Confession time: I am a picture person; I love taking pictures and, especially since Little Bear was born, I love having his picture taken professionally.  He’s not even one and it’s already happened five times, if you count the Mall Santa, which I do!  It’s probably vanity, although I’m not in most of them, but I just love it!  And it certainly helps to have a family friend who’s a professional photographer.  But, between friends, Santa, and many, many cellphone shots, I have approximately one million pictures!   But, that’s exactly where almost all of them are, on my cell phone and computer, not being “used” or displayed.   

But Christmas is the one time of year that I break out and actually do something with my pictures: my “signature” gift for family is a framed photograph.  This will be true so much more this year because we all know that the only thing anyone in my family really wants a picture of is Little Bear!  In the past, I’ve gotten a nice frame and then printed the pictures at the drug store, not the best solution, but functional for my purposes.  One year I sprung and got my mom a very nice gallery-wrapped canvas, which I thought was cool, but I can see now was a little modern for her taste.  This year, however, everything will be different, because I found Fracture! 

Fracture Print

Fracture prints your photos directly onto glass that, similar to a gallery wrapped canvas, is intended to be displayed without a frame.  It can either be hung directly onto your wall—which is super easy, requiring only one screw, which they include in your package—or displayed tabletop with a stand; either option is beautiful in basically any room.  They are also very cost-effective, starting at just $17.00—less than I have paid some years to print my photo and get a decent frame! If you'd like your photo to look excellent you can use photo retouching services to make it awesome.

The ordering process is so easy, too! Simply go to their website and upload your picture!  Their system automatically determines which size options will work best for your photo’s dimensions, so you just pick the size you want and order!  

A screenshot of the ordering process

Fracture takes care of everything else, hand cutting and preparing the glass, printing your picture directly onto it—this prevents the fading over time that will occur with pictures printed on paper—and mounting onto the backing that allows you to display in your home!  Your picture comes to your door in about a week, or around two days if you upgrade to express shipping!  They even offer free standard shipping with purchases over $100, so get one for everyone in your family and they’ll come to you for free!

Fracture Prints in Packaging

One of my favorite things about Fracture is that you can get a beautiful print from almost any photo, even a cellphone picture; they say that for best results, use a picture that’s between 1MB and 35MB in size, which most modern cameras and cellphones take, so you don’t need a professional photograph to make a beautiful gift!  I ended up ordering two prints: one professionally taken and one cellphone shot that I had cropped and edited in an app; both turned out great and I couldn’t be more pleased!

Left: cellphone picture, Right: Professional Picture

I highly recommend Fracture to anyone looking for a photo gift this season, whether for their friends, for their family, or for even for themselves!