This past holiday season, I decided to make calendars for my family. Mixbook provided me with two complimentary large landscape calendars and I purchased Groupons for savings on the rest. I made two different versions of the calendar, one for my side of the family and one for my husband’s side.  I also tried out the calendars in two different sizes.  The 11 x 8.5 is $19.99 and the 14 x 11 is $34.99 (also available in other themes is the square format for $29.99).  You can see the difference in size from my comparison photos.

The main photos I used were the same for both versions, but the birthdays and other events were different. Since my main pages (the top page of the spread) were going to be the same, I completed one whole calendar, duplicated the project and then just changed out the birthdays and added the details from there. There were several unique and good looking calendar themes that I looked at, but in the end, I went with the blank canvas and made mine from scratch. That doesn’t mean that I had to make the whole calendar from scratch (meaning the actual month pages), I just didn’t pick a theme so I could customize all the photo layouts and design myself.

I barely utilized how much customization I could have done to the calendars, as I had to stop myself from “playing” for too long.  As I used the software, I learned more about what I could do with the design by the time I was creating the second calendar, so that one had a lot more clip art, including some cute embellishments I found for free on a few digital scrapbooking sites. What’s unique about Mixbook is the ability to upload your own clip art and embellishments, though there is plenty of free clip art within the program already, so it’s not necessary unless you have something special you want to use. I was surprised that I could liberally add elements to any part of the page and I was not limited to staying within the calendar grid (see the hearts I added at the bottom of February).  The flexibility of the software is one of its biggest pluses and works the same as the software you can use to make custom cards and photos books as well.  For those who are familiar with traditional scrapbooking, out of all the software I’ve tried, Mixbook has the most “digital scrapbooking” type tools and the most free high quality clip art I’ve encountered thus far.  For those who find themselves working on more than one computer, it is really convenient that the software resides online.  You just upload your photos once and then you can work on your project wherever you can get an internet connection.

Another nice feature is that you can start from any month of the year and do 12 months from that point on. So, if I were making mine now, I could start with February 1 and it would go through February of 2013. 

Entering an event is easy. There’s a chart that pops up and you can type in the event and date. Popular holidays are pre-entered and you can select whichever holidays you wish to appear by checking a box. It’s easier to check the top box assuming you want most holidays in there and then uncheck the few that you don’t want. Clicking on “Update Calendar” automatically populates the events and holidays so you can focus on making your pages look nice.

When I received the calendars, I was happy to see the photos I’d selected printed very clearly and the color reproduced faithfully. Most were my favorite landscape photos with a focus on nature – a topic I figured would have universal appeal (I did personalize each with a collage of family photos on the back of the calendar.)  The cardstock is of good sturdy weight and I found the calendars well constructed. I was very excited to give them to my family over the Chinese New Year (Yes, I got started on them later than I’d hoped), and watched them marvel at how photos of themselves appeared on their birthdays. Until they started to flip through it, they didn’t realize it wasn’t store-bought.  The personalized aspect is what they were most excited about.  Only problem now is they expect one every year going forward!  Mixbook makes that easy by saving all the custom dates you entered – a clever business move to encourage repeat customers I’m sure…

The $15.00 Mixbook Groupon which has been available fairly often as of late, will buy you two 11 x 8.5 calendars and you’ll still have $10 of credit to play with, all for $15.00! (The Groupon provides you $50.00 worth of credit for $15.00 – 70% off savings.)  (I used the balance to make a few Valentine’s cards featuring Photo Book Baby to give to the family and a customized wedding card for my dear friend getting married this month.)  You could also opt instead for one large calendar and one standard size if you put in an extra $5.00.  (These do not include shipping costs.)  These would make lovely Valentine’s gifts (remember you can start your calendar with any month you choose).  Why not create a theme each month around something you love about that person (i.e. I love your cooking! I love your smile! I love your little toes! etc.)

Have a great weekend!

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Please note I am an affiliate of Mixbook. If you click through my site to Mixbook and make a purchase I receive a commission. Regardless of compensation, my opinions are my own.

