Personalised Star Wars Film Posters - May the 4th be with you

Today is that special time of the year when we can get our 'Star Wars' on and say to the world "May the 4th be with you!" With the hugely successful new movie "The Force Awakens" attracting a whole new generation of fans to the Star Wars franchise, it's great to see some cool merchandise on the market. Such as these awesome personalised Star Wars movie posters from Photobox.

You can choose between two designs and two sizes (24" x 16"  or 45" x 30").

The Star Wars The Force Awakens design puts you into the heart of the action with BB8, Rey, Finn, C3PO, R2D2 and Chewbacca.

The original Star Wars: A New Hope move poster has a classic, retro feel and features Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Obi Wan Kenobi, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, C3PO and R2D2.

Both posters have room for a single photograph for personalisation, and are perfect for any Star Wars fans. So whether you fancy yourself as a rebel, a Stormtrooper or a Jedi, you can put yourself in the picture!

The posters are printed on to Fuji Film Crystal Archive digital photographic paper for a quality finish. The detail of the images is spot on and the overall effect looks really cool.

The 24" x 16" poster is £12.00 and the 45" x 30" poster is £18.00.

If you are not a Star Wars fan, you can add a photo to posters featuring Frozen, Spiderman or Disney Princesses instead, so you will find the perfect wall art to suit your taste and become a part of the magic.

You can find the movie posters on the Photobox website at www.photobox.co.uk/shop/wall-decor/movie-posters.

What Santa does on the other 364 days of the year

It's nearly Santa’s busiest day of the year, but have you ever wondered how he spends the other 364 days?  

A fun festive poll has been commissioned by photo gifting service PhotoBox, who asked children aged 5-8 to describe what they think Santa does when he’s finished delivering their presents, and the results were quite magical. According to the children, Santa’s January is spent fast asleep next to a cosy log fire, cuddling a teddy bear (69%).  He does deserve a well earned rest after all the hard work.

By February, Santa is ready for Valentine's Day and is romancing his one and only Mrs Claus with love letters (72%). 36% of children think Santa celebrates his birthday enjoying ice cream (36%) but his favourite meal, according to 21% of kids, is fish and chips. However only 3% said he'd enjoy eating broccoli! Santa's favourite tipple is a chilled beer (26%) so maybe we should leave him a frosty lager instead of a glass of port on Christmas Eve?

For Halloween, Santa dresses up as a pumpkin (16%) and he loves the pretty coloured sparklers on Bonfire Night (25%). Santa's best friend for sharing Sunday Dinner with is apparently the Tooth Fairy, according to a quarter of the children asked. (Hope Mrs Claus is OK with that!)

In his downtime, when he’s not ‘chilling out with the elves’, Santa has some interesting hobbies including singing (42%), colouring in (27%), baking (25%), shopping (20%), skateboarding (12%) and bungee jumping (6%). 

39% of children thought that Santa was eco-friendly, using a traditional pen and recycled paper to make his naughty and nice list of all the boys and girls at Christmas.

Inspired by the findings, PhotoBox has captured some wonderful photographs of Santa throughout the year, and has made the beautiful images available to download online. You can even make your own Santa calendar using their photos and enjoy the secret life of Santa Claus throughout 2016.

To download Santa’s photos for the year ahead and get started on your own personalised calendar, visit: www.photobox.co.uk or download the PhotoBox apps from the App Store, GooglePlay or Amazon.

Creative Christmas Gifts - Make It Sunday

Photobox has carried out some research and discovered that over 2 million Brits will have already started hand making festive gifts to give to their loved ones at Christmas. October 25th was dubbed Make It Sunday, marking the weekend that UK gift givers started lovingly creating personalised and hand made gifts. Staring early and being organised is a great way to keep Christmas stress to a minimum.

The trend for personalised gift giving sees an average of £15.21 being spent on each gift with up to 14 hours of work going into creating them. Two thirds of shoppers will go online to order a personalised gift, which will be appreciated twice as much as something bought on the high street. 72% of people surveyed said they would prefer something that has been made especially for them and we feel four times more satisfaction giving them. So it's really a win-win situation all round!

