The gorgeous personalized children’s book above is by Sarah of Party Perfect. She used objects familiar to her baby to help teach first words. Ever since I saw it, I’ve been thinking about how nice it would be to make a photo book specifically for Hank.
I wanted an idea that would have the maximum impact if it was personalized. Because Hank seems intrigued by feelings lately, I decided to go with that. I’d really like him to learn early on how to identify his emotions and then do something constructive with them, and he already loves to talk about how his toys are “so happy” or “really cross” (thanks Thomas the Tank Engine).
I love the end result. Here are some examples of what I put together:
Shutterfly bought some ads on Mighty Girl, and they let me try their photobook service to lay out my book and print it. It actually ended up taking more time to choose the photos than to make the book. If you’d like to try it yourself, Shutterfly is offering codes to twelve Mighty Girl readers to let them print books for free. You can enter the drawing by leaving a comment about what you’d like to make.
The contest will run through August 24, and I’ll announce winners here. One entry per person please, I’ll have to delete duplicates for fairness. Good luck!
Mighty Girl 
I’d love to print a book for our daughter Violet (born in July, 09) with photos of her family. We’re stationed at a base in southern California (my husband is a Marine) and our families are spread across New England and the Midwest.
They all get to see picture of her online, but it would be wonderful to have a book that shows her who all the people who love her!
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That turned out SO INSANELY CUTE. Just had to throw that in there.
My gosh, ADORABLE.
Ok, I’m done.
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My husband’s mother moved suddenly out of the house they shared when he finished college, leaving him with all his (unorganized) baby photos. I would love to scan in some of those and pair them with photos of him as an adult, to give them the reverential display they deserve.
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ooh, i loved the feelings book. i’d very much like to do something similar for my baby boy!
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I would make a family book. The kids love looking at pictures of various family members doing fun activities with them. “there’s me with Grandpa”
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I’d love to make a book of family vacations for my family. We live scattered across the country now, and it’s good to remind ourselves of good times we’ve had together.
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I don’t have any children but I would love to make such a nice book with pictures of my friends and families and all the great memories we have had!
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Grandma “O” (my mom) just turned 93 years old. She is in assisted living and can’t travel. We three kids (& our families) live far away and don’t see her very often, but we had a mini family reunion for this special day. The photos would be a wonderful keepsake in book form — who knows if she will even be here next year?
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A book for my husband.
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My nephew is going to become a big brother near the end of the year, so I’d love to do some kind of photo book for him. I know he’ll probably have a tough time adjusting to a new baby, so it would be nice to have something special, just for him. He’s also starting to learn to read. I like the idea of something that helps him learn new words and is also personalized with pictures of people and places he knows. Your book for Hank is so adorable. Well done!
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I want to make a book for my son and his 5 cousins (all under 3 years who live in 4 different cities across the US/Canada) which uses pictures of their parents and the cousins together over the past couple of years to teach them the alphabet
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As Maid of Honor, I would like to make a book for my friend, The Bride.
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I would like to make a personalized guest book for our wedding next spring!!!
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I would love to make a book for my daughter and have been contemplating doing one for some time now. So many photos, so many choices. I have narrowed it down to a book about herself based on the alphabet- one page for every letter. OR, I would like to do a family book for her because lots of family members live very far away from us. Thanks!
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I want to make my son a book to take to daycare that shows him “Where is mommy?” with a pic of mammy at her office and “where is daddy” etc, complete with “Where is Bandito?” (the cat, sleeping on the bed)…I though this would help with separation anxiety and now he’s old enough to think it would be cool for show and tell.
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I think I would like to make a book for my mom with pictures of the two of us on our many adventures. Or I would make a book for my best friend to celebrate her daughter turning 5 in October.
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I’ve always wanted to make a book like that. I’ll probably make one of my nieces pictures to give to her mom since she doesn’t have that many pictures of her.
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I’d love to make a book for my daughter with pictures of her with all of our family and friends. So much love to document!
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I’m currently 15 weeks pregnant and would like to make a book for my Poppyseed about all the ways I already love him/her.
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I’d make one of my favorite photos I’ve shot on the digital camera I’ve owned for a couple of years.
