breezy, sunny, cool today in los angeles. i puttered around attending to various tasks.
in the kitchen.
i’m finishing my travel journal. i came home with lots of blank pages this time. a good 1/3 of my book unfinished. i did a lot of my writing in the tiny notebook i brought to carry in my purse. i like writing on location. finding a cozy nook to jot things down. ideas, impressions, stuff.
blogging AND travel journaling are difficult to do at the same time while traveling, but i knew my summer was free so i didn’t mind so much not finishing the journal. now i’m going back and coloring in some rough sketches. also adding more sketches {from photos}. and of course adding in photos.
it’s engrossing.
i made a blurb book of norway. waiting for it to get here! the first thing i did when i came home oddly enough, was to make an iphoto book of my trip to paris last year. it arrived today and it’s HUGE. the paper is divine. it is such a thrill to see some of my photos super-sized. i’m going to go back in and add some small nifty labels to a few of the pages. it’s completely photos – no writing.
i’m wondering…have you made blurb or iphoto books of your travels? did you have a preference?
and one more question…have you read GONE GIRL? did you like?
someone is feeling curious today. like a cat.
Mary Ann, is your Blurb book public? I’d love to check it out in the Blurb gallery! thanks for telling us about Blurb. I’d never heard of it and made my own Paris trip photo book and I love it. It’s in the public travel gallery titled “Paris 2011 Barbara and Tom Stapleton”
Blurb also lets you make ebooks. The look smashing on ipad and iphone…
http://store.blurb.com/ebooks/70871-the-marches
Wished I could edit my first comment, because I am now on 3 comments to say one thing… Sorry about that. I will stop after this one!
http://www.blurb.com/my/book/detail/2614399 is a detail of my Le Marche book I did last year… WIth instagram photographs…
As a photographer I most like MyPublisher.com. Have made many books with them, with splendid printing quality… The only con is that they charge 25 dollar shipping and handling per book… Which is outrageous…
Blurb lets you set a markup so you can sell your book, which as a photographer is a neat thing. People can just go in and order…
http://www.blurb.com/user/store/photocat
I would most definitely buy your book about Paris if you decide to put it up for sale… I would be thrilled to have one of your books for my own pleasure… It would (I think) also be a good idea to put your class pdf’s into a book… those who want can then buy the book instead of printing off all the pdf pages…
Can’t wait till I see more of your latest books! Woohoooo….
Thanks for the book suggestion. After reading about the 56th orgasm in Fifty Shades of Tripe I am well primed for something intellectual, so to speak. I couldn’t even finish the book, it was so poorly written. What the big deal is about it, I just don’t understand. Love your travel books. Will have to give a try.
Your journal is just as I imagined; spectacular! Your book is divine. I can see myself relaxing on your patio on a brisk, cool Sunday morning perusing through it while nibbling on warm coffee cake.
It doesn’t have to be a Sunday…
or morning….
but I stand firm on the warm coffee cake.
You must be my soul sister. I also have a big iPhoto book of my trip to Paris, also without words- I can’t wait to see what you do!!
I’m totally engrossed in Gone Girl right now…I’ll let you know what I think when I finish. My friend Susan just made a BEAUTIFUL Remains…journal about her trip to Hawaii. I think you would love it!
You are a great teacherMary Ann! I haven’t even had a chance to begin FTB- my life is a little sucky so I haven’t been getting much done. Yikes!!!!
I ordered tiny books of the instagram photos of flowers we saw on vacation. They are less than 2″ tall (the books, that is). Can’t wait to get them.
Just remembered that I did a test journal from some scanned background pages into a book. They have a new notebook option that I thought might be fun for creating a journal that wasn’t all white. http://www.blurb.com/my/book/detail/3346365 A little spendy but was fun to get in the bound book in the mail.
I’ve only done a Blurb book and it was so rewarding. http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1906805
Love your iPhoto book!
When my parents died, I scanned all their old photos and some interesting papers and made them into an iBook for everyone in the family, and it came out great!
Yes, read Gone Girl – a great summer read. Surprise on surprise on surprise! I usually don’t like books with alternating chapters from different characters’ points of view, but this is an exception: The husband starts his tale on the day of his wife’s disappearance; the wife starts hers from the day they met. Eventually their time-tables come together.
connie rose – yes! i love her books and think they are of the best quality. those are from years and years ago. she is such a talented bookmaker and artist.
I’ve really enjoyed catching up on your blog, but I have to admit that I’ve never heard of Blurb. I’ll be checking it out!
How ironic that you ask about Gone Girl. I just finished reading it. If you would like my opinion, I say no! I actually liked the book in the beginning, switching my allegiance back and forth between Amy and “Lance.” About 1/3 of the way through I started to dislike it but knew I had to finish. Sorry, but I did not like the ending. I guess I like resolution. I just got back from Romania and plan to create my travel journal with one of the ROtD journals I made in your workshop. It is perfect since it will mostly be photos and ephemera. Hugs! 🙂
Gone Girl … loved it ’til the end. Could hardly put it down but did not enjoy the way it ended. Just personal preference, I guess.
Hey Mary Ann! Love both books … the iphoto book is so lovely. But, your travel journal is amazing. I think I’e said it before, your style of capturing travel memories is so visually interesting. In each travel journal there’s so much to see, to ponder, to savor … like poetry.
