EVEN MORE FUN WITH PHOTOS: MAKING STUFF

This post is about making stuff with photos. There are lots of cool websites on the net where you can do fun stuff with your photos - for free. This list is just a sampler of what's available.

You can turn a photo into a personalized eCard at Picnik, adding text, speech balloons, stickers and special effects. Some of the choices are only available to paid members, but there are still lots of free options as well. One of my favorite Picnik effects is the zoom focus.




There are also lots of free frames,
text options and special effects at Tuxpi

Surprise someone by putting their face (or your own) on a magazine cover or a billboard at Photo505...










I also use my photos to create impressionist style digital paintings. I use software called Dynamic Auto Painter. It's easy, fast and fun to do. The resulting paintings really look as if they were painted with brushes. There are a number of different styles to choose from, and various ways you can adjust the end result. I've even sold a few of my paintings as posters and cards on Zazzle. My best seller digital painting is from a photo of a Harley motorbike.




And that brings me to another fun thing you can do with photos... you can put them on physical objects like mousepads, t-shirts, and mugs. I haven't tried this particular option yet, but I will... once I make up my mind which photos to use (that's one problem with having over 12,000 images!) Zazzle has a huge range of products to customize with your own images, and you can also sell products designed by you on the website. ArtsCow also has a wide range of products including a few not covered by Zazzle such as umbrellas, blankets and watches. Both Zazzle and ArtsCow have cards, posters and canvas prints, as do Red Bubble and Imagekind.

And if you had a photo or piece of digital artwork that you really really liked, you could even turn it into a wall mural at Murals Your Way.

Have fun!