This week has already been pretty word-heavy with two big construction tutorials and a laundry saga, so we thought some lighter fare was in order – especially since a bunch of you have been asking if we made a family photo book again this year, and if so, when we’d share the details. Well, in the ever esteemed words of Madame Britney, “oops, we did it again.” In fact, the newest edition of the Petersik Family Yearbook landed on our doorstep this weekend.
I have to say that we’re still so stunned at how thin-yet-picture-packed these books are. That picture above shows how five years of photos (over 2,400 of them!) can be stored in the same amount of space as one traditional photo album (which might hold 200 photos by comparison).
Here’s the cover that we chose for this year’s album: a somewhat goofy snapshot from our summer vacation to Florida. Yup, Sherry convinced me to go topless for this year’s cover (actually I think Clara’s happy grin sold us all on this photo).
For those keeping track, this is now our fourth year of condensing 365-days’ worth of family photographs into one nicely bound volume that we buy from MyPublisher (here are the posts on our books from 2012, 2011 and 2009/10). This year’s picture is so light that the white title on the cover isn’t as visible from afar, but it’s easier to see in person when you’re holding it.
We followed our usual format and wrapped the spine and back in a color borrowed from the cover photo – so this year’s was a soft seafoam-ish green.
We always time our order to take advantage of MyPublisher’s “Free Extra Pages” discount, which cycles around every few weeks. It means that we can print a 99-page book without paying the surcharge they usually tack on for anything longer than 35 pages. You can see this year it saved us nearly $80. And while the final $48 price tag isn’t nothing, we’ve always felt that it’s comparable (if not better) than what we’d pay to order all of those prints along with buying a traditional photo album (or three) to stuff them into.
We also like the “insurance” of these photo books, since we have files for each book saved on our computer (so we could quickly get one reprinted if something happened to the original). Even if our entire house was destroyed, MyPublisher keeps files remotely on their end as well, so everything we’ve ever purchased (even dating back to that first 2009/2010 book) could easily be reordered.
But I promised this post would be less wordy, right? Can you tell we have trouble with that? Let’s just take a peek inside at some of the pages, starting with our summary page at the very beginning of the book. For anyone wondering, you can add type while creating your layout, so we just make two type columns, and fill them in with notable things that we did (in a general order of when they occurred).
And here are some of our interior pages. We packed a lot of pictures into some of them, like this spread full of book tour adventures.
We also used some pages for comparisons, like this series of shots of Clara with Sherry’s mom and my parents, who all just happened to all be with us on her birthday for the last four years since her birth.
Some pages got bigger/fewer photos (like the right one below, which just has two of our favorite Clara-party pics).
And we had fun looking back at other big events, like our move (we’re so glad we took those empty house photos before we locked that door for the last time).
One change this year is that we tried to include more pictures of us doing projects (since that’s clearly a big part of our lives). In the past, our technique of backing up “blog photos” and “family photos” separately has meant a lot of the photos of us building/painting/de-wallpapering don’t end up in the family folder that we draw from to make our yearbook. So throughout this year we both tried to be better at plucking out certain blog pictures and making sure they also went into our family file.
For those who wonder how we generally organize photos, we just use iPhoto. We have one album called Family 2013, and throughout the entire year we dump family photos in there, where it keeps them all nice and chronological. Then we go through and pick the ones we love most, import them into the MyPublisher software (it’s free to download) and layout the yearbook.
And of course, we couldn’t resist making a page that celebrates how much we’re looking forward to 2014 for an extra special reason…
We also saved a dozen or so pages at the end of the book to make fun little grids of Instagram pictures. It’s not all of the IG pics we shared in 2013, just some of our favorites. There’s something about seeing them en masse at the end of the book that’s more exciting than sprinkling them throughout the album (they have a more casual and random feeling, so it’s cool to flip through them at the end, like some sort of relaxed wrap-up).
Since this is my fourth time assembling one of these, I’ve definitely honed my skills at pacing out my pages. In past years I’ve hit MyPublisher’s 100-page max before I even got to Halloween photos. But this time I even had a spare spread to put the last 12 photos from Clara’s monthly photo project.
