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13 delightfully creative gift ideas using your own photos
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You wont find these treasures hiding in the aisles of your local Target. - photo by Emily Cummings
Its not impossible for a gift picked up at a local superstore to be heartfelt and thoughtful, but with these ideas you are guaranteed that reaction. Put the thousands of pictures on your photo stream to use and make something truly creative and unique for anyone on your Christmas list.

Lined with love

Send your Christmas cards this year with something extra special hidden inside.a darling photo of grandkids! You are going to want to make a batch for you and for nanna and pop. Gift a box of lined envelopes for grandpa and grandpa so they can send their own lovely letters lined with some gorgeous shots of this years fall colors or the springs first flowers. This blogger shows you how, right here.

8 days a week

Family members who live far away will love seeing pictures that capture the month. This website makes it easy to add your own photo to the calendar so your aunt in Atlanta can see what everyone wore for Halloween this year.

Photos that pop

For the pop art loving guru in your family, turn a beloved pet or person into a Andy Warhol style canvas of any color. Trendy, unique, and colorful, all in one gift.

Aces

A deck of playing cards might not seem like much unless you add in your own personalized photos on the back. Remember a fun family vacation or all your favorite memories from this year every time you have the boys over the play cards.

See the world

If youve got a world traveler in your family, this is a perfect idea. Snag a few photos off their social media page and an old world map. Cut out the photos to match the outline of the countries theyve visited for a gift theyll love to hang on the wall.

Youve got mail

A simple box of colored stationary doesnt seem like much until you glue a photo of that gorgeous shot from Yellowstone. If you have an eye for photographing flowers, nature scenes, and sunsets, youve got the perfect answer for a beautifully simple gift of stationary- with a twist.

Wrap it up

Volunteer to do someones gift wrapping (and give your gift along with it) with just some ribbon and photographs. This blogger shows you the show stopping results. Wouldnt those look pretty sitting under the tree?

Picture perfect

Any Instagram loving friend of yours will adore having a coffee table sized version of their selfies and cute cat pictures. Chatbooks make it easy to pull pictures off a photo stream of Instagram account to create a beautiful book of your favorite images.

Cut it out

This gift is so pretty you might want to make one to keep yourself. This blogger used the word love but feel free to be creative here. Add in a first name for a personalized bedroom decoration, or a last name for the newlyweds first Christmas together. Anything you pick is sure to surprise.

Guess Who

Kids and family history lovers in your family will be tickled to open this gift. Replace cartoon pictures with snapshots of friends and family for a version you cant buy at the store. Check out how to give the classic Guess Who game a personal twist here.

A picture says a thousand words

Avid writers always need another journal to jot in, so why not add in some personality to the basic black book you just picked up? Print off some of your favorite prints and add them into the front and back cover (or every few pages) for some visual inspiration.

Babys first letter book

Instagram can only hold so many cute pictures of your little toddler. Take your favorite baby pictures and turn them into a beautiful first letter book and favorite keepsake. This blogger shows you how.

Picture puzzles

The holidays are the perfect time to gather around a fire place,eggnog in hand, and spend a snowy afternoon playing cards and board games. Add in a personalized puzzle to the mix for something a little more special.

Put your unused photos to work while crossing off your gift list, avoid a trip to an overcrowded retail store, and totally win at the whole gift giving part of the holidays.
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How to avoid 'sharenting' and other paparazzi parenting habits
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A recent study revealed parents often spend up to two hours staging a single photo of his or her child to post online. - photo by Amy Iverson
Before having kids, some people just dont appreciate their friends baby posts. But after having a child of their own, three fourths of new parents jump right on the parental social media bandwagon. If you have become a member of this group, there are some rules to follow for posting responsibly.

Much of a parents worry is how to teach their children to use social media responsibly. We talk with our kids about privacy, oversharing, and setting restrictions on their devices to keep them safe. But parents themselves need to look in the digital mirror once in a while. Before having children, it doesnt take as much effort to think about what to post online. Its up to us to decide what we share about our own lives. But once you become a parent, there are many questions to think about regarding what is appropriate to post about your kids on social media.

In a recent survey, kids clothing subscription company Mac and Mia surveyed 2000 new parents to find out how they are documenting their kids lives on social media, and what concerns they may have.

First of all, people without children seem to feel a bit differently about the onslaught of baby pictures online than those who are parents. 18 percent of people say before they had kids, they were annoyed by their friends baby posts. But after having children of their own, 73 percent admit they post progress pictures of their little ones every single month.

Not only are new parents letting the world know each time their baby is a month older, but they are posting about their kids every few days or so. Men and women report they post 6-7 times per month about their baby.

And while 70 percent of new parents say the benefit of using social media is how easy it is to help family and friends feel involved, there are some downsides. Here are a few tips to avoid the pitfall of becoming paparazzi parents.

Dont miss the moment

In the Mac and Mia survey, some parents admitted to spending up to two hours to get the perfect shot of their baby. That seems a little extreme. New and old parents alike should be careful about spending so much time taking pictures and videos that they dont enjoy the moment. Years ago, I decided to never live an experience through my phone. A study by Linda Henkel, a psychology professor at Fairfield University in Connecticut, found that when people took pictures of objects in an art museum, they didnt remember the objects as well as if they simply observed them.

This photo-taking impairment effect can happen to parents as well. If we are so consumed by getting the perfect photo, we can miss out on the moment all together, and our memory of it will suffer.

Dont forget about privacy

60 percent of couples say they have discussed rules and boundaries for posting their babys photos, according to the Mac and Mia survey. Even so, men are 34 percent more likely to publish baby posts on public accounts. If parents are concerned about their childrens privacy, keeping photos off of public accounts is a given.

In the Washington Post, Stacey Steinberg, a legal skills professor at the University of Florida, and Bahareh Keith, a Portland pediatrician, wrote that sharing too much information about kids online puts them at risk. They write that all that sharenting can make it easier for data thieves to target out kids for identity theft. Check that your privacy settings are where they should be and never share identifying information like full names and birth dates.

Dont be paparazzi parents

36 percent of parents say they take issue when their childs photo is posted online by someone else. Responsible social media users will always ask permission before posting a photo of another child. But parents should also think about whether their own children will take issue with their own posted photos a few years down the road.

When parents are constantly snapping pictures and throwing them on social media, it can be easy to forget to pause and make sure the post is appropriate. I always use the billboard example with my kids. I ask them to picture whatever they are posting going up on a billboard in our neighborhood. If they are okay with that, then their post is probably fine. Parents should ask themselves this same question when posting about their children. But they should also ask themselves if their child would be OK with this post on a billboard in 15 years. If it would cause embarrassment or humiliation, it might be best to keep it private.

Once children reach an appropriate age, parents should include them in the process of deciding what pictures are OK to post. Researchers at the University of Michigan surveyed 10- to 17-year-olds and found children believe their parents should ask permission more than parents think they should. The kids in the survey said sharing happy family moments, or accomplishments in sports, school and hobbies is fine. But when the post is negative (like when a child is disciplined) or embarrassing (think naked baby pictures or messy hair), kids say to keep it off social media.
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