Before Thomas, I was content with photo books of our vacations for our family albums. But now that we are parents - and take a lot more pictures - I knew I'd have to find a solution, and I was pretty sure that solution would be a yearly family photo book, and reading Ashley's post convinced me. I looked into My Publisher [when I started this project last fall] but wasn't thrilled with the limited layouts available and the overall prices. And just about the same time, Kristal posted about the blurb book she made of her pregnancy and Isaac's birth. So I setup Photoshop for a Blurb layout, tweeted Kristal for answers to a couple questions I had, and went to town. Please note that I started this project in October of 2010 with every intention of having our 2010 book in January of 2011. Ha.
But, it's here. I'm overall very happy with it, though I'll be contacting Blurb about a few lines through a few pages before I order a backup copy (recommended by Ashley here). I debated doing a book for Thomas (and future kids) and each year of their life, but a family album that covers everyone is just more my style.
We had lots of great memories in 2010 - memories we want to relive over and over again. And we had a few moments that weren't as happy. I wrestled with not putting Thomas's Craniosynostosis surgery pictures in the book because they're difficult for me to look at. But it was an event. It happened in 2010. And we handled it and came out of it even stronger than we went into it.
It's pretty much a Thomas book, let's be honest. But I was very sure to include other big events of 2010 - our Italy trip, the birth of our niece (I fudged the book and included the last two days of 2009) and her first birthday:
I love having a full year in one book, and I'm excited to look back on them in the years to come! How do you handle family photos archives?
i love it!! i'll have to check out blurb. the little books i've done in the past aren't cutting it any more.
ReplyDeletebut seriously, you will be so happy you did this. i love looking through ours from time to time. helps you remember the big (and small!) things that happened. :)
I really like this idea. I have lots of scrapbooking stuff, and I plan to finish up the pages that I have pictures printed for. Then, going forward, I want to do books like this. Much simpler, and I don't have to store a million supplies! :-)
ReplyDeleteThis looks great! What a great habit to get into. And I love that your mom was a photo master, too. I love my momma, but she wasn't so organized about photos.
ReplyDeleteI do the same thing {yearly family photo books}. I wanted to be a good scrapbooker, but i just didn't have the time or money or space to get into that. I use iPhoto on my Macbook and each book is only about $50 for a ton of pages and some journaling. When we got snowed in, I designed three years worth and got all caught up!
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ReplyDeleteYou just have this special gift of making awesome things in the most simple and yet fabulous possible way!
ReplyDeleteAs much as I heart scrapbooking (mostly seeing not actually doing) I think your idea shows the 21st Century way of documenting.
Digital Cameras were one of the most incredible tech' improvements (in terms of what we actually take 100% advantage), But what's so fun wen you actually don't show the results? right?
So forgive the novel long comment it's all to say LOVED your post. As always!
Love it! It turned out great. :)
ReplyDeleteThat looks super nice! I just do regular scrapbooks for now. I bought photoshop to try a blurb book, but I am photoshop illiterate, so I have not been able to do anything yet. I seriously can't figure out photoshop at all- I am such a loser!
ReplyDeleteI love blurb! That's how I did our wedding photo album. I am completely disorganized about photos and I need to start doing this regularly. Maybe this will be my Myrtle Beach project this year (I'm too type A to just relax at the beach!). Thank you for the kick in the pants. :)
ReplyDeleteI used to scrapbook everything but for the past few years, things had just been piling up on the drive. But since G was born, I've been printing out actual pictures every 3 months. I'm pretty proud of myself for keeping up so far. I had tried doing those books before but I spend so much time trying to make things look perfect, I'd just get frustrated and quit. Actual prints work out nicely for me.
ReplyDeleteLove this! That is what we used for our Italy pictures and I was so happy with how it turned out. I have been meaning to do one documenting this pregnancy....but so far it it just a bunch of pictures on my computer and an idea in my head. I love how yours turned out and hopefully I can do something similar!
ReplyDeleteI have been doing a Shutterfly photo book every few months. I get deals with percentage off or even free books, so I take advantage! My son is 17 months old, and they are mostly of him. We really don't have anything else going on in our life. :) However, my son loves to look at them before bed, and one copy is looking pretty shabby, so I need to either put them on a shelf or order back up copies! Love your book!! Looks great!
ReplyDeleteyou've inspired me to do the same. I started a few days ago, but am having a hard time really getting going. Hopefully I can plow through and make it as the year goes on :)
ReplyDeleteI wish I had a good system. At one point I thought of do it monthly, print the photos and do a simple scrapbook, but in what world would that happen? I have a hard time with the digital ones because I feel like I have less control.
ReplyDeleteTried Blurb for the first time 2 months ago - the book I ordered (as a gift) had dark orange lines on the title page so they sent me a new one.
ReplyDeleteI'll use them again, tho.
The book turned out great!