Making MY Mom's Mother's Day Special with Shutterfly {A Review}

In case you haven't noticed by reading my blog, I like to take pictures. I always have. My mom always told me I took too many pictures. The thing is, I don't think she realized I could get worse. When I was introduced to my digital camera 8 years ago, I was in heaven. I could take picture, after picture, after picture. No need to worry about film. Yay! Now I have a new dilemma,  not being able to choose which pictures to delete and which to keep. My husband will tell you, I keep too many, and I agree. It is just so hard to delete pictures, they all have something unique in them. Besides, it takes time to go through the pictures to delete them.

As much as I love my digital pictures, I have had one thing that has bothered me. I used to love putting photos in photo albums. As time went on, I started enjoying scrapbooking as well. I do sort of miss that aspect of being able to go and pick up my pictures and create a keepsake with them. Then I learned about photo books I could make online. No, they aren't quite the same thing. No playing with stickers or cutting with fancy frames or such, but I just recently learned I could create a beautiful book in just a few hours time using such sites as Shutterfly.

A couple of months ago, they had an offer where you could make a 8 x 8 photo book for FREE! I just had to pay shipping and handling. Why am I bringing this up now? Well, I made and gave the book to my mother for Mother's Day, and I just talked to her on the phone and she was just gushing about how much she loved it. I kept hearing words like "thrilled" and "lovely." It made my day, that I had made her day. 

I have to tell you, the book was lovely. I had it shipped to me so I could check it out. I was curious, as I had never made such a thing before. I used their standard template, but I realized after I had placed my order, that I could have used their custom settings, and still got it for free. (Note to self for future reference, as I hear they do these free books on occasion.)

I was able to choose a picture for the cover. I loved that it was a glossy, hardcover book. 

We were able to make a 20 page book for free. We did go over the maximum page number, but there was only a small extra charge (approximately one dollar), which I thought was completely acceptable as I really wanted those pictures in the book. Let me share some of my favorite pages from the book.

 As you can see, there are different layouts that can be used. I loaded the pictures the way that I wanted them in the book, but they can be rearranged. As it was my first time using this service, I wasn't quite sure, so I wanted to make sure they were where I wanted them. Once the pictures are on the pages, you can go through each page and change the layout, swap the pictures, and add text.

I can't wait to make another book. I am looking forward to using the additional features, such as different backgrounds and embellishments. The 8 x 8 hardcover book normally sells for $29.99, but is on sale right now for $22.49. The Storytelling version, with the added features, costs an additional $5.99.  It was definitely a wonderful offer to be able to get this for free, but I can tell this book would be worth the $29.99.

I would recommend following Shutterfly on Facebook. They are always sharing some sort of free or sale offer. I have seen such things as Free Magnet offers, and 100 Free Prints offers coming through my newsfeed. The reason we didn't take advantage of them at the time was we couldn't really justify the shipping and handling at the time.

Disclosure: I received the free photo book from Shutterfly as a part of one of their free offers on Facebook. I was not required to write this review. I wanted to share my experience because I am completely satisfied with this product and this company. I share reviews with my readers because I want to help you discover new products.