One of the subtle changes in Picasa 3 is on the bottom row of buttons, what used to be called ‘Order Prints’ is now ‘Shop.’  I actually don’t see any difference in what the button does, but the fact that it now says ‘Shop’ might get a few more people to try it.

Here’s how it works - you select one or more photos, click ‘Shop’ and you’ll see a list of stores. 

Choose one of the stores, then you will need to set up an account.  There is no cost for the account, but it is necessary in order to upload your photos and store them for you.  Once the photos are uploaded you can choose your products.  The upload takes a while because, for printing purposes, it uploads the full original size.

They all offer to print the photo(s) you upload, and they offer lots of special ways to print them, including notecards.  This is a great way to get custom, photo Christmas cards.  The price at Walmart is about $12 for a dozen simple notecards.  At Shutterfly, a dozen nice greeting cards will cost $25.  You can check out the products offered before choosing by browsing directly to each store.  So, for example, Walmart’s offerings can be found at http://photos.walmart.com/store.    Shutterfly’s at http://www.shutterfly.com/store/index.jsp.

And, don’t stop at cards!  You can buy the gifts to go with the cards as well.  One of my favorites is photo mousepads.  Or, how about coffee mugs, or t-shirts, or tree ornaments?

You don’t need to use Picasa to order these gifts, but, just like so many other things, Picasa makes it so easy.  Just select your photos and click ‘Shop!’  And, if you use Picasa, you’ll know that the photo that gets uploaded is what you see in Picasa, cropped the way you cropped it in Picasa, color corrected or retouched by Picasa.  You can even add text to the picture in Picasa, and that will become part of the photo to be used for your card.

Happy Holidays!
Chris Guld

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