It all started out as a pandemic project. I decided to go through all our scanned family photos and make books detailing what happened each year. I've kept a journal since our children were born so I could fill in explanations for the photos.
There was also a steep learning curve for me. Costco always listed their books as 8.5"x11". Shutterfly's books are listed as 8" x ll". However, when I made that 1/2" adjustment, my photo pages got cut off at the top and sides. Arrghh...
It turned out that although Shutterfly lists their books as 8"x11", it's actually the same as Costco.
Arrrghhh...
When I got to Book 2, I discovered that Shutterfly was printing my photos much too dark. Luckily, they allowed me to redo my pages and they printed it again.
When I got to Book 3, I learned that they also periodically offer deals which give you free pages. Since my books have 100 pages, it's really expensive. So Books 3 and 4 cost half as much as Books 1 and 2. Arrrghhh!
So finally, finally.... I got done with Book 5 a couple of months ago and it was finally, finally perfect. 🙄
Sigh... I hope my kids and grandkids are happy.
POSTSCRIPT:
And now it's the holidays. I know it's a time of happiness and all that... but gosh... right now... it's rather stressful thinking of all I have to do.
Those look beautiful! What an amazing amount of work. I'd store them in a fire-proof safe or safe deposit box. Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteCongrats for getting that done.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on finishing this fantastic job!
ReplyDeleteIt must feel great to complete that enormous task! And the holidays coming up ..... I do not look forward to them. Just finished Thanksgiving and made the worst pumpkin pie in my new kitchen. Looking forward to January 2!
ReplyDeleteI've always used Shutterfly for books and have also had frustrations. What I usually do is create the book then let it sit in my cart for a while. Then they urge me to buy it and send coupons or other enticements. :) It looks beautiful and will be such wonderful keepsake.
ReplyDeleteKay of Musings: Aaaahhh… Thank you for this wonderful idea. I just told Art to do that for his Africa book that he’s working feverishly on right now.
DeleteTruly a labor of love!
ReplyDeleteYou are so diligent. Your family is very lucky. These will become heirlooms. There are options out there now. And yes some of them are very very expensive! Maybe a Google search of affordable photo books? I heard of one. Let me see if I can track it down for you. Thanks for posting. Kay. I'm feeling much better and I certainly hope you are too. With hostages being released today and the fighting stopped the world feels a lot more positive and Christmasy. Bless you guys. Have a wonderful day! Aloha!
ReplyDeleteWell done on completing this :)
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
Well, that was a labor of love, for sure. Art may be the traveler in the family, but you are the chronicler. :-)
ReplyDeleteYou have produced some true treasures. Despite the frustrations.
ReplyDeleteI have never made a photo book. I don't know if I will. Your persistence is amazing.
About Holiday stress, I am working on myself to not stress happen. It will, but I plan to work on shooing back out the door. I have too much to deal with already.
Congratulations on completing your project! Here's hoping everyone stays healthy enough to have more adventures so an additional volume will be in order.
ReplyDeleteWell done, completing those books. I know they will be appreciated by your family!
ReplyDeleteWhat a gift for your family...something to be treasured even more as the years pass.
ReplyDeletei could have written this myself...in a way!! jump over to todays post and you will see how i print my blog books. i always wait for the specials and i have been very happy with my books!!
ReplyDeleteHi Debbie, I did already stop by your blog and saw your blog books. I was very, very impressed. But gosh! I've got 15 years of blogs. That would be an awful lot of work. And yet.. I am intrigued.
DeleteWhat a splendid idea. My granddaughter has made a couple of books for her grandfather and me, but I love the way you have it. I do not have journals, however. Just the blog. If I could get something that looks like yours, thouigh, I would get them printed. And gnash my teeth about the cost, but do it. As you have. Your children will bless you. I inherited boxes and books and file folders from my mother, drat her.
ReplyDeleteKay of Musings: Thank you for your visit and comment, Mary. It really did take me the entire pandemic to get this done, but it’s true that I’m glad I did it.
DeleteThat’s a wonderful project you did, and helped us a lot if we decide to do the same. I have been thinking about it for a while now. Yours look lovely and are a family treasure. A little belatedly but Happy Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteSomething I've been meaning to do sometime but haven't because I know just how much work that involves having created several books through Shutterfly.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I'm sure you know but to those who don't, Shutterfly routinely offers deep discounts on their projects fairly regularly. So I generally complete my project and let it set in my account until such a discount comes along (Always on a holiday and regularly at random intervals throughout the year) before paying and submitting it for printing.
I used to do decorated scrapbooks of family photos. There were about twenty of us who met at our church's all purpose room. This is Margie from Margie's Musings...not anonymous!
ReplyDeleteThat is quite a project! Kay, I'm impressed. Don't know if I have the persistence to do that... (although I'd love to). I have done a few books on the grandkids through Shutterfly... and am thinking about printing my blogs (so many years though?) with blog2print. I have to say that you (and Debbie) inspire me.
ReplyDeleteIn case you don't go back to that post for the answer, the website where I create my A.I. artworks is:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bing.com/images/create?
Just type in a visual description of a painting you would like and it does the rest. Lately though I have found it isn't working with my Chrome browser so I have to use Microsoft Edge browser to get it to work.
Kay of Musings: Thank you so much, Ed. I can’t wait to try it.
DeleteKay, Wishing you and your family many, many more volumes of a beautiful life.
ReplyDeleteBonny
Hi Bonny! Happy Holidays to you and Robert!
DeleteMy son is doing this for the last grandchild and there are literally dozens of books and tons of photos everywhere!! So at least I do not have that job.
ReplyDeleteHave you heard of Creative Memories, a scrapbooking system where you make your own books? I learned about in the late 80's and have been making family history books ever since.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a lot of fun and very creative. However, what I'm making are photobooks. My kids will also have digital copies of all the pages since hard copy photos can deteriorate after a while.
DeleteThat is a project! Good for you. I do a book for the kids each time they on a trip.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great project! I too am thinking about making some books. I'm grateful to have the info that you shared about Shutterfly as I was considering using them.
ReplyDeleteA big job.
ReplyDelete