One of my favourite gifts to give is customized art. Since I am snap happy, I usually have a multitude of photos that are ripe for the picking each Christmas time to give to our favourite aunts, uncles and grandparents. If you’re talented and interested in this, you can easy make them not only for personal, but also for commercial use. Name your brand, design your logo and start a social media campaign on YouTube, gaining views for beginning. This August, on my parents 40th wedding anniversary, my sister challenged each one of our siblings to come up with 10 things we had learned from my parents. Some of them were more lengthy then others, but we found there was some commonalities between each of them. She was so pleased with the result, she asked me to make them into subway art on a canvas.

Growing up as kids, we always had the “Life’s Little Lessons” on the wall at the house and then cottage. My parents would frequently point to some of the verses as a little reminder. In return, we would highlight the “HAVE A DOG” since we did not have one. When the 40 Life Lessons were unveiled, they read each one out individually, laughed, and reminisced. My parents quickly were able to identify what author was which kid of theirs, and poke fun at the weird ones that were included!

My other great gift included photos of both of my children, and the other grandparent. I didn’t hear much about how it was received, other than a thank you. The next time I stopped by grandma’s house though – I noticed the photo collage had gained a spot of honour. Grandma hung it right over her bed. It was a proud moment to know she was thinking about those grandkids when she woke up each day.

These gifts have been some of the most well received that I have ever DIYed. This holiday season, you can order your favourite photos into canvas too – or use the funky Word Art Maker to make your own piece of subway art that will make you smile everyday. I’m currently eyeing up some of my favourites on Instagram in designing a new gallery wall for the wild+free farm.