Week 4 down, 48 to go!

So, with the end of the month, it’s a good time to do some house cleaning for my 365 project.  At the start of the project, I created an “album” in iPhoto to hold my 365 project photos.  But because on some days I can’t decide which photo I want to use, I’ve ended up with two photos I like for the day.  So I don’t get confused, I need to have somewhere to write some notes.  Additionally there are times when I’ve done some post processing on a day other than the date I took the photo and Photoshop overwrites the original date I took the photo.  So, to solve those issues, I have a Word document to help me keep track.  I haven’t had time to take notes every day, so the end of the month is the perfect time to go back through the month’s photos and get myself up to date.  I just write a quick caption or jot a few words about why I took the photo or any information I think will be useful when I put my 365 book together at year end.

For those of you who aren’t going to caption your 365 photos when you design your final book, but want to have some type of narrative in your book either at the beginning or end, I just thought of an idea.  I plan to have a section titled, “365 (366) Project by the Numbers”

I’m going to categorize or calculate the “statistics” for my photos.  For example:

Photos of Photo Book Baby: 177

Photos of Food: 100

Photos of Still Lifes: 44

Photos of People: 40

Self-Portraits: 5

What do you think?  It’s kind of an overview of the project that may be fun tool to see what caught your eye in 2012.

Today’s photo from week four is one of my favorites of the year.  Of course it’s of Photo Book Baby.  (As you can see from my mock stats above, I already know he’s going to be the subject of most of my photos for 2012!)  My little guy loves his swing.  It has a mobile that lights up and spins overhead.  By the second or third time we had him in it, even before we turned it on, he’d already be looking upwards in anticipation of the spinning mobile.  It’s so cute, I had to capture it for posterity.  I also instagramed this one and I did two versions of it.

If I can’t decide on one shot for the day, I may go ahead and use both!

How is your project going?

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(This post is republished from my Facebook Fan page.  If you’re not already a fan, please “like” Photobookgirl’s Facebook page!)

Facebook fan, Benny had a question about how to lay out the cover of his Photobook America Imagewrap photo book.  I’ve also had this question a couple times emailed to me, so I figured I’d post a note about it on here and perhaps do a blog post later.  The imagewrap type of cover is the one where you can put your own photos and title your spine of the book (versus a leather or linen cover).  Using your own images on the cover is my personal favorite out of all the cover choices, so if you’ve been following my blog you’ll see that I tend to choose this option more frequently than others.

(B/t/w although this is discussing Photobook America specifically, these guidelines can be similarly applied to other photo book companies as well, though there may be some variations as to what each company will allow you to do.)

So, you know what the question was, I’ve copied and pasted our conversation from my Facebook Wall.

QUESTION:

• Benny B: Hello Photo Book Girl, well I am half way there on the first book. Really picking up the pace now by understanding the software a little better. Which brings me to this question. Regarding the cover, none of our photos do not get the warning for low picture quality. I saw the explanation that some had gotten the warning but it turned out fine. I am using the 11 x 11 square and i was thinking of one photo on the front and a different one on the back. Then I wanted the title to be on the spline. Is that possible? If so do you have a link to do this? I am using Photobook America. Thanks. Like · · Yesterday at 11:31am

• Photo Book Girl Hi Benny, I have been able to do this without an issue. The cover and back should be the first page of your book and you’d design it no different from any of the interior pages. Just drag and drop into the containers.?11 hours ago · Like

• Benny B. I see that. What will the outside of the spline look like? Will it have one of the photos from the front or back? What if I do not want either photo there but just a solid color. I would want the solid color to be there if it was possible to put the title of the photo book on the outside spline. In this case it would be “Norwegian Gem October 2009″.2 hours ago · Like

• Photo Book Girl I’ll post a screenshot of the my Hawaii book cover for you. I’ll post it in the “Notes” section of my Facebook page.9 seconds ago · Like

ANSWER
Each section of the cover can be treated separately, or you can treat it as all one entire layout.  Below Above is a screenshot of the Photobook America software.  (Sorry if it’s hard to see, but this is the biggest I can get it on Facebook.) For this book, I chose a single image to cover all three areas (back, spine, front).  So in the software, you are viewing it as if the cover of the book were removed from and laid flat.  You can also see that I added a text box to title the spine.

