Photo Books for Father's Day

This Father's Day why not make your dad a photo book filled with special photographs?  I think it is a fabulous, personal gift idea and something that will be treasured for years to come, bringing back precious moments and family memories whenever it is looked at.

Albelli have given us the opportunity to make our own photo book for Father's Day.  Unfortunately, with the bout of illness that has struck everyone in our house down over the past three weeks, we haven't managed to create one yet.  As the deadline for ordering is June 9th 2013, I will be doing it this weekend so we get it back in time for Father's Day.

Taking a look through the Albelli website, there are some really inspirational ideas for making a brilliant, personalised 'Book for Dad'.

You can include photos of dad's favourite things: his car, the dog, his favourite food, his record collection and of course the kids!  With funky layouts, fun frames and photo masks, text boxes and cool clip art to play with, the book can be made exactly how you want it.

With a little effort, every page can be turned into something magical.  You can tell a story, capture the mood and create a really special photobook.  The Photo Book Creator has all the tools you need to design and edit a book to your own specifications.  The Inspiration Pages include step by step tutorials so you can achieve specific effects and themes such as using watercolour backgrounds and  brush stroke masks to display photo images of your kids' artwork within the photobook.

If you don't have the time you can always opt for a pre-designed photo book where you simply have to upload your images into a template of your choice.  A bit of editing and tweaking can be applied so you are completely happy with the end result.

Prices start at just £6.95 for a Pocket Photo Book.  A Large Landscape Photo Book starts at £24.95.

I'm really looking forward to getting creative and a little bit bold as I create the Photo Book for Ian's Father's Day present.  I'll report back when we receive the finished result!

Here is a book I made for Ian last year showing the excellent quality of the Albelli photo books.

Find out more at www.albelli.co.uk

Albelli Photo Calendars

Albelli have launched a new calendar range and editor to make it easier to make great quality photo calendars.  With more options for formats, layouts, designs and themes, you will be able to produce the perfect calendar from the comfort of home, which will be delivered direct to your door.  This is Christmas shopping made easy!  Personalised photo products make excellent and thoughtful presents for loved ones.

With a new pricing structure in place for multiple orders, the prices start at just £5.99.

The new range includes the following options:

Premium Calendar:

With a two page spread for every month, photography enthusiasts will love this option. There is no better way to show off your spectacular shots, than with your photo taking up a whole page and the calendar taking up another full page add a creative touch there are a range of themes which can be applied to suit the photos you’ve chosen.

Landscape Calendar:

A beautiful way to treasure and share your greatest memories. Available in a luxurious A3 size, your photos will look brilliant in your home or that of a loved one. You can keep it simple or jazz it up with the themes suit your personal style.

Portrait Calendar

The perfect way to relive 12 great memories over 12 months of the year. Available in A5 through to A2 and with a range of great themes there are plenty of options for the perfect Christmas gift.

Birthday Calendar:

For the family home our A4 Birthday Calendar especially set up for you to remember your friends' and family’s birthdays, this is a fun option. You will never forget those important dates again, and you can even add their photo on their birthday to make it even more fun! There are over 10 different design themes so there really is no end to the creative ways you can make this calendar.

I am being given the chance to try out the Albelli calendars for myself.  I'll let you know how I get on!

Personalised Presents from Bonusprint

At this time of year I start looking at ordering gifts for the inlaws and other relatives in time for Christmas.  Something I really like to do is make personalised presents using some of the many photos I take throughout the year!  This is especially good for those people who we don't get to see very often, giving them thoughtful gifts with a personal touch.

Bonusprint is a household name in photography who proudly claim to have been "Printing your smiles since 1979."  They offer a comprehensive range of photographic gifts, photo books, wall art, cards, canvas prints and digital prints.  The online shop has a no quibble 100% satisfaction guarantee so you can order with complete confidence.

I was given the opportunity by Bonusprint to try out their service and make something using their online software.  I chose to make calendars using 13 of my own photographs to personalise them.  It was so easy to make the calendar, simply choosing the pictures I wanted from the files on my computer, positioning them into the calendar template and then uploading my finished creation when I was happy with it.  Photos could be rotated in situ, but no other editing could be done to the photos.  There is a choice of layouts, backgrounds and designs to chose from so your calendar will look exactly how you want it.

Whereas it was very simple to make a calendar, the photobook software is much more sophisticated using the Bonusprint photobook creator tool, which allows you to create beautiful photobooks with ease.  There is scope to edit your pictures and add text and play with layouts, so your photobook suits your personal requirements.

I have to admit that I couldn't work out how to add different gifts to the basket to check out together, so ended up just ordering multiple copies of one product using my voucher code.  It would have been nice to try out a few of the different products which included fabulous lunch boxes and rucksacks.   I'm sure my inability to get them all in the same basket at once was just me being  a bit dense and only posed a problem as I needed to check out everything together.

A few days later my calendars arrived well packaged to my door.  They are well printed and a good quality.  The paper is really thick and glossy.  The ones I made are quite small (approx 21cm x 28cm) so they are perfect for sending on to loved ones, who will hopefully appreciate seeing my kids' faces every month for the whole of 2012! For £9.99 they make a great gift idea.

Bonusprint's prices are very competitive and the range of products are really impressive.  The service was good and I received emails to keep track of my order and know when it had been despatched.

It is wonderful to liberate virtual images from their homes on hard drives or memory sticks, turning them into presents for family and friends!  What grandparent would not want to have their grandchildren's faces smiling back at them from a mug, a coaster, a calendar or a shopping bag?  If you are stuck for ideas for presents check out Bonusprint and turn your digital photos into something special!