Make it Monday // PicMonkey + Zazzle for the Perfect Gift

It is nearly Thanksgiving which means we all really need to be on top of our Christmas shopping.  Mine is nearly done - I picked up a lot of things on one of our mini trips to northern Michigan - I just have to pick up a few things mainly for people that are hard to buy for in my family.  If you have some of those hard-to-buy-for-people on your list, I have an idea to share with you today.

this post contains affiliate links, please see my full disclosure here.

Have you ever heard of the site Zazzle?  Not only is this site great for invitations, announcements, and more (check my shop here), Zazzle.com has an amazing array of personalized gifts.  Not only can you choose from customizable designs but you can also create your own!  There are tons of blank canvases to work on and tons of inspiration.  I chose to go with creating a vanity tray gift since I thought it was super unique. 

I decided to work in PicMonkey even though I know Zazzle has some fun design tools.  PicMonkey offers some clipart, backgrounds, and fun fonts to play with.  I'll be using one of the brand new fonts available on PicMonkey!  They've added 7 new fonts and some of them are the ever popular calligraphy style.

First start off with an 8x10 canvas.  Crop it to the 16x9 selection to get the closest ratio to the small vanity tray.  This will give you a canvas to start designing on.

If you'd like to do a new take on a monogram, add a label overlay.  There are plenty free options to choose from but the Royale (or paid option) from PicMonkey offers more fonts, more overlays, and way more fun creating!  The cost of Royale is totally worth it - $4.99/mo or $33/year!  PicMonkey is an awesome design tool.

After adding the label overlay, use a fun calligraphy font to add the last name of the family you are creating for.  Under the Overlays tab, there is a floral option.  Use this option to place some flourishes on the scrip text.

There are a few floral overlays that play well with this design.  Adding them to the corners works great for a feminine touch!  Save your design, but don't close out of your PicMonkey window in case you need to make any changes.

Now it's time to move over to Zazzle.  Choose the small vanity tray and using the Add Image button, upload the design you've created in PicMonkey and saved to your computer.

For the most part, your image should fit in the constraints of the tray but you can also use the crop to fit button to trim off a little excess on the left and right sides of the image.

View your tray from multiple angles to make sure you like the way your design is displayed.  Then add to your cart!

If you'd like to make similar designs for multiple gifts, keep your PicMonkey Screen open and design as many as you'd like.  If you'd like to have something similar to this design, click here to download the floral image.  Then open it in PicMonkey to customize your design.  You can read more of my PicMonkey tutorials here....you know you want to!

Be sure you check out if there are any coupon codes going on with Zazzle at the time of your purchase and don't forget to use Ebates to get money back on your purchases!  This a great way to whip up a custom gift after you've stuff your face with a delicious Turkey dinner!

You can check out the stationery, invites, announcements, and more in my Zazzle shop here.

Who in your family is hard to shop for?  Would they like a personalized gift?

xoxo, Moe