my blurb book of my autumn trip to guatemala arrived and i couldn’t be happier. it’s 210 pages, paperback, square, on premium uncoated paper (matte). i’ll be adding little notes to the pages. now i need to work on my sweden blurb. as much as i love getting the finished products in the mail, i DO NOT enjoy the process, so i do it as quickly as possible and try not to be fussy. it’s always worth the effort. do you make them for your travels too?
Guatemala Blurb Book from MAM on Vimeo.
Mary Ann, I have used Blurb, Shutterfly, and Picaboo for books. I’ve been pleased with them all. For a recent cruise, I “scrapped” the pages 8×8 and uploaded those pages to the printer website … so the layout is all mine. I did the same for a book of “artsy flowers” (links below). I love the control of creating the pages and not relying on their templates. I love the way you have chosen details over full images for many of the pages … it is so colorful and creative.
http://jansartandmusings.blogspot.com/2016/04/flower-power-art-book_10.html
http://jansartandmusings.blogspot.com/2016/02/caribbean-cruise.html
love it
Omg Mary Ann it is BEAUTIFUL!!!! I so envy you and your life full of travel and adventure and all those yummy colors in that adorable, SQUARE book!!! I feel like one day, a hundred years from now….someone will study your work and pour over your sketchbooks and ROD journals and that blurb book and it will be like when we study the masters now. I’m just glad to be here and have the avility, through social nefua, to follow along on your colorful journey with you:) THIS is the beauty of social media. Thanks so much for sharing!!
Lisa A.
I’m back from a glorious week in Morocco! Just in time to think about this Blurb book….weather was like Europe in the summer, everything looked like it was in a movie, they have BLUE (so much blue), the doors, the clothes, the window shutters, the planters in the Majorelle Gardens – so very blue and beautiful. And the sheltering sky, that’s the most blue of all. My room at Peacock Pavilions (you were right, they take wonderful care of you) overlooked an olive grove and in the distance in High Atlas mountains just kept beckoning. I answered the call of the ocean, however, and went on an hour-and-a-half camel ride on the beach outside of Essaouira! It was amazing – seagulls, pounding waves, bright bright sun and the prehistoric walking motion of a camel – love. Happy to see that things are ticking along well at Moss Cottage and that the new class is in the works. Much love my friend….
oh jane. oh oh oh.
“the sheltering sky”
“so much blue”
“the high atlas mountains”
“camel ride on the beach outside of essaouira”
words i love
Helllloo!
the problem with having your posts delivered to my in-box is that it’s an extra do-se-do to make a comment…Till I spied this post, & must ask: what’s painful about blurb book building? Decisions? Cropping pictures? I wanna know!
Cortney
Your blurb booket is awesome. I want some too. Unfortunatly those kids of booke are soooo expensive here in Denmark.
Love your post. Hope you have fun in the process of creating your journal.
I never journal while I’m on vacation. I used to bring tons of stuff, but I just get involved on my trip. One year I was able to journal a little. I actually wrote three short poems in the middle of the night and did some sketches for one.
The other thing I notice is that once I’m home for a few days I start journaling in a completely different way so that the time not journaling and putting aside the day-to-day journal has been a very positive thing for me -quite surprising also.
Enjoy our beautiful weather.
there are so many ways to travel and be in the world….yours sounds lovely.
I want to make a Blurb book! Yours looks very cool. Do you make them just for yourself, or do you sell them too?
just for myself and my sister. but sometime i intend to make a compliation book of my art. sometime. one of these days. within the next 10 years. or so.
Thanks for sharing your nice little travel book. I fell and broke my foot last Friday. Your blog is a happy diversion as I languish on the couch with foot up and on ice for the next four weeks. You inspire me to redeem the time by sketching. Let’s see, how many ways can one draw a bruised foot in a funky booty. 🙂
Wonderful book and one can see all the effort you put into it. You would be a terrific travel agent. But please stay just the way you are. We don’t want to change perfection. Hugs!!!!