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I would like to make a special book of pictures of my second child to try to avoid the slight that inevitably happens.
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love it, and would love it.
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Your book is inspiring. I would like to make one that encourages and celebrates the (mostly) loving relationship between my 3-year-old and 1.5-year-old daughters.
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I love Shutterfly books! I did a “test” of a day we spent enjoying NYC and was super-pleased with the result. If I win, I am definitely doing my wedding weekend photos. Thanks for the opportunity and thanks to Shutterfly!
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I’d make a before-and-after remodel book. It would be sublime on the coffee table in the living room of the finished product!
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Would love to make a book of my recent wedding. Hi Hank!
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I’d go with my family vacation with the in-laws…and the 24th is my birthday, maybe it will bring me luck! I love Shutterfly.
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I am going to San Juan and Vieques in September. I would love to make a book of that vacation.
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I’ve made books with Shutterfly before, but I’d love to do another!
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I’d make a book of our family members and other everyday objects to help my 2.5 year old understand how people and things often go by two different names, e.g., “grandma” is also “marie,” “papa” is also “howard,” and “kitty” is also “cat.” He is very confused when I change names on him.
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I used Shutterfly to make photobooks of my wedding for my parents and in-laws, and they were fabulous! I love your idea of making a photobook to teach your kids words. As an up-and-coming counselor, I especially love the idea of teaching them about feelings and emotional/relational needs. 🙂 Hank is a lucky little guy. 🙂
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Oo cool idea! I think it would be neat to take some old family photos, sketch them out, and then use the sketches instead of photos for a scrapbook type book.
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I’d make a book out of the many postcards I’ve sent to my husband.
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I would like to make a photo book about my sister and her fiancee’s lives and give it to them as an engagement gift.
I also love your book about Hank, it’s very very cute!
Thank you for the opportunity, Maggie.
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I’d make a book of my photos from an online photo project called Ten on Ten(tenontenphotojournal.blogspot.com). On the 10th of every month, take 10 photos, one every hour, for 10 consecutive hours…it’s a really fun way to practice photography and get a snapshot of life every month 🙂
Thanks for such a fun drawing! 🙂 And loved your book!
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i would make a book about my baby’s first year. i really should get on that..
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I’d like to make a photobook for my parents, who are well into their eighties. We’ve been living in Europe for over five years, as my same sex spouse is an EU citizen, so California is not an option. We moved to Holland a year ago, and I would love to send a book of our photos of our ‘new country’ to my mother for her upcoming birthday.
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My youngest daughter leaves for college soon. I would like to make a memory book for her and her sister.
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My little boy! And his new baby sister, who he is not quite sure about liking!
-J
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i would like to make a book for my soon to be husbands wedding present, using the first emails we sent to each other and photos from our amazing vacations with family and friends!
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Ooo, I would love to win… I make a Shutterfly book every Christmas for all of our parents and grandparents, but I never order one for myself. I’d love to make one for our family to enjoy.
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My book would be about my baby’s first year–Now that she’s 6 and a half I figured I should get around to that…
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Oooo! What a wonderful idea – filed away for future children and/or baby gifts for friends.
I would love a free photobook. I had been meaning to put together a record of all of the preparations for our wedding, but life hit (as it tends to), and I never managed to get it done. I had actually pre-paid for it too, and don’t have the budget now (sigh). Would love the chance to get it done anyway.
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I shall make an alphabet book. And a book with pictures of the relatives that live far away (with their names). And I shall make a numbers book. Now that the little munchkin can handle books with pages (not board books) the world is my oyster.
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I’d make a book about how my husband and I met and fell in love, to show to our kids someday.
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Beautiful book! I have been thinking of doing something similar for my 4 year old.
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I have created several photo books of all our memories since having our son. I should really look into buying some shutterfly stock at this point. This type of ABC book is defintely on my to do list what a cool idea.
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I’d like to make a book for my twins, detailing the fun things they are doing/learning together.
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I’d love to make a book about ym recent trip to Hawaii!
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I would make a book of our summer vacations with recipes for my grandparents. We’ve been doing it for 30 years.
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