It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about something I am this passionate about, so hold on tight because today I’m sharing with you my FAVORITE way to document, save, preserve and cherish all those family photos you have stored somewhere on your hard drive.
About a year after Ollie was born, I started realizing that although I had taken hundreds of photos of his first year, I had no way of looking through them all constantly (which – let’s be honest – all mother do) unless I sat and stared at my computer all day. I made a few photo books previously for special occasions, but nothing on a large scale. I started thinking that it would be great to have a yearly photo album to look back at each year and see how he had grown and also to document all the stuff we had done as a family that year.
My first thought was to print out all the pictures and stuff them in an album, but I quickly realized that no album would hold all the pictures I wanted to use. I came across this Family Yearbook post by Young House Love. This was exactly what I wanted to do so I jumped over to MyPublisher and got started. There are a million different designs and templates (just like Shutterfly) that you can use but I wanted to have page after page of pictures – no words or fancy backgrounds needed.
I chose to design a custom photo book where I could place the pictures however I wanted. The type of book I find the most useful is the Classic Hardcover, which can include up to 100 pages. The size is a standard 11.25″ x 8.75″ and don’t get too worked up by the price… I will explain that later. For style I chose “Just Photos” so that I can change the layout as I go. My cover is a photo finish but there are plenty of other options (some even come with a book jacket). Once you have the basics complete, you can start dragging in photos from your computer to use in your book. I recommend (especially if you want to do things chronologically like me) dragging in about 50 photos at a time. This way you’re not overwhelmed with too many photos as you try to design each page. The book starts with 20 pages and you can add as many as you want from there. I always find myself at the 100 page limit each time… apparently I can’t help myself when it comes to taking photos throughout the year!
Page Layouts
Some pages I try to group together with a theme or event. The layout below is from a series of pages about our hotel stay earlier in the year. These particular pages focus on our adventures in the pool. You can decide how many pictures to place on each page – anywhere from 1 to 12.
Sometimes I don’t mind being overly generous with my photos…
And sometimes I really want to highlight my favorite photos to make them pop.
The options are endless and really my goal is just to have a nice go-to book at the end of the day that I can flip through and have all those memories come flooding back.
I’ve done this for three years now and actually just finished a fourth book from the time we became a family in 2009 (the year Joe and I were married) to 2011 when Ollie was born. The pre-Ollie years were a little sparse in pictures, which is why I lumped together a few years together. Another piece of advice is to start designing the next years album as you’re living it. I have my 2015 album up to date through June, so hopefully when January rolls around I won’t have to spend as much time putting things together like I have in the past.
Price
Now… about the price. If you design your book up to 100 pages like I tend to do, the price is more than $100. But (REVEAL), I have never paid more than $44 for my book and this includes the shipping! Every few months MyPublisher offers a 70% off discount which cuts the price down tremendously. When I have my book ready, I’ll wait until one of these sales pop up. HINT: Lookout around the holidays! The quality of the hardcover book is excellent and my three year old hasn’t destroyed them and even though he loves going through all the books – especially the pages of his birthday celebrations.
This is a tradition I started a few years ago and I’m so in love with the results that I had to share with other mommas out there. I know the struggles of documenting our children’s lives can get overwhelming and this method has just given me a way to not feel so guilty for leaving all those memories and moments stored on a computer somewhere.
-Even the back of the books feature pictures I love!
Now it’s your turn to dish! What are your favorite ways to share, display or preserve your photos and memories?
