Custom Picture Books Made Easy

iPhoto on the Mac and several PC-friendly photo websites make it incredibly easy to publish a book with custom photos and text, for under $30. I think that this is a totally underused service, and one that is dynomite for families, especially adoptive familes.

Imagine the possibilities:

• Sending a book to your preadoptive child with pictures of your family, your home, and your neighborhood, with labels in English and their native language.
  
• Creating a gorgeous hardbound lifebook, without any "scrapbooking" skillz whatsoever.
  
• Printing a smaller, pocket-size "flipbook security blanket" of reassuring people and places, for difficult daycare and school transitions, or for scary moments in the middle of the night.
• Using this for custom "social stories", with scripts and Stuart Smiley affirmations for situations your child may be struggling with. Photos and optimistic narrations of your child's bedtime routine, eventual toilet training success, trips to loud stores, a photo-rehearsal of the bus trip to school, and so on ...
  
• Or do-it-yourself books on your child's obsession du jour. My friends made an incredible photobook of big machinery from Dad's bike commute, through the Ballard locks, along the train lines, past the tugboats, through the sculpture garden construction site, and to the downtown office towers. The narration was personal and better-written than most books in this genre, and the whole project from photos to book order took less than a day. Their vehicle-obsessed 2-year-old loves it ... best birthday present EVER.
  

Comments

[Kirsten]

Great idea! I plan to use Shutterfly to make a book about a recent trip my husband took our daughter on; she'll give it to him for Father's Day:-)

[Heather Polk]

I have used several of these programs including the iPhoto products- I speak highly about the idea, but most of these programs limit you in many different ways. I discovered Heritage Makers which allows you high quality, flexibility, durability, user friendliness, and excellent customer service and personal guidance if you run into problems. I am now an independent publishing consultant for this amazing resource, visit www.mynotablememories.com. Contact me directly and I can offer you better deals than the retail prices quoted on the website.

[krissy]

I prefer Heritage Maker Storybooks because they are custom made, hardcover, acid/lignin free, library-stitched books with reinforced binding. They come with high-quality digital printing and are unlike any product on the market. They offer a free online program that
you don’t have to download (which makes it accessible anytime, anywhere). It is a secure sight in which you create your own password. And here’s my favorite part: you receive the Heirloom Assurance. The Heritage Makers Heirloom Assurance assures that your projects will last lifetimes. If your storybook has torn pages, missed typos, so simply daily wear and tear, Heritage Makers will print a replacement copy for you at only half price!

Making a Heritage Makers book is fun, easy and fast. You can use one of the many storybook templates that are predesigned for you or start with a blank page and design your own. With a template, you just choose the design you want and pop in your pictures and the story that goes with them. They also offer a buy one get the second half off special for your first

I've attached the website to this comment...

[krissy]

oops maybe I didn't... here it is:

http://taketoheartourlegacy.com/