Ahhh, the memories…
How are you guys memorializing 2013? Please tell me that we’re not the only ones running a little late with any end-of-the-year traditions. Are you newly on the bound-photobook bandwagon? Or are you committed to tried-and-true photo albums? Is there some new software or service we should check out?
Jayme says
Hi, Sherry,
First, that cover photo is just adorable.
I noticed John is writing lots of the posts lately (I think, or maybe he’s the one hitting “Publish” and so his name shows up?). I know when I was sick and pregnant I could barely function some days, so kudos to John if he’s picking up some blog-load so you can rest. Are you feeling okay with that morning sickness? I’ve read magnesium lotion can really help with that. Apparently when you’re prego it’s harder for your body to process magnesium which affects your B6 levels, so a deficiency causes some nausea. Maybe talk to your doctor about it? I was nauseous my whole pregnancy with my daughter and I wish someone had told me about magnesium, so here I am, letting you know. Hopefully if that’s the problem you get some relief soon.
(This is all hypothetical for if you aren’t feeling well, if you’re fine and just busy with projects, that’s cool too lol, I know some weeks are just more of one person writing than the other. I just thought I’d offer a suggestion just in case.)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Jayme! John has written more posts this week thanks to some showhouse/book stuff I’m juggling in the background, along with some pretty intense morning sickness (it’s going all day again, instead of just in the mornings). Thankfully the post thing usually balances out (I think last week or the week before was more Sherry-heavy, so the pendulum seems to swing back and forth). As for the magnesium and B6, alas, I’ve tried them both a bunch (along with a million other remedies). The doc things it’s just a reflex with me (literally a bodily thing that triggers anytime of day, no matter what is in my stomach or what supplements I take, etc). Thankfully the Bun is so wiggly and cute that I’m just grateful he’s doing well in there. Sometimes I get grumpy about being sick (honestly, it’s no fun) but he’s well worth it :)
xo
s
meg says
I love the cover photo!!! it captures the spirit of your family so well. I’m planning on trying out blurb to create a bound book with the photos from our trip to Sonoma, CA this past August. I’m usually a traditional scrapbooker, but don’t have time for that now :-)
Nerina says
Have you guys heard of project life? It is such a fun photo project!!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip! Will have to check it out!
xo
s
Jen W says
I’ve been working on ours, 2008-2013, and was just thinking, “isn’t YHL due for a yearbook post?” Must be that time of year! :) And, for the record, ours will be from Picaboo… gotta love groupon/living social, right? I think we used MyPublisher for our wedding album back in 2007, though, and it was fine. I guess I had hoped for something more substantial, but quality was certainly good. It is nice to have it downloaded on your computer, for reassurance, but I’ve found that the online Picaboo service saves on its own all the time, so I’m not worried at all.
YoungHouseLove says
That sounds awesome Jen!
xo
s
MicheleLouise says
I have been doing annual books for almost 8 years! I did the first one as a first anniversary gift for my husband. All of those I have done through blurb which I love. I do all of ours as 8×10 portrait books, and they are one of the few who offer that.
I also have made books of our major vacations, I tried mixing them in with my yearly book but they just got too big.
I was nearly two years behind at the start of January, but over the past month I have managed to completely catch up other than our most recent major vacation (Ireland!). I am working on that book right now and hope to be done in a few weeks. When I am keeping up I find it easiest to do a couple of weeks or a month at a time. It’s much easier when I am caught up, but it really didn’t take me as long as I feared that it would to get back on track. It’s worth giving it a try for those of you who are behind!
My latest book just shipped today! I can’t wait to have it in my hands next week!
Stephanie @ Whole Health Dork says
I love this! Being better about printing pictures is one of my goals for this year and I would really love to do a yearly photo book like you do!