Tips:
1) The easiest way is to do the cover the way I have done it here with one single image taking up all three sides. Why? because if you use three separate images, it can be very difficult for the company to line up all three images properly.  Remember that your eventual book size (the width of the spine especially) is affected by how many interior pages are in the book.  If you think about it, a 20 page book takes up less space on your bookshelf than a 100 page book.  So, the amount of space you have on the actual physical spine can vary and I don’t think it’s easy for this to be emulated in the software.  So you need to build in your own cushion to be safe.

2) Don’t make your title on the spine too big, just in case it gets cut off.  Make sure it’s readable (most likely at least 10 pt. font) – The actual size will depend on the font as I’m sure you’ve noticed that the size can vary depending on the font, but don’t have it take up the whole height of the spine, or else it may wander to the front or back of the book.

3) Also make sure the vertical spacing on the spine is not too extreme – just like with designing the pages, don’t have important elements get too close to the cut off guides.

Note that each company may work this differently, but this is a good general rule of thumb across companies.  You could take a risk and see, but if it’s going to disappoint you if it doesn’t line up, then I wouldn’t risk it.

But let’s say you’re a risk taker and like to live on the edge. (ha ha…) If you do want to do two separate images, and then a solid spine, you can, but you have to create three separate photo containers (one for front, back and spine) and then drag and drop your images into that and try to line up as much as possible.  That could get tricky as I note above though, cause they may not line up perfectly in the end and it will look like you made a mistake unless you want to play it off as a conscious design choice.

If you want to see how my book printed out, check out my Photobook America reviews for actual images.  That way you can compare what I saw in the software and what I ended up with.  I can’t guarantee that my result will be 100% your result, but if you allow yourself the proper cushion and follow the above guidelines, you should have a good end product.  I also have images of the book in the Photos section of my Facebook page.  Hope that helps!

P.S. It may not be 100% clear how to actually title the spine.  Here’s basic steps:

1) Click on the add text box icon (or from pull down menu under “Insert”);

2) Double click on the box to add your title;

3) Click and hold down the green dot on the box container and turn it so it rotates 90 degrees clockwise;

4) Center it horizontally on the area marked out for the spine;

5) Stay well within the boundaries shown by the guides.

I did notice that the representation of the spine area seems a lot thinner than in the last two books I did, so I don’t know if the company has changed their software recently to discourage putting text on the spine, but I did not get a message saying that I shouldn’t title the spine (as was posted by a reader in the comments section of one of my Photobook America posts.)  I was able to add my title.  If I find out anything differently, I will update this post.

Best of luck on all your projects!

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Thanks to all who entered the MyPicTales Giveaway!  I really enjoyed reading about what you would do with such an amazing prize and I appreciate the time many of you took to add your own reviews of photo book companies you’ve used before.

Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for…

The lucky PhotoBookGirl reader who will receive 12 FREE photo books – one for every month of this year is (drumroll please)…

KWu!

Here’s what our winner said she would be doing with her prize if she won:

“I have big plans for photobooks in 2012! I only just discovered this site a couple weeks ago and I’ve already started making photobooks in Blurb but am trying to get a few more in on the same order to take advantage of the lower cost per shipping for each book. So far I have one of my bachelorette party and one of our honeymoon. I want to do one for each of the big trips I’ve taken in the last few years as well as for different events throughout college.”

Congratulations, KWu, you will be receiving an e-mail today to confirm you meet all the eligibility requirements. If all is well, you’d better get planning – you’re gonna have a busy but fun year making photo books!

Thank you to MyPicTales for its generous sponsorship of this giveaway!

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Check out all the latest “one day deals” on my Groupon/Living Social Tracker!

If you’re interested in reading more about our giveaway sponsor, check out my MyPicTales Review.

