Some of you may remember when I posted a link to Oprah's website where she was giving a special code for people to order and print photobooks from Snapfish.com. I spent a couple of evenings loading pictures and playing around with the design and text of a book. Snapfish was overwhelmed with orders, so the ship date was late, but still, for a free $29.99 photobook, I felt it was worth the wait.And it was.
We got our book in the mail a couple of weeks ago and I was very surprised at the quality of the book as well as the photos printed inside. Some of the pictures were giving me messages about print quality when I uploaded them, but I went ahead and used them anyway. I figured it was a free, one-time thing so it didn't really matter all that much anyway. But what I got in the mail was a really wonderful hard-cover book that makes all my kids happy. Especially Wyndham. She LOVES seeing her picture and name in print. She gets so excited and seems truly surprised to see not only herself, but all the people she loves and lives with in this book.
I just had to pass on my book review to those of you who are sort of thinking about doing some scrapbooking or photo/memory preserving. This book, like I said, costs about $30.00 and you simply upload and place photos and text in pages that already have layout designs. It takes a bit of time to sort your photos and choose what you want your book to be about, but other than that, the process is really easy and I think it is so worth the time/money involved.
I think these would make wonderful gifts for Valentine's day. Skip the chocolate and flowers and give a book that will last a long time and have such meaning too! Or books for each of your kids featuring them and their favorite things in life right now. They would be great for grandparents or featuring your high school senior or a wedding or a new baby or a recent trip. Seriously. I could make a hundred of these books- and I'd love them all.
I'm so pleased with the quality of the book, the glossy pages and the photos. I would definitely recommend Snapfish for their photobooks. One more idea...you can make scrap pages at Scrapblog.com (which, I always export into my picture folders on my computer and save as jpegs) and then upload them and make them into finished books. Those would be really fun. No cutting or gluing required. I hope this inspires some of you to create and have fun with your photos and memories. You know me...I'm a 100% sold on taking lots of pictures, and turning them into treasured books just seems like a smart thing to do with them. Have fun with your photos! [ Snapfish also has other book sizes/price ranges and other fun items too. And no, I'm not getting paid to promote them. =) ]
17 comments:
Hi Jody! I love Snapfish and these books are wonderful gift ideas. Have a great day!
Rhonda :)
Thank you for all this info, Jody :) ;)
I got my daughter one of these books from Coke REwards. I saved up the points and let her order one. She loves the book, its like a yearbook of her life and family so far.
I really have enjoyed using Scrapblog. I tried it out after reading one of your posts. Thank you for telling how you actually move your picture from scrapblog to the blog. I could not figure that out.
Shutterfly has the same books and I have done a few of them...am behind on some that I need to finish, but you are right - they make great keepsakes! I just need to find the time to make them. I checked out the scrapblog you posted about yesterday and was thinking the same thing about exporting the pages and uploading them to shutterfly or snapfish to make journal books.
I think I just found Roy's birthday present! Thanks
I followed the snapfish Oprah link from you- and made we made our own books- one for my parents and one for my husband for our 5 year anniversary! They were great!! I too had some messages about the pictures, but both books came our wonderful. I agree they would make a great Valentine's gift!
I think these books are great- and not intimidating for those of us who get overwhelmed in the scrapbooking section of Hobby Lobby :)
How do you organize your photos on the computer to be able to access them so quickly? It would have def would have taken me more than a couple of days to compile the array of pics you ended up with in that book!
Hi, Jody:
I used your journaling in my class tonight. It fit perfectly with what I was teaching, and I had wrestled with the ending of the class all week until I saw your post.
It was a wonderful class full of eager, excited moms who came with sweet spirits and smiles on their faces. It is so nice to look out when you're teaching a class and see nodding and smiling.
And then I told them about your blog, and a tiny bit about your story, and you could have heard a pin drop as I read your journaling. The mood changed to a somber one, and I think also one of awareness.
My class was about spending meaningful, purposeful time with your family and the last two words of your writing said it all... Moments matter.
I hope you have a good Wednesday. Thanks again for letting me share your writing with the class. I told them about your blog, so I think you may be getting some new readers.
P.S. One of my favorite things to do is watch one of my kids look through their albums. I love the expressions on their faces as they remember the events of their lives. It's one of the best reasons I know to scrapbook.
that is SO great!! i totally want to order one now.
man. i wish i watched oprah. :D
I love these books also. I recieved one with the Oprah code and then purchased a couple of others. They are wonderful. A truly appreciated gift.
Have a Fantastic DAy!!
Rene in snowy icy ohio
If I were Oprah, these books would be on my "favorite things" list every year! This last year I made a bit (expensive!) one chronicling my first four-year term as a missionary in Romania. It sits on my display when I visit churches, and it will be one of my most treasured possessions for years to come, I am sure!
My husband and I recently decided to make one of these with pics from the special places we visited last year - our trip to Canada together, his trip out west, our trip to Obama's rally in Chicago. We're now excited to do this every year.
Thanks Jody...Appreciate you letting me know. I thought it was export as jpeg like most things. I have clue what I did but that worked:)
Thanks to you I have an awesome photobook of Baylee's trip to the Pumpkin Patch and only paid $7.00 for shipping. It turned out amazing! I have used Walgreens, Shutterfly and Snapfish to make photobooks. I do not recommend Walgreens to create a photobook. It was the first time I had ever seen the concept. I have a photobook waiting to be ordered on Shutterfly but it is over 42 pages from our summer vaca so I am waiting on a good coupon and free shipping :)
I love the photo books...and being a scrapbooker "at heart", I wanted to be able to make them myself.
So, I found this:
PhotoBook Creator at OfficeMax.com ($99.00)
and now I can make them myself. I order dual sided photo paper (Amazon.com) and print the pages on my computer (using my Hallmark Card Program). The hardback book covers come from Unibind and cost about $6 per cover (you have to order 10).
It is such fun to make books for people who have had new babies, people who are getting married, sharing a photo collection of my beautiful church, etc. I look forward to being able to chronicle each year of their lives when I have grandchildren!!!
I love reading your blog and sharing in the life of your precious family.
Susie
Hi Jody-
I used blurb.com to slurp my blog this week. I am doing some editing and can't wait to order. It will be about $90, but it is our whole year. I don't think I cold scrap our year or my blog for less. Try it!
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