“I like this one!” My 5-year-old daughter told me as we shopped for picture frames for my dad’s Father’s Day gift. She was in charge of helping choose everything this year, and assembling the presents. A big responsibility my little one was excited to tackle.

He always requests photo gifts for the holidays but I’m never on the ball when it comes to ordering them. I’m a procrastinator and I just can’t get it together.

Nothing changed this year. Here we were shopping for picture frames the day before Father’s Day, and we were planning to give him his gift in a few hours since he was coming to town. I hadn’t ordered the photos to go in it. I didn’t even know which ones I’d be choosing. But I had a secret weapon this year.

A photo printer.

As someone who’s obsessed with preserving memories through photographs and video, I’m surprised how long I went without one of these in my life.

I selected a few photos I took earlier this year of my dad and my kids together, and Lil’ J put them in the frames.

“Aww,” she sighed looking at her picture.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I don’t really like this picture,” she told me.

She looked cute to me, but I wanted her to like the picture she gave to her Grandpa Poppy.

“Well if you want I can take another when he comes over today,” I told her.

She immediately perked up and changed into a pretty dress for the occasion.

My dad visited us for a couple hours that afternoon before driving back to Dallas. Before he left Lil’ J reminded me she wanted a new picture for the frame and as promised I snapped one real quick on my DSLR.

Two minutes later I was handing my daughter a vibrant 4×6 photo to replace in the frame.

She loved the photo, and I loved the convenience. No more 1-hour photo lab. No more late gifts (I hope).

Lil’ J worked hard to undo the frame latches, put in the picture and replace the backing. Then she beamed with pride as she handed the newly framed image to her grandpa.

What a sweet moment across three generations, and a touching milestone for her.

I’ve gone a little crazy since then printing out my favorite photos from the last few years and putting them in my kids’ memory boxes.

Then I started making photo crafts I’ve been pinning on Pinterest for ages but never had the discipline for all of the follow-through.

I had my husband pick up some bathroom tiles from Home Depot and BOOM… Less than an hour later we made some new photo coasters with some Modge Podge, pictures and felt on the bottom.

Seeing my dad’s and daughter’s face light up at a simple photo exchange was enough to make me realize how important it is that we don’t keep our photos hidden away on our computers, but print and cherish them in our hands as well.

I’m using the Canon PIXMA MG 7720 printer which is Wi-Fi enabled, a breeze to use and produces gorgeous photographs up to 8×10 in size.

Now please excuse me while I go fill the rest of my home with photos of my family.

Do you hang a lot of your family photos? Have any creative ideas for me?

*Making and cherishing memories and milestones with my family is so important to me, which is why I’ve partnered with Canon on this post. All opinions are my own.

Tags: Canon, photo printing, photography