Make a Mother's Day Digital Photo Book: Everlasting Memories

One of the most memorable gifts I can think of the give your mother for Mother's Day or to receive from your children, regardless of age, is a digital photo book.

I've been lucky enough to have been gifted 4 times with these books by my daughters in the past few years. I personally think these books are one of the most enjoyable ways to share pictures with others and definitely one of the best products of this internet world we live in that is most worthwhile.

I decided to put one together for my hubby this week and also to write this article so I could review the process. It really is easy as One, Two, Three.

First things first though. You have to download your pictures onto your computer. To make it simple, create a desktop file and drop your pictures you want to use into that file.

You also have to join one of the many photo websites that are on the web. And it doesn't cost anything to do so. To name a few, there is Snapfish, Shutterfly and the old perennial favorite, Kodak. I belong to all three but seem to use Snapfish most often when I want to share my pictures with others...I just go to the home page, sign in and follow their prompts to upload my pictures from my computer. Once uploaded they are there as long as you want in the album you created to share on line

Then, when you want to create a Digital Photo Book, to give as a gift or for yourself your pictures are all ready to go.

Just log onto the Photo site you chose for your pictures and at the top of the page you will find your stored albums...Now these can be pictures others have sent you too from Snapfish or Shutterfly or what ever site you are using. For this article I am using Snapfish as my example. So the set-up might be different or another site but will be similar.

Just below your albums is a large box which shows Albums and says Mothers Day, May 11^th, then "Create Photo Book". Click on that link and another page opens with examples that you can look at of other books...This is a good idea to do and will help create your own book.

Then go back to the top of the page and click on the option, Store. You will then see your choice of prices for the many varieties they offer.

For instance, the "Classic Book". This is quite a versatile book and you have your choice of 20 different cover styles or you can create your own. This book is big enough to put 150 pages of pictures should you choose to. The book itself is 8 by 11 inches. The base price is $19.99 for 20 pages, with each additional page at a price of $1.99 for a set of 2 pages. That's just an example. There are many more sizes, styles and prices to choose from

Okay, you are ready to begin.

(Note: you might be asked to install adobe player or upgrade the one you have, no problem, it only takes a few seconds.)

First you pick the album cover you want...You can click on each one until you see the color and design you like demonstrated on the page.

Then you have another choice to make, one called EasyFill, which will put your photos from your album automatically in your Photo book, but you still can make changes should you wish.

Or, you can build your photo book from scratch, laying out your pictures the way you want them to look when you are finished. You even create your page designs and backgrounds. You just add your pictures from your online albums yourself. You just drag the pictures and drop them in, then add your text and voila, your Photo Album is nearly done.

Next, you will need to pay for it and, within a week, the album should arrive at its designated location. This makes it perfect for long distance gift giving.

The Digital Photo Books we've received are treasures. We have 4 different size books; two have hard covers, the others, a soft cover. Each book has a different amount of pages. One has 30 pages, which my daughter created for us using the pictures she took when we all went to Disneyworld together. One book has different pictures of my grandsons starting when they were tiny and show them as they have grown into the ages they are now.

The ideas are endless and show so much love and thoughtfulness from the giver. Try it, its fun to do and just wonderful to give and receive.

Enjoy and Happy Mother's Day

Foot note: I recently received an e-mail from Shutterfly devoting the entire front page to Mothers Day Photo Books and offering a 20% discount.

www.shutterfly.com

www.snapfish.com