February 18, 2009

What to do with all those digital pictures you've taken...

Print them in a book. And the good news: this is WAY cheaper & faster than scrapbooking.

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Here are a few pages from our 2007 book. Just so you know ... these are all pictures from before I had the magic of Lightroom at my beck and call. So these are SOOC or converted to b&w or sepia with iPhoto and the printer does a terrific job with them as is.

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So here is my family. My dear ol' Daddy with his favored Lemondrop. My cousins and the beautiful girls they married. My Uncle. My Grammy. Unfortunately my Aunt is hiding on the folded-over portion, and my Mom and I don't show up til the next page.

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And here's our whole Washington family. And the white Christmas we got to share. Too much fun. Oh yeah. And Lightroom had officially rocked my photographic world on this trip.

Enter 2008 ...

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So here's the 4-1-1. I used MyPublisher.com. I think they do a terrific job for a reasonable price. If you use them, be sure and look online for coupons. Costco offers a 20% discount. Often MyPublisher runs a buy one book, get the 2nd free. Or 40% off orders over $100. To give you an idea: each of these books was about 100 pages (the max number they'll allow in one book). I got 40-50% off each order. Each page ended up costing about $.50!!!

edited to add: each of these pages, except the floral pages, are just standard lay-outs (drag & drop) from MyPublisher. The floral pages I designed first in my Lumapix software and then "dragged" them in as a single .jpg photo.

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25 comments:

Jennifer Bowen said...

These books are beautiful, Susan. What a fantastic idea...a great memory keeper! And the price is very reasonable. Thank you for the recommendation. :)

Kelly Sauer said...

I've been meaning to do this for a couple years - I really should get on it. Yours is so lovely!

Tracy P. said...

Yes, yes, yes! I quit scrapbooking two years ago, and this is totally quicker and cheaper, and NO MESS!!! I save a ton by just not printing my pictures anymore. If you just ordered prints of all the pictures you can get in a photo book, it would cost almost as much, and in some cases more.

I've also found a fix for the scrapbookers who want the scrapbook look in their photo books at scrapblog.com.

Bird's Eye View Photography said...

That is a great tip-- I make books for my mother of my boys every birthday, but I use snapfish and they are pricey!! I cannot wait to try this out!

Beth@Pages of Our Life said...

I am inspired and want to do this! Thanks once again for sharing your great tips.

Anonymous said...

I, like another commenter, have been meaning to do this for a while...I've let coupon after coupon expire...but someday soon I will get it together!

Heidi said...

Those look incredible, Susan! I already planned on making photo collages and having them printed for our scrapbooks the last couple years. I was using Costco's Photo Organizer software to make the collages. I'll have to look into those books. They look so professional, and are very inexpensive at .50 a page!! I used to love scrapbooking, but it is very expensive, time consuming, and messy... haven't done much (anything) in the past couple years. Desperately need to get our photos in albums to enjoy. Thanks for the push.

Melinda said...

I love My Publisher! I have ordered books and calendars from them...they make great gifts (esp. when you have the buy one get one free coupons).

fxmixer said...

There is so much love and colorful goodness in your images. I've made few books, but none that rocked like these. Just awesome. Oh, and thanks for putting in a good word. I'm on the team. ;)

Skeller said...

Fxmixer -
So glad to hear it. We're all the better for your contribution! :-)
(ps y'all ... Fx is joining the Friday Fix It crew at IHeartFaces.com!)

Julie Rivera said...

I admired a glimpse of your photo book in your previous post with your Mom...thank you for sharing so many pictures of different pages! I love the vibrance of your work! It would be a shame not to showcase that talent. :)

Heasleye said...

Thank you for sharing! These are fantastic! I've also given up on scrapbooking in the traditional sense. This is the way to go. I've used My Publisher before and was satisfied. Thanks for sharing your goodies!

Teri said...

I am a HUGE hardbound book fan. I shoot so many pix, so this is a perfect way to showcase everything I want in a very compact size. I have a few other favorite book labs, also.

Piggy said...

Thanks for sharing your beautiful photobooks! I've made about a dozen through Shutterfly between my wedding, honeymoon, babymoon, and first baby. I've made a book through Photobook as well, but I preferred Shutterfly because it was more convenient and provided more layout options, which you don't need since you make your own beautiful layouts.

Rhonda said...

I LOVE MyPublisher!!! I have a few books that we put together for special events, and one my aunt put together of my Grandmother's life. They are incredible. Once I got my first book, I hung up my scrapbooking apron for good.
There are a couple of other companies out there that make photobooks as well, but none of them are as nice as MyPublisher.

And your books are INCREDIBLE!!!

Unknown said...

This is such a brilliant idea! I often make photobooks for the people I photograph but never for us. I just have a HUGE towering bag of scrapbooking supplies and millions of pictures falling out... I need to do this. I LOVE your books. Very beautiful!

Melissa Stover said...

those are beautiful!

Becca~CapturingSimpleJoys said...

I love this idea! I've often wanted to do something just not known what or how. I've never been a scrapbooker~tried it and hated it! These look great and gives you and the kids something to hold and look through, perfect!

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for sharing this! I am definitely going to do this! WOOHOO!!!

angie {the arthur clan} said...

I have wanted to do this forever...I'm thinking these will make fabulous Christmas gifts, don't you think?! :)

Thanks for sharing the info on where you made yours. I'm off to check it out!

the Steiger's said...

Thanks so much for sharing. I can not wait to try MyPublisher. I am working on a book right now.
Lenka

Anonymous said...

These books are wonderful, I love it. I'm definitely going to check into it. You are always ahead of the game :).

B Dad

tearese said...

Those turned out nice! A lot of work though. I've made those as gifts before (just using the Walmart software) but hadn't thought of actually replacing my albums with them. Hmm, a distinct possibility now.

Anonymous said...

I am currently working on my first book at MyPublisher and it is almost done. I am so excited to get it (with a second one free!)

I love your pictures and am so happy to have found your blog. Thanks!

Skeller said...

Paula -
Yay! I'm so excited for you :-)