Don’t be disappointed if you didn’t win – I’m working on more giveaways! Also, it’s not too late to check out MyPicTales promo for PhotoBookGirl readers.

MyPicTales is offering a special 25% discount for Photobookgirl readers!

MyPicTales

Deal #1

Deal #2

15% off any order or 25% off orders over $100.00

• Save on photobooks, calendars and cards (does not include single page prints)
• Valid for US and international orders
• Cannot be combined with other offers

Coupon Codes: SAVE15 or SAVE25

Deal Expires: not provided

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Please note, I am not an affiliate of MyPicTales, nor do I receive compensation from the company if you buy a book from MyPicTales. The book shown here was provided complimentary for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

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The best way to not miss any of my giveaways is to stay in touch!

Subscribe to my blog via RSS feed
Follow me on Twitter
“Like” me on Facebook
or subscribe to my e-mail newsletter (look for the light blue box at right to enter your e-mail address!)

Click here for all Photo Book Company REVIEWS!

How’s your 365 day project going? Week 3 down, 49 to go!  Okay, if you have a couple holes here and there, take more shots to catch up!

One of week three’s shots is of one of my all time favorite cuisines – Korean.  This is my version of bi bim bap, which has been called Korea’s national dish.  My meat portion is a bit generous, as the typical version has more veggies, but we had some left over kalbi  (barbequed beef) from dinner so who was I to let it go to waste?  A fried egg, kimchi and some lovely spicy sauce all atop a bowl of rice and I was one happy camper.  I didn’t see it at the time, but doesn’t my egg yolk almost look heart shaped?! (If you haven’t had kalbi or bi bim bap before, you gotta try it sometime…)

Anyway, I chose to document my lunch for my 365 project, as I’m trying to make more home cooked meals.  The hubs and I have been doing a lot of carryout and delivery (and I can’t just blame it on the baby).  At the time I took the photo, I think I had cooked a record five meals in a row.  I was on all roll.  Also I’ve always admired photographs of beautiful food and I often take photos of my meals, at home, in restaurants etc.  I’m trying to get better at this type of photography.

For those of you who are struggling to find a subject for some of your upcoming photos, try “food”!

How is your project going? Let’s keep each other motivated!

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Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. What better way to say “I love you” but with a photo book!

Stumped for ideas?

VALENTINE’S DAY PHOTO BOOKS

1) What I love about you – a photo book accompanied by a list of 10 (or 100) things that you love about that person be it your spouse, child, mother, friend, grandparent. Pick about 15 to 20 of your favorite photos of that person (include some shots of you and that person together and some family/group shots) and put your captions of the items alongside the photos;

2) Story About Us - this is great for any couple.  Make a book for your significant other, fiance, spouse, etc.  Write some brief narratives that you can use as captions alongside your photos.  Topics: How we met, How he proposed, Our first date, Our first trip together, Our wedding.  No need to write a novel, just brief accounts of special moments work well;

3) No Theme – not big on writing and don’t want to mess with captions or narrative?  Just drop in your favorite photos and grab some Valentine-themed clip art.  Plenty of photo book companies have clip art of hearts, flowers and complementary backgrounds from vintage to modern.  I’ve found lots of free clip art that you can upload for use into programs such as Mixbook and Photobook America.  You can toss a few hearts across the page or use the heart shaped photo containers that many companies have and there you have a beautiful personalized gift.

If you feel like your book is a little bare without some wording, here’s some options:

1) Borrow a few quotes from love poems or Shakespeare for a classic book: “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet…”

2) Select a few lyrics to highlight, like the Beatles – “All you need is love…” or the words to your song;

3) Use the classic Valentine candy heart lingo – “Be Mine”, “You’re Sweet”, “Be My Valentine”

No need to make a huge book.  A short and sweet book of the typical base 20 pages would be great and fairly quick to put together.

READY-MADE VALENTINE PHOTO BOOK THEMES

Short on time (who isn’t?) and want a completed theme ready for you to drag and drop your photos into?  I scanned some photo book companies to see if they offer a guided theme.  There were a lot of cute options:

From Mixbook

From Shutterfly

NO THEMES, BUT VALENTINE’S BACKGROUNDS

Some companies don’t have book themes, but have Valentine’s themed backgrounds that you can use to make your books:

From Snapfish

From Picaboo

Now that you have some ideas, let’s find some deals!

