back during the 2005 Christmas holidays, justin gave me an awesome present. since we'd started dating, he'd done really well with choosing thoughtful gifts that often involved my pictures. (for valentine's day that year, he'd made a huge poster collage of nearly 100 of my favorite pictures--and that was only after a few weeks of dating.) and he outdid himself for Christmas--a beautiful hardbound book that chronicled that first year together. from the first date through vacations and spending time with family, he covered it all. he even scanned in the ticket stubs from concerts or games we went to, and included a little iPod at the bottom of each page featuring a song we listened to during that time. such an amazing gift... and it got me thinking.
as 2006 ended, i mentioned that i'd like to do another book, but this time to work together on it. we used iPhoto (a basic photo editing program on apple computers) to create the book, and then could send the file off to the apple website to be printed. so easy! so the 2006 yearbook was created, and a tradition was started.
we've done a yearbook for each year that we've been together, including extra books for our wedding and honeymoon. i don't print many pictures (believe it or not) and this is my one way of having my favorite photos in print somewhere in the house.
last year i used aperture to create the book, which was easier (but took longer) since that program allows you to create your own layouts on the pages. i love going through all of our photos from the year and then arranging them just so...
to give a wonderful, photographic snapshot of the year. and we'll be able to look at these books for years to come. i'll be working on two books in the next week or so--our regular 2009 book and one for our disney vacation. has anyone else done a project like this before? what programs/printers did you use?and finally, i've started on the 365 project today. (i could foresee using my 365 pictures as a book at the end of the year, too.) this first shot comes from the new year's eve party we attended last night with my work friends. steven had to show off and open the champagne bottle using a huge butcher knife, taking off the top of the bottle with an impressive hit.
you can learn how to do it here. honestly, i doubted the safety of his attempts and was worried we were going to end up losing a finger. but the bottle opened with a satisfying pop and the top of the bottle was completely smooth (as you can see in the picture.)if you want to join in on the 365 project, it's not too late! you can sign up on their website and then just "follow" me.
now, off to cook some black eyed peas and the rest of our new year's dinner. happy 2010!
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