Photo Book

This June my husband and I will celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary. And for this very special occasion, I am making a surprise photo book. Shhhh ~ don't tell him!

It has been fun collecting some of my favorite photos, uploading them and designing this book. So much fun that I've found myself still up after 11:30 the last two nights. Not so fun when you have to get up at 5:00 a.m. When I'm designing, I lose track of the time. What can I say? I love to create!!

The above photo is one of the photos I will be using in this photo book. It was taken at my oldest son's wedding reception. I only have a few more photos to upload and those photos will be of my new baby granddaughter, Aubrey Lynn, who I can't wait to meet!! I am saving a page especially for her!

Along with a couple computer mousepads and four photo mugs, I have previously made only one online photo book, using Shutterfly. I will definitely order from them again,.as I was quite pleased with the results, but this time I decided to try Walmart's photo center. After uploading photos and working with the Walmart book software, I first found it to be a little more challenging to work with than Shutterfly's software. However, once I got the hang of it, it was just as easy if not easier.

One thing I love about this program is that you can switch out both the background page design and the page layouts on each page. You also have the option of adding or deleting a page before or after each page. I found this to be a bit challenging since I wanted certain event pages to go side by side, but didn't realize it until after I finished designing some of the pages. It would have been a lot simpler to be able to move a whole page within the book. If this option is available, I haven't discovered it.

Below is a sample view of a couple of the pages. To start with, you can have your book arranged automatically for you with the photos you upload. If you don't like that arrangement, you can change the page layouts, the backgrounds, add embellishments, customize the cover, and add or subtract photo boxes on each page.

Under the "Photos" section, you simply select the photo you want and drag it onto the square where it says "Drag Photo Here". Once the photo is in, you are able to manipulate the size of the photo box, reduce or enlarge the picture within the photo box, move the photos around, or even use the toggle icon for a new computerized arrangement. If you don't like the new arrangement, simply undo it.

For the right page displayed above, I deleted the three empty photo boxes and enlarged the top photo to spread across the page. I also re-arranged the bottom two photos (see photo below) and changed the background to a lighter format to enhance the photos. This was one of those pages that I found needing to be placed before the previous page instead of after.

I came up with a workable solution to this problem. I did a print screen of my original finished page and pasted it into a Word program to refer to while rebuilding that particular page. In this way, I was able to put the pages in the order I chose. Yes, it did take more time and effort, but the end results were well worth it.

I love Walmart's "Wedding" design pages with the scrolls and the neutral colors. Once I found these design pages, I didn't want anything else. That, along with the cheaper price, is why I decided to go the Walmart route. And once again I am working on designing the pages, moving toward the late hours of the night ...

Update: After doing things the hard way, I finally figured out (with my daughter's help), that you can move pages around. You need to be in the view with all the pages side-by-side, then drag the selected page to where you want it to go. I could swear I tried this to begin with and had no results. Argh!!

Disclosure: The Excalibur Dehydrator link under "Other Sites" is an affiliated link. If you make a purchase using this link ~ you will receive free shipping, along with other specials. I also earn a small percentage to help support my blog. Thank you, your support is appreciated!!