When my oldest kids were babies, I was an avid scrapbooker. I went over to my neighbor’s house once a week and we let the little ones play by our feet while we cropped pictures and glued them down to the pretty paper we’d so painstakingly picked out.
After my 4th daughter was born, I switched from film to digital (saying that makes me feel so old!) and I noticed that printing my pictures out for scrapbooks became harder and harder for me to keep up with. No printed pictures meant no scrapbook pages.
Sometime before my last baby was born, my scrapbooking buddy moved and the hobby truly died with her. Luckily, it wasn’t long before I realized that I could take my digital pictures and transform them into a digital scrapbook. I’ve been making photobooks online ever since.
At the end of every year, I go through all of my best photos and arrange them into a photo book. It’s one of my favorite Christmas gifts to myself.
I noticed a few years ago that my mom and mother in law loved looking through my annual family scrapbooks, so I started printing a copy off for them as well (hey – they are in a lot of the pictures with us, too!). Three gifts for the “work” of only one. I love it!
Introducing Viovio
I was recently introduced to Viovio, a photo book and digital scrapbook site that is reasonably priced and dedicated to creating a quality product (I love when I can find a company that excels at both quality AND value!).
Here’s what Viovio has to say about their company:
Our product is a fabulous custom print on demand photo book that you create with the Viovio bookmaking process. We are thrilled to be able to provide the means to upload your images today and receive your photo book in the mail 5-6 business days later. We also offer the ability to upgrade your storage capacity. If the 200 MB of free photo storage is not enough, we offer more MB for reasonable annual fees.
What about the name…Viovio? It’s catchy, clever, and intriguing, but what does it mean? Vio is a Latin word that means to go, or travel. So why repeat it? Well, the answer to that is deep and philosophical … vio.com was taken. And so began Viovio!
I have been working on my 2011 Family Photobook with Viovio this month and LOVING how it is turning out. Designing my book has been as easy as picking my pictures and dragging and dropping them into the template I picked out.
You can use Viovio’s templates, upload a PDF that you have created on your own, or upload a photo book from iphoto.
The only challenge I had in creating my photo book was in uploading my pictures. I either had to upload images one at a time or create zip files of my picture folders to upload. In the end, it worked out just fine….it just took me a little longer to figure out (luckily, you can learn from my struggles and not repeat!).
It’s Giveaway Time!
Viovio would love to give one of YOU a $50 Viovio gift certificate to make your own photo book! To enter, simply let us know what you would like to feature in your photo book (baby’s first year, family “year in review” book, memory book, recipe book…..the options are endless!).
This giveaway is a part of the 5 Minutes for Mom Christmas Giveaway 2011. Please follow the link for more information, as well as for a complete list of all giveaways as they post throughout the month of November. Entries for all giveaways will close Saturday, December 3rd at 7pm CST. Winners will be drawn randomly and we will announce the winners Monday, December 5th. We will email winners at the address accompanying the winning comments.
Written by 5 Minutes for Mom managing editor, Lolli. You can find me blogging at Better in Bulk and tweeting at @1momof5.
Disclosure: I received a gift certificate to make my own photo book at Viovio so that I could test out the process and tell you about it. The thoughts expressed here are my own.
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{ 116 comments… read them below or add one }
I would love to make a photo book of the past year. I have a 1 yr old and a 3 yr old and the pictures are piling up with no hope of display at the moment. Such a pity!
I would love to make a book with all our extended family photos over the past year, so that they will all want a copy. May become a Christmas gift! Hope I win!
Alyzabeth’s Mommy (Alyson)
I’d make a book for our last vacation!
I also started out as a paper scrapbooker but quickly became overwhelmed with photos after the birth of my son. In March of this year, I started digital scrapbooking and haven’t looked back. It’s so much easier and faster! I’d definitely use this to make a photo album of our family vacation in Boston this year.
I’d make a book of our last vacation
I have been wanting to begin making a Year in Review book for our family.
Twitter: CO_MtnMom
November 11, 2011 at 10:46 am
I think we’d do a “favorite vacation moments” compilation. I still do traditional scrapbooking, but would definitely give this a try! Less messier
Thanks
time goes by so fast… making the memories are even more precious.
I would do our year in review book!
This sounds fabulous! I am REALLY behind on our scrapbooking!
I’d love to do a year in review of my boys!
i would make a scrap book for my daughter me’ana.my youngest.since brea has one.
