It has been stated many times the greatest gift we can give a child is a book. Selena got one great surprise this week. Are you familiar with Shutterfly? Well, we used it for the first time when we got back from vacation. I plan on using this site a lot for ordering photos, since I am terrible about getting to Walmart or someplace to get them ordered, so they just sit here in my computer. They offer photo processing, greeting cards, photo books and more.
When we got back from vacation I had a special offer from them for a free photo book, I just had to pay shipping and handling. I had all of our vacation memories turned into a book for Selena. When the mail man delivered the book, of course Selena was interested in what the package was. When I opened it, the first thing she saw was the Clock Tower from Spokane, she looked at me rather confused. I told her to go sit down and look at her new book. Her eyes about popped out of her face as she turned to the first page to see herself on the title page where it stated simply “Our Family Vacation, 2010.” She kept saying, “I never ever thought I would see me in a book!”
She has looked at the book over and over again, making up all sorts of stories about the people, things, and how much fun she had on her vacation. It has been so much fun to hear through her words what she remembers doing on vacation. Her descriptions are so full of joy and fun. I tried to keep the captions simple enough that she can read most of them on her own, but you know even if she can’t read them the pictures tell the entire story.
I can hardly get her to put the book down. She just loves it. We just love to hear her explain, “I never ever thought I would be in a book!”
Now for my review of Shutterfly. I really enjoyed my experience working with them. It was so easy to pick out the book I wanted, the hardest part was what pictures I wanted put in it. Their editing tools are great for picture placement and there is the option of writing in the book, captions or your own story. I did put captions in ours about many of the pictures. Their prices are reasonable, and they are always offering free photos, postage, and yes, this book was free. After ordering this book, I did receive 30 free prints. They let you know when your project is finished and shipped, the time of receiving the book was within 3 days.
The only draw back was that I truly could not get a feel for how my book would look like until I got it in my hands. Even with that said I was in no way disappointed. I know that we will be making many more of these little treasured memories.
I was not asked to do this review from Shutterfly. I did not receive this book for a review. I got the book from an offer that was in my email. Once you sign up at the site for an account you start receiving specials in your email.
That is a very neat way to save vacation memories!
ReplyDeleteHer reaction to it is so cute! We did a Shutterfly book of photos of my son's first two years, and he still enjoys looking at it. Another thing I did (using a Mac iphoto program) was to make my husband a book, written by my 2 year old and I, called "The Best Daddy." The whole thing had photos of the two of them together, and said things like, "Daddy teaches me how to do new things, like walking (photos), riding a tricycle (photo), building a nice high tower (photo)" etc. It is so cute, and we reread it often. I think it such a nice way to reinforce those memories of time they have spent together. And it cost less than $10! Technology is amazing these days.
ReplyDeleteSelena looks so cute with her special book! I also did several Shutterfly books including a book for my father's birthday. I used their alphabet template. It turned out awesome. Every year we put all our best photos in a digital photoalbum that we produce ourselves. It's a lot of work, but so worth it. Anna loves looking at them.
ReplyDeleteOh can you so see how much she loves it....looks like something you will have to do again and again. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a special book for Selena. I thought it was so sweet that she was telling the stories. She looks so proud of her book. You have gotten me quite intrigued about Shutterfly. Maybe I should find the time to check them out. Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful idea! I've never used them for a photo book before. We get calendars every year though. I once made the kids a book using a small photo album. I just put the pictures in and handwrote the story. But this would be much nicer and last a lot longer, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteI made a photo book for my sister-in-law's baby shower before my nephew was born. I asked all the relatives and friends to send me a picture of their family so that the baby could see everyone and learn their names. I had such a fun time on Shutterfly making the book. They only problem I had is that I had tried to scan some of the pictures and enlarge them, so a few shots turned out a little grainier than I would have liked. The quality of the book was super.
ReplyDelete