Mother’s Day Gift Guide 2013

Now I know that homemade gifts are special, but let’s be honest, who has time for all that?! I can barely keep up with the dishes, and I don’t think I’ve finished ALL the laundry once since my son was born. If you’re like me, here’s a list of 10 pretty awesome products in no particular order for the special women in your life:

1. Handcrafted soap loaf, cutting board, and cutter from YesterYear Soap Company

YesterYear Soap Co
Multiple scents available

2. This BPA-free Mommy’s Sippy Cup by Mom at Last

Mommy's Sippy Cup

3. Print your own vivacious floral Mother’s Day card by Paper + Pip

Printable comes in 4 colors
Printable comes in 4 colors for one price

4. An elegant, unique e-reader or tablet case by Dixie’s Window

iPad Mini Kindle case
Other patterns available

5. Adorable key wristlet chain for moms on the go by Momma Bear’s Aprons & More

Key Fob
Other patterns available

6. Lovely customized mother and child pendant from Family Tree Glass

Mother & Child Custom Glass Pendant
Multiple children styles available too

and this one too, because it’s just adorable:

Baby Footprints Birth Jewelry
Babywearing, nursing, and waterbirth pendants, and even more available!

7. KitchenAid Stand Mixer (affiliate link)- Because if she doesn’t have one, she probably wants one.

Kitchen Aid Mixer

8. Diaper bags that don’t look like diaper bags by Yippydada

Yippydada

9. Personalized and customized cartoon family portrait by Abigail’s Personalized Gift Store

Personalized Cartoon Family

10. Live spring cactus plant– because live plants are way cooler than dead plants

Haven’t received permission yet to post photo.

Note: All photos above are used with permission. I have worked with one or more of the companies listed above; however, I do not have an ongoing relationship with any of these companies, nor have I or will I receive compensation for this post. Affiliate link present.

Continue Reading

Review: Picture Collage Maker for Mac

Photo greeting cards and invitations have become increasingly popular in recent years. As the quality of home photo printers improves, many families now have the capability to print their own. I received a free download of Picture Collage Maker for Mac to review. Downloaded in just minutes from the app store, this program allows me to create collages, save them as images, print, email, etc.

About:

Picture Collage Maker for Mac (retail $19.99) has more than 130 templates available for various occasions and holidays. You can also edit an existing template to fit a different theme. For example, a baby template can be adjusted and turned into a birthday template. Existing templates include wedding, baby, birthday, April Fools’, New Year’s, Christmas, Valentine’s, anniversary, Mother’s Day, and calendar designs. Additional template packages are available at 9 designs for $1.99.

  • Customize and personalize your photos. 
  • Add clip art and text, and move around.
  • Resize, crop, and move images.
  • Add or remove photos.
  • Change photo frames.
My Experiences:

I’ve been using the app daily over the last week, mostly to make collages for blog posts. But I did make a collage of Baby J’s newborn pictures for the relatives. =) I saved it as a JPEG file, emailed it, and uploaded it to our shared Dropbox.

Picture Collage Maker

I found the program really easy to use. When you first download it, a video tutorial pops up, but I think most people can figure out the program without watching anything. Worst case scenario, there’s an undo button. 🙂 Our printer is kaput, so I haven’t tried printing any photos yet. I’ll have to update when I do. My public affairs experiences involved a great deal of design and layout as well as printing images. I’ve learned that the quality of the original image is important, but stretching or cropping a photo reduces its quality. These are things to keep in mind whenever working with photos you intend to print.

There is one thing that I think would make this app better. I’d like to see a font preview before I select the font and apply it to my text. Otherwise, I have to select and apply font after font, until I find a look I like. It’s a painstaking process, when I know there are easier ways out there.

I’ll be using this program to create Mother’s Day cards for both my mom and Hubby’s mother. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll print them or just email them, but either way- I’m sure they’ll be pleased. Moms love photos of their kids and grandkids, right?

Watch this quick video to see how to easily customize a greeting card with Picture Collage Maker for Mac:

Picture Collage Maker for Mac usually retails for $19.99, but is currently 30% off as a Mother’s Day sale. It’s a limited sale, so make your purchase soon!

Note: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Compensated Pink

Vote Banner

Top Mommy Blogs

Continue Reading