We love a good vacation souvenir like the next guy. T-shirts are a favorite in our family, but that can quickly get out of control. There are so few other things that we want to buy in the shops (except books – more on that in another post!), so we’ve started to get creative with making our own souvenirs. This year we used Cafe Press to make canvas bags and drink bottles for everyone!

We’ve used the site many times to make personalized gifts in the past, and with a little bit of practice, their design tools are relatively easy to use. For these items I wrote out the text and then used a single black and white clam clipart image for the graphics. I just added the clam to the design in different sizes and turned it to different degrees. Since most clams look alike in real life, it didn’t look that odd to use a single clam image this way.

If you’re looking to do a similar project, I have to say that I love the quality of the cafe press canvas bags – both in terms of bag durability and in print quality. I made a few of these a couple of years ago that still get daily use and they have held up really well. When it comes to drink bottles, I’ve tried the plastic “bike” bottles from Cafe Press and did not like the quality. The design was printed onto a plastic label that was then stuck onto the bottle, but the ink started to rub off of the label after a few uses (I think it doesn’t help that the bottles were being squeezed when used). These metal bottles, on the other hand, seem to be great quality. The design is printed directly on the bottle, and while they aren’t a name brand bottle, I noticed that the Klean Kanteen lids fit these bottles. So I already ordered some sport caps to make it easier for the boys to drink from these.

The other reason we particularly love making souvenirs for our beach trips is because Saxis doesn’t have many commercial businesses, other than the island museum goods, there’s nothing else that says “Saxis” on it, so it’s fun for us to be able to make something to share our Saxis pride.