So yummy! Every time you make a new book I wonder: why am I not working on mine? But I’m very fussy and it takes for eeeever so maybe that’s why? 🙂
Thanks for sharing yours!
Hi, MAM, have never done one but have considered it. I have tons of photos from my first trip to England in 1984 and it might be fun to do a book of them. I’ve wanted to do a journal of that trip, but did not keep much in the way of written stuff or ephemera, so a photo book might be the answer.
Yours is delicious!
This is really great. How do you create a blurb book? I’m intriegued, as I have not thought of this. What a great idea.
Your book is gorgeous Mary Ann. I’ve been thinking about putting together a blurb of my journal pages, I actually have been knee deep in researching different companies and rates and all that stuff but then I think why do a journal ‘blurb’ when I actually have the journals…I do want to do a book though, Here is my biggest problem, when I am on a trip, I get so enthralled by what is around me that I don’t take the time to photograph anything. I am the worst of the worst behind the lens of a camera so at the end of a trip, I’ve got little to show for it in the way of photos. I’m awful in that regard.
I have made two using Shutterfly service and I like them. However I enjoy more making up my own little books. I use techniques you have taught us when I make them.
I managed to make two books last year about my travels to Norway. One bigger one, with several pictures on one page, and one like yours. I stole the idea of using full size pictures only in the little one from you, I liked the look so much!
In the end I prefer the little square one, but there was no way to squeeze all the pictures from the Norway cruise, plus menus and daily programs, into a small one. I made three, my brother and my father got one for christmas, asna memory of this wonderful time together, so there are many pictures that are not very interesting to other people. I am thinking about making a small one, too, just with pictures of landscapes etc.
But like you, I don’t enjoy making them. I have so many ideas for little Blurb books, but no motivation to start… My plan was to prepare the books, and then wait for a good deal to order them. Blurb offers 40% off several times a year, and I have seen a 50% discount once. But good offers come and go, with no finished (or even started) books to order!
My mum is crazy about making photo books. She makes them for every trip, like a travel journal with lots of pictures and text and maps. They are quite cramped and chaotic, but treasured memories. She is afraid of dementia and hopes to keep the memories alive this way (I hope we will never find out and she can keep them in her head, but who knows…) I admire how she makes five or more books a year, and how she learned to make them, and taught herself digital photography to bring home the memories!
10 minutes later: Oh my gosh! I can make one of these from MY fab photos.
Oh Mary Ann Moss! You are the one who hands keys to people so they can open doors.
Thank you! Thank you!
I love the awesomeness of your book! Aren’t those books great? So glad they have such things available. You will have many years to browse through them and recall the memories. Beautiful photos too, Mary Ann.
My goodness. How very amazing. I always knew your photography would be brilliant. If you published, I would buy. Gorgeous!
LOVE this idea but I already know that I, too, will hate the process of putting the books together. I just try and put all the photos from multiple cameras in one folder on my computer and call it good. (Besides the photos that actually make it into my journal, little 2 x 3 inch photos from my Pogo printer that I take with me.) You are much more organized and classy and, perhaps, driven than I am. I am not worthy! I grovel at your feet!
XOXO
Thank you Mary Ann your beautiful book is so inspiring,
I think it is well worth the obvious work it must have required.
Really wonderful, it gives the feeling and essence of your trip.
Can you mention the company used?
BLURB
free software online that downloads to your computer!
have fun!!
that’s my go to format too. they do such a great job. my most recent are both iPhone/hipstamatic black and white.
Hawaii here:
http://www.blurb.com/b/6917182-on-the-big-island
and Guatemala here:
http://www.blurb.com/b/6715836-guatemala-zen
Not yet ms Mam..but seriously seeing your beauteous tomes certainly lights a fire to do something with our recent trip pix! Thank you for sharing your amazing journeys with us! ?
X ltn