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Post by mikklynn on Dec 3, 2014 16:17:47 GMT
I think it's gotten easier. This is the first year I have my order in early - last night! Usually I end up paying for express shipping.
This year, I just put the photos on the pages with text. Then I went back and picked the background and "stickers". It seemed to go much more quickly.
With the sale and extra 20% off through today, the two books with about 30 pages were $50 total.
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Post by alittleintrepid on Dec 3, 2014 16:21:40 GMT
Yes, especially because I always seem to wait until I only have a few hours until my coupon expires and I'm against the clock! Once I make it I usually get copies for grandparents etc so the work does pay off, I'm now just waiting for a free code do I can finish my Christmas gifts ;-) This is me exactly. I remember about 8:00 p.m. that the thing expires at midnight and rush to get it submitted!
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Post by MissBianca on Dec 3, 2014 16:27:15 GMT
My Shutterfly album was going to be the death of me!!! It was a Disney trip that was just miserable, but we did have a few once in a lifetime moments so I wanted them recorded but I hated working on that album. It took me over 3 weeks to get it done. One thing that really bugged me was they had an angel sticker playing a trumpet, I wanted to flip a second angel so I could have one in each cornet of the page, no can do! There were a lot of stickers that would have worked well if I could just flip them.
I made it through though and I'm happy with the results, especially since it was my first attempt at a digital album. 100 page book, $200 to make but I spent $80 with coupons and their 50% off deal. Now I'm journalling in it by hand, so not 100% done but it's well on it's way. And only 1 typing error, I think I can live with that.
In the future I may just find some software, make the pages on my own and drop them into the Shutterfly album.
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Post by eebud on Dec 3, 2014 16:30:05 GMT
I made a book that I loved through Shutterfly that was a Family History book. It was 12x12 and had the max number of pages I could add.......I think about 120. It was definitely a long process. Every page was done using their custom route (can't remember what it was called). I would start by figuring out how many photos I was going to put on a particular page then I would choose a set layout that had that many photos and then go into the part where I could customize it to fit the photos correctly, move them around, add embellishments, etc. etc. It definitely go easier over time. The hardest part for me was deciding which photos to use, how many to use, and in what order to lay the book out. What I found to be a major pain though was adding the text to fit around the photos the way I wanted it to fit. I would have to use multiple text boxes, size them the way I needed them, choose a font size, etc. Then, if it didn't fit right, I would have to change the font size and start over with what text went in which text box. Major, major pain. Once it was done though, I had an awesome book to share. I printed 6 copies for myself and some of my immediate family. I then put the book on a Shutterfly share site so that other relatives could print their own copies.
The one thing I wish I would have done in hindsight............I wish I would have learned to use Photoshop Elements to scrapbook, created the pages there and then loaded the full page into Shutterfly to print and share. Then I would have the pages on my computer and could do what I want with them. Now, I am stuck with only Shutterfly. What if Shutterfly were to shut down? My awesome book might be gone.
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Post by peasandthanku on Dec 3, 2014 20:58:22 GMT
I've tried to do it three times. Way too overwhelming for me so I think I will stick to my scrapbook paper!
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Post by workingclassdog on Dec 5, 2014 21:32:09 GMT
PHEW... 2 books and a calendar done... All free except shipping.. pretty good for Christmas gifts for hard to buy grandparents! 8.99 for each book on shipping and 6.50 for the calendar. Can't beat that! Uggggg.. SOOOO glad it is done.. but glad I got those gifts done and out of the way.
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Post by annabella on Dec 5, 2014 21:35:18 GMT
I'll say it for a third time in this thread, switch to mixbook!
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Post by princess consuela on Dec 5, 2014 21:49:11 GMT
I love Shutterfly. It is time consuming, but I find that more because I'm OCD. Adding in new backgrounds/stickers/etc. can be time consuming, but I'd rather have that option than just being able to choose the one style.
I remember reading a blog article that compared a bunch of the popular photo book sites and Shutterfly won out on best quality. I don't think I saved it to link, though.
I love that they do so many sales. Helps me when I order the books. I've made 5 photo books this year - two 8x8s, two 8x11s, and one big 8x11 that's at around 50 pages (more an annual family photo book). It's a pain, but I'm so glad I have the last 5 or so years documented. Otherwise I know I just wouldn't.
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Dani-Mani
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,709
Jun 28, 2014 17:36:35 GMT
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Post by Dani-Mani on Dec 5, 2014 21:52:12 GMT
Never heard of mix book; I use Blurb and LOVE them.
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Post by kimpossible on Dec 5, 2014 22:22:33 GMT
Yep - so much so that I have 3 unfinished photo books ready for me to finish!
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