Creating a Memory Book
Recently, we commemorated the birthday of a dearly departed cat, my husband’s Balinese, Junior. Junior passed away nearly five years ago, and my husband was so consumed with grief over Junior’s death that he still cannot look at photos of Junior or talk about him. One of these years he’ll come around, and when he does, we can go through the memory book I created shortly after Junior left us.
I know how easy it is for memories to fade, so I put together a memory book that told Junior’s story in words and pictures. It wasn’t fancy, but it captured our life with Junior and will help us recall what a little clown he was, and how indelibly he left his mark on our hearts.
Why Create a Memory Book?
A memory book preserves your pet’s history in a keepsake format. Five years later, there are things I read in Junior’s book that I had already forgotten. As I thumb through his book, a little bit of him comes to life and comforts me.
It’s easy, when stricken with grief, to put off making a memory book of a departed pet. The days and months pass, and other priorities come into play, and before you know it, it’s buried under the pile of projects that never seems to get done. It need not be an onerous project, however. I’ll cover a couple of options that will practically create your book for you.
Where Do You Start?
If your cat has a blog or a Catster diary, that’s a purrfect place to start. You’ve got text and images to populate your book. There’s no better reason to start a cat blog or a Catster diary than to document your cat’s adventures for posterity. Imagine if your cat lives to be 20, what an amazing legacy she’ll leave behind!
So, with a little foresight and planning, it can be a quick and easy project that produces a stunning coffee table book. I’ve produced books using both Shutterfly and Blurb’s BookSmart software, and I’ll give you an overview of each.
Shutterfly
Shutterfly is geared more toward photo books. So if you want a photo scrapbook with captions, you might prefer this option — especially if you already have albums online at Shutterfly. They over a full range of choices from small informal flip-books to high end large-format leather-bound books.
Here’s a look at their interface:
You import your photos into the application, then drag the photos into the template. You pick your layout, backgrounds, and edges on the left. It’s fairly easy to use, but performance bogs down on big books. Shutterfly also offers the option of auto-filling the book, which will automate the process for you.
Blurb
Blurb produces stunning coffee-table books, with full-color dust jackets. The thing I love about Blurb is that you can import the contents of a blog (including photos) into the software, and it will populate the book with that content, then let you manipulate it as you desire.
The interface is shown above — it’s very similar to the Shutterfly layout. In the left panel, you have a menu of page layouts from which to choose. Below it are your photos and blog entries. The main pane displays the book as you are designing it. You can view in both edit or preview modes. Thumbnails of the pages of the book appear at the bottom below the main pane.
The biggest downside to Blurb is that it is desktop client software. So if you start your book on one computer — say, your desktop, you can’t log in and edit it from your laptop (theoretically you can transfer the files over, but it’s a hack that doesn’t work very well). Shutterfly’s application is web-based, so you can log in from any computer in the world to edit your book.
If you have a large blog (Skeezix has nearly 2000 posts on his blog), the import maxes out at about 400 posts, so you need to do a workaround.
Like Shutterfly, the Blurb application bogs down and gets buggy when the book exceeds about 70 or 80 pages. It will crash frequently, but it does save all the work when you crash. It’s frustrating, but you don’t lose any work.
Which Should I Use?
If you are importing from a blog, or will be incorporating a lot of text-based content, Blurb is a better choice. If you want the flexibility of editing your book from any computer and your content is mainly photographs, Shutterfly’s a better option for you.
Pricing
Both offer a full range of pricing options from budget-friendly to heirloom-quality. Blurb’s prices start at $4.95, and Shutterfly’s start at $12.99. Shutterfly’s PhotoBooks are now 20% off through September 1st.
Wowza, I recognize that orange boy – MOL! Mawmee has done a gazillion photo books in Shutterfly. They are pawsome, and so easy to use. If you sign up with them, they are always sending out specials and deals to your email. We’ve gotten several free books through offers they have. We’ve never used Blurb, but it looks like another good option!
I have used shutterfly several times for a number of different items, I have made three photo books – they are great quality, adorable and very fun and easy to make. The price is a little on the expensive side, but they run specials and sales so often, also Catster has offered codes, I dont know if they still do… I think one of my photo books was free with a Catster offer.
Mistress loves Shutterfly. She’s made two books about us (mostly Squeakers) and two T-shirts. She’s also done scrapbooking, and made a scrapbook about. . .you guessed it. . .Squeakers! It’s about time she made one for me. . with words!
Mama has made Shutterfly books, not only for us cats but also for family history. Combined historical stuff she found on the internet with family pictures and the books turned out SO NICE!
It takes some work, but well worth it.
Mommy has lost two cats at a very young age, and the thought that she will be able to make a scrap book of Rhea, Pebbles and I full of memories has made her cry.
Thank you for sharing shutterfly with her.
Thanks for the Blurb info!! I’ve been using Shutterfly and love them, but I just looked at the Blurb site and will make some books with them, I have 5 cats! so I have millions of pics.
Love your site!
Mom made memory books (and other memory items) for me, but not from Shutterfly. She did most of the work on each of my Bridge anniversaries.
She will have to look at Shutterfly!
I not only recognize that handsome orange boy, I recognize that beautiful Siamese too! Love you always Scooter darlin’
edgar&emily’smom
What is the code for the free shutterfly book? Everyone is talking about how they got one but I must have missed it!
Offer ends August 26, 2009.
Promo Code: SUMMERBOOK
I started a scrapbook for my gang a couple of months ago. After I got the initial shutterfly book. I’m on my second scrapbook, and plan to keep going. I want to make one for each of my cats individually. It’s fun, and I think it’s such a wonderful thing to have. The day they are no longer with me, I can look at the photos and remember what a joyful time in my life it was to have them with me, and how much love they brought into my life.
This would be great, Momcat is writng a journal about me which she is hoping to turn into a book, My ID is http://www.catster.com/cats/610165,
This is so kool, my Momcat is writing a journal about me and hoping to make it a book, thanks for all the info,
Wow, how helpful, I was actually trying to do a memory book for a friend who has breast cancer and your site popped up. I started to skip it but I see you included the 2 websites that I have been trying to decide on (blurb and shutterfly) So thank you – just goes to show information is everywhere and anywhere!! Sorry about Junior!