Check out my post on FREE photo books – No expiration dates on them!
Get a FREE PHOTO BOOK with MyPublisher!

Also don’t forget to check out the Coupons & Deals page.

The best way to not miss any deals is to stay in touch!

Subscribe to my blog via RSS feed
Follow me on Twitter
“Like” me on Facebook
or subscribe to my e-mail newsletter (look for the light blue box at right to enter your e-mail address!)

Want to know more before you buy? Click here for all Photo Book Company REVIEWS!

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Shutterfly

Deal #1

Free shipping on orders $30+

Coupon Code: SHIP30

Deal #2

Save 30% on 12×12 photo books.
Save 20% on 8×11 and 8×8 photo books.
Save 15% on 7×9 and 5×7 photo books.

Deal Expires: Limited offer – not specified

Photo Book Girl Tip!
Remember you can stack Shutterfly coupon codes, just keep entering all the ones you can find and the savings multiply!

See my Shutterfly Reviews here

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Blurb

15% off Blurb books!

Coupon Code: 15OFFBLURB

Deal Expires: 3/31/2012

See my Blurb reviews here.

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Inkubook

25% off and FREE shipping on orders of $50 for more!

Coupon Code: WINTERFUN

Deal Expires: not provided

See my Inkubook Review here!

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Mixbook

Deal #1

30% off photo books at Mixbook!

Coupon Code: BOOK30

Deal Expires: 1/23/12 (11:59pm PST)

Deal #2

FREE Shipping on orders $75+ at Mixbook

Coupon Code: SHIP75JAN

Deal Expires: 1/31/12 (11:59pm PST)

Deal #3

See my Mixbook Review here!

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Photobook America

Deal #1

30% on all books and FREE shipping!

Coupon Code: JAN30NY

Deal Expires: 1/31/2012 (11:59PM EST)

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MyPicTales

MyPicTales is offering a special 25% discount for Photobookgirl readers!

Deal #1

Deal #2

15% off any order or 25% off orders over $100.00!

• Save on photobooks, calendars and cards (does not include single page prints)
• Valid for US and international orders
• Cannot be combined with other offers

Coupon Codes: SAVE15 or SAVE25

Deal Expires: not provided

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Snapfish

Deal #1

Deal Expires: 1/31/2012

See my Snapfish review here!

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MyPublisher

20% to 75% off photo books and calendars!

Coupon Code: VALHEART

Deal Expires: 1/23/2012

See my MyPublisher reviews here!

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Picaboo

Buy Any Classic Book or Calendar Get A Copy Free

Coupon Code: WINTERBG

Deal Expires: 1/23/2012 (Mid PT)

See my Picaboo reviews here!

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SmileBooks

Save $25 any order of 12 x 12 Deluxe photo books!

Coupon Code: DELUXE121225

Deal Expires: 1/31/2012

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AdoramaPix

AdoramaPix has a sale on 8×8 photo books! 14 page books are $11.95 (regularly $23.95)

Coupon Code: BELIEVE

Date Expires: 1/31/2012

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Clicking on the company name will take you directly to the company’s site. The banner ads and some of the links above are affiliate links. Read full Disclosure.

How’s your 365 day project going? Week 2 down, 50 to go! I’m posting one of my fave photos of the week – a silhouette of PhotoBookBaby’s hair.  His crazy hair has become iconic (well, in our our house at least).  Think Donald Trump, think Flock of Seagulls (for you 80s music fans), think Medusa ha ha…

But alas friends, his crazy do is no more – grandma took some shears to it and he had his first haircut yesterday.  That event has been captured for week 3, day 16!  He really needed that haircut, it was creeping into his eyes and all over his ears… It had a mind of its own.

This photo was also post processed with Instagram.

How is your project going? Let’s keep each other motivated!

