We’re working on hanging our new pendant lights so we’ll be back to share those pics in the morning. In the meantime, let’s talk about something people ask about all the time: photo storage. Ever since seeing Katie Bower’s family photo book two summers ago, we’ve been drinking the photo book Kool-Aid – starting with our very first Family “Yearbook” that we made last summer (you can read about that here). And now that another year has wrapped up, well, let’s just say this arrived last week:
It’s one big glossy photo book stuffed to the gills with all of our family photos from 2011. Except the perk is that while it has around 600 photos, it’s only about a half-inch thick. Which is awesome for storage purposes (way less cumbersome than thick overstuffed photo albums that only hold 100-200 pics each). We ordered it through MyPublisher and thanks to a promotion they were running for free extra pages, we got to max out their page limit (100) and pay nothing extra. The discount (which has ended since we received our book – but they tend to pop up pretty frequently) actually saved us $79! And we’d easily pay $44.99 to print all those pics (not to mention having to buy a bunch of albums to put them in) so a photo book can actually end up being quite the deal. And no, they didn’t pay/perk us to write this, we just like our photo books. Haha.
We did our last “yearbook” way after the fact (like mid-2011), so it took a bit of backtracking to organize all of the photos. But for 2011 we planned ahead and kept all of our photos in one iPhoto album (which automatically kept them in chronological order for us), which is why it only took a couple of weeks into the new year to actually get this one done. So let’s take a quick look through all one hundred pages… just kidding. We’ll just take a peek at some of the highlights – like our opening page that we edited to include some text to summarize some of the, well, highlights from the past year. We think we’ll love looking back on it (and having a summary of the whole year on one page).
We also tried to group big events, holidays, and milestones – like the several spreads of Clara’s 1st birthday party. Check out how dark our kitchen was in the bottom left corner!
We also used the preset page designs to give some really special photos the layouts they deserved, like the ones Katie B. snapped when we visited the Bowers in June.
And since it’s not hard for these albums to turn into a Clara-fest, we paid special attention to making sure Burger got plenty of love as well. He even scored a few dedicated pages throughout (every album needs a good Burger-montage or three).
We also thought it was fun to put all of the photos we took for our Blogiversary “Day In The Life” post into the yearbook in order. That way in 15 years we can look back and sort of remember what a normal day was like way back when…
We nearly ran out of pages by the time we got to Christmas (darn 100 page limit!) but managed to make room. Heck, we even squeezed in a collage of a bunch of our holiday card outtakes. Yeah, we’re kind of into our kiddos.
So since we’re on a family yearbook high – especially now that our collection is two albums strong! – we’re already excited to make the 2012 version.
But because that’s not possible yet (unless we want it to be 3 pages long) we’re thinking that we may try to organize our old digital photos and make one or two books that’ll hold all of the photos from 2005 (when we met) to 2008 (right before our 2009 album picks up). Maybe we’ll work on those books once a certain manuscript is in the can.
Oh yeah, and here’s our favorite photo bomber again, just trying to get in on the action.
Anyone else making photo books or albums to document the past year? Or any other event or period of time? We’d love to hear other systems people have for organizing and displaying their family photos.
Tina says
I started doing that when son #2 turned 1–I realized the kids had NO photos around to look at because they were all on the computer and while I love to scrapbook, I am S-L-O-W. :) So we’ve done a yearly one since 2006 (and have managed to add 2 more kids in there!). I just finished up the one for last year. I love it, its fun to pull out and remind the boys what we did or how each of their baby brothers looks like one of them when they were that age. And it is fun to go back and try to pare down some of the massive number of photos I take through out the year. :)
Sharon says
I LOVE photobooks and have created them for all of my major vacations over the last few years. A few ideas/suggestions: I use Shutterfly, but I’m sure other publishers have the same options for multiple sizes and paper/cover options. For smaller/shorter trips (like a long weekend visiting friends) I have made a paperback 5 x 7 version and sent a copy to my host/hostess. They have been greatly appreciated.