Oh, and please, stop taunting me with thos scissors every other day!
Speaking of curiosity, is that your work in Gwen Diehn’s The Decorated Journal?? WTG!
I like how you painted in your drawing of all the stuff on the top shelf of barista supplies at our coffee shop. Looks good. I don’t know about your Fiskars, but my Fiskars make the MOST pleasing sound as they slice efficiently through all my cutting projects. I love them so much I take them to bed with me at night 🙂
I’m waiting for my first blurb book to arrive. Just photos in mine, from a recent trip to Palm Springs. Can hardly wait! Your book looks awesome. Beautiful photos!
Your book looks amazing Mary Ann!!!!! Your photos rock; you capture the essence of the places you go and to have a book of those moments…it would be almost like going back…the trip held closely in your hands. Now that is awesome!!!!
I’m loving the peek into your Blurb book and would like to see more of it. I’ve never ordered one but a friend of mine has a few – she doesn’t do any kind of journaling but the Blurb photos tell the stories of her travels beautifully. I haven’t read Gone Girl but have added it to my list. I have a copy of Sharp Objects on my e-reader so going to read that while waiting for the Gone Girl from my library. I’m number 954 on the list of people waiting; hmmm, I might be reading it in the middle of winter!
Those are cool scissors!
Love your Paris book and those scissors–wonderful. I will have to request Gone Girl from the library. Have you read the Night Circus??? Fabulous!!
Ooo ooo! Not being mac-head, I didn’t these things existed. I want to make a book! Me! Me! Maybe I should do somewhere so I can make a book about it…. will this be the thing that finally gets me to take a vacation??? Stay tuned… wait…this is blog. 🙂
hi mary ann,
i have used iPhoto, and shutter fly for photos of travels, and for family gifts with photos only.
last year, i had a disaster and lost a year’s worth of photos which made me start thinking about my blog
and how i would cope with a loss of all 3 years worth of journaling.
a friend of mine told me about blurb, and i had my ENTire blog printed in book form…i had to break the year
into quarters to accommodate all of the photos, and it was pricey,
but i couldn’t be happier with my blog in print!! i highly recommend putting all of your photos in print.
what a memoir you will leave!!
barbara
I used Blurb to make a memory book of my Mother after she passed, to give to my siblings. It contained all the photos and words that were spoken at her funeral. Blurb did a fantastic job and I recommend them highly. I think they are a little pricier than Shutterfly or Kodak, but I think the quality is better.
That book looks stunning!! Really crisp. I think you should sell them – seriously, it’s a coffee table book of luxe quality! I know what you mean, sometimes one feels the need to go deep into the archives and work on one’s journal from trips way long passed. I’m sort of ‘relieved’ when I get a travel journal done, because I have ones from trips five years ago that still aren’t actually done yet. Still, no rush really. I’m on vacation in a couple of weeks and planning on working in my journals from a trip earlier this year, a trip that happened two years ago, and making a new visual journal. Back to the future, as it were.
I confess to also being relieved that you, in fact, can come back from a trip with large sections unfinished in your books! Whew, makes me feel better.
My god. Those are the coolest scissors I’ve ever seen.
I am about halfway through Gone Girl right now and it is unputdownable.
My cousin makes one of those books every Xmas for each of the grandparents with photos from the year, which I always thought would be a good idea to do for myself on an annual basis and I’ve made journals that are just photos from trips, to go with the written in, doodled on, stuffed full of stuff journals as well. So many possibilities! Your Springtime in Paris looks fabulous! Were can I get my copy? 😉
Love what I see of I Love Paris in the Springtime 2011. Using Shutterfly, I made two books at Christmas for a friend in Switzerland. The quality control was poor. It was as if the books were hastily thrown together and there was no review of the final product. The prints were blotchy and the ink ran. The end result was unacceptable. I let them know and they made it right. So, I would use Shutterfly again.
No experience with Blurb or iPhoto. After seeing your book, I might be trying iPhoto next. 🙂
Now that you write it out, I have NO idea why I haven’t made travel only photo book? I will, I will, soon! What Blurb format did you use for your Paris book?
Please share more pics, I looove photo books.
My friend and I took a 24 day Amtrak trip last fall covering the perimeter of the US plus more. When we got home I made two copies each of an iPhoto book and a calendar. The quality from Apple is superb and the service amazing fast. We were both thrilled with the product. They are special momentos of a spectacular trip and I’ll no doubt do the same thing for our next train excursion.
Both your journal and the Paris book look beautiful. I still want to do a book on my trip to London a few years ago this way. I did do the journal thing, but the photobook somehow got lost between good intentions and no action.
I haven’t read Gone Girl yet, but I read her other two novels. I should say I gobbled them up. Intense writing, loved both Sharp Objects and Dark Places. I’m waiting for the paperback version.
I have made a series of photo travel books on Shutterfly in the past, which I love. My favorite documents photos from my “May-mester” abroad, studying ceramics, in Shigaraki. Like you, I did not use any words. To me, none are needed. I pull that one out about every two or three months and drift back to that magic time in Kyoto and Shigaraki. Makes me wish I were there right now!
Have you read The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje? I’m loving it.