Need some photo book ideas? I finally finished Boo’s book for her grandparents from 2010. Now I can finally get started on 2011. I fill her books with everything under the sun so I thought I’d share a few pages in case you are looking for some ideas. I keep it simple but full of fun information Boo might want to know one day, a huge book of photos, quotes, drawings and memories. I’m a “collector” as you can tell….I get pretty OCD about not leaving out a single thing.
All year long I write memories on slips of paper and just throw drawings and other items into a box. Then I sort it out at the end of the year.
I use the Mac Photo book program because it’s easy to use through iPhoto but there are lots of different book publishing options out there! Leave a comment if you are really happy with one of them….I’d love to know because I get asked all the time about alternatives for non-Mac users.
The cover of this year’s book:
Little snippets of milestones addressed “Dear Sienna”:
Beautiful moments:
A collage to remember activities from a special day:
Scanned artwork:
Scanned handwriting:
Before and after shots:
A funny drawing:
A special photo:
Favorite foods:
A memorable quote list:
More artwork as the year progressed:
Silly poses:
Fun with friends:
A funny artist review from artwork submitted to What My Kid’s Art Says:
The actual artwork submitted:
A school photo:
Behind the scenes of a photo shoot:
A family portrait:
A Day in the Life….these photos were taken by Boo herself:
Do you make yearly albums? Any products you particularly love?
How fun! I think it’s fairly hopeless that I would ever complete a project like this for an entire year, but I love the idea. The things you’ve included look like such a fun collection to look back on.
I make my mom a calendar every year for Christmas. It is full of photos of my girls throughout the year. She loves it. I have been doing it for 8 years now!
My mother in law has done that for her grandkids for the last few years and my kids love it. They keep track of each day and love all the pictures and special dates:)
This is just lovely! Thanks for the inspiration.
I’m a pack rat and have all these things saved for my kids. Recently I started making yearly photo albums, but I’ve got to say I’d love to include quotes and artwork this year. Thanks for the ideas.
FABULOUS! I love it, especially how you labeled the art.
this is great! and what an awesome idea about scanning her artwork. i keep everything in a 3 ring binder for each year , which gets messy, crowded, and stuff usually fall s out!!!
Hi 🙂 I’ve never posted but I always read. I absolutely love this book and I’m glad I don’t have any kids yet because I want to make sure I do this for them throughout the years. Does your Mac Photo Program allow for the printing/publishing of this too? How do you make sure to capture these moments, stories, quotes? I would imagine carrying a notepad with you, but perhaps you have a better way! Thank you!
Hi Lauren 🙂 The Mac program uploads it and publishes it too……it just shows up at my doorstep. I write a lot of things on slips of paper and on my phone to keep track. Then I just put them in order at the end of the year!
Good idea !!
Love it! Thanks for sharing. I love incorporating the qoutes, especially the personal ones.! Thanks for the ideas. I am about to start some books and this helps me with some ideas!
You just inspired me to make one for each kiddo. Beautiful job and what a wonderful keepsake.
What an awesome Mommy you are. The kind of Mom that fosters and cultivates creativity that reflects your own. I love it. What a wonderful and thoughtful keepsake for everyone!
I have dreams of doing this. I barely finished the first two baby books! The second two well, one has the start of a blog, and the other a few dates so far on a calendar. You’ve inspired me though, I’m gonna try!!
Very cool! I love looking at old videos, pictures and art work from when my boys were younger. This is a great way to keep it all together:)
WOW- your ideas are wonderful …As Christmas just passed and another year of “what do I get the grandparents ” ….this is the perfect gift ! Thanks for sharing
I love the artwork and quotes ideas! I have always only included photos. I love the Mac program, but have also used mypublisher.com and love it as well! Thanks for sharing!
I have used the MAC program and liked it but “my publisher” is great! You make a mistake or they make a mistake they will reprint it at no charge! 🙂
Love it! I do make a digital album usually while watching the college bowl games. Love the idea of stashing away quotes and happenings in a box throughout the year. I always think I’ll remember what happened, but rarely do and that is the perfect idea. Thanks for sharing pieces of your album!!!
We do a Photo book in Blurp each year too. It’s a lot of work but I love it. My girl is preschool age, so the theme this year is Pictures A to Z. I love taking pictures abd I have sooo many, this theme help narrow down the book and keeps it under 50 pages! It’s so hard to pick which ones to include. But It’s a perfect gift and memory for years to come. My little one is almost the same age Boo. I love the idea of added quotes and next year need to add art work too. Forgot to do that this year.
