If you saw my post the other day about my Ali Edwards' Shutterfly book project, then you will know that I have found a new appreciation for these type of album projects. Shutterfly sent me a review coupon to try out their new 5x7 size soft cover photo book. I was excited to try this and I decided a baby book project would be just the thing. I also decided to buy another album in the same size, after all, I do have 2 kids!
I had noticed this sweet little project awhile back when Ali put it up in her Designer Digitals store.
So I will show you my daughter's version first and then move on to the baby boy book I did for my son.
I formatted my album about the same way that Ali did (she includes a link in the download), but my pictures weren't as spectacular. One thing I've learned from Ali in her Yesterday Today class at Big Picture Scrapbooking, is that I shouldn't dwell on that. No good comes from mourning the pictures we don't have. I did the best with the technology, skills, and time I had at the point in my life. I can't compare that to anyone else. My daughter's pictures are from 13 years ago, and my son was born 16 years ago so it was a much different time then. Once I gathered all the photos for this project and put them into the album, it made me realize that these images are precious to me and to my family and that is what matters most!
she cried like that every time we put her in her carseat!
back cover - love how you can put a picture right on the cover!
It is very easy to figure out how to put together a book like this. Just upload the images to a file and use that file to create a book. You can select the layout for each page. I just picked full photo layouts for each page and then plugged in the picture or graphic I wanted to use. The hardest part of the entire process is figuring out which pictures to use. You DO NOT need to be a digi scrapper to put together a shutterfly album. They make it very easy!
My album turned out a little more reddish pink on the cover than the pink in the preview. Shutterfly suggests you turn off vivid color when using digi scrap stuff, but I wanted my pictures to be vivid so I left it on. I love the way my photos look, and I don't mind the more vibrant colors. If you are looking for a paler pink (or blue below) then be sure to turn off this feature. Here's the link that explains the whole thing. Not all the pages were this dark of pink, there is a variety of shades in Ali's kit.
I thought they were all very pretty and I love the simplicity of the design.
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Here's the boy version I did for my son:
by the way, he was huge! 10 lbs. 5 oz.! And he had jaundice so he was quite yellow.
back cover
See the note I wrote about my my daughter's album cover. This is the same effect. A little more vibrant cover color, but I really like it. There is also a variety of shades of blue in the pages in Ali's kit. I love the way it turned out!
And even though my kids are getting big now, they loved these albums also!
Obviously, I will still scrapbook a lot of these pictures I used for these little albums, and tell the stories that go with them. This is a perfect way to just enjoy some very special pictures though. This would make a fabulous brag book, or a wonderful gift for a grandparent. The album is not very big or very thick so it is easily transported. You could even give this to a set of new parents if you had some photos of their baby to upload and create an album with. I love the 5x7 size and the price is really nice also. I did buy Ali's kits at Designer Digitals ($9.99 each) and then the books were $12.99 each with $4.99 shipping. I would love to make some more of these fun little albums!