Kelly M says
I love this idea! We don’t take a lot of photos so a photo book doesn’t really work for us, but we do have a “happy jar” that we use to keep track of happy/fun/significant moments from the year and read them on New Years Day. We just jot them down on some pretty scrap paper or add ticket stubs or other paper mementos. Once we’re done reading them we put them in an envelope and keep them in our keepsakes box. It’s a great way to remember the small things you forget about once they’ve passed!
yetunde says
I’ve been making yearbooks since I had my twins in 2010. I make them the same size each year (cuz my OCD would just make my brain melt if they were different sizes). I’ve tried mypublisher and photobookcanada (same as photobookamerica). Prices run around the same because they have a lot on ongoing discounts but I feel like the photobookcanada quality was a nudge better.
Love the idea of an instagram photo dump at the end. I’ll be incorporating that for our 2014 edition
Colleen says
You guys inspired me to do my own family yearbook this year, and I can’t thank you enough for the idea. I even knew to wait for that awesome voucher that MyPublisher promotes towards the end of the year and got my photo book for a crazy awesome price. This year was a huge year (getting married, moving to Hawaii, the usual) and I love having all of our photos on our coffee table. My husband is deploying this year, so I think it will be a tremendous help during the occasional sad nights. I’m so excited for this to be one of our family traditions, thank you!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s so sweet Colleen!
xo
s
Natalie Gonzalez says
This is such a sweet idea! We’ve been doing these for our vacations together since before my husband and I were married (and we also did one for our wedding guest book with the candids that made their way onto a circulated camera), but I love the idea of a yearly wrap up. I have had great luck with Picaboo (the quality of a blown up print taken from an iPhone camera does not cease to impress me!), but I’m excited to check out this site as well. Love your posts!
Tyra says
So glad I started doing these after I saw y’all’s. I was always into scrap booking but those are so big that I wanted to do something different for my ‘adult’ life (I scrapbooked through college/grad school). So Last year I caught up and did 2010 (the year we got married), 2011, 2012,I was so excited for 2013 that I had it completely ready and when free pages came I ordered it ASAP! Ours can a week or two ago, love it! Thanks for introducing me to my publisher!
Cassandra says
I’ve made photobooks for special vacations and our wedding, but 2013 was the first year to make our family yearbook, inspired by your’s! We also made it from My Publisher and it arrived early this week–we love it!!
YoungHouseLove says
So glad!
xo
s
Marilu Luna says
Love your book! I have also done the same with my family. I have used MyPlublishing, Blurb, and have created mostly on Shutterfly my books. I have put together books of my grandson’s baptism, first birthday, first family vacation, my son’s wedding, and our annual holiday weekend in Chicago. They are nice to have around and are easily accessible than the old version of photo albums. I like that you can also add commentary to the photos making it a nice complete book.
Kelly says
I feel like this is the irony of digital photography. I take SO many pictures and print far fewer. I love that you focus on the whole family. Looking back at the albums of our childhood it was nearly all about us kids and I really would have loved to see what my parents were up to at different years in time.
YoungHouseLove says
Yeah, that’s something we try to do more consciously when we can (making sure we step into photos, asking a relative to grab a picture of all of us, etc). It would totally just be full of Burger and Clara pics if we didn’t do that! Haha!
xo
s
Lindsay says
I love My Publisher! I used them for my wedding album and will definitely be making yearbooks for us. I’m a little behind though! I’m on 2012!
Julianne says
You two are such go-getters! One day we’ll get on this whole photo book thing and put something together. These are fantastic for sharing memories of the fam. Thanks for introducing us to it. :O)
Angie says
I also use My Publisher and I was wondering what finish you print your pages in? Matte, Gloss, or Super Gloss? Thanks!!
YoungHouseLove says
We just go with their standard matte one.
xo
s
Mimi Bee says
I have been wanting to do this for a long time. I noticed recently that there is a new book/service called My Social Book that interfaces with your Facebook account and mashes photos and status updates and wall posts into a book. You can select the time frame and hand select which statuses you want in there.
Just wondering if anyone else has seen this or tried this service.
YoungHouseLove says
Anyone have tips about this for Mimi Bee?
xo
s
Elizabeth says
Forgive me if this has been asked before, but do you have trouble printing iPhone photos in these books? We made one last year (can’t recall if it was My Publisher though) and I struggled A LOT to make many of my favorite daily snapshots work because the software said they weren’t sufficient quality. I ended up doing picture spreads where some iPhone pics made it because they were smaller ones, but it took a long time and lots of organizing and reorganizing (it would accept the pic at first, but in the editing stage tell me it was too grainy).
