A Non-Traditional First Birthday Gift

A few weeks ago one of my best friends’ little babes turned one year old! Hooray for toddlers! Welcome to the world of broken everything and lots of whining and temper tantrums! Luckily, it’s also the world of “I love you mama” and huge hugs and recognizing animals and all sorts of other wonderment, which pretty much makes up for all the bad stuff.

I knew I wanted to give them something special for their little one’s big day, but since they live in a tiny apartment in NYC, I figured any toy or gadget would just take up space they couldn’t afford to lose. I thought about giving them a book, but I knew they had a ton of reading material already and, again, there’s the space issue. I wanted to get them something personal, but I’m not much for monogramming or embroidering blankets, so that was out. In the end, I chose a super simple idea that turned out amazing! Personal, sweet and won’t take up too much space…behold, an Instagram canvas!

I snapped this picture of their little family while waiting for the subway when I was in NYC in May. I loved how it was an unplanned moment (right after this shot, we tried to pose some, but this one turned out the best) and it totally exemplified their lives in the city. Making the image into a canvas was so simple. There are tons of ways to go about it, but I ended going to Acme Gifts in Manhattan, Kansas, when I was in town for family events. I took my phone with me, uploaded the image to their computer and a week later, tadaa! A beautiful canvas. I loved using Acme because they are locally owned and they had examples on hand of Instagram images on canvas. I was worried that the image would turn out pixelated, since Instagram dramatically reduces pixels when it compresses your images, but on a 12×12 canvas, it looked great! Having those examples on hand squashed some of those fears.

Another shop I’ve used for canvas in the past is Canvas OnDemand. I’ve never done an Instagram canvas through them, but their larger canvases are great quality and reasonably priced. Plus, they have Groupons a few times a year, so I try to get those when I can to lessen the price a bit more.

I wrapped the canvas pretty simply, using Kansas City newspaper clippings (which I knew they’d get a kick out of in NYC) and red and white bakers twine. I attached a little homemade card, where I used some of Elise’s stamps to personalize it a bit. You can see the final wrapping here (it’s the main photo on the weekly wrap up post).

There you have it, a simple, easy first birthday gift, that is personal and will be loved for years to come! Happy Instagramming!