Our 2012 Photobook

Last year, I made a MyPublisher album with all of our photos from 2011, and I liked it so much that I decided to continue doing one each year. I had my 2012 album all ready to order a couple months ago, but I always wait for a big coupon code or sale to order. I tend to max out my books with 100 pages, so the "free extra pages" coupon code is usually what I go for. This year it took a while for them to send out a free pages coupon, but it finally happened and now I have our 2012 photobook! I was able to get $80 off, which brought the book down to $35. Not bad at all! 

I love their matte covers (it's what I used for our wedding album and various other projects/gifts), but I've been wanting something more durable for our yearly photobooks. Last year I did the linen cover, which is actually really nice, but it was just a little too boring for me. This time I went with the glossy cover because it promised to be more durable and wipe-able, and I figured that was good for a book I plan to have for the long-term. The glossy finish isn't as elegant as the matte, and it's a little more bulky, but it does seem like you could spill Kool-Aid all over it or draw on it with a pen and it would totally come right off. I'm undecided for what I'll do next year... the matte finish is much prettier, but the glossy is definitely more durable. We'll see! 

Like I said, I maxed out the book at 100 pages. I definitely could've filled more pages, but I like that MyPublisher limits me because it forces me to create a book that can easily be looked through in one sitting. Our photobooks sit on a shelf in our living room, and people tend to pick them up and flip through them, which I love. 100 pages is PLENTY to fit in all of our important memories from the year, but it forces me to pick our favorites (rather than just haphazardly throwing all of our photos into the book, which I think is what I would do otherwise). 

I did the whole book this year with a light gray background and dark red text (the font is "Sail"). 

On the back cover, I decided to put a smaller photo with a Bible verse for the year. I really enjoyed reading through the Bible to find something that would fit nicely for 2012, and I think it's something I'll try to do every year from here on out.

As always, the paper quality and photo quality are wonderful. Gotta love MyPublisher. Here are a few of the layouts:

So now I have a nice little set of three: our wedding album, our 2011 book, and our 2012 book!

I also have our Engagement album and Honeymoon album, which are from Shutterfly (I was doing those on a teeny-tiny budget):

I go back and forth on whether I want to make a 2010 album as well. The first seven months of 2010 are pretty much covered by our Engagement, Honeymoon, and Wedding albums (except for my college graduation). The last few months were my first few months of law school, so we honestly didn't do much, but I do have photos from holidays and such that aren't in a book anywhere. If I get really bored one day (ha!), maybe I'll make a 2010 one. 

All of our photobooks sit on a shelf in our living room, with plenty of room to add more!

I used to be a scrapbooker in high school and college, but I just don't have the time anymore and photobooks are a wonderful alternative! I can't wait to add to our shelf in years to come!