Roses wilt and chocolates melt but a Blurb photo book of pictures will last forever
The longer you’ve been together the harder it becomes to wow her on Valentine’s Day.
Everything becomes old hat after awhile so I really like this idea from Blurb to create a Happy Valentine book from pictures.
Everyone likes to see themselves in print. With digital cameras and smartphones you must have several good shots of her, him, you and the two of you to make memories stir.
If you’ve never published a book before it will do wonders for your own ego. The link at the end of the story has a 15% discount.
The whole process of getting the pictures together, send the order to Blurb and receiving the book is quite simple. Unless you decide on something more than 100 pages, the cost of an exquisite hard cover book with paper dust cover will be less than $50. If you like quality, upgrade your paper when ordering. It makes a difference.
There is more than enough time left before Valentine’s Day. The Valentine’s Day order deadline is February 4th in North America. Blurb meet their delivery promises. At Christmas my books arrived a day early.
Something personal
A Valentine for Moosette (Blurb)
Call me a sentimental fool but I’ve seen a relationship go west when Valentine’s Day is not given that special touch. Last minute flowers may get one out of the dog house but a little planning can mean the world of difference.
One year for Christmas my son gave me a framed photo of me that he snapped. It took me a year to appreciate how special that was. I still have it on the wall and it pops up on Facebook regularly. We love to see ourselves and your partner loves to see herself. Putting yourself in the picture reinforces you are a couple.
This year for Christmas, I prepared a Blurb book of our family for my children and grandchildren. It brought a few of them to tears. Everyone thanked me for the book and no one mentioned the gift cards that they also got. The family photo book was a winner.
How to make a Blurb book
The chart below identifies the decision path you can take. From a simple book based on Facebook pics to something more complex with larger photos. It depends on your time and effort.
Burb book decision tree
When I was making my Christmas book, my dentist said it would take 4 times as long as I expected. Set aside a few hours to create a Blurb.com Bookify book from Facebook. A more complex book from digital photographs on your computer will take probably 8 – 12 hours, depending on how much care you want to take.
In each case you have to find the pictures you want and decide which one’s are good enough to show off your love and relationship. Less is more – a book of 100 photos is probably overkill. Get the pictures organized first. Create an album in Facebook, Flickr, SmugMug, Picasa, Zenfolio, or Instagram with just the pictures you want in the Valentine’s book.
If you’re a creative designer you can design a classy cover. A photograph of you as a couple also makes a great book cover. Try stretching the cover picture for the best effect.
Expect to spend some time exploring the options of book size, style, layout and finish.
Picture size is important. If you are using Facebook shots, they are not that large so a smaller book will be better. Blurb prints in 300 dots per inch while many digital pics are 72 DPI. When the pictures are converted for book printing quality, they will downsize. Generally only 1800 pixels x 1800 pixels will look good in an 8.5 x 11 inch book.
How to publish on Blurb
Whichever way you proceed, Blurb.com has online tutorials that help explain the options. The video tutorial BookSmart Design Tips and Techniques is a good introduction to designing your book and suggesting creative ideas.
Creating Photo Books with Blurb, an online course from Lynda.com, got me interested in Blurb before Christmas. I’ll cover that tomorrow to keep on topic.
Blurb Bookify
Blurb Bookify uses templates and easy online tools to create your book. It will import pictures from your computer or the external sources listed above.
The process is simple and nothing is written in stone until you actually place the order. Start at the Blurb.com and navigate to Books and Pricing since it has a direct link to Facebook or Instagram books. Other choices are Color, eBooks and Calendars and Planners.
You need a minimum of 20 photos or Blurb will pad the book. You can start by importing some Facebook pics then add others from Flickr or other services.
A Facebook is 7″by 7″ which is a good compromise with the picture detailed stored on Facebook.
The pictures by themselves tell a powerful story and words can add to that. You can add text to white pages or to accompany the pictures as notations.
Using Booksmart
To create something very special in a book, still within a reasonable time, upgrade to Booksmart which is free software from Blurb.com that installs on your computer.
Booksmart allows integration with Adobe Photoshop, Bridge or inDesign although you don’t need those programs to produce a book.
There is considerably more flexibility in creating book and page layouts with Booksmart. The books don’t cost anymore but the trade-off is it takes more time to create the book.
Either Bookify or Booksmart, it’s fun to do and people appreciate the gift.
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