National Doodle Day - Friday 27th February

This Friday is National Doodle Day. The day when doodles by the rich and famous are auctioned off to raise money for charity.

We wish them well with their auction - this years includes doodles from Jonathan Ross, Joanna Lumley and Ricky Gervais to name but a few. You can check out their website by clicking here.

National Doodle Day is about having fun whilst raising funds to help people whose lives are affected by epilepsy and neurofibromatosis. Why not enter their national competition and doodle alongside hundreds of celebrities and help them to build on the £160,000 raised so far!

Don't forget when we say personalised photo gifts, what we really mean is you can take a child's painting or drawing or even your own doodles or works of art and scan them into your computer (make sure the paints dry first). The finished scan also makes for a great personalised gift!

For more help with scanning at home, why not see our earlier post - a 'masterclass' of tips and advice to help you get the most out of your home scanning, regardless of whether you're scanning for a photo gift order or just for your own uses.

An Inspector calls - HIPS Homebuyers pack tale

An inspector calls...

Well more of a surveyor really.

Let me explain. We've just put our house up for sale and a week into the process have had to stump some cash for the HIPS pack preparation.

Part of which is a survey to conclude the a-rating (energy efficiency rating) of our home.

Now being under 10 years old and still with its NHBC guarantee intact, you'd think it would be a bit of a formality - after all, we're double glazed, thermostat laden and loft insulated up to our eyeballs - sometimes it feels like we're almost hermetically sealed indoors, once we've locked up for the night.

So anyway, the surveyor turned up.

He looked at the windows, he looked at the boiler, he looked in the airing cupboard and exclaimed "Good your immersion tank is lagged" (what was he expecting? the mind boggles) and then to crown off the event, stood on our daughters bedroom chair, reached his hand through the loft space and reckoned there was a good level of insulation when he patted it with his hand.

If he used a tape measure, I never saw it (or maybe he knows how long his fingers are to the mm?).

5 minutes tops and he was off with a cheery "I don't think you have anything to worry about and you'll get a good energy rating".

What have we paid for? What of ours (and yours) potential buyers - what of ourselves when we start looking for the next place to call home, what faith do we, you, put in the energy rating.

After seeing the scientific method in which ours was carried out. I'm not sure you can reach any conclusion other than the inside of the loft can be easily reached by standing on a chair. Well that will help with putting the Christmas decorations away won't it?

And I needed a survey to tell me that?

On the subject of lofts, I came across a really good website the other week. If you're thinking of expanding rather than moving, then this website called Loftquoter. It lets you type in your own house dimensions and calculates a cost for a proper loft conversion for you there and then online. Dead easy to do - I admit I tried it and guessed at the rough dimensions, but at least I had a rough figure in mind for the job.

In fact I only later discovered the same online service does all manner of home improvement quotes - worth a visit - click here.

New Photo Cushions added to personalised cushions range

Really quick update this one but just wanted to tell you about our new photo cushions that have just this minute been added to the Fabulous Photo Gifts website.

These new personalised cushions feature a full face printing with a choice of black or cream canvas backing and come in three sizes - small, large and extra large.



The large cushion has a faux suede backing in either cream or black instead of the canvas.

All come with a removable cover, with concealed zip opening to the included fibre filler.

They make a great gift idea and compliment our existing silky feel cushions and the more recently added personalised garden cushion. In fact, we're sure they'll be a favourite personalised gift choice again this Mother's Day, so don't delay and personalise and order your photo cushion online today.

Photo aprons, Photo oven gloves, Photo Bags - more new personalised gift ideas

When Mandy at Fabulous Photo Gifts said she'd got some new personalised gift ideas she wanted adding to the website for customers to personalise and order online, she wasn't kidding.

Hot on the heels of yesterdays new additions of photo deckchairs, stools and photo canvases, today sees yet more new additions with a range of quality photo bags including personalised handbags, personalised beach bags, personalised wash bags, tote and even a baby changing bag that can be personalised with your own photographs.



Not enough for you? Well it wasn't for Mandy either as we went on to add photo aprons, photo oven gloves and even door stops that you can personalise with your own photographs.



And there's more to come as we start to work on updating our personalise and photo upload system so that you'll soon be able to.... Ah but that would be telling.

You'll have to keep an eye on Fabulous Photo Gifts in the coming weeks or subscribe to our RSS feed and get updated delivered to your reader as and when they happen.

New Photo Canvas and Personalised Deckchairs make debut

Fabulous Photo Gifts is very pleased to announce the immediate availability of three new personalised photo gft ideas on their website.

Firstly - Personalised Deckchairs and Garden Stools.



These durable and hard wearing garden chairs can be personalised with your own photograph, so there's no doubting who's chair is who's in the garden (or on the beach for that matter).

Comfortable canvas seating on a wooden frame - the personalised fabric can be removed for washing or winter storage etc.

Will you be sitting pretty in the garden this summer with your very own personalised deckchair or garden stool?

