well, now you can have a backup to your backup’s backup. I found a website called www.100yearwebsite.com which acts as an online time capsule for anything you want to save. Could be perfect to make absolutely certain that the unforgettable moments for you can be passed down to your kids as well.