Pictures Make a Perfect Holiday Present

The holiday season is here and if you haven’t done so already, soon you’ll be making your annual trek to the mall. You need gifts for the kids, the neighbors, friends, mom and dad and the list goes on.
The kids are easy. They’ll actually tell you what they want. But what about everyone else on your list? How about getting them something unique and personalized -- a nicely framed photograph or piece of artwork. It’s not a new idea, but as anyone who works in a framing shop will tell you, it’s definitely one that’s gaining in popularity.

“Every year the holidays get busier and busier for us,” says Andy McAfee, gallery director at “The Art Shop” in Greensboro, N.C. “Pictures are all about preserving memories which is something people are especially interested in doing this time of year. They make perfect presents because they are so personalized.”

Among the pictures people at his shop have already framed to be given as gifts this holiday season, a shadowbox of a family fishing trip complete with the hooks used to catch the fish; a custom-framed uniform jacket and the medals won by one customer’s grandfather; and an artist’s rendering in watercolor of a customer’s family member who had passed away.

“If the pictures will be hand-delivered to the recipient, we are recommending that people get them framed behind conservation non-glare glass which protects the image inside from dust, scratches and UV light. If they’re going to be mailed, or are oversized, we recommend they use Conservation Reflection Control ACRYLITE by Tru Vue-- an acrylic material with similar properties -- instead, because there’s nothing worse than getting a package in the mail with broken glass inside,” says McAfee.

In addition to being shatterproof, Conservation Reflection Control ACRYLITE also has conservation and reflection control so it blocks most harmful UV light rays; a hard coating to prevent scratches; and it’s light weight -- about half as heavy as glass -- making it a good material to use for hanging and shipping oversized artwork. “It’s the ideal material for pretty much anything you want to frame,” says McAfee.

If you’re thinking about giving a piece of custom-framed artwork to a loved one this holiday season, here are some ideas:

* Whenever possible, turn a family get-together into a family portrait session. It can be secretly arranged to create a children's portrait for mom, or it can be a great opportunity to photograph everyone together, including your parents. Once you have the image in hand, take it to a custom framing shop for special treatment.

* Memories of good times spent with family, friends and neighbors. If the memories were captured during a family vacation, a nice way to display the images would be to combine them with a map matte of the place they visited.

* Nicely framed prints of places people have been or want to go on vacation.