If you have a horse lover in your life, you know that just about any Christmas gift that is horsey related is a big hit … even if it’s just an extra large bag of carrots for her horse. Fancy halters, pretty saddle pads, soft riding gloves, and warm socks always work too. But if you want to do something a little more special this year, consider creating a personalized horse gift at My Hoof Pics.

I first learned about this new website when it’s owner Cheryl emailed to see if I would be interested in taking her up on a free photo book offer and sharing some feedback. Never one to turn down free stuff – especially horse related – I was more than happy to give her site a try.

My Free Horse Photo Book

I had a blast creating a photo book of Ace and I. There were great background themes to choose from, I got to upload all my favorite pictures, and then I could customize the pages however I want. The book is 5×7″ and 20 pages! Here are a few of my favorite spreads.

You can have one big picture that fills up the entire page, you can have a big picture with a background, you can make a collage, and you can even add text to each page. You can crop, resize, and move the pictures wherever you want, and you can easily rearrange the pages.

The paper is sturdy with a nice light shine and the print quality is great. I’ve got my photo book on the end table next to the couch. I had  bunch of family in over the weekend, and at some point or another I saw every single person pick it up and look through the photos. They all thought it was great too.

How My Hoof Pics Works

MyHoofPics.com is a site where you create all kinds of different items with your own pictures. They can certainly be horse related, but you can also use it for any pictures you want. The different items you can create include:

• photo books (various sizes available)
• mugs
• t-shirts
• calendars
• prints and enlargements
• keychains
• puzzles (how awesome is that?)
• luggage tags
• mural tiles (these look way cool!)

It uses a browser based software (which means that you have to download it, but it runs in Internet Explorer) called Rocket Life for creating your photo gifts.

Step 1: choose product and theme

The first thing you do after the software loads up is select your product.

From the homescreen, you also view and select the background theme you’d like to use (you can change this later if you want).

Step 2: upload your pictures

On the next screen, you have the option of loading your pictures directly from a folder on your computer or from an online library. I  loaded mine from my computer files. You can select multiple photos at once and upload them all at the same time. And you can go back later in the process and add more, too.

Step 3: design your product

For the photo book, you have the option of letting the software do to the layout automatically, or you can design it manually. I went for the automatic layout, and then customized it from there.

Here you can do anything you want to customize your book. You can change the theme, rearrange pages, resize and crop photos, create collages, add text, and lots more. You can also preview the book you’ve created.

Step 4: choose final options and checkout

When you are happy with the book, you can choose your final options (like hardcover or softcover) and the quantity you’d like to order. From there, you just go through the step by step check out process and you’re done!

I could seriously play around in here all day.

Get Your Own Free Photo Book

Want to create a special horsey Christmas gift for a special someone – or create one for yourself? The free photo book offer is still running on MyHorsePics.com. You can get a free, softcover 20-page created and printed. You will have to pay for shipping, which starts at $4.99. You can’t beat that!

Click here to go create your personalized horse photo gift book. All you have to do is enter your name and email, and you’ll immediately be sent a code and link so that you can redeem and create your free book.

So, go give it a try now and come back and let me know what you think!