Click here to see our range of new photo gift garden furniture now.

Secondly... Introducing our new personalised stretched Photo Canvas selection.

Stretched canvas over a wooden frame, the perfect way to show off your photograph and they make a great photo gift too.



Available in 5 different square sizes and a further 7 rectangular sizes, our photo canvases can be personalised and ordered online. There's even a handy visual guide showing you how your photograph will look on the various canvas sizes.

Click here to see our exciting new range of photo canvases now.


Thirdly but not lastly (we have loads more ideas coming online this week).....

Personalised garden cushions. Our new addition to the photo cushion range is just perfect for the outdoors - decking, patio or lawn.




Made from the same hard wearing canvas featured on our deckchairs and garden stools, these huge (60cm x 60cm approx) cushions can be personalised with your own photograph and make lounging in the garden oh so comfy.

The covers feature a recessed zip fastener so that the cover can be removed and washed (at 30 degrees C) or just removed for winter storage.

Click here to see our newest photo cushion - the garden cushion.

Jonathan Ross talks to Fabulous Photo Gifts - via Twitter

THE Jonathan Ross - BBC personality - 'spoke' to Fabulous Photo Gifts on Twitter the other day.

So huge was this event that yours truly was walking around the office with a cheesy grin the rest of the afternoon.

Here's how the conversation unfolded on Twitter - the latest social networking craze - where replies or 'tweets' are restricted to just 140 characters...



Of course, Twitter isn't just about making funny comments to each other. Twitter asks the question "what are you doing?" and its small maximum post size makes it a ideal micro-blogging platform. It's also incredibly easy to keep up to date with your followers and people you're following using desktop tools like Twitterrific - much easier than keep logging into Facebook etc.

If you're running a business, you can program an RSS feed to alert you everytime someone mentions your company name or perhaps a product or an interest - wouldn't you like to know when you're being discussed - good or bad?

Here's a more fun example of such a following alert - I happened to mention the 'spanish inquisition' scene from Monty Python to a colleague and got this fun message from Cardinal Fang in return. Seems someone's taken the trouble to send this automated 'tweet' every time you mention the spanish inquisition. Go on try it yourself.



Go on give Twitter a go yourself and who knows, you might attract your own celebrity follower's.

You can follow Fabulous Photo Gifts on Twitter by clicking here: http://twitter.com/fabphotogifts

Photography site aims to bring able and disabled photographers together

DAB Photography is an innovative website we came across, that has been developed to bring the disabled and able-bodied who share an interest in photography together.

The site has helpful hints and advice for both the experienced and novice photographer. Here's an example: "To photograph a bee, spray a sugary solution onto the plant before shooting. This should keep the subject amused whilst you compose and shoot".

The site also features a forum for members to share tips and advice and we found the whole site very relaxed and informal.

DAB Photography online can be found by clicking here.

Our thanks to DAB Photography for adding our own Photo Gift banner on their website.

Don't forget Mother's Day - Sunday March 22nd - Our photo gifts make a great gift idea for mums of all ages. One of our more popular choices has been our personalised photo cushions. Click here to find out more and personalise one online now.

Photograph upload problems and cures

Every so often, we'll receive an enquiry from a customer who is trying to personalise their photo gift online, but their photograph or image isn't uploading.

We've provided a quick run down of the most common causes and ways you can use to get around the problem. We'll refer to photographs or images as files:

File name.
Sometimes, a file's name is the problem. e.g: my photo 120109 .jpg
The problem here is probably spaces in the file name. Just occasionally, a computer doesn't like spaces when it comes to file transfer over the internet.
Solution - rename the file - do a 'save as' and save it on your desktop with a filename of jigsaw.jpg - we don't record the file name so its of little relevancy for your order.

If you must use spaces, then use an _ (underscore instead of a space) e.g: my_photo_120109_.jpg

Other file name problems can include non-conforming characters e.g an @ symbol in the file name. Treatment as above.

File size.
We state we can accept file sizes of up to 10Mb but that doesn't mean your internet service providor will allow you to transfer files that large.
The solution is to either crop your file to the size its being reproduced or to reduce the DPI in steps of 10dpi down from a starting point of 300dpi until it falls below the 10Mb file size.

Connection timeout.
It's possible that if you're uploading a particularly large file, that your internet connection is timing out before the upload is complete. Try again or contact us for further advice as it may be possible to receive your file by email or even via the post.

File extension.
We can only receive uploaded files of a jpeg file type (or extension - the bit after the dot of a file name e.g myphoto.jpg). The online upload facility won't work with pdf, photoshop or publisher file extensions. Either re-save your file as a .jpg or contact us for more help.

Ordering from Fabulous Photo Gifts online is really easy and fuss free, and for 99% of our customers really is straightforward, but if you do have difficulties getting your photo to upload, then the above should help. Remember you can always contact us for advice.