I LOVE this! I wish I had been saving a third of what you saved to make a fabulous album…my oldest is 6, so it’s never too late to start, right? 🙂
I use shutterfly to make photo albums. You can upload artwork and such there too and it is pretty user friendly to do what you want with each page.
Oh my gosh, I am totally in love with this idea! I have to do this!
Wow, Ashley! I totally love this! What great ideas to capture special moments and everyday life. Totally going to have to get more creative with my photography and memory keeping this year, so I can create one of these books. I’m sure I said that last year when you posted last year’s book, too! This year I’ll actually do it. I keep lots of memorabilia and artwork and I’m sure I can rattle my brain for some memorable quotes from the year and put one of these together to commemorate 2011.
I love the quotes and explanations. I usually just add photos, but it would be nice to add in memories too. I’ve tried Shutterfly (if you sign up and don’t buy stuff, sometimes they’ll eventually send free coupons… they usually send me a free book once a year) and ArtsCow (find coupons, then you only pay shipping… takes a solid month to print/arrive from China, but cheap with their coupons… and they have some free designer scrapbook kits… I like making quick books with those kits). I’m not sure about print quality, but both are good enough for me.
I’m a little OCD about book sizes… my first was a 8 x 8 so all have to be 8 x 8 now. I like the smaller size and it’s the perfect size for my bookshelves. Strangely, a lot of book printers don’t print 8 x 8. I made so many when I first got into it that I’ve started pitching some of the ones that didn’t turn out so well or cute.
Thank you for sharing your pages~I’m inspired 🙂 (I use Shutterfly for my photobooks)
I’ve made quite a few books but don’t make it a yearly project. They tend to be more theme oriented. In September I made one for my grandmother’s 100th birthday!!! While I’ve used several sites, Shutterfly is by far my favorite. They have new options that allow you to use photos for backgrounds, lightening them to make more of a shadow effect. I also like the new clip art options to pull together pages of pictures that don’t match. Your pages are wonderful…Great memory holders!! Thank you for sharing!
That is fabulous! I do a yearly book on Blurb. It’s just my blog slurped out into book form, but I do some editing here and there to make it book-worthy. I cherish the books and hope someday my kids will, too. Or my daughter, anyway. Doesn’t seem like something a son will have so much interest in. 😉
Great idea. I do yearly blog books & sign up to all the photo websites & buy photo books when they are on sale.
Picaboo is another good photo book program. And every year they offer a free book to new customers! It can be for PC or Mac
I forgot to add… I do year in review books, but add in extra books each year for ‘bigger’ milestones: Christmas, a special birthday year, a big vacation. I try to keep the quantity of books small(ish) and add more pages instead. I also made books for preview years, my childhood, a baby book, school days, and really random stuff.
I’ve been making year in review videos the past few years, too. I don’t take much video, so they’re usually photo slideshows, but I like making them too.
A real treasure. Beautifully done.
I do a yearly photo book also. I use shutterfly but have a Mac and may have to try the Mac program:). I love that you scan in her artwork and handwriting. I will definitely be adding that to this years book:).
It is really lovely, I’m sure it will be a delight for her in the future. I do not know where to find the time to do that for my children. I feel sad for that, I never stop to write anything, so I’ve already forgotten when they said their first word, and things like that…
Such a great idea! I have a box of quotes and drawings all over but nothing as good as this. Thanks for the inspiration. Boo will love to look back on these one day 🙂 You are a wonderful mother. Have a happy New Year!
I sooooo LOVE you get how important this is! Believe me my son is 20yrs old and my albums are our greatest treasures and I so would not remember all those precious details. Besides being an event designer, I have been a Creative Memories consutlant for 11yrs. Voted best digital software for creating photobooks (believe me EASY! If I can do it… LOL) EXCELLENT quality too. You want them to last.
You can go to http://www.mycmsite.com/marcielenick to get more info.
YOU are a continued inspiration PRAYING my friend…xoxoxox
You have such a beautiful little girl.
LOVE your book! I make one for each of our kiddos every year too. From brithday-birthday….I’ve used a few different programs. Recently I LOVE blurb.com….but since shutterfly started doing a custom path option, I’m back on-board with them! Thanks for sharing!
thanks for sharing. i make photobooks, but with only pics…I had been scanning her artwork to put in a separate book. i like your idea much better. plus i love the quotes you put in there too! i’ll have to remember to write down my kiddos’ quotes for 2012.
