Photobooks
2010
Each year around the boys birthday I order an 8×8 book of photographs and written milestones, funnies and letters for each of them.
They so enjoy looking through their own books – as well as showing them off to visitors! – and I love how simple the photobooks are to create. I use Shutterfly to order their books from and while it is far from what professionals would call a quality printing service I have had no complaints thus far – considering this is an item I want my kids to feel free to handle and look through I don’t want to be paying professional prices.
There are many different layout and paper options for the pictures. I tend to stick with the solid colors and solid backgrounds.
The books come with 20 pages and the first couple books I did I just stuck with the 20 page limit. But it meant crowded layouts, with many pages having 4 or more photographs per page, so I ditched that idea and now pay the $1 per extra page and love the simpler, cleaner look of 1-2 images on a page.
Paul and I each write a letter to the birthday boy and I include the letters in the book.
I love that even the back of the book is customizable -
The books (not including extra pages) run for about $30 each – there is almost always a coupon deal to be had, and if I can’t find a current one I put off ordering until a coupon becomes available.
Creating these photobooks has become the perfect alternative to scrapbooking for me – it is efficient, non-cluttery and fits with the simplistic lifestyle we are trying to create. Plus, should any damage occur to these books Shutterfly has them backed up on their system and I can easily order a second copy!
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{jessica lynette} » Blog Archive » Christmas – gifts
[...] or canvas. Turn a series of pictures from a momentous occasion or a theme of images into a Photobook. I recently ... -
Photobooks ~ Wesley |
[...] have shared a bit about the birthday Photobooks here in the past. The boys never tire of looking at ...
So cool! I wish I had met you and your creative idea when my kids were little. Come to think of it, I wish I had a computer, digital camera and Internet when my kids were little
I'm sure the boys will cherish those books for life. I've used Shutterfly for ohotobooks Ive made for my family for Christmas. I thought they were a nice quality for the money. Last year I used the Apple Store for my books and they came out really nice, too!
Isn't it crazy how quickly daily life has changed since your kids were little?!?! It creeps me out a little thinking of how different daily life will be in 10-15 years!
What a fantastic idea!! This is what I should have done instead of trying to mess around with digital scrapbooking
:-p you can easily switch!
I had toyed with the idea of doing digi scrapbooking- but honest, as much as I'd enjoy that creative process, I am sooooo glad to have found this simple method and just spend my creative efforts else where.
Simple is good these days
I am so jealous!! What a fantastic idea and keepsake for your boys to look at years and years from now!
What a great idea! I especially like the idea of each parent writing a letter to include. I have put some thoughts/feelings/events in writing in journals for my kids but my husband has never put anything down in writing. My daughter's fifth is coming up this fall and I now know what we are getting her!
Thanks!
I am sure your daughter will love it – my boys look at theirs almost daily!
What an awesome idea!!! I may just have to steal that idea myself.
What an awesome idea!!! I may just have to steal that idea myself.
love, love, love it! I made a similar one but really crammed full of all my email-journals and photos to go along with them… from blurb. They did a fabulous job! Instead of cramming it full of five-years' worth I think a yearly deal would be much better! =) What a treasure!
What a great idea!