May 10th is Mother’s Day, and most of us will still be in self-isolation as we try to get COVID-19 under control. Chances are, you won’t be able to visit your mom for the holiday if you aren’t already sheltering with her, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help her hold everyone close with a personalized Collage.com Sherpa Photo Blanket.
Making a custom photo blanket for mom starts with a visit on the Collage.com site. There, you can select from four different types of photo blankets — Fleece, Cozy Fleece, Sherpa, and Woven Image. Depending upon the type of blanket you choose to design, you’ll be able to choose the size you’d like (baby, lap, throw, or queen). The Sherpa style comes in two sizes, throw (50″ by 60″) or queen (60″ by 80″); I was sent a coupon code for the throw size, so that’s what we’re making today!
The sherpa fabric features cream-colored arctic fleece on one side and your crisply detailed design on the other. Sherpa throws and blankets can be machine washed and tumbled dry for easy cleaning.
When you hit the “Choose this Product” button, you get taken to a staging area where you will add photos and tinker with your blanket’s design until you get it just right. You’ll notice that there are five tabs on the left: Photos, Designs, Background, Text, and Photo Size. We’ll start in the Photo tab; you can either upload photos directly to the editor or you can connect the editor to your Facebook account.
I have a lot of photos on Facebook, so I primarily used that photo upload source.
There are a couple of ways to attack designing your blanket; none of these methods are difficult, but several ways will make you feel more confident if this is your first time.
One and Done
If you have a single photo that you think mom would really like, and it if has a high enough resolution, you could use just that one and call it good.
Most of the photos you upload from Facebook aren’t going to be of a high enough resolution to use on their own as the lone design. If you prefer to use a single photo rather than creating a collage, you should upload the full resolution photo and go from there.
The Hodge-Podge Collage Free-for-All
This is my preferred method. I just go through my Facebook albums and add any photos that catch my eye and fit whatever theme I’m going for. Since we are all under stay-at-home orders, I went with a travel theme — every photo that will go on this throw will be one that was taken when we were on a trip somewhere. As you add photos, the editor will automagically make them fit; if you think a particular photo is too big or too small, you can click on it and stretch it or compress it by grabbing a corner. The photos around it will also get smaller or larger to fit everything in perfectly again.
You can add up 80 photos, which doesn’t seem like that many until you start cramming them in and watch the photos that will be worked into your blanket get smaller and smaller. When that starts happening, it’s time to stop adding and start evaluating, then it’s time to remove a few.
If you go overboard, the editor will let you know before you go to the next step, so have fun with it and start with too many. You can cull it back once you have plenty to choose from.
At any time, you can stop and see what your finished blanket will look like. Pay attention to the fact that there is a plain white border going around this freestyle blanket, and a thin white border is in between each photo; we can change both of those things up later when we get to the Background tab.
Give Me a Template; I’ve Never Done This Before, and I Don’t Know What to Do!
Maybe a design free-for-all isn’t something you are comfortable participating in. If that’s the case, Collage.com has some design options for you. By selecting the Design tab, you can choose from designs for single photos, 2-4 photos, 5-9 photos, or 10+ photos.
Once you’ve selected how many photos you’ll be working with, a list of templates that match your choice will pop up.
There are even a few templates that are specifically tailored for Mom or Mother’s Day.
Protip: Many of the templates have editable text, so if you aren’t feeling what they’re saying, you can go in and change things as needed.
This is most definitely the easiest way to make a pretty throw or blanket for mom, but it seems a bit too neat and sterile to me. Give me that hodge-podge collage! 😉
Pick a Background and Make Some Refinements!
The third tab on the left is Background, and that’s what you need to select so that you don’t have a plain white border around your throw — if you are even planning to keep the border, more on that in a minute.
You don’t have to go with a solid color border; Collage.com has a lot of variations to choose from.
If you have a design you’d like to add your own text to, you can under the Text tab on the left. There are plenty of fonts, colors, and text sizes to choose from and work with.
The last tab is Photo Fit, and this is where you can orient your project in landscape or portrait mode, and you can decide if you would rather have the photos fit inside a border, or if you would like your photos to cover the entire throw.
I think I like the look of no border for my blanket … Here you can see what it would look like with the thin border in between each photo. If you aren’t happy with it, you can change this color by changing the background. There’s also a “Torn Paper” border that you can try if you like more of a separation between your photos.
I ultimately opted for no borders of any kind — just a giant collage with travel memories from all over Texas and the rest of the world.
I’ve ordered my sherpa throw; now all that’s left is to wait for it to arrive! Since I don’t have the throw I just ordered in yet, let me tell you about the three queen size fleece blankets I ordered from Collage.com back in October 2015 to use as Christmas gifts. They were a huge hit with Kev’s and my girls; since then the blankets have all been on multiple road trips, they’ve been used to keep warm in chilly football stands, they’ve been placed on beds, and they’ve been kept in cars for emergencies. All of these blankets have been laundered multiple times, and they still look and feel like new. When someone sees one of these personalized blankets for the first time, they always compliment it and ask where they can get one. Whatever method Collage.com is using to print the photos on the blankets long-lasting, and the blankets themselves are well made.
I’ve lost count of how many times this 2015 blanket has been laundered; the printed pictures are still clear, and the blanket itself is still soft and snuggly.
Creating a blanket is a really fun project to do by yourself or with others. If you and someone else you’d like to collaborate on your project with aren’t together right now, you can ask them to send their photos to include in your throw. Don’t stress about how perfect (or not) your design ends up being. Focus on the memories shown in each photo and the feelings those photos evoke; I guarantee that’s what mom will be doing when she receives it.
Mother’s Day is popping up very soon. If you want to make a custom photo throw or blanket, you’ll need to order fairly quickly and perhaps pay for expedited shipping. But even if you have to get your project to her a little bit late, mom is going to really love this — every time she wraps herself in her photo throw, it will keep her warm and remind her of you. Awww.
The 50″x60″ Sherpa Photo Blanket sells for $159.99; you can customize and order your own by clicking here; for a limited time, you can use the code LUVMOM for an instant 35% off. Collage.com makes other personalized goodies that you might want to check out, too.
Source: Manufacturer supplied review code