My other suggestion is to do a family history for your parents. I scanned in lots of childhood photos and made a book of my family over the years. I gave a copy to my parents and to each of my siblings. Everyone loved it! I also made one for my sister and her two daughters. Every photo in the book included only her daughters over the years (they were 15 and 17 when I made the book). I didn’t want any grandparents or other family members thinking they were not fairly represented so the book only had the girls in it. I gave one to my sister and to each of her daughters and they opened them on Christmas Eve and said it was a wonderful family bonding time. They sat around for a couple of hours telling stories and remembering the good times.
YoungHouseLove says
Such a fun idea!
xo,
s
Jill-O says
We’ve been doing this since we got married in 2006. Love it! Although with two kids I’m a little behind (still need to do 2010 and now 2011)…oops.
Jessica says
Love the annual yearbooks! We started doing them three years ago… it’s so much easier and tidy! Looking good!!
BrookeJ says
Wow, thank you so much for this post, I AM DOING THIS! I have become so horrible printing pictures and putting them in albums, but this will get me back on track! (so very excited can’t you tell!!!)
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Brooke
Ashley @ sunnysideshlee.com says
What a cute idea! LOVE it!!
Jennifer C. says
We have been doing the same. Except we make up 4 copies (one for each of our children) – this year maybe 5 (one for us). This is so someday they will each have a copy from that year! no fighting over who gets to keep that year!
Heidi says
Another fully committed photobook fan here – I’ve got myself hooked on Blurb books but MyPublisher is also a great, easy to use or customize vendor. The real trick is keeping current! Thanks, as always, for the inspiration!
Heather says
I love this so much. We’re going to do one of our wedding & honeymoon, and then start doing a yearbook one ourselves. I brought this up to my husband while we were on our honeymoon, and we both love the idea. I absolutely adore how awesome your books look, and can’t wait to start making one!
Michelle says
I love traditional scrapbooking – it’s my stress release / creative outlet. I have many completed albums of my girls.
BUT I did a Snapfish photo book of my family’s last trip to Disney World. I loved it. I don’t think I’d like to do it all of the time, but it was definitely a good feeling to get the album back within a few weeks of vacation!
Kara says
Love it! Our wedding Album was similar to this, and I couldn’t be happier. We also got an exact replica, but tiny (4×4) that I can throw in my purse. From now on I will only go this route and make these picture books. I will have to check out my publisher…
Cheryl says
I used mixbook.com to make a photobook for my mom-in-law and myself. We take a big family trip to Mexico every couple of years so I turn our trip pics into a book. It’s a guaranteed favorite Christmas present!
I got a 12×12 hardcover book for around $30 because they were running a special. They do those fairly often.
The cool thing about mixbook is all of the templates and digital embelishments you can use, totally free! It’s like one of those fancy schmancy scrapbooks people do by hand but it’s all digital. Good print quality too. I highly recommend it because it’s easy, cheap, and quite the crowd pleaser.
I promise I’m not a sponsor or employee of mixbook. I just really love their stuff!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- good to know! Great tips!
xo,
s
Laura @ Learning to be a Grownup says
SUCH a great idea! I am terrible about taking pictures (I take some at random events throughout the year but normally just forget I have my camera with me and end up with basically none at the end of the year) but maybe with this in mind I can do a little better!
Hillary says
I took advantage of the same promo and made four books — two from 2010 and two from 2011 — for my kids. I went with the bright linen covers (one in mango and one in bright red) with the picture window in the front. Such a bargain.
I think I’ll give my girls their photo books for Valentine’s day. What better way for them to remember how much we love them?
YoungHouseLove says
So sweet!
xo,
s
Melissa P. says
How true do you find the colors of the pictures? I made a 2011 album just a few weeks ago but it’s just sitting in MyPublisher because I’m so worried the colors will come out wonky. I edit all my “keepers” in photoshop but I’ve ordered prints from online sites such as Snapfish and the pictures came out dark and too yellow. I just want to hear someone’s experiance before committing. Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
We’re really happy with them! If anything they look better than expected- never darker or worse. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Angelique says
We’ve given birthday-to-birthday yearbooks of our oldest daughter to the grandparents for christmas gifts for the last three years using Shutterfly. Now we have another little one to incorporate so I’m not sure what format they’ll take on.
