This post is sponsored by Staples Print & Marketing Services. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Poppytalk.

If you're looking for a bespoke gift this holiday,  photo gifts are a great option and surprisingly, easy to make. We collaborated with Staples this holiday season to make a few gift ideas using their Print & Marketing Services.

I was happy to see they now make tote bags that one can customize, and so for a fun twist, I added some text to my photo to create a fun bag for a good friend (who is a true feminist).  Here's how we made it.






DIY Photo Tote Bag

You can make a tote bag by simply uploading your image to Staples Print & Marketing Services  and following the directions there. It's super easy and fun to do!

But if you want to add words to a photo like we did, you'll need to first do so using a photo editor application. Here's how we made ours.

To start, you'll need to make sure your image is large enough so it doesn't pixelate.  I used an original image from my camera (approx. 3457 x 5198 pixels) at 300 dpi.  You'll also need a photo editor application like Photoshop or even Illustrator can work.  I like using Illustrator when using text as it's a little more text friendly.  Open your application and open the image or place the image (if using Illustrator).  Make sure your image is a hi-res image as mentioned above. If using Illustrator you'll need to edit your art board around your image. To do that, once you have placed your image into your new document do the following:


1. Click on "File" then click on "Document Set Up".
2. At the top right hand corner of the window that just opened up click on "Edit Artboard"
3. Then drag the dotted line around the edges around the image, then click on the arrow key to click away.

To place the text: 
1. Open up a text box by clicking on the "T" (for text) in the toolbox
2. Choose a font. I used "Futura". Click on "Type", then "Font" and drag down till you find the font you wish to use.
3. Type in your phrase.  If you need to, you can select to center your phrase by selecting the "center" option in the paragraph panel in the toolbox.
4. Save the file as a jpg to your desktop.
5. Visit Staples Print & Marketing Services and upload your .jpg file by following the instructions on their site.  

Simply upload your photo to their Staples Print & Marketing Services , it's that simple plus it's back to you in no time.