Perhaps this is just a normal function of having two camera choices: the world’s tiniest, which is on me at all times, and a massive, great quality one that I struggle to use!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no! We use iPhone pics a bunch (probably more than good camera pics) and ours are great! MyPublisher will tell you if something is too low res, but that only happens when we use a thumbnail instead of a real photo (so our iPhone pics seem fine, and look good when we print). Hope it helps!
xo
s
Joan Klein says
I love these books! I am excited to see the picture I took of you with your Aunt Lizzie is in the book. I know she will be thrilled to be part of a great memory!
YoungHouseLove says
Of course! Thanks for taking that photo Joan! We had so much fun meeting you!
xo
s
Alice says
I’m interested in doing one now that we have a little one. What size book did you use and would you change it for another size? If so, which one?
YoungHouseLove says
We just do the standard sized on, and have been happy with it. There are upgrades for making it bigger and we’re cheap, haha! Plus we like that these are easy to fit on any bookcase :)
xo
s
Stephanie says
Can you tell me what size of photo books you do?
YoungHouseLove says
We just do their standard size.
xo
s
Ida says
Hi! We do the same photobook option. This year I created our second one. They do get better each time. I also made one for my hubby’s mom as a gift. I use Shutterfly and love it. I haven’t tried MyPublisher but will look into it!
Lina says
I love that cover photo!!
I also use shutterfly (and I’m in Canada) I have used blurb in the past for our wedding photo books and liked it a a lot but it is more expensive so I started using shutterfly, especially because every year we get a credit there when we take my daughter to get her Santa pics done at the mall!! It’s great timing since after Xmas I add in holiday pics and then order it. I think I ordered this years book New Year’s Day and took advantage of a new year deal (50%off photo books and they were giving away free prints!! Score!).
I am going to use a local photography store to print a little book for my daughter. She collects rubber ducks and has 20 of them, so I thought it would be fun to do a little cheap photo book of all her ducks with a pic of her and her ducks at the end!
YoungHouseLove says
Such a sweet idea!
xo
s
Joyce says
I love this idea! Am I too late to start this yearly project since my kids are 3 and 2 years old?
YoungHouseLove says
Never :)
xo
s
Amanda S. says
LOVE this!!! What a great way to condense a year into a book :) And the best part? You could always print a second copy of the books if you want both your kids to have copies some day! Just a thought…. ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Such a sweet idea!
xo
s
Alice says
I want to start doing this since we have a little one now. What size photo book do you use? Are you happy with it? Would you change the size? If so, which one?
YoungHouseLove says
We use the standard size and like it (it fits everywhere, the quality of pics at that size are nice, etc).
xo
s
Laureen says
I just love this, and good for you guys for staying on top of it all and getting these done!! I could use you in my life to get yearly books done, it’s so easy to let it go then you’re behind a YEAR!! :) With a new one on the way, will you get two books printed so each kid can have one someday or do they get their own personal books? Do you update them monthly throughout the year or do it as one big project? Looking for tips to stay on top of ours. Thanks!! :)
YoungHouseLove says
We do it all at the end as one big project but have heard of others who do them as the year progresses, which sounds smart for people who can stay on top of that! As for how many we get, it’s just one for now (for J & I to share with Clara and her future brother) but perhaps when they get older we’ll make them copies or compile one or two books with “best of” pics so they’re not sent off to college with 18 books :)
xo
s
ThisPrettyNest.com says
I love this idea! What a great alternative to the traditional photo album for us non-scrapbookers. Thanks for sharing!!
Kellie says
Just curious where you get the code for the extra pages?? I’ve been subscribed to their email list for awhile and haven’t seen any? I am looking to finish my book by the end of the month!