Thanks for the ace ideas!
I have been trying to keep a notebook of all the funny things that happen, but love the idea of the box to shove them in as the year goes along. This is one of my new years resolutions – I’m setting up the boxes tonight!!
x
I try to keep things of my grand babies that seem to not be too important to busy moms ( no judgement) and am working on scrap books. But I’m going to do a hardcover for my 92 yo mom this year…adorable shots of Boo and as usual great ideas. Thanks Ashley! Praying for you today and so glad you had a great Christmas!
Love ya,
Beth
Love your ideas. My husband makes a photo book every year with all the photos that we have taken that year. They are not as creative as yours, in that ours is for the whole family, and not individual. That would be a lot for him with four kids. I love that you add drawings and quotes….really special. My husband also uses the Mac photo program. He says it is simple, I stay away from it as I am still getting used to my Mac that I have had for two years now.
This is so amazing. My oldest daughter who would have turned 5 this year passed away in 2008. Her sister my youngest will turn 2 in March but since she was born I have always scrap booked almost every picture I have taken of her. I leave my “date stamp” on my camera so when I do scrap it I have the date there and can put I special memory note with that photo. I look back at Zoe’s pictures and wish I knew how old exactly she was in her photos. So that’s why I started that.
How fun and just ADORABLE!!
I used Becky Higgins project life kit last year.She is now doing digital books to be printed by shutterfly at the end.
absolutely brilliant. pure genius. you’re the type of mom the rest of us aspire to become 😉 i made photo albums for the grandparents this year (which they ADORED!), but mine weren’t nearly as creative as this. i have drawers full of crafts and drawings by my 6 and 3-year-old resident artists, but i’ve never thought to scan them as a way to preserve the memories. good stuff ashley, thx for the ideas. something to get started on for 2012. happy new year to you and your fabulous little family!
What a great idea and a lovely book. I have a mac but the photo books I’ve made have all been through lulu.com which I can recommend.
I so enjoy your blog even with it’s ups and downs you have such a good spirit! I enjoyed looking at Boo’s albums and wish I could be so creative and organized. I have boxes of stuff from all 4 of my kids ranging in age from 18 to 40 but have never put them into an album. Just yesterday I was digging through a box and came across so many of my little sisters cards and mementos…we lost her when she was just 20 years old. I laughed…I cried ,but oh those little girl handmade cards mean the world to me. I found a letter to Fairy Godmother from my son who will be 30 soon…I sent a copy to my daughter in law…she like you is so creative and I know she will cherish it also.I could go on and on but most of all I just want to tell you what an inspiration you are to me in helping me to understand my mom’s breast cancer and chemo and what to expect. You are a wonderful brave young woman…keep that spirit going and you will conquer! Here’s a giant hug to wrap around you from a stranger who feels like your one of my own. <3 Susie
Every year close to Christmas, snapfish has a sale on their photo books buy one get two free. So each grandma gets one and I keep the other. Thank you for to quote and art work idea. My baby is not two yet so these things haven’t started yet.
I love this and wish my girls would do something for me so precious…one daughter did make us a book once and I do have an audio book of my first grandson. It’s priceless and as he grows it becomes more priceless! This innocence and purity will never be able to be recaptured…you are wise to realize that and so sweet to make these for the grandparents!
Love ya,
Beth
I was looking for methods, I actually store mine the same way but don’t know what to do after year and month. I like the shoebox idea. Also, I make year books for my kids too, with a message at the end of the book and their birthday photos ending Their year. I use Shutterfly and I Love it. It’s completely customizable, background and sticker options and they Always have coupons and sales. And, they will replace or refund anything you aren’t happy with. <3
Hi Ashley! funny how i stumbled into your site after checking some condo-living ideas that led me to yours . Such a goldmine! I love your creative ideas, your battle with the big C ( a dear cousin and a good friend survived it too!) and your faith journey. Keep on doing what you do best and doing it JOYfully!
My 2 Grandchildren live in Alaska and I don’t see then often. My daughter sends a photo calendar each year for Christmas with a special photo for each month since they were married. The Calendar’s are even more meaningful now that my daughter has gone through breast cancer @ age 36 with children age 2 & 5.
From a Thankful Grandma & Mom
What size yearly digital book do you? I love all your ideas and scanning art work and handwritting is a great idea!