BLURBING!

I have become a 'blurbarian' as I have now 'blurbed'. I learned how to 'slurp' my blog, and have had contact with the 'blurberati'! Yes, I am now addicted to Blurb.com, which has a very easy, free software to download called Booksmart that allows you to create books. I was surprised at how inexpensive it was to have your book printed for gifts and for your own use. This is what I have been up to on Blurb. I found it hard to photograph the books for this post; the pictures in the books really are sharp and clear.

Last Christmas, I scrapbooked (the old-fashioned way with papers & adornments) pictures of my Mother-in-law's ancestors. This year, we wanted to gather together some of the pictures since her marriage in 1931. She is now 96 years old, and we thought she might enjoy a look back. Here is a sample of the Blurb book we created. Below are family pictures from her 90th birthday and 95th birthday. There are about 60 pictures total in this little book - the cost was under $20, as Blurb gave me a promotional code for free shipping.

Since my granddaughter was about 8 years old, we have scrapbooked (again the old fashioned way) a photo book for her to give her parents of the pictures that I have taken of the kids during the previous year. Since Caitlin is definitely of the computer generation, she was excited to give Blurb a try. She had so much fun choosing different backgrounds, colors, fonts, etc. for each page. Once again, the cost was under $20. I know I have spent way more than that in previous years for a binder, papers, and stickers.

The following book was the reason I checked out Blurb in the first place. This blog was started as a journal to record and photograph a variety of things for my descendants (if they are interested). So, I thought it would be a good idea to have a hard copy of my posts. This book ended up being 372 pages long with a little over two years of posts. I had it bound as a hardcover book, so it was more expensive at about $60.

Some examples of the pages:

It was very easy to 'slurp' my blog posts and all the pictures into Booksmart. It took some editing to transform it from a blog format to more of a book format, but I enjoyed the process. In the middle of the editing, we had to buy a new computer which caused a few problems during transfer of data. But, the blurbarati (the technical staff) were quick to respond to my email with lots of suggestions and ideas.

I can think of all kinds of books I now want to do. For instance, I'm thinking of a book of all the Christmas pictures from the last 52 years; or maybe a book with pictures of the houses we have lived in during our married life. Yes, I do have a lot of pictures.

By the way, Blurb.com did not compensate me for this post. I just enjoyed my experiences and wanted to share!