my new reason to blog

I think this is the COOLEST invention. It's MY family history, scrapbook, and recipe book all in one! I turned my BLOG into a BOOK from Blurb. (Don't forget to check here to see if Blurb has any coupon codes too.)  It's so cool and I'm so glad I did. It took a little while to edit everything- pick the layouts, adjust the pictures, etc. but it was worth the work and now I have it forever.

I think the rate is about $70 for a 40 page book, but I had 200+ pages in my book and that was still the price. It was a nice surprise! But I found a couple coupons to use, so I didn't end up paying that much. SWEEEET! I was so happy.

Here's an example of the pages. Note the various layouts and pictures/collages I was able to put in.

In days past, I've been a scrapbooker, and still am deep down. BUT, having 3 little ones doesn't leave much time for the type of scrapbooking I used to do. So now I'm using this. It's great- comes with slotted pages for pictures and journal cards, etc. I can add a few decorative touches, write a little or a LOT about each picture and I'm done. It's awesome! The hard part of figuring out layouts and color schemes is taken care of. 

With this system, I feel like I can still keep up (or hope to) with documenting my kids' lives while using small amounts of my time. AND I use my blog book to reference back so I can remember all the details of the page I'm "scrapbooking". My goal is to do this Project Life for each of my kids, and the blog book for me (or our family record).

I titled this post "My new reason to blog" because it is. Because I can now make a hard copy (book) of my blog and use it as my family scrapbook/yearbook, I am motivated to write it all down and document it.

Oh and I'm sure you noticed I haven't been using picture collages anymore. I was using Picasa and really enjoying it, until I put together my blog book and had a hard time fitting the collages in as completely as I wanted to, AND because the program ended up giving our computer grief and we deleted it.

SO if anyone out there has a better solution to posting TONS of individual pictures that ISN'T with Picasa (and won't break the bank), please let me know. But, if you're like me, I have to admit, I don't generally READ all of other's posts anyway. :/ I just scroll down through the pictures, stop and read about one I find interesting and continue along. Sorry folks, that's the honest truth. I just don't have the time to peruse them as I'd like, so this is what I do for now. And come on, you do it too. :)