Gifts made using a photograph come out as the top choice when it comes to personalised gifts. After all, who wouldn't want a present with a loved one's face, an adored pet or a favourite place printed onto it!?

Photobox have sent me some credit so I can join in with the 'Make It Sunday' phenomena, creating some lovely gifts and joining in with the 'Make It' craze. From framed prints to teddy bears to bags to mugs, there is a huge choice when it comes to personalised photogift.

One of my favourite gifts to give grandparents at Christmas is a photo calendar. Featuring up to 12 pages of photographs of the grandchildren, it's a gift that gives all year round. Photobox have a selection of calendars including desk calendars to poster calendars to A3 calendars to suit all tastes. They can be purchased online and then created within one month, taking off the pressure of doing them there and then.

To make a good photo gift, Photobox give the following advice for taking and choosing the perfect pictures.

The website itself is easy to use. You simply upload your chosen photo images to the site, which are stored in an online album. Good quality, high resolution images work best. You can then use them to create your perfect personalised gifts. You can add text, edit images, pick product designs and choose optional extras to make a gift to be proud of. Once you have created a photo gift you get the chance to review it before committing to a purchase. The site lets you know if any photos are missing or if any are low resolution, giving you the chance to re-edit your creation.

Once you are happy you can order your gift and it will be delivered to your door within a few working days, in plenty of time for Christmas!

So join the 'Make It Sunday' revolution and get making some gifts that your loved ones will love and that you will be proud to give.

Find out more and check out the regular special offers and discount codes at www.photobox.co.uk.

For super quick gift making on the go, PhotoBox have a mobile website and an app, available on the App Store, Google Play and Amazon.

Photobox for Christmas

When it comes to giving Christmas presents that will be cherished long after the Christmas decorations are taken down, I know photo gifts will fit the bill perfectly.  Immortalizing favourite photographs onto something that will be treasured for years to come, is a perfect present idea.

This year, Photobox have given me the chance to test some of their best selling gifts, personalising them with some of my own favourite images, to make bespoke presents for my family.

Personalised iPhone Photo Case

You can really make your iPhone stand out from the crowd with an iPhone photo case.  Using a single photo or making a collage of favourite snaps, the case is lightweight and hard wearing.  The case is available for any iPhone from the 3G to the 5S and makes a great gift.  I love the idea of having photos of loved ones at hand all day long!

It is so easy to make the case using the layout templates, picking the background colour and using photos uploaded to your online album.  You can drag and drop the images and rearrange them until you are happy with your design.  You can have a matt or gloss finish.

The finished product arrives quickly, well packaged and sealed in a plastic case, ready to wrap up and pop under the tree.

• iPhone 5/5S, iPhone 4/4S or iPhone 3G/3GS cases
• Brand new design has photo printed all the way down the side too
• Features one or more photos of your choice
• Your choice of layout or background
• High quality scratch–resistant plastic
• Lightweight & hardwearing
• Cut–outs for volume control & camera
• Matt finish option for iPhone 4/4S & 5/5S
• Dispatched in just 2 days

 Currently on special offer at just £12!

Create your own iPhone Photo Case here!



Thornton's Photobox Collection

Everybody loves to receive chocolates for Christmas.  So this wonderful, personalised box of yummy Thornton's chocolates will be well received by any lucky grandparent, parent, friend or loved one.  Featuring a single, landscape image on the front, this box of choccies will put a huge smile on anybody's face.  I think it is a lovely idea, making something really special and thoughtful for that special person.

The photo on the front simply needs to be chosen, and the finished product can be previewed online prior to ordering.

• Selection of Thorntons finest milk and dark chocolates filled with a variety of delicious centres
• Choose from 12, 24 or 36 chocolates in a single, double or triple layer
• Add your photo to create a unique chocolate box
• Single photo on box measures 17.8cm by 11cm
• Next working day dispatch - order before 11 AM

 Priced from £19.99 for a box of twelve to £27.99 for thirty six chocolates.

Create your own box of Thornton's Photobox Collection chocolates here.


A3 Photo Wall Calendar

I love having a photo calendar to hang on my wall, so I get to see pictures of my gorgeous kids and grandson all year through.  The A3 wall calendars are a perfect size and will keep you organised for the next 12 months!

