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Well, kids, I have my Project Life book printed and in my hand. Because I do this digitally, I have to delay the gratification of having the book out to look at and see come together. Everything’s tucked into a file on my computer (and my hard drive, and the cloud back-up system…I don’t take chances, folks), but I can’t actually touch it…until now.

I got my book back from my printer and I’m so happy with the way it came out. You ready to take a little look at it?

The cover. This book is hard backed and has think board pages. The pages are a bit thinner than a child’s board book,  but still thicker than paper.

The back cover. I took a little month by month look at the year and put down the major “events” that happened. Like a snapshot of what people might see in the book.

Okay, I’m not going to lie, the book is heavy. 12×12 thick pages. It’s so heavy I think it might just stand up to the beating that my 3 little girls are likely to give it throughout the years.

This is a lay-flat style of page. You can see how it’s not floppy like paper so my kids can’t rip the pages out. It also lays so nicely when it’s open so that the entire 12×24 layout can be seen together without a dip in the middle.

Really high quality photo printing on these pages. I’m very happy. They are darker than on the computer so this year I’ll be sure to lighten everything before I send it in.

I put the dedication on the back cover for my family.

The girls love looking at it. They ask if its them in every single picture, “is that me? is that me? is that me?” haha.

So where did I end up printing and how and how much and all that?
Well let me just say first, yea, it was pricey. It could have been done much cheaper on regular paper but I want this to last forever. I don’t want pages torn out. I don’t want dog ears. I just want it to look pretty when I’m old and I’m looking through this book for the 8,347,462nd time.

I ended up printing through Millers Pro Lab.
Miller’s Signature Album.
12×12 Size, 35 spreads (70 pages)
Wrap-around custom image cover
Thin pages (1/32″ thick, you can order up to 50 pages/100 sides)
E-Surface Photographic paper
Price: $450

So there it is. I figure that with what I didn’t spend on scrapbook product and all that this year, I’m probably still saving money doing it this way. No binder, no filler pages, no papers, no embellishments.  Plus, it’s nice and compact.

So there you have it. I hope you are loving your Project Life book as much as I am!!