For the second installment of our Apps in Google Drive series, we’re giving things a holiday twist with apps that can help you out with some (last-minute) personalized gifts. Once you install one of the third-party Drive apps below, you can use them to create a variety of one-of-a-kind gifts: your pug on a mug, your very own holiday song, or a video of this year’s biggest moments.

CafePress: Create a personalized gift using pictures stored in Google Drive. 
Use photos you keep in Drive to add a personal touch to hundreds of potential gifts. Just select a photo in your Drive open it with the CafePress app. Get the app
WeVideo: Make a video (fancy editing skills not required). 
Make a recap video of the highlights of 2012 with the photos, videos, and other files that you keep in Drive. Then add a personal touch with text, effects, music, and voiceovers. Get the app

UJam: Create new holiday tunes. 
Grab some sleigh bells and write your own full track with a variety of backing instruments, beats, and styles from scratch, or start with a song template. Get the app

Check out many more apps that work with Google Drive to spread some of your own holiday cheer. 

Posted by Google Drive Elf #12

A few months ago, many of you submitted ideas on how we can expand the selection of stock images in Google Drive to add to the categories that you’re most interested in.

Thanks to your suggestions, 5,000 new photos of nature, weather, animals, sports, food, education, technology, music and 8 other categories are now available for your use in Docs, Sheets, and Slides. More than 900 of these photos were selected directly from your submissions -- we really appreciate your help!

Thanks again for your submissions, and keep the ideas coming on the Google Drive +page.

Posted by Adah Berkovich, User Operations Specialist