As a busy mom and teacher, I try to keep up with scrapbooking my son’s childhood. Things pass so quickly, and I get so caught up in the moment that I rarely get time to put together a scrap book page. Even when I do get pages done, I tend to leave them loose in a box =(
My in-laws live overseas, and they miss many of Isaac’s milestones. I would make a scrapbook of Isaac’s year in review for them to show their friends! This would be a great way to keep them included even though they are so far away! Thank you for this opportunity!
Baby first year or family year in review for us…we have a baby girl on the way!
I love doing scrap booking, but I am kinda behind again right now.
I would make a “Year in Review”-type of book.
I’d like to make a photo book of all my mom’s grandchildren so she can have pictures of them, all in one book. Thanks.
baby’s first year
Looks awesome and easy to use. I have made scrapbooks the old fashioned way (and love it), but don;’t have the time. I have made online ones too. Love the memories.
i’d probably do a baby book for my baby girl. she’s six months old.
i would do our summer vacation
nannypanpan at gmail.com
I’ve used Viovio for the past 3 years – it’s a great company! I’d love to get the gift card to help out with our annual photobooks this year!
I’d do a family year in review, or maybe give the giftcard to my stepdaughter so she can do one for her senior year.
I would make a book for my best friend.
I need to get my kids pictures in order so I’d love to do a scrapbook for them. momlovesdeals at gmail dot com
I’m viewing your site through IE and not all of the images is showing up right. Were you aware about this?
This is one of my big goals for myself – put our photos into books! I’d use this to make a best-of-the-year photobook.
creedamy [at] yahoo[dot] com
I would do a book of my girls from the last year.
I would make a photobook of myself and my husband for a keepsake for my girls
memory book
Baby’s First Year!
I would love to make a photobook of all the cousins to give to my grandparents. They dont have that many pictures of all of us and since most of us are grown up now it’s hard to get us all together. My grandmother would love this! Hope I win!
I would love to make a photobook of my family showing our past year.
I like this weblog so much, saved to fav. “I don’t care what is written about me so long as it isn’t true.” by Dorothy Parker.
We recently just took our first family vacation since my son was born. I would love to use those photos for this.
My photobook this year would include trips to the circus, disney on ice and my preschoolers first day of school!!
I have a new grandbaby coming in a few weeks, so it would be perfect to have Babies First Year.
I would like to do a book for my 12 year old daughter
Twitter: womenwwin
November 17, 2011 at 6:23 pm
I’d love to make a book for each year. 2010, 2011, etc.
I would do a year recap as this year there has been a lot of traveling, events, and seeing new things!
I have SO many pictures that need printed, I started to just look for deals on photo books and then print photos that way. If I won this, I’d just start where I ended off last book, right after our wedding.
Utterly written subject material, thank you for information. “Life is God’s novel. Let him write it.” by Isaac Bashevis Singer.
My photo book would probably contain all the different things we have done in 2011
This is so nice too, I’ve been wanting to try scrape booking for along time now.
I have 5 kids, so I have boxes and boxes of pictures. I would love to make a scrapbook of all of them and get some of my photos organized.
I teach a low functioning autistic boy who just recently returned to school after being home bound for quite a long time. He is an awesome kid and I would like to make a photo book of his year in school. I have already started taking pictures. Thanks.
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I would love this! I would first make a photo book featuring my oldest daughter’s first 4 years of her life in Peru.
I would love to make a photo book of my granddaughter’s first year:-) Thank you so much for the opportunity to enter this giveaway:-) xo
I would make one for my second daughters First year…i still haven;t got around to doing it and she is four!!
Great giveaway..My daughter and i love crafting so this would be awsome.
Year in review!!!
Past few months of my boys, school starting, and holidays.
Would like to put pictures of my family in it
My daughter got me into crafting and I Love It!!I would love to get this and explore more with this and do a book of my own.
I am a major scrapbooker… I have my sons years from birth to 4 yrs old done but this would b helpfulin all his school years to come..
I would love to use this for my son’s first year of life!
I’d like to make a recipe book for my tween, with lots of photos.
I would love to make one of these photo books for an anniversary present for my upcoming 4 year wedding anniversary and highlight our first four years together!
my daughters first year book
I’d feature my children….2011 With The Whitten Kids!
i would do a baby’s 1st year for my first born
i would like to use this for my son who graduates HS this year
tmarie56@hotmail.com
I would love to celebrate baby’s first year as his birthday approaches in late January.