YoungHouseLove says
So strange! We get codes via email (every week one comes with a different offer, so we wait for the extra pages one to roll around). Maybe try unsubscribing and resubscribing?
xo
s
Cindy O. says
I usually try to do a year in review book of my kids around Thanksgiving and then it’s the perfect gift for all the aunt, uncles and grandparents. I also have on my to do list to create a baby book for each of my children (maybe their first 3 years) this way. I was going to do that as part of their Christmas gifts this year until I discovered that there is like two years of pictures from my oldest’s infanthood that are not on Snapfish – ahhh. Going to have to scan all those in. Frustrating. Yours is a beautiful book. Thanks for the inspiration.
Diane says
Did you notice a difference in the printing this time around? I just used the latest promotion and got my book last week. I didn’t change any selections (always pick the gloss premium paper) but the colors don’t seem as bright. Curious if you found the same to be true?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no, that stinks! We didn’t notice any difference in our book this year compared to past years (we get the matte printing, so maybe that is the difference and something about the gloss paper has changed?).
xo
s
jessica says
I was wondering if 100 pages is the max for these books? We have four kids, and I feel like i can fill up a book every month, which is obviously not cost effective. I have always done individual scrapbooks and things for each kid, but like the idea of a family book just not sure if it would be big enough to really capture all that goes on!
YoungHouseLove says
I believe some other brands let you have more pages. I think it’s Blurb that does up to 300 or 400? Anyone else know?
xo
s
Victoria Ross says
I absolutely love the idea of a yearly keepsake like this with all of the important moments from the year. I have been trying to AVOID taking so many pictures so I can enjoy the moments I’m in. An unplugging of sorts. But I might have to go back on that and start taking a few more so I can do something like this at the end of 2014. Thanks so much for introducing me to such a cool product.
Cheers and all the best in the New Year,
Victoria :)
Meg says
I’ve created year-in-review Shutterfly albums for the last few years or so, and they’re some of my favorites to look through! One day I realized I take the time to create books all of our vacations, but rarely for the day-to-day things I photograph . . . and since the day-to-day is where we all live, that didn’t make much sense, haha! Now I start the book in January/February and add to it as we go through the year, which makes it much less intimidating to put together.
Since last year my family was planning two weddings (mine and my sister’s!), I created a book that was just our nuptial-related adventures as we got to our big days in the fall (six weeks apart). I love our official wedding albums, but my big “journey to the altars” book will always be treasured!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s such a smart way to do it!
xo
s
Rachael says
I have created books using Aperture for Mac before and they’ve turned out lovely. I’ve also used Shutterfly. The only issue is how expensive they seem to turn out. Having used both services, I’d have to say I liked how simple Aperture was to use, because I could edit within the interface itself.
I love how your books come together – I’m sure if I was to do this every year, they wouldn’t be nearly as cute since my photography skill aren’t quite up to par :)
Jerrika says
Any plans for a new years resolution post?
YoungHouseLove says
We talked a lot about our goals during our blogiversary (in late Sept) so we thought it felt kinda repetitive to revisit that this Jan. We think we’ll just leave the goals for that week each year when we get personal about a lot of business/blog/personal stuff :)
xo
s
Meghan says
I just went to mypublisher.com and as a new customer they gave me a code for a FREE book! DUDE! How cool is that?
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome!
xo
s
Jennifer says
I just got mine in the mail too – catching the same sale! Thanks so much for the idea (I started doing our family “yearbooks” after seeing your first post about them). This year I splurged (haha) and added their super gloss printing for about $6 extra. I wasn’t sure it would be worth it, but I have to say I really love it! I think it makes the photos crisper and they seem to “pop” more. Just my opinion though. :-) Thanks again for the idea – I really treasure all our books and the kiddos love looking through them.
YoungHouseLove says
That sounds really nice Jennifer! I love that you jumped on the same promotion and yours just came too!
xo
s
Sara says
SO CUTE! I make one every year for my grandparents. It’s the whole family yearbook. It’s a big hit. I might need to look into my publisher. Their prices are better than shutterfly and I’ve heard the quality is better too!
Sara
shawna says
I would love to know more about how you organize your photos in iPhoto. I get so annoyed with it sometimes. Do you flag the good ones – or star rate them? I have considered making a special yearly event for my photo books, but get paranoid about taking them out of their original event file. Do you duplicate them before you move them into your Family Photo event? Ive tried flagging them, but you can only have 1 file of ‘flagged photos’ and i’m working on more than 1 book at a time (my twins’ first year!). Ahhh, am i over thinking it? Any suggestions?