To make the book, you need to choose a theme.  I went for a simple Photographic Black, but there are many more colourful and patterned themes if you prefer something fancier.  You then pick the photos you want to use from your album and drag and drop them into position using one to three images per page.  You can add text if you wish.

The front is protected by a thick plastic sheet and the pages are made from thick, glossy card.  The printing is clear and crisp giving a top quality finish to your personalised calendar.  The A3 size is perfect, making it large enough for practical use, plus the photos look great hung on the wall.  The calendar comes spiral bound for easy hanging.

As an added option, you can add unlimited photos or text to mark special days for just £2.99.  I decided to use just text so I had room to write on the spaces too, but the photo option looks really cool and doesn't cost any extra (I may be regretting that decision now!)  It is very useful to get special dates pre-printed on to the calendar, and this would make a very practical gift idea for grandparents who struggle to remember all the birthdays!

• Unlimited photos for special days just £2.99
• Month-to-view layout
• Choose your own start month
• All you need is 13 photos
• Layouts with 1-3 photos
• Spiral bound white or black pages
• 13 double-sided pages
• 250gsm premium card
• 3 working days production time

The A3 Wall Calendar is currently on offer from just £9.95 (for a multiple purchase) which is 60% off!  A brilliant gift idea for a fabulous price!

Create your own photo calendar here.

As ever, I was incredibly impressed with the ease of ordering, the service, the turnaround of my order, the speed of delivery and the carefully packaged finished goods.  Top marks to Photobox for making Christmas shopping that much easier!

Take a look at Photobox.co.uk for lots of fabulous gift ideas including phone or iPad cases, chocolates, diaries, calendars, mugs, T-shirts, canvases, coasters, jigsaws and prints.  Right now there are some fantastic special offers across the site including a 3 for 2 mix and match offer valid until midnight on November 14th. Photobox often have great special offers so be sure to keep an eye out for some brilliant bargains on personalised photo gifts this Christmas.  Get your orders in quickly though to guarantee Christmas delivery!!

I received the above goods for the purpose of this review but the opinions and high praise are 100% my own!

Photobox Photo Book Review

This summer's holiday to Disneyland Paris resulted in over a thousand photographs of Ian, the kids and myself having fun in the sun, meeting characters and going on rides.  Showcasing a selection of these shots in a photo book is such a lovely way to share them with family and friends, and preserve the memories in hard copy.  Photobox kindly offered us the chance to try out one of their new A4 Classic Collage Books and I was very happy to make one!

You need a minimum of just 26 photographs to make the photo book, but I had almost 150 in my whittled down holiday album.  You can opt to autofill your book, using the images in the order you uploaded and selected them, or to work manually.  Autofilling with a lot of images tends to put the images into extra pages which costs more.  Making the book yourself allows you to choose different page layouts using up to 12 images per page, obviously a more cost effective method when working with a lot of photos.

The process itself is quite simple.  Working online, you just drag and drop the selected images in the space that you want them and add text in the text boxes.  There is the option to pick different backgrounds with themes such as holiday, love or baby to choose from.  These can then be applied to individual pages or across the whole book to add colour and detail to your book.

The photo book creator has the uploaded photos on the bottom half of the page, and the pages of the book shown on the top of the page. The one you are working on is highlighted. I would prefer to work with the two page spread shown larger on the screen with the ability to scroll sideways onto the next page.  I think this is probably down to my age and eyesight wanting a bigger working surface!

I really like the option to show only unused photos which helps you to see what ones you have left to use. Even though used images are marked, you can go a bit image blind when dealing with lots of pics and this avoids accidentally using an image twice or missing a favourite snap out altogether.  Staying organised is really helpful when making a photo book!

When ordering, you have the option to add on extra upgrades. The checking out process was very straightforward.  Within a few days, I received an email telling me the book had been dispatched and it arrived the next day, securely boxed and plastic wrapped keeping it in perfect condition.

The book has a hardback black cover with nine apertures, through which nine of my photographs show framing them perfectly.  It is a lovely effect.  the pages are thick and glossy and the print quality is very good with excellent colour and clarity.  It's such a lovely way to display your favourite photos.