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How’s your January going? This is going up a little later than I had hoped, but when you see how big this prize is, I think you’ll forgive me.

HOW ABOUT A CHANCE TO WIN A WHOLE YEAR OF PHOTO BOOKS?!!!!

We’re lucky to have MyPicTales generously sponsor one huge prize for one lucky Photobookgirl reader!

If you’re interested in reading more about our giveaway sponsor, check out my detailed MyPicTales review. But don’t forget to come back to enter the giveaway!

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HOW TO ENTER THE MyPicTales GIVEAWAY

MyPicTales is giving one (1) lucky winner one entire year of photo books (1 for each month). Total prize value: $479.88!

• Each month the winner may select (1) 20-page custom cover photo book in 8 x 8, 8.5 x 11 or 10 x 10 size;
• Winner will receive 12 coupon codes, 1 code for each month.  Each book must be made within the month of its validity. (Due to timing, code for month of January has been extended to end of February);
• Additional pages are extra;
• Shipping is not included;
• Not valid with any other offer

You have 6 possible ways to enter, but you must do the REQUIRED ENTRY for the others to count. For EACH entry, you have to COMMENT ON THIS POST below with a separate comment for EACH entry, telling me what type of entry you did. (One comment is one entry, so please don’t put all your entries in one comment or they will only count as one entry.)

REQUIRED ENTRY:

• Comment below – IF YOU WON, WHAT KIND OF PHOTO BOOKS (vacation, baby, wedding etc.) WOULD YOU MAKE WITH YOUR MyPicTales PRIZE?

OPTIONAL ENTRIES:

• Subscribe to my newsletter (look for light blue box at top right) AND tell me in the comment below that you subscribed and the name you subscribed under (first name is fine). If you already subscribe to my newsletter, tell me in your comment and give me your name. (Please remember for it to count, you must confirm the subscription. Sorry RSS or Google Reader doesn’t count);

• “Like” me on Facebook (if you are already a fan, or become a new fan, tell me your Facebook name in the comment form);

• “Like” MyPicTales on Facebook (if you are already a fan, or become a new fan, tell me your Facebook name in the comment form);

• Give your review of any photo book company you’ve tried on the company’s main reviews page. Click on the link and then click on the logo of the company you want to review. You’ll see a place to add your review at the bottom of each company’s page. Let me know which company you commented on by telling me in a comment in this post below. (Limit to two (2) entries using this method.);

• Blog about this giveaway on your blog. Be sure to comment on this post with a link to your blog post (Counts as 3 entries!)

Make sure to do the REQUIRED ENTRY! (or the other entries won’t count.)

This giveaway is open to anyone 18 years of age or older (this means it’s an international giveaway)! Void where prohibited. Entries must be received by Monday, January 23, 2012, at 11:59pm CST. Any entries not in accordance with the rules will be disqualified at our sole discretion and at the discretion of the sponsor. Winning entry will be chosen using Random.org. After compiling the results, I will announce the winner thereafter and will email the winner. The winner will have 48 hours to respond or I will redraw another entry. Winners will be issued unique coupon codes for each month by MyPicTales. Winner pays for taxes & shipping as applicable. Shipping may vary by location – see MyPicTales site for shipping details.

Thank you to MyPicTales for its generous sponsorship of this giveaway!

Check out all the latest “one day deals” on my Groupon/Living Social Tracker!

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NEW MyPicTales PROMOS!

MyPicTales is offering a special 25% discount for Photobookgirl readers!

MyPicTales

Deal #1

Deal #2

15% off any order or 25% off orders over $100.00

• Save on photobooks, calendars and cards (does not include single page prints)
• Valid for US and international orders
• Cannot be combined with other offers

Coupon Codes: SAVE15 or SAVE25

Deal Expires: not provided

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Please note, I am not an affiliate of MyPicTales, nor do I receive compensation if you buy a book from MyPicTales. The book shown here was provided complimentary for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

______________

The best way to not miss any of my giveaways is to stay in touch!

