Digital Into Physical - Blog2Print Books

I shared the news a week ago that I will be closing down my blog at the end of this year.  One of my big concerns when I thought about ending Anne's Odd and Ends was the loss of all my content!  All those photos/stories of my girls growing up as well as recipes.  I use my own blog as a recipe resource almost every week, ha!  So I started researching ways to turn my digital words into a physical book.

My research lead me to select the company Blog2Print to make my memories a reality.  I had 5 (almost 6) years of blog entries so I had to make more than one volume. What I discovered is that the book size is limited by the amount of photos more than the amount of entries.  They could not put more than 2000 in one volume (and 430 pages).  That may sound like a lot but I quickly found that I had too many photos!  They have three photos options (small, medium, large) and I went with the medium choice.  

I ended up making three volumes and will do my last book after I finish out 2017.  Volume I is the biggest at 356 pages, Volume II: 269 and Volume III: 273.  I think that volume IV will be around the same range.  Remember my pages were limited by the number of photos I had which is why I never made it to 430!
So what did I think?
I was very pleased with the book outcome.  It is a big (8x11) hard bound book with professional looking pages, photos and printing.  It included a Contents section (needed to find all those different recipes!) and of course page numbers.  The books can be customized quite a bit, with font, color, cover colors, etc.  I was also able to make a different dedication page for each volume.  

Shipping/Creating took awhile, about 2 weeks from when I ordered the book till I received it.  The books all came VERY well packed, wrapped in bubble sleeves, surrounded by paper in a big box.  No damage there!

These books are definitely not cheap although the cost can be offset with coupons codes and by selecting a softbound cover instead of hard.  Another super budget option is to just buy the PDF version of your book.  Those only cost $8.95!  That way you would have a permanent copy that you could copy later.  My books cost about $120 each (that's with coupon codes).  Worth every penny!
Tips for making your own book cheaper and easier:

1. Go through your blog ahead and remove all unneeded entries.  Fluff like product sales, promotions, etc.
2. Go through each blog entry (tedious but worth it!) and remove extra photos.  For example, I didn't really need 5 photos of a soup recipe.  Removing them made my book smaller and easier to read.  I kept all the kid photos though!!

For more information on Blog2Print go here. 

Gift Ideas for Loved Ones with Dementia

If you have a loved one with dementia picking out gifts at the holidays or birthdays can be especially challenging.  I know first hand as my father has been living with dementia (Alzheimers) for over a decade now.  In case you are looking for a last-minute Christmas gift I thought I'd share some of the presents we've given him in the last couple years.

Photo Books

Personalized gifts have been the most successful.  I started out a few years ago by making a photo book (from Shutterfly) about our immediate family.  I included photos of his three children and my mom.  I selected photos of us together with him through the years from infants to present.  I added a little bit about his grandchildren, but not much as there are so many (8) and they keep changing. :)  

Dad's book about his family.

Dad reading one of mom's year-in-review books.

Mom would bring it on their trips out to visit me and he'd look at it over and over, for hours sometimes.

Tips 
1. Write simply, short sentences with large font.  
2. Quality over quantity, don't put too many photos on one page.
3. Include names, put them on every page if possible.

This book and other Shutterfly year-in-review books that my mom made have been very well used the last few years.  My mom now brings a book or two with her every time she visits Dad and they go through them together.  I can't recommend a book enough!  You can do children, marriage, favorite pets, etc.

Photo Pillow

Last Christmas I made my dad a personalized throw pillow (also from Shutterfly).  We knew that it would be his last Christmas at home, so I thought it would be a good transition object when he moved to the memory-care facility.  I put a photo of mom and dad on the front and on the back smaller photos of him with us kids and mom.

It was a huge hit.  Dad looked at it over and over after opening the present and kept remarking at his photo on the front.  He was amazed that it was them!  A couple months later when he moved the pillow went with him, and the staff use it as a transitional object to get him into bed or his room.  Saying "lets go see your wife".  

It has amazingly remained in his room and hasn't needed to be laundered as it stays on top of the bed during the day but they place it up when he's sleeping.  It is washable however.  The quality was pretty fabulous too!

Posters

Once dad moved to the memory home I had a big enlargement made for his wall, a photo of my mom.  That way he can see her smiling face all the time.  This Christmas I'm gifting another enlargement, this time of his girls (mom, me and my sister).

Tips:
1. Posters of favorite pets, vehicles or vacation spots would be great ideas too.

Other ideas:

Simple Photo puzzles.
Personalized photo mugs.

So there you go, a few ideas to help bring their past into the present.  

Merry Christmas and I hope you are able to make treasured memories with your loved one, remember to take lots of photos!