I would love this. I have been working on my 12 children’s scrapbooks for the past twelve years and I am not where near done. I would love to start doing the digital scrapbooks to keep caught up on the present while keeping up with the past.
I would love to make a year in review book of our family photos. My son just turned 21 and plays in a band. We lost our English Springer Spaniel this year so I would include many pictures of our ‘fur babies’ in the album and a niece got married this year too. I run a chronic pain support group and we made a quilt – each person making a square of the quilt and I would love to make a few pages dedicated to that also… So much has happened in the last year… it would be awesome to put it into a book for keeping the memories alive!
I think I would like to do a vacation memory book from when we went to Cancun
I’d love to make a photo book for my in-laws. They told us they didn’t want presents for Christmas, just pics of our little girl. It would be great to give them a whole book of pictures!
These look really cool would like to try it out.
I think a whole memoir of my children during different stages of their lives.
I have recently started a site, the information you offer on this web site has helped me greatly. Thank you for all of your time & work. “The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.” by Vince Lombardi.
recipe book of everyone cooking for the family hoildays! fun times
would like it to celebrate my godson’s 1st birthday
I would love to make a book about my son’s first year at school/kindergarten. I could put photos of all his fun art projects in it.
Thanks!
I’d love to make a year in review book for my family.
I love scrapbooking! Would love to win this!
This is definitely something I need. I am embarrassed to say that none of my 3 boys have a baby album yet. The oldest is 7. Like you the pictures are all digital and are waiting for the day I can sit down and create one for each of them. If I won I would begin the process of digitally scrapbooking their first few years of life and then go from there.
My daughter has been serving on an lds mission for the past year. I would love to make a photobook of her travels and service
my triplets
what awesome timing; my sis and I have been talking about making a family cookbook
with all of our Mom’s recipes that we all loved growing up. That is my choice.
yourstrulee(at)sasktel(dot)net
This has been an exceptionally crazy year for us with extreme ups and downs. I’d do a year in review!
I love spending great quality time with my kids…this would be fun!
I would love to try digital scrapbooking.
I’d make a book with the first two years of my toddlers life and send it to her grandpa who lives out of the country
I’d make a book of my life with my husband. We’ve been married for just over 3 years… and 2 years have involved our beautiful son. The best 3 years of my life.
i would catch up on my pictures from my son. he is 3 years old and I haven’t printed any pictures of him since he was 9 months old. This would be a great way to organize the pictures and make a book for each year for him.
I would love to make a book filled with pictures of all the adventures my husband and I have had together. Taking pictures to have lasting memories has always been a big thing to me, and I love having those pictures when my husband deploys. It keeps my heart warm and happy.
2011 Year In Review!
i would love to make a scrapbook for my grandmother who has just moved into the nursing home and loves looking at pic. I have been doing collages for her but this would be great!
i’d love to make a Baby’s first year book for my daughter to keep
She’s my 6 week old miracle baby 
I would love to make a baby’s first year photobook for my soon to be one year old son.
Family in review
Year in Review!
I would love to make a photobook for my daughter’s first year!
I”d feature photos from my son’s juggling gigs
I would love to make a scrapbook of my son’s first year-he’s due this Feb!
family tree – (emscout9 at Hotmail dot com)
Summer vacation would be my theme!
our summer vacations!
I would like to doc my pregnancy
I have been wanting to make a photo book for a long time now. I would like to document baby’s first year. But I need to make one for each of my kids!
I would love to make a photo book of our first family vacation! We took one for the first time this year and it was fabulous! Nothing fancy, but just what we needed!
Enjoyed looking through this, very good stuff, regards . “Hereafter, in a better world than this, I shall desire more love and knowledge of you.” by William Shakespeare.
i’d make a memory book for my kid to have with pictures of my husband hes in the navy and gets deployed alot
i would a wedding book with my wedding photos when i get married in 02/29/2012
I would like our summer vacations!
Thanks!
Jenn from How to Make Hair Bows
learnquilling@gmail.com
Would love to make a book out of our family’s first year together!
I would like tio feature my babies first three months! I took 2,000 pics her first three months and I REALLY need to get busy picking out the best and scrapbooking them!
I could complete my collection for my baby girl’s 1st year momentos.
Very Nice.
My wife would really like this, she’s really crafty.
Another good one for the sister in law.
I’ve read through 20 different blogs on this and yours is by far the best. Thanks!
Please let me know if you’re looking for a author for your blog. You have some really great posts and I feel I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d really like to write some material for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please blast me an email if interested. Thanks!