The Novogratz family is back, and since I’m a fan of their accessible but eclectic decorating style, I like that they’re continuing their quest for colorful world design domination with a new line of modern custom photo gifts that should be a big hit this holiday. Because while we try to narrow down our custom photo gifts recos to the very coolest, most tend toward the traditional and sentimental.
The new Novogratz for Shutterfly collection features some fun personalized art and decor items that you can customize with your own photos and messages – and especially smart is that in addition to photos on your computer, you can now connect your Facebook or Instagram account and drop your favorite shot in, while doing some basic editing like cropping and filtering right in the template.
The whole process is super intuitive and easy. Shutterfly has gotten good at that. They’ll even tell you if your photos are too low-res for the item you’re making. I’m finding my IG photos aren’t ideal for larger products, like the big pillows. Ornaments, no problem.
Check out the selection and you’ll find a neat custom photo family tree decal, custom wall art printed on metal or wood featuring your own favorite family photos, custom photo pillows , a really fun colorful custom photo ornament, and more.
Now admittedly a couple of the products in the line are a little over the top for my tastes; I could imagine doing something really cool with a collage of photos in the colorblock table runner, like using fun pics of vintage ornaments or snow-covered trees for a holiday table runner. But filling it with photos of my kids, especially alongside words like ART and INVENTIVE and CULTURAL feels kind of …pretentious. If I could change all the words to things like JOLLY and SPARKLE, then you’ve got something.
The idea works better on the colorblock pillow for me, which would make a thoughtful grandparent gift, especially considering all the grandkids’ photos you could fit in the template.
A design tip: Don’t feel you have to use 9 different photos in a photo collage. Sometimes. Repeating a single photo or cropping the same photo in multiple ways can yield wonderful results.
Another tip: Shutterfly gives you the ability to search photos you’ve “liked” on Instagram and not just your own, to use in your creations. At first that raised a bit of a red flag for me–I’m a little sensitive about rights to original photos–but then I figured it’s probably less for passing off Nigel Barker’s photos as your own, and more of a way to scan your friends’ feeds for photos that would be make perfect custom photo gifts just for them.
I spy a picture of my colleagues Kristen and Julie and me all together in Julie’s feed that would make a very fun ornament. Shh, nobody tell them.
Find affordable modern custom photo gifts from the new Novogratz for Shutterfly collection. Ornaments and desktop plaques start at $22.99, up to $159 for a custom photo quilt. The desk plaque marked as $9,999 is clearly an error.