YoungHouseLove says
We just drag and dump everything into Family 2013. No flagging or starring or anything – they just all get dumped in there. At the end of the year we sift through all of them in that folder (hundreds!) and flag the ones we love best – then we “create a new event from flagged photos” and that folder is what we import into MyPublisher to make the book.
xo
s
briana says
2013 was a very busy year for both of us — me running 12 half marathons in 12 months to raise money for cancer research and the hubs training and finishing Ironman Florida. I decided it was more satisfying to put all our accomplishments on the walls of our home. We’ve hung our medals and newspapers clippings and these fabulous caricatures my in-laws gave us!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s so awesome Briana! I love that!
xo
s
Pat C says
Just gotta say this. I love you guys.
I always feel like I’m part of the family (in a non-creepy way) when I visit your blog. :}
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Pat! You’re so sweet!
xo
s
Krista says
Your photo books have turned out so great! I have to say I was doing a happy dance as I read the post- it came at a time when I have stacks of traditional prints just waiting to be put in an album (my usual route).
I’ve been toying with the idea of going all digital and now I’m inspired and ready to take the plunge!
Thanks guys!!
YoungHouseLove says
Good luck Krista!
xo
s
Ashley says
I totally don’t mean this to judge, I’m just curious: Do you still post twice a day on certain days?
YoungHouseLove says
For the last three months we’ve just posted twice on Mondays, and once the rest of the week (with two bonus posts over on Young House Life most weeks). We used to also post twice on Wednesdays, but shared a little update at the top of this post from November about that :)
xo
s
Jenni Gomil says
You are most definitely not the last ones doing this. I make mine through snapfish because I can photo dump and create all in one place, but very similar to what you guys do. Mine is currently completed and sitting there waiting on a 50-60% off sale…because I just purchased a back log of 4 years worth at the end of the year, so the hubby says to wait!!!
I absolutely LOVE reading this blog, FYI!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Jenni! Hope that sale pops up soon – sounds like a good one!
xo
s
HeatherM says
I love these books. There is only one thing I would add. I would tuck or tape a small cd-sized envelope in the back of each book, and enclose a DVD of all of the pictures for that book. I know YOU can access your pictures on iPhoto & my publisher. But eventually your kids or other family are going to want access to those, and they won’t know your passwords or won’t have access to your old computer. This way you just find the picture you like in the book, and the file is right there with it.
YoungHouseLove says
Really smart!
xo
s
Rebekah H says
i just love you guys so much! always so inspired by how you live your lives full of inspiration, creativity, and a whole lotta love. petersiks! you seriously rock! i wish my husband and i could be real life friends with you! :)
anyways, love love love the book of pics. on my dream list now.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh Rebekah, quit making me blush! Thanks for the kind words! And we’re totally friends in real life now. I mean look at us chatting away right here in the comments ;)
xo
s
Kaesey says
Are you the only one behind on memorializing 2013? Ha ha ha ha ha! I’m still working on first-year baby book for my almost-four-year-old. =)
Seriously, though, this is a great idea. I’ve done small photo books (12 pages, 5″x7″ size) for father’s day and the like through Snapfish but we are sadly behind in the framed photo/ large photo album department. I order prints and they end up in a box. Think I’ll go check out MyPublisher.
Ciara says
My publisher is a favorite for large projects. I love that I can work on them throughout the year especially since I add summaries of our activities. I’m now on my 7th family yearbook, every January I design the layout for the full 100 pages giving several pages for each month and more pages knowing when I take more photos or have a vacation planned. Then I have my regular features like the highlights of the year and an end page for each kid with 12 pictures taken from each month because it’s amazing to see how they change throughout the year even at age 5. I have done shutterfly and it has some nice features but can’t compare to the quality of Mypublisher. My shutterfly got a lot of use but ended up falling apart.
YoungHouseLove says
Love hearing the comparisons guys, thanks!
xo
s