When you are personalising an item in your basket, when you click on upload, you'll know when your upload has been successful because the product picture to the left of the gift you were personalising will change to a small picture of your uploaded photo and a small 'upload successful' message will appear in the very top LH corner of your screen.

You'll find more answers to the most common questions we're asked on our website by clicking here.

Fabulous Photo Gifts reviewed on fool.co.uk Valentine's Day gift ideas

Some Valentine's Day gift news we had to share...

Fabulous Photo Gifts has been reviewed on the popular money saving website - Fool.co.uk in their Valentine's Day Gift ideas round up entitled 'Find your Valentine's Day gift here for under £20'.

Here's a link:

http://www.fool.co.uk/news/money-saving-tips/shopping/2009/02/05/find-your-valentines-gift-here-for-under-20.aspx

Our range of Wooden Jigsaws, Mugs, Mousemats and personalised cushions are all mentioned with links straight to those particular photo gift pages in our popular website.

This follows on from our inclusion in their Christmas gifts round up during November/December 2008.

We'd like to thank Fool.co.uk for including us in their round up and we look forward to serving their readership during 2009 and beyond.

To order your personalised photo gift for Valentine's Day (well any occasion really) click here.

Twitter ye not!

If you haven't guessed from previous posts, Fabulous Photo Gifts can't recommend Twitter - the newest social networking platform - enough.

One of Twitter's best bits is the fact that each post (or Tweet) is restricted to 140 characters so, rather than resort to text (sms) speak, it forces uses to box clever.

Twitter is however a great way to keep in touch with and make new friends and acquaintances - including quite a few celebrity users like Jonathan Ross and Philip Schofield.

Of course its not all serious banter and occasionally, you'll spot a Tweet by someone you're following that demands a reply.

Take the other day....the following is an edited screen grab....



So you can have fun too. The thing is, once a social platform becomes a chore, then that's when you usually give up paying it attention.

The amount of media coverage Twitter has been getting this last week means if you haven't already, then Twitter is definately one you should add to your social platforms you currently use.

My thanks to Mike Doe for joining in the fun.

Snowy weather makes perfect personalised photo gifts

Hopefully you've been able to enjoy the recent snowy weather just a little bit and what great photo opportunities it bought to those lucky enough to have their workplace or school shut down.

Our very own Lucy took advantage of Thursdays heavier snow fall in our part of Derbyshire to start building a little place for the winter in our own back garden - an igloo.

Photo Gifts don't have to be all sunshine and beaches - any photo opportunity makes a great photo gift idea when coupled with our range of hand printed photo gifts including our best selling photo jigsaws etc.

Of course, we couldn't let the snow pass (or should that be melt) with a little tribute of our own so here are 13 things you may not know about snow...

When did it last snow on Christmas Day? For a white Christmas to be official, a flake of snow must be observed to fall at the four specific sites between midnight on 24 December and midnight on 25 December, even if it is mixed with rain and is not necessarily snow lying on the ground. Given this definition, England last enjoyed a white Christmas in 1999.

A HOTEL boss promised to give guests a £50 refund if they didn't get any snow on their Christmas break.
The hotelier's three-night festive deal included bed and breakfast, Christmas lunch - and a winter wonderland on December 25. 2008 was the third year he'd run the scheme - having been left nearly £3000 out of pocket due to no-snow refunds over the previous two years.

The world's largest snowflake was 38 cm wide and 20 cm thick. This occurred at Fort Keogh, Montana, USA on 28 January 1887.

The tallest snowman ever made measured 34.63 metres and was made by residents of Bethel, Maine, USA. It took 14 days to build, finally being completed on 17 February 1999. Nicknamed Angus, he had vehicle tyres for his mouth and trees for arms.

The average snowflake has a top speed of 1.7 metres per second.

They are always hexagonal but the majority are not perfectly symmetrical - uneven temperatures, dirt and other factors usually cause them to be lopsided.

Enough snow fell in Britain on February 2 for everyone in the country to make a quarter of a million snowballs each, according to Carol Vorderman.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest snowflake on record measured 38cm wide and 20cm thick. It was observed in Montana, USA in 1887 and described by witnesses as "larger than a milk pan".

It is a myth that Eskimos have 100 different words for 'snow'.

Chionophobia is a fear of snow.

A man was arrested by Police on suspicion of burglary after officers followed a trail of footprints in the snow leading away from a club which had been burgled. The track led for several hundred yards before they "disappeared" into a house in the village reported Durham Police.

in 1991, British Rail tried to explain away the disruption to rail services in London and the Souteast by claiming it was "the wrong kind of snow".

The deepest snow ever measured in an inhabited area in the UK was at Forest-in-Teesdale, County Durham, at the end of the 1947 winter when a level depth of 83 inches was recorded.


Take care if it's still snowy where you are. Don't forget, you can order a personalised photo gift online 24/7 from our easy to use website - Fabulous Photo Gifts .co.uk.