Photo Books of Kids Art

Today I have to show off our super cute Art Photo books that I made for each girl.  I am a pretty sentimental and as a result I save everything from baby clothes to lost teeth to kid's art projects.  However, I am trying to do better/save-less and found a pretty easy way to downsize the kid's art.

Since my oldest was a little I've used our ottoman to store her art.  It was pretty under control until we added a second artist.  This summer I decided to do something about it so I sorted, labeled and then photographed their best/favorite pieces.

I ended up with 3 garbage bags of recycling when we were all done.  It was freeing and I didn't feel the loss since I had photos!

After uploading the photos to Shutterfly I made an 8x11 photo book for each girl.  I called them each "Volume 1" since I'll be making more of these in the future.

Both photo books were practically free (just shipping) as I waited to order them until Shutterfly had a free book promotion.

Shutterfly already had a template for little artists so it was very simple to slide in my photos and use the existing embellishments.  I also added a few photos of my artists in action.  

I recommend using the full page layout feature when possible as it makes a big impact visually.

And don't forget to take photos of other forms of art, not just paintings/drawings.

On the back of the book I included big photos of my cuties.

The ottoman is already starting to fill up again, looks like I'll be making another volume before I know it. :)

Tip: As projects come home from school take photos before recycling them.  I'm also taking photos of dioramas (for social studies) and science projects.

Shutterfly often has great promotions on photo books especially around the holidays.  Until November 14th if you're a new customer you can get a free 8x8 book using this link.  It will only cost a little to upgrade to the more art friendly 8x11 size.

For more of my Shutterfly projects check out:

Shutterfly Tips and Hints

Fisher Price ABCs Book

Little People Playing Cards

Throwback Thursday - Recreating Little Besties

4 year old besties

2 month old besties

Had to recreate these precious little poses.  We have so many lovely photos of these two over the last 4 years (plus pregnancy).  One of my biggest blessings has been sharing pregnancy and now mothering (2nd child for both of us) with my bestie.  I am glad that our littles actually love each other too!  

And not to leave out big brother (big sister was at school) here's another shot.

It's hard recreating little people photos!  I look forward to doing these poses again when they're teenagers. ;)

Go here to see these littles on the same beanbag chair in 2013. 

Instagram Photo Books - Prinstagram vs Chatbooks

I joined Instagram back in the very end of 2012.  Like many women in my demographic (SAHM/30's) I find myself taking phone and or/iPad photos of my life almost every day.  My Instagram feed is predictably filled with photos of kids, coffee and food.  I will add however that I mix it up by adding photos of hot air balloons (and other desert scenery around here) and vintage Fisher Price.

These photos are naturally precious to me but I was becoming stressed at the amount as they added up in my ever growing account.  I wanted to start deleting (some of) them but needed to find a way to keep them forever and always first. ;)  

So I started investigating Instagram photo books.  I started with my go-to printing company Shutterfly but was unimpressed with their options.  They required far too much effort on my part to make a book, primarily because Shutterfly's program was unable to sort my photos by date taken.  The thought of manually figuring out the order of my many hundreds of photos (300+ at the time) was daunting to say the least, so I gave up on Shutterfly.

Prinstagram

Next I went to Prinstagram, also known as Print Studio.  This company offers a variety of ways to print out instagram photos including two sizes of books (tiny! and 7x8.5), poster sheets, stickers, framed prints, calenders (with tiny tear off pages), t-shirts, magnets, cards, etc.  I ordered a hardbound "Photobook" that was 7 x 8.5 inches large.

Prinstagram had two main printing options.  1. 319 images in a book or 2. 38 images in a book. (for the 7 x 8.5 inch size).

At $25 a pop (plus s/h) it seemed like a better idea to go with the 319 image book.  Prinstagram uploaded my photos (you grant them permission to use the IG app) and placed them in a 38 page book in random sizes and placement.  

Pros - Book looks lovely, can fit 319 images.
Cons - Cost is higher than other books. You cannot select where to place the images in the book or what sizes they print.  And the most annoying; no hashtags, dates or entry words print on the pages. (note: photo labels/hashtags are available on the 38 image book).  You also have to use exactly 319 photos.

Because the book did not have any dates or hashtags I manually spent time after it arrived writing them in myself. 

Chatbooks

Shortly after receiving my Prinstagram book I heard about Chatbooks.  Chatbooks are soft bound photo books that are printed on a subscription basis. Each book is 60 images and 60 pages.  Chatbooks will print a new book for each 60 photos you put on your IG account.  Basically you grant them access and when you get to 60 (new) photos they notify you that another book is ready to print/ship.  You can choose to opt out any photos as well as select the cover image for each volume.