Rachel says
Wow – this is amazing. I am a bit obsessed with photo organising, but for some reason it had never really occurred to me to do photo books instead of albums. Fabulous. I am converted. SOLD to the woman whose bookshelves are already heaving with books and albums!
Adrienne says
Through a friend i found http://www.mixbook.com and I have to say I’m in LOVE. It’s like virtual scrapbooking. You can move and drag your pictures anywhere, choose beautiful backgrounds for each page with hundreds of options, you can add in “stickers”….even their premade books look amazing and you can STILL make any adjustments you like. The flexibility through this site is CRAZY! I’ve never seen anything come close to comparing. I’m so excited I had to share.
I’m totally stealing this ‘year book’ idea and hoping onto mixbook today!
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds like fun!
xo,
s
maureen @ This (Kinda) Old House says
This is a great idea12 i am an avid scrapbooker, but I have to be honest, it’s a daunting task when you have hundreds of pictures to scrapbook and not a lot of time to do it in. Not to mention the space that the albums take up. I may be doing this from now on, and save the scrapbooking for really special things. I mean 600 pics in one 1/2″ book? Yes, please!
maureen @ This (Kinda) Old House says
Oops! I don’t know how the number 12 squeaked in there when I typed!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- so funny! A random 12 in there. Hilarious.
xo,
s
Sarah says
wow! That is AMAZING you two! Well done! It brings me back to my yearbook design days in highschool…
Leah says
We got the deal MyPublisher ran on Good Morning America around Christmas…PERFECT gift for grandparents! I am totally gonna steal the yearbook idea….
Kate says
I made one like that with our wedding photos for us plus each set of parents. While I really liked them, I never ever look at the thing! Kind of a shame.
We’re looking to have kids soon, and I would love to then start making one for each year once they are born. Right now we just don’t take enough photos to make one a year (or even one every couple of years).
The one thing I do miss about the old photo albums of yore is that my mom used to write out the date, each person in the photo, and location on each and every photo. It made it super easy to remember the names of old childhood friends, when a photo was taken, or where we were. I really need to learn how to tag digital photos easily so that I can include the same information!
Tara O says
I have been hard at work with our photo books. I make one for every year for the kiddos and once they get bigger I will just make one family one. Mine are taking WAY longer than 6 hours but I put way more text and background. But I will definitely have to keep this in mind once the kids get bigger and I only want to do one album! oh and by the way don’t the kids usually take over the album?! we usually don’t take many pictures of ourselves!!
Kim S says
I just finished making a photo book for our trip to California in Aug. of 2010, 100 pages for one trip. I use Photoshop elements for digital scrapbooking which really slows down the process. I think I should just use standard layouts for regular family stuff and scrap the vacations. Maybe then I can stay on track!
I am impressed that you can condense a whole year into one book.
Katie says
LOVE photo books! I made one that we used as the guestbook at our wedding. Then I made one with our wedding photos — a giant one for us, and smaller versions that we gave to each set of parents as a Christmas gift that year. Made one after our honeymoon, too.
We take anniversary pictures every year (my idea, which my husband and dog have come to accept as a little quirk of mine), and use a photo for the Christmas card. I’ve made small photo books with each set (2 years and counting) and, while we haven’t changed much, it will be fun to look back in 20 years at all our anniversary books.
Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication says
I love photobooks! I made one for our wedding album and I absolutely love it! We have it on the coffee table, so it’s a great conversation starter! Good idea with making them like a yearbook! I may try that next time I get a photobook coupon ;)
Gwen says
I do the same thing each year on Kodak Gallery. I just got our 2011 book in! Love it. I used My Publisher for our wedding album and really love it!
