A Very Special Mother's Day Gift From Artifact Uprising

Are you looking for the perfect Mother's Day gift with style and heart? You'll love what I'm about to share from Artifact Uprising, a company specializing in turning your photos into tangible products that truly delivers on all points from quality and price to service, delivery, beauty and truly thoughtful things like photo books, prints, and gifts for your digital photos.

Founded in 2012, Artifact Uprising was launched by sisters and professional photographers, Katie Thurmes and Jenna Walker, who spent nearly a decade shooting before deciding it was time to explore the power of print and see how the beauty they photographed could be translated into products for themselves and other talented creatives.

I love that their mission is to easily move photos, "Off your device, into you life", something I actually think about a lot. I'm so often discouraged by the sheer volume of photos I've taken that never see the light of day after I've uploaded and looked at them maybe once or twice. They just sit in Lightroom or in some folder. It's a bit sad.

Do you ever feel discouraged by that too?

Sure, I've emailed a few to friends or posted some on Facebook, but it's not the same as putting together a pack of cards or a beautiful book filled with memories of moments that matter.

I decided recently to change all of the negative feelings I've been having about my overwhelming amounts of photos on my computer. I reached out to Artifact Uprising and they really encouraged me to create a special Mother's Day gift so I listened. I had a newborn photoshoot when my son was just 10 days old (precious!) by Christin Lange, which was last year in February, and so I took the photos from that shoot and created a gorgeous book for my mom and another for myself.

I then used the text tool that Artifact Uprising provides on their website, and placed the poetry of my husband written for our son around some of the photos. The result made me cry! There is something magical about seeing cherished photos in print, in a book with gorgeous matte paper. In fact, the presentation added a whole new appreciation for the photography and even elevated the photos in my eyes. No matter how many gorgeous visuals I see online, they do take on an entirely new life when viewed on a beautifully printed page. This gift to myself and to my mother is personal, touching, beautiful.

Along with the book, I thought homemade heart-shaped cookies dusted with powdered sugar and gently tied with floral sprigs, packed into a small brown box, was a nice touch to present to mom. The recipes and cookies were made by the photographer, Susanne, who worked with me to shoot this post. How many photographer's cook for a shoot? I feel so lucky to have worked with her to share this beautiful photo book story.

I made a little gift tag for the book using some washi tape and a simple gift tag, and lined the box with white baking paper. I wrapped the book with white paper first to protect it, then newspaper which I "quilted" using scrap pieces of newspaper, a technique I learned from a class my friend Leslie taught, the newspaper is from the local Asia grocery store. I pieced the newspaper scraps together using washi tape.

I then topped the wrapped softcover photo book with a photo that felt feminine with a nice mother's day vibe to it. I had the photo printed at Artifact Uprising too, it's from their square photo prints collection.

I hope that you like this little Mother's Day presentation of a very special gift for my mom and also for me since I feel I deserve gifting myself on May 10th too, why not?

[This post is in partnership with Artifact Uprising. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the companies that allow me to do work that I love and to collaborate with other professionals to create work that is inspirational and authentic.]

(Photography: Susanne Irmer / Styling + Text: Holly Becker)