Creating A Book of Memories

by Lori Cunningham 

Mother’s Day is just around the corner.  What do you get a mother who has everything she needs and doesn’t want any more knick-knacks?  Yet still, deep down you know she still wants something for her special day.  I have to admit, I am running out of ideas.  One time I took the kids to a local arts and crafts shop where they carved the kids’ hand prints out of wood.  The kids then hand painted the hand prints and attached them to other pre-made wood carvings to make beautiful wooden flowers to hang on a door or put in the garden.   

But the best gift I ever gave my mom and mother-in-law, was a book I made online and published.  I added all sorts of pictures from their childhood, school years, travel, their children, and grandchildren.  It was such a delight to see their faces as they looked through pictures they hadn’t seen in years.  Wow.  I could tell I had really made an impact. 

My mom placed her book on the table next to all of her other photo frames.  So when she had visitors, they’d notice it and it gave her a chance to talk and reminisce about her life. 

There are all sorts of online websites to make photo books these days.  It’s become cheaper and easier than ever to make a gift with a lasting impression. Fujifilm approached me about their website called SeeHere.com.  You can upload pictures to make all sorts of fun personalized things like photo books, photo cards, posters, puzzles, coasters, pillow cases, water bottles, magnets, mouse pads, blankets; the list goes on and on.  SeeHere.com has the most extensive list of personalized photo gifts I have seen.  You can even get a photo cutting board!  Hmmm, strange.  I wonder whose picture I’d put on my cutting board!  🙂 

Using SeeHere.com  (To Win a Free Photo Book – Scroll Down) 

I wanted to see if creating a book on SeeHere.com was easy and straightforward.  As moms, with so much going on, starting a new project needs to be easy and fast!  Fortunately, I found SeeHere.com to be very intuitive.  In fact, it wasnt’ until I was done with my book that I realized there is a tutorial on how to get started, Photo Book Tips video. 

I decided to create a book about a trip to Egypt and Israel in 2000 my husband and I took.  It was an incredible trip and very surreal.  It was the first time we had traveled to a foreign country where really, your life could be in danger.  There were actually times when we where in fear a bit.  But for the most part, it was a fascinating trip and it was so interesting to see two countries who had many modern city features mixed in with ancient ruins. 

Anyways, I digress.  I downloaded SeeHere.com‘s software to make it easier to access my computer pictures from within the SeeHere.com program.  Then I went to work.  The whole book only took me two hours.  I didn’t write picture captions, but if I did, it probably would have added another hour.  Remembering back 10 years is tough! 

SeeHere.com gives you the option of selecting a template with  pre-made templates in different themes, like party, travel, baby, and a bunch more.  Or, you can start with a blank template and create your own book with lots of resources to draw from. 

SeeHere.com even has an Auto-fill Photo Book option where you can tell the program which directory to pull the pictures from and it creates the book for you.   For a birthday party, this might work fine, but for the most part, you’ll want to place the pictures yourself to ensure the proper timeline of the pictures.

Now you are ready to  begin.  As you can see from the tabs in the picture below, you can easily add Photos, Text, Backgrounds, Photo Frames, Decorations, and Photo Layouts. 

There are a number of Decorations you can add to enhance your photo album. 

In making my book, I used the Page Layouts quite a bit as I could decide between how many photos on a page and how they would lay on the page.  This was a very helpful feature. 

Thoughts on SeeHere.com

Things I Liked 

• Accessing pics from your computer is easy with the Easy Picture Uploader
•  Didn’t take much time to put together a nice looking book
• Allows you to put your own picture on the front cover of the book — and the back!
• Easy to use
• Has a number of  backgrounds, photo frames, themes, and decorations
• Alerts you if a picture is going to print out fuzzy, so you can either re-size it or find another pic
• Has some really nice backgrounds
• Making a book from scratch, rather than picking a theme, is easy to do

   Suggestions for Improvement 

• No undo button!  Yikes!  But this didn’t impede me too much
• No spell checker
• Limited area to write a lot of text – the text boxes are small
• The themes you can choose from at the beginning of your book are not as artistic as they could be

My Book 

I really liked the travel theme book I chose.  As you can see below, it really makes my pictures pop and look as if I spent a long time on my book.   Thanks to this book, our trip to Egypt and Israel has been dusted, taken off the shelf, and given new life.  At long last, I can show my kids about the trip we took before they were born while preserving great memories for my husband and myself.  If you’d like to see the entire book, you’re welcome to see it at SeeHere.com. 

A Mom’s Perspective 

Overal,l I was very happy with the ease and time it took to create my book.  It looks quite professional and I can’t wait to see the finished product when it arrives in my mailbox.  The cost of the 8×8 printed cover book is $29.99. (but there’s a 50% off deal going on right now – read on) It includes 20 pages and each additional page costs $1.89.  The pages are made of 100 lb. paper.

For Mother’s Day, consider making a book of your mom’s life, a memorable trip, the year in review of your family( so she can have a great bragging book to show her friends), or even a book with special pictures and notes reminding your mom why you are thankful for her in your life.

And why you’re at it, consider making one for yourself too.  Revive the memories of your wedding, favorite anniversary, special trip, or the year (or decade) in review, etc.  Photo books are a great way to relive and preserve your memories.

WIN IT!!!

Fujifilm has generously donated an 8×8 Photo Book to be given to one of our readers!!! 

TO ENTER:

Leave A Comment  telling us what you would create with your free Photo Book.   Be sure to leave an e-mail address if not registered.

FOR EXTRA ENTRIES:

• Become a Facebook Fan of WellConnectedMom
• Subscribe to the WellConnectedMom via e-mail or reader
• Follow us on Twitter – @wellconnectdmom (notice an e is missing) and tweet about the giveaway
• Add the WellConnectedMOM.com button to your blog or website
• Blog about SeeHere.com  with a link back to WellConnectedMom.com

Be sure to leave a NEW comment for each item you complete to ensure you get counted!

Contest ends on April 30th @ 10pm PST.  Contest open to all US residents.  Good luck and thanks for spreading the word!  

Check Out These SeeHere.com Special Deals for April!  

50% of Photo Books

Great news!  Fujifilm is offering a special Mother’s Day promotion right now.  Receive 50% off any photo book plus get free shipping if you order your book by April 20th.  This will give you plenty of time to receive your book before Mother’s Day.  Use Promo Code:  mombook           Note:  The promo code can be used once per person per household. The promo code is case sensitive.

More Deals through April 30th:

Sign Up Offer:  50 Free 4×6 Prints Promo Code:  prints-6 

Offer:  25% off all photo cards 

Plus free standard shipping on orders of 60 or more! 

Promo Code:  cards-32 

Offer:  25% off all photo puzzles

Plus free standard shipping! 

Promo Code:  puzzle-7

Offer:  25% off woven photo blankets, tumbled stone coasters, and photo playing cards 

Plus free standard shipping! 

Promo Code:  gifts-30 

Offer:  25% off photo cutting boards and photo serving trays (whose pic will you put on your cutting board?) 🙂

Plus free standard shipping! 

Promo Code:  kitchen-1 

Offer:  30% off all photo posters 

Plus free standard shipping! 

Promo Code:  poster-27