Custom Photo of Penguins Spelling Your Name

I made this as a gift for a friend who just had a baby girl! I made mine with her baby's name, but you could use your own, or use the same method to create customized greeting cards and more. 

Step 1: Spell It

Go to www.sayitwithpenguins.com – a site built by the Toronto Zoo to promote their new African penguin exhibit. Here, type in the name or greeting you want on your photo. Click "Say it" and watch the penguins spell out your name. Easy!

Step 2: Save Penguin Image

You'll need to save the penguin image before you can download it. To do this, click on the signpost that says "Save". Enter your name (it won't appear in your final photo) and email address, and click "Ok!" You will see a confirmation message - click "Ok!" to dismiss it.

Now you can save your image! You will see a floating bottle on the page with a tag that says, "Download". Click on that, and select your download size. I picked 8x10, so I could edit it in iPhoto afterwards. The image should download directly to your computer.

Step 3: Edit Your Photo

From here, you could simply print the photo if you're happy with it. I wanted to edit mine to make the name the focus. I did this by importing the saved photo into iPhoto on my Mac – but you could use any editing software. From there, I cropped the photo and saved the edited photo to a USB stick to take to a printer.

Step 4: Make Prints and Assemble

If you have a good quality home printer, you could print your own photos. I don't have one, so I took my photo on my USB stick to a local photo printing kiosk, and had the photo printed for just ¢25! While I was there, I purchased a nice-looking frame to fit. Simply insert the photo into the frame, and enjoy! I'm wrapping mine in pink, and giving it away as a gift. What are you going to do with yours?