Blog Book

I got my blog book!! Actually I got it last week, but have had so many other things to blog about, I haven't gotten around to showing ya'll my book. I included quite a few photos since many of you have asked about making a book through blurb.com.

Front Cover

(I blocked out our last name for privacy reasons)

Back Cover.

There are many layouts to choose for the cover and a couple cover choices. I picked Hardcover with the Image Wrap, which was a few dollars more than a book sleeve. I rather have the pictures right on the cover -- a sleeve is too easy to lose and destroy (in my opinion).

My Mom said it best when she compared it to a yearbook. It is exactly the look and feel of a high school yearbook. Although, you don't have to choose this size -- you can do 12x12 or 11x8 (landscape rather than portrait) and a few other choices.

I used a photo as a background on the Title Page.

There are so many photo layouts and text layouts to choose from. Also, they just came out with a new version of booksmart -- booksmart 2.0 which I would imagine has even more. I made my book on the older version.

The picture in the lower left corner is supposed to be black -- it is Lily covering the lens with the lens cap.

It is fun since every page is different. You can highlight the photos you want by making them larger. I mean, I post A LOT of pictures. I would never be able to scrap book them all and probably wouldn't print them all. So the random ones that accompany the journaling I made smaller.

For this entry from our visit to Dallas where JFK was assassinated, I used a photo of the street he was shot on as the background to the story of our day. I had to change the font color from white to black so that it was clear and readable.

Sorry the pictures aren't the greatest, but you get the idea. I am extremely happy with the way the book turned out and I am excited to start on my next one (the first 6 months of this year). Again, I SO highly recommend it. It takes a little work to format the book and photos the way you want, but it is worth it in the end. And for such a high quality book, you really can't beat the price. The cost is determined by the # of pages. Mine was 362 pages. It doesn't matter how many photos you have (I had over 1500) or how many full size pictures you want -- it is just determined by the page count. It is awesome. I think with shipping my book was $103.

So that is my pitch on the blog book. I hope I inspired you to get working on yours!! (Maybe blurb.com will give me my next book free after my glowing review!) :)