Family Yearbook 2014

Yes, you've read this before. Get over it. I'm a huge, annoying, loud fan of family yearbooks. Had I been a mom in the 80's, I may not feel this way. Back in the old days, we had something called photo albums. Perhaps you've seen these antiques at your grandma's house. Large, musty-smelling books with a 3-ring apparatus inside, glossy pages filled with glossy photos of old. Now, these young kids have iPhones with 3482397859 #selfies on them, never to see the clear, glossy sleeve of a photo album sitting on grandma's oak coffee table. It's a shame, a damn shame. How will we know what outfit you wore each day of the year?

So, you've seen the books I created for Maddie. Yes, she was spoiled. What I failed to realize in my one-childness is that when you have multiple children, they do things together. It would be quite difficult to do 3 books for each kid when they are always together. Especially, the twinkies. So, I started our 2014 Family Yearbook. This time, I'm using Blurb. Right now, Blurb is offering 20% off your first book! Just use the code: BLURBWELCOME at checkout. Great product, great price, more freedom in creating your pages. They have software you can download easily, upload your photos & choose from many different page designs. I actually decided to create my pages in Photoshop. I chose the 12x12 coffee table book, downloaded some pre-made layouts here & started planning, arranging & yearbooking.

As you can see, I started a book & then changed my mind.

Here is the cover of our first family yearbook. I chose a hardcover with a photo wrap. Hardcover because duh! I have kids who will do everything in their power to destroy this book. And photo wrap because I want it to be pretty & those kids will destroy a dust jacket.
#kidproof-ish

Because I am making each page in Photoshop, I choose a full picture layout for each individual page. If you don't have Photoshop, but want to make your own personalized layouts, you can do that with PicMonkey. You can add your photos into premade collages, add colors, patterns, text, & graphics.

OR you can use their premade layouts, & add individual photos & text.

 Once you have decided on layouts & collages, you just "get photos" and begin dragging & dropping. Seriously, easiest program. You can't screw this up.

I won't get into all the reasons I love photo books because you already know. You'll notice that peppered into the "nice" photos are TONS of phone pics. That's the camera you have with you all.the.time. That's the camera you're capturing everyday life with. Use.Them.

I'm so ready to get this thing printed & away from the rugrats on my coffee table, but I still have a few months left before I can get printing. I'll update you when I have this beauty in my hands. And if you want to start a book, and need help, drop me an email. I'd be happy to help.

a.