How to create and print your own album with Blurb

When we left Switzerland I decided I wanted to make an album so we can remember all the experiences we had there. Both Andre and I love photos. He really enjoys taking the photos and improving his photography. I don't have the patience for that, but I enjoy the editing and everything else that comes after pressing the shutter button.

So imagine how many photos I had after 11 months in Switzerland. And also with it being such a beautiful country. You can't help taking so many photos! There's the mountains, lakes with crystal clear water... Now I'm missing all that a bit!

So anyway, I was going to tell you about Blurb.

It's very easy to use. You download their software called Booksmart. I usually watch all the tutorials I can find before starting anything new as it just helps you to use it to it's maximum and not miss out on any nice editing tools.

Import your photos to Booksmart by either dragging it there, searching for it on your computer or getting it straight from iPhoto if you use this, which is what I did and found the easiest.

Then you just drag photos onto the pages of your album and that's it basically!

You can change page layouts by clicking on 'edit page' if you cannot find the exact layout you want in the templates. I used this for most of my pages. Changing the layout slightly to get it the way I want it. This way you can add text boxes where you want in the size you want and can have a mixture of portrait and landscape layouts on one page.

When you're done, upload your album to Blurb and order it!

The only only thing I missed in Booksmart was being able to rotate picture frames. Sometimes you want a more informal look and have pictures stacked at angles to each other on the page. That you can't do with this program.


Before starting my Switzerland album I made a small album of our wedding (both of them!) and our honeymoom (again, both honeymoons!). I also added some pictures of the bachelor(ette) parties. Since we already have a beautiful big album of our January wedding day and reception taken by our photographer, this time I used pictures taken by guests at our wedding so it's a more informal fun wedding album. Oh yes, I even have some engagement photos in there as well, so it really tells the whole story!

I did this to check what Blurb's printing and colour and quality would be like. I chose the smallest and cheapest album they had, which was only around £7, as a test. Their prices are reasonable. The printing turned out very good and I am very impressed and happy with my albums. I eventually (after more than 6 months!) finished my Switzerland album too which I ordered in hardcover.

Here is the link to my book on Blurb: A Year in Switzerland. If you click on the book you should be able to view the inside pages.

So yes, I would recommend using Blurb. Good quality, good prices and user friendly! And it is possible to create an album in 30 minutes instead of the 6 months I took!