A Kurtz says
I absolutely love this idea. I have two small boys and have done some small flip book soft cover photo books for special events that they could “read”, but am overwhelmed by thinking of how to orangize for each child and separate…solution – make one book for the whole year for the whole family! This is motivating in itself. We are struggling also with corraling photos from phones and the Nikon camera. Any suggestions to avoid download procrastination?
YoungHouseLove says
Start a blog! Haha. We always upload stuff all the time! Pretty much constantly since we’re always writing posts. Haha. But other than that, maybe pick a day a week (Thurs) and do all of them every Thursday?
xo,
s
Rebekka says
great idea! and i love that burger appreciates a good photo- my dog turns his head (or whole body!) away from me whenever he sees me going for the camera! i guess i can’t blame him though- i’m the same way!
Chantelle says
Wow! I am just so impressed with the quality of My Publisher. My husband and I have been doing mini trip books for a few years (Using Snapfish and Picaboo), but the quality of your book looks better and the images are less ‘pixely’. I just might be stealing your yearbook idea (even though I don’t have kids yet..lol) because that is just such a wonderful way to get all those photos used (Perfect gift for the Grandparents too). We love taking photos, and honestly that was one of the main reasons we started a blog recently…was so we had a PURPOSE again for all those images. Sometimes it felt like photos were taken, but just uploaded on the computer to never be seen again!!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, their photo quality is great! No pixels at all!
xo,
s
shannon says
i love these books! they are adorable. might i ask how y’all store/organize your wedding pictures? i need to print mine and have them in a book and am trying to think of the best way to do that.
how did y’all put together your wedding pictures?
YoungHouseLove says
We have one leather album that we registered for that we filled with wedding pics. We also have them backed up on CDs in the safe and on Flickr too.
xo,
s
shannon says
thanks for your input!!!
Lindsey says
Oye. This makes me regret the hours and hours I’ve put into cute scrapbook pages with 1-2 pics on them for huge scrapbooks that I have no room for. Oh yeah, and the scrapbook supplies that are TAKING OVER my house! I love this idea and I hope I am organized enough by 2013 to use it :)
Jennifer says
Love photobooks also!
I can’t seem to totally put aside the more traditional scrapbook/photo album, but I’ve made a few of these and LOVE them. I’ve given my hubby an 8×8 version with pics of just him and the kids each father’s day, and will likely do 12×12 books of pics of just the kids to one day give them.
Had not used that company, so may have to give them a try.
Sarah says
I love the family yearbook idea. Totally pinning this to my “Down the Road” pinboard. But then again, I was the yearbook editor, so I’m a bit of a sucker for it.
Katie says
This post is definitely a good reminder to me that we need to take more pictures around my house! We are good about taking pictures on special occasions (b-days, vacations) but not too many other times during the year. I’m sure when we have kids we’ll be more likely to take pics more often. Just wondering, were you and John always photo takers or is this more of a recent thing with Clara and due to the blog?
YoungHouseLove says
I think we have both always been that way. Isn’t that weird? When we moved in together and got married it was hilarious to see my giant photo album and yearbook collection double when he added all of his. I guess we’re sentimental folks. Haha.
xo,
s
Beth says
I made photobooks of my son’s artwork from the early days. In preschool and kindergarten, it seems like they come home with something for the fridge every day! I took digital pictures of his artwork (I laid it on a black card table in a well lit area) and used those to make the photo book. I kept a few lovelies for framing, but I was able to then recycle the life-size reindeer made in kindergarten and the jellyfish made out of the biggest paper plate I’ve ever seen.