Subscribe to my blog via RSS feed
Follow me on Twitter
“Like” me on Facebook
or subscribe to my e-mail newsletter (look for the light blue box at right to enter your e-mail address!)

Click here for all Photo Book Company REVIEWS!

_____________________

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a community website where you can create visual “boards” on any topic you like and then “pin” any image from any site onto it.  It’s like a virtual corkboard where you can post a photo of anything that catches your eye for any reason and it automatically creates a link back to the original site from which you got the image.  Basically, if you’re familiar with bookmarking a website for future reference in your web browser, it’s the same concept except you bookmark a photo.  There’s a “pin it” tool that you add to your toolbar and whenever you’re on a site and see an image you want to add to your board, you click on the button and it will bring up all the images on that website’s page.  One click to select the photo and another step to choose the board you want to pin it on, and you’re set.

You can also post your own photos that don’t have to originate from any site.

Much like Twitter and Facebook, folks can follow you to see what images you’ve decided to pin and it will come up in their image newsfeed.  A follower can choose to follow all of your boards, or just a particular board they happen to be interested in.

I find it a particularly useful for tool for bookmarking images I find inspiring for projects or ideas that I’m currently working on such as photo books, or want to work on in future such as my dream house.  If you’re like me and you don’t throw away your magazines until you’ve had a chance to tear out and save the pages you’ve dogeared, then you’re going to love Pinterest.  This site might just save a pack rat like me from ending up on Hoarders!

Of course Photobookgirl has put this site to good use by creating a board called “Photo Book Inspiration“.  I’ve started to place there not only images from my books that I’d like to share with others, I’ve also pinned images I’ve found during my searches on Google of photobooks, magazines and books that have a design or layout I admire and want to try out.  Before, I used to download the image and save it to my desktop, but it wasn’t always easy to find the original site I found the image on in case I wanted to go back to check it out.  With Pinterest’s automatic linking, it’s all right there and gives credit to the site containing the image.  You can also click on the image to go to the originating site and read more.

How Do I Get on Pinterest?

For now, you have to get an invite emailed to you.  If you go to the site, there is a place to sign up, but I did that weeks ago, and I still haven’t gotten an invite yet.  The best way is actually to ask a current user to send you an invitation (Thanks Jin!).  If you’re interested in getting on Pinterest I’ll send you an invite.  Please comment and provide your email (don’t worry – if you put your email in the designated area in the comment form, it doesn’t actually show up in the comment – only I’ll see it.)

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Happy Friday!

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Here’s the stats:

MyPicTales Software Review

Although this was my first time trying MyPicTales, when I downloaded the software and open it for the first time, I realized I was already familiar with it as it’s the same software used by MyPhotoCreations (licensed from DigiLabs – a photo processor that caters to pro photographers).  The software is easy to use and the photo upload works very quickly so you can get to the bookmaking process promptly.  You can have the program auto place your photos or you can create your own layouts as the software allows you to fully customize how you want your pages to look.  I decided to make a book of a trip my husband and I took in October 2010 to Monterey and San Francisco.  (See you’re not the only one behind in making photo books! It’s never too late!)

Key features of MyPicTales software:

• An easy “single page background” and “two page spread background” option allows you to quickly place your photo on one page or one whole spread of your book;
• You can put an image on the spine as well as title the spine;
• You can design across the spread (the center of the page), by dragging across the item you want to place;
• Use your own fonts – a great feature (I think every company should allow for this.);
• Use the “perfectly clear” photo editing tools to brighten and enhance your photos if you haven’t already tweaked them.  I wouldn’t use this as a primary way to edit your photos, but in a pinch it does a good job.  If the photo looks washed out after using it, just undo it;
• Choose from an assortment of picture shapes like my favorite rounded corner frames or hearts, stars, circles etc.
• A nice option is the ability to save the layouts you’ve created for future use;
• You can see the x & y coordinates of your photo boxes so you can make sure size and placement are consistent and aligned properly (the alignment tools are also helpful in that respect);
• You can control the opacity of your photos and backgrounds

If you’re big on backgrounds and clip art, there is only a limited selection and I don’t see a way to upload your own.  There are 12 themes available as well as some ready made book templates, but you’d probably want to create your own custom layouts.  You don’t have to start from scratch however, there are a number of layout templates that you can move around and tweak to your liking.

