A couple months ago, HP sent me some new photo books to try out along with a portable photo printer. As is usual with my hectic schedule, I just recently got around to trying it out and am I sorry I waited! I really could have used the photo books to create holiday gifts for my mom and grandparents, but still plan to use them for other projects and maybe birthday presents.
My 13-year-old daughter actually went to town last weekend playing with the HP Photosmart A626 printer. She created a whole photo album just for herself by adding captions and clip art right to the photos through the printer’s touch screen. Her only complaint was that she could not save the edits that she made, but once she got the hang of it she created some pretty cute memories.
As for me, you have to know: I am not into scrap booking. I tried it when my kids were young and have several pages done the old, traditional way but haven’t picked it back up in almost 10 years. I just have trouble finding the time and patience to do it. Plus, so many of my photos are digital that I have to first print them out, then cut them up and arrange them. It just felt unnatural.
The nice part of the digital photo books is that you can arrange them and print them on your computer, which works out great for those of you who are like me and don’t like to do something twice. I’ve used online services for this before but felt constrained by 1) having to upload all my photos to their website and 2) being provided a very limited set of templates. These new photo books take all of that away. They come with software to help you lay it out (or you can use any program you have!) and then you just print it on your color printer. It is very simple with great results.
As a special offer to the readers of this blog, HP, in conjunction with Blue Suit Moms, is offering a 20% discount on the photo book products, but the discount only goes through the end of this year so check them out and order yours now! In addition, I have two free photo books to give away to the first two people who post a comment on this blog - tell me why YOU want to do it yourself!