I was impressed with the backgrounds I used.  They added colour and interest.  I went for a mix and match theme rather than sticking to one design and I think it works well, helping to tell the story of my photos. I used backgrounds that I thought went with my photos.  I like the way you can adjust the layouts which gives some full page images alongside pages containing lots of small pictures.  It makes the photo book really visually interesting and allowed me to get in over 150 photographs!

All in all, I am delighted with the photo book.  Making it was very easy to do. The colour, quality, clarity and design of the finished product is great.  The collage apertures on the front cover are really attractive and look very distinctive.  The service is excellent, the packaging was very good and the delivery was fast and efficient.  The price for the A4 Collage Photo Book starts at £27.99 but there are often special offers or discount codes available.  Photo books and other photo gifts make excellent personalised presents for loved ones.

Find out more at www.photobox.co.uk.

Photobox

I was lucky enough to be approached by Photobox to become a tester for their products and services.  Photobox is the one-stop-shop for beautiful and innovative ways to make the most of your family pictures.  They have over 3.5 million members in the UK trusting them with their precious photos everyday.

I had my account credited with £30 so I could experience the service like any other member and then report back on the good, the bad and the ugly!

I am guilty of taking hundreds of digital snaps and uploading them onto my laptop and forgetting about them.  I have literally hundreds of photos from this year alone.  Precious pictures of my children that deserve better, are languishing unseen on my hard drive!  So the prospect of making an A4 photobook was a perfect idea for me!

The website was easy to navigate and offers options at every step to ensure that you are creating exactly the product you want to fulfil your needs.  The online software offers you a choice of themes for your photobook, from the best-selling Baby's First Year Book to the contemporary Classic design.

I made a folder on my laptop of the pictures I wanted to include and ended up with some 180 photos taken over the last four months.  I then added these photos onto an album on Photobox ready to create my photobook.  While they were uploading I was able to get on with my creation.

You have the option to make an Instant Photobook where all the hard work is done for you.  It is a super quick way to produce a beautiful book.  You can then edit and add text to personalise it.  However, I opted to go for the DIY manual method which gives you total control over page layouts allowing you to maximize how many pictures you use and in what order they will be printed.  This obviously takes longer, but I really enjoyed dragging and dropping the photos in the order I wanted them to be, editing them in-situ, experimenting with different layouts and adding text boxes. I managed to include all my photos in the standard 26 pages, whereas the instant option would have required an extra 72 pages to feature all my pictures!  These are charged at £1.50 per 2 pages. (It made it very clear that I would be charged extra to have the book that way.) So that is worth considering when you decide how you want to create your book, especially if using  a lot of photographs.

I regularly saved my creation as I went along to be sure I didn't lose my work. There was no glitches in the system and I created my book smoothly and without any technical difficulties.  I ordered my book and was extremely impressed to see it arrive on my doorstep three days later.

The packaging was very good.  A sturdy cardboard outer contained the plastic covered photobook, so even the postal service and the weather couldn't spoil my creation!

The book itself was simply gorgeous!  A cut out on the front cover showed my first page photo through.  I had picked a snap that always makes me smile featuring my eldest son ruining a family photo by pulling a silly face!

I used a variety of layouts that maximized the number of pictures I could use.  The size of the book meant that even with 12 photos displayed on a page, they were still a good size.  The printing is clear and sharp and the end result is really great.

I think that a photobook is a much better way of displaying photographs than using an album.  It takes up less space and is much easier to flick through.  I love the option of being able to add text, making a real story book of your family's fun for years to come.  No memories will be lost.  I love it!

Ian was very impressed when I showed him the book I had made and poured through the pages with great delight, spotting moments from the last four months captured within its thick, glossy pages.

A4 Photobooks start at £24.99 (+ P&P).  Pricing is clear and straightforward with options to add extras such as a personalised cover, extra pages or upgraded paper quality.  There are often discount codes available such as the current offer of 35% off all hardcover photobooks.  Offer code:HCBOOKS valid until 12/05/11.  So now is a perfect time to get your digital photography in order by making your own quality Photobox photobook!