Since I had hundreds of photos in my IG account already I had to option to print them all at once, or print them slowly (1+ a month).

All of this for only $6 a book (shipped).  They also have options to make more customizable books (30 to 365 pages), but I have not tried one of those yet.  A customizable book would be perfect for a grandparent gift, best friend (year in review perhaps) and of course a coffee table book on all your coffee drinks. Ha!  Perhaps I'll make one that just has my vintage Fisher Price toys in it.

Pros - Books are inexpensive, well printed, show hashtags/date and descriptions (no comments though).  They are a perfect size for little hands and easily replaceable if those same little hands wreck them. :)
Cons - None for me!

So clearly I am a Chatbooks fan.  To get your first book free just use the code above!

6 Other Uses for a Beverage Bucket

Do you have a beverage bucket?  Where do you keep it?  We bought our first bucket this summer for get-togethers and I decided that instead of storing it in the garage I'd put it to use around the house.  

Here are 6 ideas I came up with:


1. Photo Prop - Full of water or even empty a beverage bucket can make a great photo prop.  If you have a tiny tiny baby you can fill the bucket with blankets and put the baby (newborn) on top.  If they're a little bigger you can have them sit up in the bucket, so cute!  

The bucket is perfect for a baby, toddler or even a bigger kid!

2. Water Play - Even if you don't have your camera out the bucket is perfect for water-play!  Just add a few toys, cups or boats and your kids can go to town.  Easy clean up too.

3. Dog Bed - This next one surprised me I have to admit.  We had the bucket in our living room 4. Storing a Blanket for us and one day I saw our dog had ended up here.  So I grabbed my camera and took a photo of course.  Naturally this isn't a good fit if you have a regular sized dog, but if you have an Italian Greyhound or other small breed (or perhaps a bigger bucket?) they'll fit just fine. 


5. Toy Bin -  We decided to keep the bucket in our toy room for now as a toy/storage bin.  We keep it in the corner and have stuffed animals in it.  It would work for many different toys though including blocks, cars and dolls. 



6. Creative Play - A few times now I've discovered my kids playing in the bucket.  They pretend it's a boat, spaceship, bed, you name it!  It's great for creative play.








So go ahead, get your bucket out of the garage and put it to use somewhere around your house!

*I bought my beautiful bucket at Target.

Backyard Tub

It's been hot lately, really hot.  It may be September and school may have been going for 4 weeks now but it's still hot. 

I'm talking put a bucket in the backyard with water hot (and yes I had to run the water through the hose for about 10 minutes before it was cold!!).

Sit in the bucket hot.

Bring your favorite purple cups into the bucket hot.

Pour water on your head hot.

Pour water on your dog's head while he's drinking out of the bucket hot.

Pour water on your big sister's head hot.

Try to get into the tiny bucket with your big sister hot.

Whew, that's hot!

Yesterday when I dropped my daughter off at the bus stop it was 109!!  Today it is a lovely cool 88 thanks to some morning rain.  Let's hope we have a few more of these cool days instead of hot bucket days!

Birthday Balloon Photo Shoot

A couple weeks ago I shared my 2 year old's fabulous Fisher Price Little People themed party.  Today I want to show you how we used her decorations as photo props.

It's pretty simple, you just need 1 1/2 - 2 dozen helium balloons, a chair/stool and a happy birthday girl!  Throw in a slightly-jealous but still happy big sister and you're all set. ;)

After the birthday party we let the kids basically play with the balloons.

Even a simple juice break makes for a fun photo.

And we didn't want to leave big sister out!

And my very favorite, sorry but I love this face!

For more birthday photos look at last year's Birthday Pink Party Balloon Shoot

Date Night - Comic Con

Guess where we went last night?

Yes it's true, we went to the Amazing Arizona Comic Convention for our date night last night.  It was absolutely out-of-the-box for us (we're more the dinner/movie type) but it was SO FUN!  I had the best time checking out and taking photos of costumes, talking to the exhibitors and attendees and looking for souvenirs.

I met a lovely artist named Hanna Nance Partlow.  She had colorful drawings and beautifully lettered stickers (she's a "letterer").  She said she could draw "almost anything" for $5 so I had her make me into a superhero.  She also has a facebook page here.  Can you tell I am a fan?

What do you think?  We loved it so much that I had her draw the 5-year-old as a fairy (a current favorite lately).  So fun!

We picked up a couple more souvenirs and it was time for the convention to close for the night so we went off in search of dinner.

More on that later.

Such a fun night!  The Amazing Arizona Comic Convention runs through the weekend.  Tomorrow (Sunday) they're open from 10am-6pm.