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Wednesday, February 10, 2010

wfmw - blog book.

for christmas, worker man and i gave his mom a book of her blog.  a {blook}.

once i... [i mean we] came up with this idea i began researching the best way to design the book and the best place to order it.  it was actually a lot more difficult to find information than i expected it to be.



i did remember coming across this post that was very helpful in getting a start.  i also e-mailed jmom, the author of lots of scotts, with questions.  she was extremely helpful.

because i had such a hard time, i figured it would be helpful to see a step by step on how to create your very own blook!  so, i'm going to give you a quick rundown on the way that worked best for me.


1.  i used blog2print to put the information in a book format.  

this part was very easy.  all you need to do is type in your website and it automatically puts your blog into a book.  then, there are some things you can do to personalize it.  for example, you can choose to include the comments from each post, whether to include the pictures, how the posts are laid out, etc.  


then, after you make these decisions, you order the pdf.  it was $7.95 plus tax.  the reason i ordered the pdf was that all the covers were ugly so i wanted to change the cover and order the actual book through a different company.

[blurb.com is another website that is similar.  but you download their program booksmart and you can arrange each page individually.  it seemed a lot more labor-intensive so i went with blog2print.]

the pdf is e-mailed almost immediately. 


2.  after i received the pdf, i edited the file in adobe.  i removed the cover page that i had to select in blog2print.  you will also want to remove the back page.  i didn't remove the back page for my mother-in-law's book so it printed as an extra page in the back of the book.  whoops!

front cover.



back cover.

3.  after resaving your pdf, you will need to upload it to a site that can print it.  i used lulu and was very pleased with the results.  i was able to select a plain black cover and add a picture and title for the front and a picture for the back.  the order was $65.93 for 181 pages.

i was very pleased with the results and i know my mother-in-law was as well.


she was also super excited that i asked her to come over at 7 am this morning so i could take a picture of her with her blook :)



i plan to also make one of these books each year to keep a record of my blog.  it is a great way of "scrapbooking" each year :)  well, maybe it's not a scrapbook....but it will work for me :)

 hopefully this post will help you with making your "blook".


if you have questions, i'll be glad to help.  feel free to leave a comment or send me an e-mail.  also, if you have made a blook and have any helpful tips that i didn't mention - or a different site that you think is great, leave it in the comments!


check out kristen's blog, we are THAT family, for more works for me wednesday tips.

8 comments:

  1. I'm the Mother-In-Law and let me tell you, the blook is GREAT!! I was so surprised and loved every detail about it!!!!

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  2. This is a great idea! Thank you.

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  3. What a fun idea! Especially for a photo blog, this is a great way to preserve the memories.

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  4. I want to do this! How did you feel the quality of the photos turned out?

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  5. you need kids or something....all this thinking ahead went out the window for me about 22 years ago. :) Just think had I kept blogging .. my last year would have been in print too had I chose....wow .... great idea!

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  6. Hi Christy!

    They turned out great. Which I guess it would depend on your camera. If they look pixelated on the blog they will most likely look pixelated in the book too.

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  7. I was JUST telling my husband we needed to do something like that, because my blog is where I put most things that I know I will want to remember. I have a journal, but I NEVER write in it. Thanks for those links. I will definitely be checking into this!

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  8. This is just the coolest thing I've seen in a while! I am totally doing this! Of course, it would help to keep my blog going. ha ha!

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