just finished my photobook!!
 

Yeah! I just uploaded and ordered my book for our January 2011 trip... my sons are going to be so excited to finally be able to share it with friends.

Here's a link to the preview on Blurb.com --

http://www.blurb.com/books/2064562

I started the book before finding Mousescrappers... I have learned so much from y'all (and found so many freebies) that my style changed when I was about 3/4 done with the book... I changed some pages, but I didn't want to be working on it forever, so you can sort of see the evolution of style... Now I can go back and really "scrap" the pictures at my leisure. Some day I'll print another book of my favorite pages. Right now I'm just glad I got it done :hooray:

Marla, you did an awesome job! Is that an 8 1/2 x 11 book? It looks great! Your LOs and colors work great throughout the book! Your book inspired me! :woohoo:

Jenn, yes, it is 8.5 x 11. Like I said, I had started before finding Mousescrappers (and before discovering what Photoshop Elements can do on our new computer), and that's what I've done before. I was poking around online looking for fun backgrounds and a few embellishments and found a treasure trove of Mickey stuff...

I didn't put on any credits, since the book is entirely for family use, but if you're interested -- I bought just a few kits, mostly from Britt (Leave the World Behind, Space Ranger, Galactic Alliance, Just Plain Fun, Glamorama paper pack, Happiest Dots on Earth paper pack, Our Happiest Place word art) and one from Kellybell (I Love that Mouse), and the rest was from freebies... I would have LOVED to buy a ton more stuff, but my husband would have murdered me...

The Mousescrappers' challenge pp's have really helped - I was so excited to get Denise's Stashbuilders that I went back and added hidden Mickeys to all the layouts that didn't have them... my 7-year-old is going to love trying to find them!

The whole thing took about 2 months, and it would have been quicker had I not had to wait for my Photopass cds (although that waiting time is when I discovered Mousescrappers and learned a ton of new stuff)... I went by the motto that an imperfect finished photobook is a lot better than an almost perfect not-printed one... and just got it done. If I can do it, you can do it!

:woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

Way to go!!!! Great job on getting the book completed! That is very exciting and the kids will enjoy getting to see it.

Congrats!!!!! :hooray:

Great Job! I know you are happy to have it completed!

Wow! Great job! Thanks for all the info on kits you used :) Can't wait to make my next book. Love the hidden mickey idea.

Great job!! :hooray:

Fantastic book!!!! You are a speedy scrapper you just went this year and I am not even done with my first trip from 2008!!! Great job love the book!!

yes, I have to be speedy -- my 7-year-old has asked several times a week when he can bring the book to school!! He really, really, REALLY wants to show his friends all the photos of him battling Darth Vader...

Love the book!!!

so my book just arrived (took Blurb less than one week to make it and get it to me!) and there's no one home to enjoy it with me... my husband and older son are away for the weekend and the little one is with my parents. It looks great (I'm always a little worried that what's on the screen won't come out as good on paper) and I can't wait to share it with my family tomorrow!!

Marla,

I'm so curious to know how your book turned out. I'm thinking about using Blurb to print a book I'm doing right now. I will have between 120 and 140 pages by the time I'm done, I think. Anyway I have a couple of Blurb questions for you...

How many pages was your book? I looked at it a while ago and I cannot remember.

Did you import your pages into their software before you printed or did you upload them as PDF files (I think you can do it that way...)? If you did use their software (or, I guess even if you didn't), does it look like it did trim the 1/2 inch all the way around each page?

I had about 70 pages done when I first uploaded them to the Book Smart software only to find out that a good share of my elements and journaling were within the dreaded pink zone. :swear:

SO, I had to redo a bunch of them. The one and only other book I have done was less than 100 pages and I had it printed through Shutterfly. Shutterfly doesn't stress the issue of the 1/2 inch around the page and all of my layouts looked great.

Anyway, now I don't particularly like the way my layouts look with that extra 1/2 inch trimmed all the way around - especially when I use overlays and stitching that is supposed to go around the outside edge of the page. Most of those will be lost completely if they cut off the 1/2 inch all the way around.

Anyway, since you've just gotten your book back, I thought you might be able to give me your opinion. I will probably still avoid the pink zone, but I just wondered if I really needed to.

Thanks so much for any information you can give me! :thanks:

Gayle

Gayle,

My book was 80 pages. Blurb's pricing is a little different; they have one price 1-40 pages, another 41-80, another 81-120... so I was really trying to keep it to 80 pages. I love that pricing system -- I don't have to decide if each page is worth the cost per page like I did in Shutterfly... and since it wasn't a very long trip, it was easy (this time).

The longest book I've printed with Blurb was 115 pages -- it came out very nicely, too. I just checked on the site -- the maximum is 440 pages, but 160 if you want premium paper (which I always use).

This was the first time that I used Photoshop to do my pages. I saved them as jpg's and imported into Booksmart. For my previous books, I just used Booksmart, but it is not good for real scrapping (you can't tilt photos, layering is difficult, etc.). I was more than a little nervous to see how it turned out with the imported jpgs, but it's absolutely fine.

As for the 1/2 inch trim, yes, they do really trim everything, but not quite that much (it's probably more like 1/8, but they want you to be safe). I was afraid of losing things, too, so I made a layout in Booksmart that left a 1/2 inch border and then filled that border with a coordinating paper (it basically looks like I matted everything). I guess you might not like that if you have stitching that goes over the edge; it worked for me.

I started using Booksmart a few years ago to make a book out of our family blog -- they have a program that "slurps" all the text/photos off a blog and puts it right in Booksmart. I've been really happy with their quality. Shutterfly was ok for quick books, but I always felt somewhat limited (that's probably not the case any more, I haven't used them in over 2 years).

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Marla,

Thank you for your detailed reply!:thanks:

It is so helpful to have an expert opinion!! I can't wait to get my book finished so that I can upload everything and get the final result back.

I figured there was a margin of error worked into the 1/2 inch, but I'm going to go with that just to be on the safe side. After I have this book printed and once I see how the finished product compares to what the book looks like in BookSmart, maybe I will be a little more adventurous.

Thank you, thank you for taking the time to reply! I appreciate it very much! And, again, GREAT work on your book. It looks terrific! :yes:

Gayle

awesome book. I know you are super happy it is finished. :yeah:

Fantastic job!!!
 

Your book is so cute!! Now I am more determined to get mine done!!

How did you like using Blurb.com??? How do you feel the picture quality is?? I am doing my research now so I can order as soon as I am ready...

Beautiful!! And thanks for the help!!:yeah::thanks:

You did a fantastic job on your book. I am sure that your sons will be so excited to see the finished product.

I am glad that you were able to go back and add all of the hidden Mickeys.
:yeah:

This is so true! I need to adhere to that and get mine printed!

It looks great, how exciting! Be sure to get pics of your little guy when he sees it for the first time, then you have more to scrap! LOL I LOVE the photos of Hollywood and Vine - I wondered what Oso looked like. We have a ressie there in October.