MDS Photobook = Easy Xmas

Ever since I started scrapbooking about 7 or 8 years ago, I've made a mini scrapbook for both sets of grandparents for Christmas.  In the last couple of years, as I've been pressed for time, I've been making photo book gifts instead.

Even though we don't yet have printing for My Digital Studio in Australia, we do have access to quite a few high quality printing options that are competitively priced.

I spent several hours today making this year's photo book in MDS (I did it on and off throughout the day).  This year's book uses the template from the Nobody's Business 12 x 12 Photobook.

I liked the variety of layouts, many with multiple photos (isn't that the point of a photo book?)  and the funky bright colours are in right now.  

Here are a few of my pages:

I used a photo of a sign I took during the year - at the time, I knew I'd use it in my photo book or a scrapbook layout!  I think it works well for the cover of this year's book!

I also made a couple of changes - it is pretty easy to customise the templates.

I love this picture of Thing 3, and it works with the bright colours.

The template has 24 pages, including front and back covers, and you can always add more pages, or delete some.

Once I finished my book, and saved it as a .JPEG file, I uploaded it to Snapfish (I have used them before and they have a special 40% off  that ends tomorrow).  If you haven't made a photo book with them before their website is really easy to navigate.  They have a number of printing options, and I chose a softcover 20cm x 20 cm book, because it is the most cost effective option for me.  You can get them printed in an A4 book or a 30cm x 30cm and plenty of other options.  I chose 20cm by 20 cm because although my template photo book in MDS is 12 inch x 12 inch (30.5cm x 30.5cm), I know it will work in the 20cm x 20cm format without losing much.

I uploaded each page as a separate photo, picked the layout (single photo per page, the whole page) and just dragged and dropped my pages until I finished.  The only negative is that the softcover 20cm x 20cm book I used only has 20 pages, so I had to drop a couple from my 24 page.  Some of the other more expensive options allow you to add more pages, but this one won't.  I wanted to keep the cost low as I'm printing it 3 times (one for each set of grandparents plus one for me to keep).

Now it is going to be touch and go whether or not I'll get these books before Christmas (I'm so last minute!) but I'll let you know how they look when they arrive.  I hope I didn't make any typos this year!

Let me know if you are interested in using MDS to make a photo book too.  :-)  Click the "Shop Now" button to go to my online store.