Wild horses

Do you ever have trouble buying gifts for guys? I think they are way harder to buy for than gals...and I always have a tough time picking out something for my brother for Christmas. What makes it worse is that's he's an awesome gift buyer and spends lots of time thinking about and picking out the perfect gifts for the rest of us in the family...especially for a bachelor! Ladies, you don't know what you are missing out on, because he's millions of times better at picking out an buying gifts than some guys.  Trust me...I've got personal experience here, ok?

So anyway, I did some clothes shopping for both him and the Old Man for Christmas, but I definitely needed something more. Here's what I came up with...made by me:

Did I mention he's a bachelor? I thought this would look cute in his house. It's a 12x12 photo panel from Creative Memories. This was my first time making a photo panel with them, and I was absolutely impressed! It was super easy, super quick, and the end product was nice and heavy...similar in weight and thickness to a nice plaque. Plus, the overall quality and longevity is better than anything similar on the market.

So here's how simple it was:

I started with a photo from Pioneer Woman:

 If you read Pioneer Woman, you might recognize this photo from her Mustang photo edit assignment this fall. I love the blue of the sky in the original, but it wasn't quite what I wanted for my brother..so I played and applied some of the basic color effects in iPhoto. I love iPhoto. It's perfect for photo organization & quick & dirty edits, clean ups, etc. It's everything I ever need for my family photos.

The rest was even simpler is that's possible. I went to the Creative Memories digital site and uploaded my edited photo. I dragged & dropped it onto the 12x12 blank panel template, then moved it around until I had the crop I wanted. The I used their text tools to add some lyrics. Because as soon as I saw this photo, Garth Brook's Wild Horses song started playing in my head. And then...ta da! Finished product!

I clicked order before I left for our Disney World vacation. It came while I was gone, and my little brother kindly delivered it into my house for me without being any the wiser.

His verdict? I think he was impressed I made it...and that it could be customized into anything you want. He told me it was cool...he's a man of few words, so that was good enough for me.

Linking to: Metamorphosis Monday