Three times in one week the topic of making photo albums had come up in conversation. Not the photo albums we grew up with – sticky cellophane protector pages / brass ringed coil binding / padded landscape covers – but rather, the ones you make digitally and send away for printing.

I made my first album after our wedding and found the hardest part to be editing down the amount of photos to fit in less than 96 pages. After that, I went on to make albums of vacations and quickly realized editing is important because additional pages costs more money (I should know this, seeing that I do print production for a living).

Fast forward seven years, David is almost five, life is busy: We’ve been on a few great vacations but production has slowed down. I only realized this week, I started a California Book for the trip to California in 2012 and never made it past the cover page. Since then, we’ve also been to Florida (and I’ve been to California again) so I better start designing.

There are many options for book making online – Shutterfly, MyPublisher, and Pinhole Press to name a few – but I have only used Apple’s iPhoto print products and have been pleased with the results. Although there have been slight changes in their template design, I love the consistency and find the process to be super easy. And at this point, If I want to get at least one more done before our next vacation, I should stick to what works.

What about you? Have you had great success with one of the other publishers? Can you persuade me to switch? I am very excited about the Pinhole Press products, like the personalized memory cards, and plan to make them for my youngest nephew, but that’s for another day.

Psst. Share and subscribe if you like what you’re reading. xomeg

Note: The David book was made by David’s daycare provider, Miss Allie. One of the sweetest gifts a mom can receive.