I made a Mixbook of my India trip!
 

I recently got a "Groupon" for $15 to get $50 worth of stuff at Mixbook. I'd been wanting to try one of those photo books that you can make online, but I'd just never gotten around to it, so I decided to give it a whirl. Well, I must say I'm hooked!

Since I'm home recovering from surgery anyway, it gave me a nice project to do for a couple of days. The software was incredibly flexible and easy to use. I can't wait to get the hard-copy. I'll let you know how it looks and whether I recommend it as strongly when I see the results as I do now. I used to do hard-copy scrap-booking (a little bit), but this is so much easier for someone like me who's not really good at arts and crafts.

Anyway, you can view it online, so if you're interested, here it is! Click on one of the corners to go from page to page, or on the next button at the bottom:

http://www.mixbook.com/photo-books/travel/india-5166432

I'm so proud of myself. :-)

Great book! I especially like the way you laid out the photos.

Was that $50 worth? You got a lot of pages.

Thanks, lcuy! Actually, it was about $80 with shipping! But I saved $35 with my Groupon, so I thought it was a great deal. If the book is nice, I'll definitely use them again - even at full price. I think it's still cheaper (and easier) than getting a bunch of prints and trying to make a scrapbook. Plus it will be smaller (thinner) book than a big photo album. I ordered a 12x12 size, but a smaller one would be less.

The software is excellent. They offer a variety of page layouts for various numbers of photos, plus numerous backgrounds, and "stickers" you can add. But you can also completely customize every page - drop photos where you want, resize/crop them, add borders, include as much or little text per page as you want - in any font, size, and color. And there are a couple hundred backgrounds to choose from. I went with a single, simple background for all the pages - but you have the option of choosing a different background for every page if you want.

Not trying to advertise - unfortunately, I get no kickback. :-) But it appears to be a great product.

i've been doing shutterfly books for several years.... but these books have nicer layout possibilities....

i loved your book!! way too many pics of that blond woman however.... she doesn't even look indian..

you always make me laugh, bob. (and you also make me revert to all lowercase.) haha.

Very nice, Karen. One of my ambitions is to do a set of books of our recent travels using the Apple software for this. The Apple books are the nicest I've seen (though I haven't seen an in-person copy of the mixbooks). It's such a big project, though, I may need to wait until I retire to do it!

Thanks, Kathie. I haven't seen the Apple software, so I can't compare.

Yes, chronicling your travels in a set of books will be a major effort - although I have no doubt you'll be up for the task!

Great book. We just made one of Vietnam using Photobook America. Unfortunately, we are unable to share it on line, but the results are amazing. The program is a bit difficult, but it has tons of options. I have used Shutterfly, but the results are far better on Photobook America. A friend of mine uses MyPublisher which is amazing and easy to use, however, they have a glich in their software and we were unable to finish the book we started of Thailand. These projects are so time consuming, but so worth it when you finish. We have thousands of pictures that we rarely look at. With the books, you can select your favorites (boy is that difficult) and make a beautiful coffee table book that you can share with friends.

For more info on photobooks, check out www.photobookgirl.com
You can add her to your facebook page and she will advice you whenever a groupon comes out on various photobook companies. I saved about 50% using my groupon, so my 100 page book ended up being just over $100 rather than $200.

Forgot to ask how you are feeling from your surgery. Hope it was nothing serious.

Nice job and I like the layout. Personally, I'll probably stick to the more traditional Smugmug as I don't have the creative gift that you have.

That's really nice. Thanks for sharing it.

Glad to hear of your success with mixbook. I bought 2 thru Groupon also. Planning to use for upcoming trips to Guatemala and also Nepal/Bhutan. Your book is beautiful.
.

P.S. Did you do India with a tour or are these your own people?

ginger - I went on a tour with Intrepid. There were only 8 of us, so we bonded very quickly and it was like being on a trip with a group of friends. We had the best time. My trip report is posted here; if you click on my screen name, you'll see it.

I wish I'd bought 2 of those Groupons! I know I'll be making more photo books in the future. Nepal/Bhutan are also on my wish list!

Very Nice. I used to do a lot of scrap booking too. This is so much less work isnt it? and you dont have all the mess to contend with.

I did the last three trips in books with blurb.com and very happy with the results.
It sure beats having all 4x6 pictures in a photo album. I like that you can put in your blog too if you do one so that it is a real keepsake.

I will be interested in the quality of the book when it arrives.

Very nice! Looking forward to seeing the real thing this summer!!!!

I just went through all the companies on the website that dgunbug posted, I had no idea there were so many. Wonderful. Thanks to the OP for bringing this up. Some companies have alot more options but are more expensive. Many choices for us to consider.

It came today! I LOVE it. I can't believe how good it looks overall. There are a couple of shots that I knew were somewhat marginal in quality, but I decided to include them anyway. They're not the greatest - but it was the fault of the photo, not the printing by Mixbook.

I'm very satisfied with the product. Here's a picture of me holding the boook so you can get a sense of the size and how it looks:

http://kbutler1122.zenfolio.com/p470...ff85#h1e5d6c48


The only thing I'm not crazy about is the cover - it's glossier than I was expecting, but still, it's ok.

Your book is lovely. I think it is important to get a large book as you did. I made one for Turkey on Shutterfly and was very disappointed once I compared it with a friend's book that was significantly larger. I didn't make that mistake again when I did the Vietnam book and it made all the difference in the world.

I wish that I had seen this before I ordered mine. It looks great. My India book had very dark pictures so I hope that my Laos book doesnt. Your pictures look like they are nice and bright. Next time.....