I’ve recently added MyPicTales to my database of photo book companies.  This is company number 31 to be added!

Here’s a screenshot from my MyPicTales Reviews page with more stats:

Print Quality and Book Construction

Packaging

The book came well-protected – shrinkwrapped, with a sheet of foam for cushion and cardboard to stiffen the whole package, then inserted into a cardboard box.  I was glad to see no dinged corners.

Book Construction

The cover has a textured gloss finish.  The slight texture will probably help prevent fingerprints from appearing.  The cover photo reproduced well, vibrant and clear.  The book appears to be stitched and glued and overall looks sturdy.  The interior edges of the cover are neatly wrapped and covered with black paper.  There are two black endsheets, one at the front and one at the back.

Print Quality

The overall print quality of the interior pages was good.  My captions printed out crisp and clear and the colors matched what I saw on my screen.  I think the “perfectly clear” enhancing tool did help several of the photos.  Buy the way, since many of you are font geeks, the printed font is my own font in my own printing!  Cool huh?  Yes, I turned my handwriting and my printing into a font!  I’ll write a post about that later   The larger script font is once again my fave, P22 Cezanne (the latter you can find free on the Internet).

Unfortunately, there were two major issues.  Some pages had a white band at the bottom.  This happened on several spreads and seems to me that the cropping during production must have been off since I had selected either “single page background” or “two page spread background” which should give me automatic full bleeds on the pages.

Also, inexplicably, three pages were missing from the end of my book.  When I rechecked my book file, they were in the file, so I don’t know why they weren’t in the printed book.  I contacted the company and sent them a few photos of the white-tipped pages and they are working on a reprint for me.  I will repost when I get the reprinted book.

The paper is 100 lb. in weight.  If you hold up a page, especially the ones with lighter background you can see some of the reverse image, but there’s no significant bleedthrough.  It can be hard to compare apples to apples when it comes to paper, as one company’s 100 lb. paper and another company’s 100 lb. paper can feel substantially different from one another.  Paper weight may provide you with a guideline as to thickness of the paper, but the way paper feels can also depend on how stiff the paper is.  I would say the paper is probably most comparable to Mixbook, Snapfish and Picaboo’s paper in terms of weight and feel.  For more details on how photo book paper compares across companies see photo book paper comparisons here.

Layouts

I get emails from readers from time to time asking to see my layouts.  Here’s the complete book in thumbnail form so you can get an idea of how the layouts look all together.  I tried to keep the spreads together, but the cover throws off the pairing.  Anyway you can tell which pages go together.

Summary

MyPicTales’ software will give you a lot of flexibility in designing your layouts, especially with the ability to use your own fonts.  If you like digital scrapbooking however, you’re best off designing your own layouts with your own clip art in an external design program and uploading your completed pages into the software as there isn’t much of a selection of clip art or backgrounds.  There were some missteps with regard to book production as mentioned, but the company is issuing a reprint and I’ll update this post when I receive the new book.  As to price, MyPicTales is the cheapest for the 10 x 10 size as compared to the other companies in my photo book database.  There were more comparables as to the next larger size up of 12 x 12 and in terms of pricing for that size, they’re around the middle of the pack.  I’ll be working this week on getting MyPicTales photo books entered into the database so its results will come up in the wizard.

Meanwhile MyPicTales is offering a special 25% discount for Photobookgirl readers!

MyPicTales

Deal #1

Deal #2

15% off any order or 25% off orders over $100.00

• Save on photobooks, calendars and cards (does not include single page prints)
• Valid for US and international orders
• Cannot be combined with other offers

Coupon Codes: SAVE15 or SAVE25

Deal Expires: not provided

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Please note, I am not an affiliate of MyPicTales, nor do I receive compensation if you buy a book from MyPicTales.  The book shown here was provided complimentary for review purposes.  All opinions are my own.

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