Why Different is Good

What makes us unique here at Pictures Made Personal?

For one thing, unlike other sites where you just get to plug your photo and info into a pre-made template, we're willing to customize your project as much as you'd like to make it really reflective of you and your occasion. We also touch up those photos you send us so they're the best possible quality.

But the biggest difference is in the format of the product you receive. Everywhere else, you'd receive flat printed copies of your photos, invitations, or announcements for a certain cost per print. Here at Pictures Made Personal, we know that you might have other uses for your finished product too. So, while you won't actually receive any prints from us, you'll get the .jpg file we designed just for you, and the limited copyright for it too, meaning that you can do anything with it you like except resell it. That means you can email it to family and friends, post it on Facebook, MySpace, blogs, or other websites, use it in memory books or scrapbooks, have it put on mugs or t-shirts or anything else you could do with a digital photo. And, of course, you can have it printed to send out those invitations or announcements by mail.

We did a little math to make sure you were getting a good deal, and here's what we discovered. We researched several graphic design websites offering photo announcements and invitations, and chose a random number, 30 announcements. The lowest price we could find was $1.69 per card, which came to a total of $50.70 before shipping and handling. When you order an announcement, invitation, or card from us, you'll be paying between $25-35 for the design, depending on the amount of customization you'd like. And if you want them printed, you have the option of doing it yourself at very little cost or using a photo processing center. We found several that only charge $0.09 per card, which would come to just $2.70 for 30 prints. So your total cost would be between $27.70 - 37.70, not to mention that you also own the file forever and can print out as many more copies as you like or use it digitally anywhere you'd like to share it with family and friends. Different is good!

Be sure to check out our galleries often for updates as we create new projects. We are currently working on some sizing issues with some of Julie's work in the Photo Enhancement section; please bear with us! Thanks for stopping by!

hello, world!

Today we are beginning an exciting new adventure and hope you'll come along for the ride! We're Amy and Julie, the designers here at Pictures Made Personal, and we both love playing around with photos to create all sorts of things. Instead of just making things for ourselves, we want to extend the invitation to you and hope that we can help you out with your photo needs. We have three basic specialities:

PHOTO ENHANCEMENT: This involves simple things that make your photos look their best, like red-eye, scratch, and blemish removal, brightness/contrast adjustment, skin smoothing, sharpening and/or softening, and other "quick fixes" that we see would improve the quality of your photo. It can also involve changing your photos to black and white or sepia toning, adding simple text, and adding edges/frames.
$10 for first photo, $5 for each additional photo

INVITATIONS, CARDS, AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: Need invitations for a birthday or anniversary party? Want a personal way to introduce that special someone or announce your marriage? What about personalized thank-you's, or Christmas cards that really reflect your family's interests and personalities? We custom design the invitation or announcement you need using a variety of colors, themes, and layouts. We send you the digital file, ready for printing, and you can either print it at home or take it to a photo processing center to get your paper copies. All you need to send us is the photo[s] you want us to use; we'll touch them up and make something you'll love to send to your family and friends.

$25 for existing design with your photo and info inserted, $35 for custom design

SIGGIES: Siggies are a collage-type combination of photos, graphics, and text. They can be a lot like digital scrapbooking, and can be printed or used digitally on your websites, blogs, and myspace/facebook etc. You provide the photos and give us an idea of text/themes you'd like, and we'll make you something one-of-a-kind.

Prices starting at $25, depending on design and customization desired

*Some sample siggies contain graphics that are not liscenced for commercial use. These samples were created legally, for personal use only. Those particular embellishments and papers will not be used in products created for customers; they are just to show samples of our work.

You'll notice our portfolio in the right-hand sidebar. It's divided into the same three categories for simple viewing. Please take a look! We've displayed just a small sampling of our work to give you some ideas. Your custom request can be based on what you see in the galleries; just tell us what you liked and we'll use your photos to make something similar. We can change colors, themes, and layouts to meet your needs. For example, until Julie's little girl arrives, most of our baby samples are very 'boy-ish' but we can certainly make something appropriate for your little lady! If you have a different idea, we'll see what we can do to make it happen. Since every project is unique, pricing varies depending on the nature of the request. Please contact us at picturesmadepersonal@gmail.com to find out more about the project you have in mind. Submitting photos to us guarantees that you have the right to distribute and use those photos. All finished products will be sent to you in high-quality digital form, ready for you to email, post, print or take to your local photo processing center. Thanks for stopping by; hope we can make you something you and your family will love.

-amy and julie