Every year, I use my digital photos to use as notecards and to make gifts for relatives. Through my projects, I have learned that not all services are alike.

Snapfish is great for calendars, but Shutterfly rocks when it comes to a collage poster.

Business Notecards

I add a personal touch to my business by using notecards with a photo on the front. Periodically (usually when I am running low on notecards), I upload a favorite photo I took and order notecards. You usually get them in a pack of 12.

Most services allow you to purchase greeting cards. For smaller notecards, try Shutterfly and Snapfish. Snapfish sells postcards if you prefer those.

Calendars

For Christmas, I gather photos from my sister, sister-in-law and my own family. I create one calendar for the entire family (in-laws and all) and send everyone their copy.

I have found Snapfish has better features than Kodak Gallery and Shutterfly. Snapfish allows you to put pictures in the actual boxes that denote the days.

For each relative, I include a baby picture in the box that depicts their birthday.

Coming in second is Shutterfly which allows you significantly more options on how you want to layout your photos above the calendar.

Collage Posters

I create great big posters containing a photo collage for birthday parties and my husband’s office.

Out of the three services I use, Shutterfly beats the competition.

Kodak Gallery and Snapfish will allow you to do collages, but their features are limited. The biggest limitation is that they arrange the photos for you. So you cannot select a particular photo to be the big one in the collage.

Shutterfly’s free Windows software allows you to create your collage on your desktop. The software has the largest selection of layouts. Most importantly, you can select where you want each photo placed in the collage.