March 15, 2010

Photo Books: Now More Simple Than Before

As a scrapbooking junkie, I’ve tried many different products over the last ten years, from traditional to digital and everything in between.

When I was offered the opportunity to try the new American Greetings PhotoWorks Studio Books I was very excited.  I love digital scrapbooking, but I’m not a fan of using software that needs to be installed on my computer.  In years past I used a Creative Memories software but it’s very expensive to buy digital accessories.  The PhotoWorks website offers a wide variety of themes including Wedding, Baby, Travel, Kids, Holidays and more.

When I discovered I could choose a theme without downloading software I was in love.  The studio books are amazing.  Each theme has a pre-designed template, fully customizable by changing the photo layout or background color, as well as the digital embellishments.

After registering for a free account and then uploading my photos to an online album; a process which took twenty minutes (more or less time may be needed depending on the volume of photos you intend to use), I was able to create an entire 8.5 x 11 photo book in under an hour.

The PhotoWorks site allows me to save any unfinished projects making it very easy to pick up where I left off without any effort.  These books are amazing!  Most projects are printed in less than 3 business days, and shipped withing 7-10 business days.  My book arrived in one week.  I’m very happy with the price as well.  Most finished books are $39.95 for the 8.5 x 11 size, but PhotoWorks offers 8 x 8 for $29.95 or 12 x 12 for $54.95.  The prices are much more reasonable than other products I’ve used in the past.

Another great benefit to using American Greetings PhotoWorks is the ability to share my project.  I was able to e-mail my project in the form of a slide show to my family members as well as give the recipients the ability to save copies of the photos (or the book itself ) to their own PhotoWorks account to create their own photo gifts.

The American Greetings PhotoWorks Studio Books are simply fantastic and I’m so glad I got the chance to use this service.  Thank you Mom Central!

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I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of American Greetings PhotoWorks and received a free photo book to facilitate my review.

March 1, 2010

Weekly Winners Slash Best Shot Monday

I know that the Weekly Winners are usually posted on Sunday but I was so distracted I didn’t get it together until this morning. And since it’s Monday I decided to add a “best shot” to the bunch:

Owen, melting his mother’s heart with a post giggle smile.

Mommy’s boys, “playing” Legos.

Dawson, building a “Star Wars space ship.”

February 27, 2010

Photo Planning

Poor little Dawson caught his brother’s cold earlier in the week.  Now I have two coughing kids, although Owen is feeling much better than before, and Dawson is sounding better, too.  He missed school Tuesday and Wednesday.  I realize this is probably why we all went stir crazy these last few days.

Stuck at home with two munchkins is no fun during the winter.  I want to break out the stroller and take the boys for a walk.  Murphy, too.  Poor dog is sick of freezing his paws in the snow.  Dawson is longing for Spring because he just wants to ride his bike!

Instead of yearning for warmer days, we spend our time indoors.  I’ve been taking pictures of everyday things.  I’m in a new phase photographically speaking.  I want to document every day life.  Even the mundane.  I missed beginning the Project 365 for this year.

I’m revamping the plan.  Starting March 17th, I’m going to document my 32nd year (I’m turning 31 this year, so I guess I’m going into my 32nd year of life, right?) as well as my kids’ lives.  We’ll see how it goes.  I’m very excited.

In the meantime, here are some photos taken recently.  Enjoy!

October 11, 2009

Filling the Void

While I wait patiently (or not) for Little Monster Baby (how’s that for an oxymoron) to arrive, I thought I’d kill some blog time with photos.  It’s hard to write a real blog post because I’m starting to sound redundant.  I write about the same things, because I’ve been doing the same things for days.

Okay, and I’m tired. I spent today cleaning (more cleaning, you ask? yes, because I’ve gone completely anal about organization in this house. that and I have nothing else to do while I wait for the baby to make his way into the world) my dining room, my craft area, and other things. Then Doug and I went to lunch at Tempura House.  They have the best buffet.  I love the sweet & sour chicken, General Tso’s chicken, and of course crab rangoon. Yum.

Dawson spent the night at my parents’ house so we could go to that wedding last night, and Doug and I really enjoyed our day together, even if we were just getting all those last minute things completed.  I vacuumed all the carpets.  Doug blew out the sprinklers for the winter.  I folded laundry. He blanched and froze more vegetables from our garden.

The only thing we didn’t finish was weather-proofing our windows with that shrink wrap, plastic stuff.  But there’s always tomorrow.  As long as a certain baby stays in my uterus.  Which is probably going to happen.  He’s showing no interest in being born just yet.  I’m still in physical pain, but cleaning distracts me.

Okay, enough of the random babbling.  I give you my favorite photos of the last few weeks (months?):

My neighbor’s daughter, Katie, with her brothers at her wedding reception last night.  These kids (who aren’t really kids anymore) are triplets.  I’ve known their family since I was a kid.  I can’t believe how grown up they are now.

The beautiful bride and handsome groom pose for a photo.  They are just adorable, aren’t they?

Last Monday, Dawson and I went on a Mom & Son date.  We had dinner at Rocky Roccoco’s and then went to see the Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen movie that was re-playing at our local theater.  We had a fantastic time.

We had some funky things happen to a few of the tomatoes we grew this year.  This one seems to have grown a nose.  Or… Nevermind. I’m not even going to say it.  Still the funniest produce ever.

I tried to get a picture of all the kids at Dawson’s birthday party two weeks ago, and this one is almost perfect.  Only one child is looking away, and one is missing from the photo because he was having a meltdown.  Still a fantastic party.  Everyone had a fantastic time.

Dawson had such fun bowling.  Here he is, just after granny-bowling the ball down the lane.

Now that I’ve uploaded all the photos (from both cameras) from the last few weeks, I’ve charged all the batteries and put everything into my hospital bag.  I’m ready for Baby O to arrive.  Counting down days!