Photo Charms - Personal Christmas Gifts With Style From Zazzle

I have been looking at ideas for personal Christmas gifts this year, and have found what I think is a brilliant way of making a really unique piece of jewelry for a loved one. Photo charms! These pretty trinkets are from Zazzle, and can be personalized with any pictures, text, or artwork, that you like, or even a combination of all three.

I was lucky enough to receive a gift voucher from Zazzle, (thank you Zazzle!) and ordered three charms to test them out.

I have a lovely charm bracelet which I am slowly filling with crystals, shells, and 3D silver charms. I make all of the crystal charms myself, using gemstone beads and wire. How cool would it be to be able to add photos to my bracelet too!


My charms arrived really quickly, I was thrilled with the quality and print. The charms are quite large, and very glossy, beautiful!

The photos came out just like I wanted, even the scan I made of a 'retro' Polaroid featuring me and my brother playing in our Wendy house. The picture shows the charms that I received from Zazzle, to be honest, none of my photos do the charms justice, as they are much more colorful in 'person'.

I chose photos that were very personal to me. I uploaded a pic of my deceased dog, Mutley, a photo scene from somewhere that I really love (the local woods) and the afore-mentioned Polaroid of me and my bro'. One that I thought would be nice to preserve forever. Here it is below next to the actual polaroid, I was so impressed with the way the picture came out!



 




Here they are clipped onto my charm bracelet. They look so good with my other charms and trinkets! I can't stop looking at them, :) Happy Face!

They are large enough to dangle below my crystal and silver charms, and peek out from my sweater sleeve! I love how they look, and I love the way my bracelet jangles now!

The charms are sterling sliver plate, and come with a lobster claw type closure. They can be easily clipped clipped on and off. Aside from being worn on a charm bracelet, they can be worn on necklaces, earrings, bags, wallets, and even used as really cool zip closures.

On my necklace

Photo charms on my bag

Looking cute on my wallet

Now that I have seen how cute these are I am definitely going to continue to build up my bracelet, and of course design some for friends and family too. I think these would appeal to all ages, and are a fantastic gift for that hard to buy for person who has 'everything'.

A Gift That You Can Add To

A Photo charm bracelet can be added to on birthdays, Christmas, graduation, and other special occasions. Indeed all of these occasions can also be captured on film and added to it too! I am going to hunt out precious old pics that trigger good memories, and add those bit by bit (I don't want to fill mine up too fast, and plan to choose them really carefully) I want it to become a tradition for me to add a charm at least once a year. And a tradition to give them too... in fact a family or group of friends could all make charms for each other! How cool is that! 

Themed Bracelet Ideas

• Family Charm bracelet

This bracelet could be built up of charms with family members photos, pets, relatives, and even ancestors. I intend to add some ancestors to my own bracelet. If my Grandmother could see, this would make the ideal gift for her. Not just my Grandmother my whole family, but especially my Grandmother as she would really wonder at how the photos got onto the charms, she would be enchanted by it.

• Happy memory bracelet

Any pics that make you feel happy could go on a memory bracelet, family members, pets, beautiful scenes, sea shells, artwork, vintage pics, inspirational quotes, or just your own pics on every charm ;) I was thinking of doing this, lol!

Thinking along those lines, a nice birthday, Christmas, or indeed a christening gift, could be a charm with a photo taken every year of that person. Like a growing-up bracelet. 

• Memorial Bracelet

A nice way to remember friends, family members, ancestors, and even pets, that have passed away. 

• A Super Cool Portfolio

As an artist I think that this would be an amazing way to carry a portfolio of art, or photography, around with you. Shucks, I want one now, I'll go and jangle it in gallery owners faces, lol!

Make A Photo Charm 

Making a photo charm on Zazzle is really easy. All you need to do is upload a clear photo, design, or write some text using Zazzle own design program. Choose from one of the charms below, square or round, and click on it.



A box will appear prompting you to add an  image, follow the instructions there and add the picture(s) of your choice to the charm.

Click on the button (circled below) to resize your image to fill the design area.

If you want to add text, click the 'add text' button, you can choose the font, text color, and text size. Zazzle had some really cool fonts.

When you are satisfied with your design hit 'add to cart' to purchase, or 'post for sale' if you wish, as Zazzle allows you to make a shop selling items you have designed -More about that here.

It really is that simple, and if you do find it difficult then there are hundreds of photo template charms available too. These are ready designed, all you need to do is add a photo or name to the design. Here are some of my faves...





I am looking at my own photo charm bracelet as an alternative photo album, where I will store everything that is precious to me. Something to look at and enjoy, as well as being an awesome piece of custom jewelry to wear.

Zazzle Are Having A Sale!

Until Friday 21st November get a huge 60% off at Zazzle, (that means you could buy 2 charms for the price of one!) Voucher code: TISTHESEASON. Just type the voucher code in at the checkout for discount.