Disclaimer: Mixbook.com sent me a complimentary book in exchange for a review. The review is my opinion and my opinion alone.
I have some projects in the works that I want to make scrapbooks for:
- Baby’s first year in monthly photos.
- Baby’s first year in weekly letters.
- My 365 Days project.
The problem is that somewhere in the depths of our closets lies my feeble attempt at scrapbooking circa 1999, a book about the beginnings of H and I that’s only halfway done. I’m just no good with all the little stickers and embellishments. You know, the things that make scrapbooks look like scrapbooks.
So when Mixbook.com offered to let me try out digital scrapbooking, I thought, “Yes, this might be the solution.” So I took them up on it. And I’m so glad I did.
Mixbook Review 2011: Initial Thoughts
The interface is beyond easy. Caveat: I’m a designer by trade and spend eight hours a day working in InDesign.
Still, I think even for a design newbie this site is easy to navigate. First you pick the size of book you’re wanting to work with. Next you can pick a theme for your book. There are several baby themes to choose from. The themes come in handy if you want to do as little design as possible. All you have to do is plop photos in and voila! You’re done.
But for me, I wanted to tweak the themes a bit for this photo chronicle of the first six months of my baby’s life. I changed some background colors. I built a few of my own layouts. And the little stickers and what-nots I was complaining about earlier? So much easier online. For one thing, if you put a sticker in the wrong place the first time you can always rearrange it without ripping the paper. I added owls throughout because it is was Alexa’s nursery theme.
It is also forgiving with mistakes (I made my share). Let’s just say if you ever build your book in a certain size but later decide you want a different size, Mixbook has a way for you to transfer your already-built book to the new size. You might have to make some tweaks to your design, but it’s better than starting from scratch, amirite?
I spent about three hours working on my book. I probably would’ve spent 300 hours on a real-life scrapbook, so success! This is three hours of nitpicking photos, futzing with typography, being a stickler for the placement of a few pieces of ric rac. I’m sure you could do it in less time if you weren’t an anal retentive designer like me.
Mixbook Review 2011: Final Product
Without further ado, the finished product …
I was so pleased with the finished product. My photography came out beautifully, the pages were nice quality, and the sleek hardcover made it feel like a “real” book.
In fact, the 8.5×11 portrait book I made is the same size as a lot of our books, and it looks right at home on our bookshelf. Less bulky than a traditional scrapbook or photo book but holding just as many memories. I can’t recommend it enough (just ask my co-workers, who I’m sure are getting sick of my rave reviews).
And, more importantly, I can’t wait to add to my collection of books. I have this grandiose idea of chronicling Alexa’s life each year, then giving her copies of all these books on her 18th birthday.
