Wednesday, February 10, 2010

photo books

i have NOT been on the computer all day...even though it seems like it.
and i will stop using so many words and post pictures SOON.

but first, i need some recommendations.
i haven't printed photo's since sawyer was born.
i had decided that the blog book was going to be "it"...no more printing photo's and putting them in albums.

but...as i was re-organizing our study...and was looking through the photo albums we have...i just can't do it. i need to have the photo's in another place. i don't let the kids TOUCH the coveted blog book unless i'm there {after all the hours and money that thing takes, it is a prized possession!} but i want there to be books they can just sit and look through.

so...what is your favorite site to make photo books?
there's shutterfly, snapfish, mixbook...they all seem so much the same.
is one better than another?
is one cheaper than another??
{photo processing is included in my "grocery budget" - because i usually got them from Sam's...it's just what it is...so i have to be conscious and do this carefully...or else we won't be eating :-)}
i don't need fancy or lots of options...these are going to be "upload pics and drop them in" books.
i don't have the time or energy to make them "interesting".
and i want them to look more like a photo album that the pictures are just IN...not any text.

ok...recommendations please :-)

THANK YOU!!!

11 comments:

Alden and Dorian said...

Yep, totally understand! And by the way, isn't it great to be in contact with people through the computer on these snowed in days? Shutterfly is what I have used and like it. I'm sure the others are very similar. Have fun! It is a piece of cake!!! You make it, pay for it and it comes right to your door!

Holly said...

for what you just listed as your priorities, I'd go with Shutterfly.
Blurb is the cheapest - but it's blurb.
I have 4 12x12 shutterfly books and LOVE the quality and look and everything. I have one Blurb and it's the same quality, a little cheaper but took me forever because of their issues

shutterfly also runs specials/sales/free shipping so you could make your books and just hold them 'in' shutterfly until you can buy them on sale.

mixbook is really fun but it's more of a digital scrapbooking site.

snapfish is the same as shutterfly - I've never used them but I have another friend who uses them to make books a lot, the kind you're talking about, and she like them.

there's my two cents....or more ;-)

Holly said...

oops....also, do you have a mac?
the iPhoto books are really good - my parents have used them several times.

Judy said...

Blurb is the cheapest place to make photobooks in my opinion. BUT....I love Shutterfly! They have a new picture book making tool called "story board" that makes it so easy. I think Shutterfly has the best choices of background, fonts, covers, etc. I HEART SHUTTERFLY, but it's expensive. I did a 12X12 book of McKenna's first year. It was 100 pages and cost almost $200. But I got the price down to about $150 because you can always find free shipping promo. codes and they usually have lots of different promotions going on. But still, it's expensive.
Fuji film has a new photo site called, www.seehere.com and I've gotten a few things from them super cheap and the quality has been good. So you might want to check out that site. Vistaprint would also be a cheap place to get a photobook, but don't go there. I had a small book made by Vistaprint and the quality was terrible.

Judy said...

Ok...I'm back. Since I really think you should use Shutterfly here's what you need to do.
Make your photobook by February 17th and use the promo code:
SWEET25 to get 25% off your photobook.
Then use the code: SHIP30 to get free shipping on an order of $30 or more (it will be more than that).
And get some free prints while your placing your order anyway and while you're getting free shipping:
FREE25PRINTS
You can use as many promotional codes as you want when placing an order, you just usually can't you more than one promo code of the same kind. For example you can use one free shipping code, one percentage off code, etc.
HOpe that helps!

Julie said...

I have used blurb to make photo books... and I do it throughout the year... I do it by month (not that it says that in the book... there is no writing just pictures. and it is great. The boys love looking through it...and I keep up with it so that it is an EASY already made gift for each set of grandparents for Christmas... they LOVE IT and that is all they want. And there are always promo codes around Christmas to make things cheaper.

The other thing a friend of mine over here does, which I am thinking of doing... is starting up a shutterfly share account... where you upload your pictures to their site (unlimited space available) they never delete your photos and then you can organize them (or do it before hand and you have your favorites on there) and label accordingly (like trips, etc... ) and it is EASY to then just transfer them to a Shutterfly book. You also can share the pictures/your website with friends/family and they can print off whatever pictures they want as well. It serves many purposes.

that is my 2 cents worth :)

Leighann said...

i third, fourth, is it fifth? shutterfly. I have been making books with them for five years now. i can't tell you how easy it is to use their storyboard tool. basically, sort all the pics you want in the book, upload it to the site, start the project, choose to use the storyboard, get pics (from folder you just uploaded, click and drag (you can do it in groups if you click on all the pics you want on a page) to the page and keep going. once you've dragged all the pics, storyboard searches the templates to fit the pics you just put on each page. no looking for templates yourself.... it did 600 photos in 15 minutes for me one year. it's especially easy if you aren't doing backgrounds or text. just put a pic of each kid on the title page with their name and year. and wa-la, instance photo book. happy book making. ( i still want to do a blurb book of my blog from last year, but haven't had time... ugh!)

Leighann said...

oh, and i get the 8x8 because it is a lot cheaper than the 12x12 and haven't had any issues with sizing or not being able to see something (a worry for me when i first ordered the smaller size). they tend to have sales at christmas time if you end up wanting to do one around that time too.

Ashley Smith said...

kodak gallery and blurb are the ones that I use. Never had a bad prduct!

Amanda Rivera said...

I've only ever done one photobook and used mypublisher.com

It worked great and we were really pleased with the results. I'm not sure how the price compares, but they do often send out promotion codes that you can use.

Tammy said...

Courtney, I would check on the Sam's club web page. They may make them at the Costco...not sure the price but I have found Costco cheaper than any website and then you don't have to pay shipping either. I would think that Sam's club is similar to Costco.