My Very Own Picture

Companies like Dublin-based My Very Own Picture know just how to appeal to my soft side, and after visiting their site, I might as well just hand them my wallet and tell them to take whatever they like.

In a beautiful twist on the Baby Book, they've developed a line in what they call 'keepsakes'. They'll provide a stretched canvas image of your baby's first shoes, toy, or picture - you provide the photograph; they do the rest. So, either you can have a touching image like the one above, or you can celebrate your child's creativity by putting his artwork onto real canvas.

They also have a good range of bright and jolly illustrations by professional illustrators (see below for example), and are well used to international shipping, even offering to provide the canvas unstretched to keep postal rates down. It doesn't hurt that the site is really beautifully designed - definitely worth a peek, even if you don't intend to buy.