So- where do I start, Shutterfly?   I hadn’t a clue where to begin, which layout to choose, how to design it.. but first things first.  I had to get organized.

1.) Figure out your own personal theme you are going for with the book as a whole.  I focused on the highlights from the girls’ first year.  Major milestones, events, and monthly photos.  I knew I wanted to include the letters I wrote to each of them on the blog every month- so I made sure I had the space.

2.) Figure out what pictures you would like to use.  I organized my pictures by month and event, so that when I was ready to put them in the book it didn’t take me as long as it would have if I did it while I went.

..and actually, let me add a third point here:
3.) save, save, save, SAVE your work. How many times was I cussing out the computer (wait– I don’t cuss.) at midnight after losing three pages of ‘work’ due to an accidental click off the page, or page error.  Save it.  Save it, again.  and then again.

For Parker, I opted for the ‘Year of Firsts‘ theme found under ‘Baby‘.  I chose the 8×11 photo book option- which is their best seller.  I think it is the perfect size!  But they have lots of size options to choose from based on your own personal taste.

For Jolie’s book I went with the more trendy theme:  Chalkboard Chic. This photo book theme was ‘Storytelling Style”.  For a flat $4.99 you have access to unlimited amounts of embellishments and backgrounds.  Worth it.

Once your layout option has been selected, its time to load your pictures!  I start in the Storyboard option of the layout.  All I’m focusing on at this point is getting the pictures that I want on the pages that I need them on.  Keeps me from getting distracted with all the embellishment options.
Get the photos in the book and organize them the way you want them before adding any kind of design element.

Hit Save Changes in the top right hand corner and the pictures are loaded once you revert back to the Custom Path page (that looks like this one.) When I started Parker and Jolie’s book I opted to do one ‘spread’ (2 pages) for each month and then add the highlights in between.  The right page was for the letter I wrote to them and the left page was for the monthly photos.

Thousands of stickers!  Options are endless:)  Shutterfly will allow you to save up to 100 stickers to your option page.  Once you reach that point (which I did!) you can delete ones you’ve already used to make room for others.

The ‘s’ next to the sticker means that it is included in the ‘storytelling’ option I selected for Jolie’s book.   Don’t let that fool you.. I was able to select these stickers for Parker’s book even though it was not a ‘storytelling‘ themed layout.  Once I had selected enough of them, I got this message:

For other options on the background- the same process is done here as you did with the stickers.

These background options were only available for Parker’s book.  Jolie had the chalkboard theme, so the color options weren’t as plentiful.

When you are ready to purchase your book- make sure to proofread.  Let someone else look it over.. and make sure your dates, spelling, and pictures are exactly the way you want.  Once you’ve placed your order with Shutterfly, you have 30 minutes to cancel/change your order before its sent to print.  Such a small window of time!

When it came time to add my book to the shopping cart I had lots of options for completing my book.  One of which is the page orientation.  I opted out of the lay flat pages for the additional $30.00.

What I did opt for is the Matte Finish of the hard cover of the book as well as the Clear Memorabilia Pocket.  This sticks one the inside cover (back or front- your choice) and can hold keepsakes.  I put things like their hospital bands, and hard copies of their birthday party invite and birth announcement.