Heather G. says
I am a huge fan of collecting our photos! I do it a tad different tho… I create a custom image box, from mpixpro, and print my photos in 5×7 format to put in the box. I have a thing with being able to touch the actual photo… This way, I can have access to my photos to switch out in frames and such if I feel the need to. So far we have one for our wedding, honeymoon and family vacation from last year! It really is a fun way to see the trip, plus the boxes hold a dvd, so I put all of my images on the dvd inside the box!
btw – I am addicted to your blog! Just found you guys a few weeks ago and have you set to my flipboard app on my iphone :)
YoungHouseLove says
That’s sweet! I love that idea too. Aw, and thanks for reading our blog. So glad you found us.
xo,
s
Angela says
I literally just pressed the order button yesterday for photo books of the last five years. My next plan is to scan in my print photos from the few years before then and make them into books too.
YoungHouseLove says
Oooh I love that! So organized!
xo,
s
Alison says
ok you just made my year! no really! Organizing my photos was my new years resolution and now I have a way of getting it done! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, so glad!
xo,
s
Kelley says
What size did you order? 8 x10 or the larger one 11×13?
YoungHouseLove says
I think it’s an 8 x 10. We didn’t get the largest one, the second largest is ours. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Elisabeth@SimpleGreenishLiving says
Each time we go on vacation I keep a little journal so that when it comes time to make a photo book of ALL our pictures, I know exactly where we were and what we were doing each day of our trip! Here’s an example (basically little blurbs about each day interspersed between lots of pictures): Click here to view this photo book largerCreate your own personalized photo books at Shutterfly.com.
It’s a great way to remember our vacations! I also just ordered the photo book I made of our little guy’s entire first year. I like using Shutterfly because they are always running specials and you can stack promo codes.
YoungHouseLove says
Cute!
xo,
s
Victoria says
what style of book did you choose? looks great. i’m already starting mine!
YoungHouseLove says
We just did one of the 8 x 10 ones with a photo wrapped cover from my publisher. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Emily says
How do you guys organize your videos? We have tons of random short (but still cute and funny) videos of our daughter and dog on both our Flip video and iPhones. I want to edit them together to make a continuous video for each year. You know, fading in and out, that sort of thing but have no idea what software to use. Any suggestions?
YoungHouseLove says
We use iMovie for that (free on Macs) to make a little birthday video of favorite clips from the whole year of Clara and the fam.
xo,
s
Jen says
This is a great idea and I can’t believe I never thought of it. I tend to make photo books for events (e.g. vacations, weddings, etc.) but to do one large book per year is a nice way to preserve all those random photos I have. Now if I could only find time to organize, upload and arrange my photos. Thanks for sharing!
Leigh says
I love photobooks!!!! I need to order one for 2011. I hate I missed that deal because I will most definitely need more pages than the standard number! Your book looks great. I don’t know how you guys find time to do so many things. You constantly amaze me.
Briel K. says
I really need to do this. I find that since digital cameras came around I haven’t printed out any photos! They are all online or just stored on my computer. I have made a few books for special trips (Europe, East coast road trip, NY, etc) but never for the year or anything. It would be so much work to go through all my photos but I think it would be worth it.
Speaking of photos, I have thousands of photos from growing up that need organizing/paring down. It’s too big of a job and I don’t know where to start!
Emily D says
I love, love, love this idea!!! I used Snapfish.com to make a book of all the photos from when my daughter was born, but I love the yearbook. I think I may have to borrow this idea and start some yearbooks for us!
Jenn D says
I make a photo album every year for my anniversary, and somehow after 3 years it’s still a surprise each time (and probably will be after 50 years too!). I love looking back at how our relationship grew and the fun things we did.
c says
Have you ever used another survice besides My Pulisher? Do you know how others compare?
I used Shutterfly to print a wedding book for parents and grandparents as Christmas gifts and I think the books turned pretty good!
YoungHouseLove says
Just heard great things about the photo quality so we went with them and are very happy with them!
xo,
s
Amanda P says
What is the general size of your books? I have Mixbook groupon to use and was wondering what people thought of that company? I’ve made a few books on Shutterfly and love them!! My books have been of specific events, but the year chronicled is such a grea idea!! That may be what I use my groupon for.
Amanda P says
Sorry, I just now see you said it was an 8×10! :)
YoungHouseLove says
No worries!
xo,
s