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.

June 4, 2009

A New Hobby

I’ve joined the world of digital scrapbooking.  I may never crop again.  Traditional scrapbooking has always been my hobby, but I confess:  the time it takes to complete an album is just too much for me these days.

When I started playing around with the software and creating different pages, I was hooked.  The page above was one of my first experiments.  That’s a photo of me and my BFF at her birthday dinner.  It was also the day I discovered I was pregnant, hence the nervous smile on my face.

I’m working on a book for Dawson, to catch up on all those photos I took but never printed.  Stay tuned.

April 16, 2007

I Couldn’t Wait to Get Back to Work Today

Monday mornings are the start of my work week like most people with jobs.  However, my Mondays are a little bit better than one would imagine.

After a weekend of being held hostage by a toddler with big demands (juice! waffles! chips! juice! candy! cheese! apples, mumma! juice!), I find myself wanting to go back to work.

This last weekend was no different. 

I went to a scrapbooking event called Memoranza, sponsored by Creative Memories consultants in my area.  As a lapsed consultant myself (soon to re-sign, though!), I love to attend these events for new ideas and to check out the latest products.

This weekend’s crop was wondeful. It began at one o’clock on Friday and ended at 3 p.m. yesterday.  I managed to get in 36 hours of cropping time with no Dawson around to get into my suff and make a mess.  I caught up on all of my photo organizing, completed sixty-one scrap pages and won several door prizes.

It was so nice to be with my scrap buddies and talk about family, friends, kids, marriage and work.  And I loved sharing photos and memories with the other women.

Saturday night we went out to dinner, had a couple of drinks and discussed the latest archival systems.  Our meal was at the Sport Plate, a normally delicious restaurant, but our steak and shrimp specials weren’t cooked to our desired doneness and we had to send our steaks back several times.  We ended up getting our meals for free because of the trouble.

On Sunday, I was so tired I left the party early to go home to my husband and son.  I actually missed the whining.  Or so I thought. 

When Dawson decided he wanted to go to the park, and threw a tantrum the size of Texas when it was time to leave an hour later, I was ready to go back to work at that moment.

I thought that being away from my demanding child, who is stuck in his terrible two’s, would make me feel like me again.  It turns out that there is no break from motherhood, and temper tantrums for that matter. 

The joys of being Mommy are wonderful and I’d never trade them in, but I just wish I knew how to deal with meltdowns a bit better.

Any advice?