Thursday, November 15, 2012

A gift for my little girl...and a photo book giveaway!


It’s now the middle of November, and I am still in denial about Christmas. The kids are busily cutting out toy ads from store flyers and making lists, complete with prices and store availability. They know me well.  A thorough source of information will better ensure I actually remember what they want. Don’t be like me. Start planning your presents now, so you can better enjoy the days leading up to the holidays. Make some cookies before Christmas instead of rushing to a crowded mall.



One great gift for the holidays is a personalized photo book. Blurb.ca allowed me to make and review a custom photo book, and I have to say it was a lot of fun. I chose to make a photo book for my daughter, but I also love the idea of making my very own cookbook using my favourite recipes. A real coffee table cookbook. How cool would that be? You can transfer your book to an ebook and share it with your family and friends too. Or, make a book of your Instagram photos or favourite photos from your blog. I really want to make an Instagram book too. I just need a bit more time to match all of my plans.



Beautiful Girl

I chose to make a small, square (7x7-inch), 20 page book for my little girl’s birthday. I thought a small book would appeal to a child. Small books start at $11.95 (CAD), so they are great for gifts for grandparents or other people on your Christmas list. I received a $40 credit to try a book, so I upgraded my book, making it hardcover, with an image wrap on the cover, premium lustre paper and black end sheets inside the covers. The cover of my book is the first picture in this post. I also added a pdf for $4.99 more, so I could share the pages here before I actually receive the book. This brought the total to $36.68, plus tax and shipping. I chose to download Blurb’s free BookSmart software, so that I could create my book offline. The software allows you to fully customize your book, and then connect with the website when you are ready to order.

I am excited for my daughter to see the book. Production and shipping takes about two weeks. (Yes, her birthday was in October.) I hope she treasures her little book for years and knows how much her parents treasure her.


Tips

I have tried to make photo books in the past and found it time-consuming, so I decided to use fairly recent photos (from the past year) rather than taking the time to track down several years’ worth of photos. To make your job easier, choose a specific subject, like photos from a recent vacation or use a year’s worth of photos for your child’s next birthday, like I did.

Create a folder of chosen photos before you begin your book. This way, the photos are all in one place, and easy to import into your book. Edit the photos in your photo editor before you begin.

To save time, many of the pages I created are just one large photo. I did add a poem to one page and put two or more photos on a few of the pages to jazz up the design a bit.


Cool feature


You can convert your book to an ebook for the iPad for $9.99. I don’t have an iPad, but that option sounds cool to me!



To make your own personal gift for this holiday, get started on your Blurb custom photo book now! Blurb’s custom planners and photo books make thoughtful gifts for family, friends, co-workers and clients.

Create your book at a 15% discount now, using the banner below. Or, enter to win a $75 credit here. You can buy a few books with that!


 


Win a $75 credit for your own Blurb book or books! 


Enter using the rafflecopter below. Contest is available to residents of Canada, the US and anywhere else Blurb.ca ships. Please check their website for shipping information. Please note that the credit expires on December 31, 2012.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

63 comments:

  1. I would make up a photo book for my Motherinlaw of my four stepkids. They are growing up fast and I think she would like this.

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  2. I like taking pictures of nature so I would probably make a book using pics from a camping trip I went on :)

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  3. What an awesome idea!! I'd love to do one chronically the Things year in their chosen sports {such a cool memento}!

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    1. That's a great idea for my son - all hockey or all basketball. Cool!

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  4. This is such an amazing idea! I'm totally entering the Giveaway, thank you for the idea, Joann;-)

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  5. First of all, I love these photo books! The main subject that I photograph on a daily basis is my little love, my daughter.

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  6. Love the picture with the train case, that is just too cute!

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  7. This is on my forever growing list of things to do. Great tips!

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    1. Tell me about it. I have a Florida photo book from two years ago I abandoned. :)

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  8. I love blurb and always use it for my architectural portfolios and photo books. Your daughter has the most beautiful eyes! And I am also in total denial over Christmas :)

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    1. Good to know that you like Blurb. Yes, her eyes are gorgeous, thank you. We were surprised to have a child with those eyes. Neither my husband or I or our siblings have blue eyes. My dad does, and my husband had a grandfather with blue eyes. Funny, huh?

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  9. Now I like to photograph my new baby boy but I also love photographing street scenes on vacation.

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  10. I love to take nature and monument pictures.

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  11. My favorite things to photograph are little kids...they're so genuine and uncomplicated :)

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  12. My kids are my favorites, of course. I've used blurb to make my blog books, and I'm using it this Christmas to make recipe books. Love them!

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  13. I would do one of my three kids together for my mother in law who lives far away.
    eaglesforjack@gmail.com

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  14. I love to photograph my son :) and our dogs too

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  15. My favorite subject is naturally, my daughter. Outside of her, my focus would be landscape.

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  16. My daughter and my furbabies are my favorites. I also like to photograph things in nature especially flowers

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  17. i love to take photos of my grandkids and my dogs.

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  18. I love taking pictures of my family and our adventures! Thanks for the giveaway!

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  19. I like taking pics of my children!

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  20. I love to photograph my daughter in nature settings :)

    Jill McHale
    Jlum23@hotmail.com

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  21. I want to make photo books for each of my kids before they go off to college (which is coming up really soon!)

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  22. I love your pictures! I would make a book of my kids for my mother in law.

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  23. I would love this!! Siblings and friends!

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  24. Love taking pica of my kids!!

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  25. My husband and I love taking photos of family outings! Every time we go somewhere special- the park, the zoo, the fair- we take TONS of pictures for keepsakes!

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  26. My brothers and sisters!

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  27. I love to photograph my daughter! It's as simple as that.

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  28. I love to photograph my grandkids!

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  29. I work in a portrait studio so my favorite has become maternity shoots. I also really enjoy photographing animals outside of work.


    lolahasunshine@aol.com

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  30. Most of my photography these days is dog centered.

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  31. My kids of course!

    shannoncarman at yahoo dot com

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  32. Take pics, of family & friends,my puppy dogs and kitty cats,squirrels,also horses that live across the road.Thanks martha at berrycherry63@hotmail.com

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  33. i love to photograph my black lab and my grandkids

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  34. I love to photograph my kids and all of the places we go to visit!

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  35. I love to take pictures of my daughter.

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  36. I love taking pictures of my cats and my two younger cousins.

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  37. I take pictures of my puppies and husband

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  38. I love taking pictures of beautiful scenes in nature, such as a crystal clear ocean or a misty mountain. (It can be hard to capture on camera though sometimes!) Gillian

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  39. My kids, of course! I don't have a ton of photos from when I was a kid, so I'm determined to have WAY too many for my kids!

    coriwestphal at msn dot com

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  40. I love to photograph both me and my boyfriend and nature!

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  41. i love getting my son and friends debbie jackson
    djackson1958 at hotmail dot com

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  42. I love taking pictures of my children and nature such as sunrise, sunset, lightning, dew..etc

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  43. I love to photo my kiddos of course.

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  44. I have made 12 books for Ruby so far. 1 a month for her first year of life. Time consuming is an understatement, even with having all the photos in one place! Totally worth it though, I love looking at them :)

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  45. My favorite subjects are nature and my dog.

    Thanks for the chance!
    sandralclark at outlook.com

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