Do you remember last September when Marnie did a whole week on making Photobooks? (You can refresh your memory here.) Well, I bookmarked that week fully intending to create a photobook or two...but that has yet to happen. It seems that when I want to get lots of photos into a book, I still do it the old fashioned way-- in a mini:
The Inspiration
Well, first off, I was inspired by last year's American Crafts catalogue that I had always fully intended to cut up the moment it became outdated:
Hello? Perfect cover, right there!
Next, I was inspired by the web special at my local photo developer-- fifty 5X7's for 5 bucks! Yup, five-zero! This was excellent motivation to get my photos selected and uploaded quickly.
Finally, I was inspired by all of last summer's photos that I had yet to scrap, resting safe and sound on my removable hard drive. (That little gizmo became all the more precious two weeks ago when my laptop crashed and had to be wiped clean. BACK UP YOUR PHOTOS, PEOPLE!)
The Method
I fit 66 photos into this sucker by creating a template in PSE7 to create photo and photo/text collages that I uploaded with my regular 5X7 blow ups. (I intended to offer you said template here, until my computer crashed and had to be wiped clean. Reminder #2 to back up your photos! Here is a free alternative from the CoffeeShop Blog,though.)
I went through my files from June/July/August and picked a bunch that I loved. I made sure to mix portraits with candids, and to make sure everyone in the family was well represented. I created collages with some, and left others full-size. I also took all of my Facebook status updates from those months and worked them into some of the collages, too. (I love Facebook as a journaling tool. Every status update is a perfect slice of life.) When I had 50 photos and templates I made sure to rename each one so that the page order would be clear once the prints arrived. i.e. page2.jpg, page3.jpg, etc. This saved so much time when I went to put the book together. I didn't worry too much about chronology of photos, or trying to match the status updates to the photos-- three months isn't long enough to worry about all that.
The Pay Off
Once I had my photos printed, I just glued them together back-to-back, punched holes for my binder rings, and lightly embellished with stickers and labels to add little details about what was happening in the photos. I wasn't looking for a lot of "stuff" in this book-- really it was just the photos, and the Facebook statuses with minimal decoration-- quite like a clean and simple photobook:
The Bonus
To add even more journaling, I printed off my blog posts from those months and tucked them in an envelope inside the back cover:
Now that September is almost here, you could even do one of these for Summer 2011! (Now I just need to hunt down the right American Crafts catalog...)
