Hi Reader,

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had this conversation:

Them: “I don’t want to make a photo book.”

Me: “Oh? Why not?”

Them: “Because I want to do it myself — you know, hold the paper, cut things out, make it personal. I want to scrapbook.”

Here’s the thing: I get it. I really do.

There’s something deeply satisfying about the tactile experience. The feel of the paper. The act of arranging photos with your own hands. The sense that you made something real.

And if that’s what brings you joy? I’m not here to talk you out of it. (Though if you’re scrapbooking, please digitize your photos first!)

But I need to tell you something important:

You might be dismissing photo books based on a misunderstanding.

Because when you say you want to “do it yourself,” you might not realize that photo books can give you that, too.

There Are Two Types of Photo Book Creation

When most people hear “photo book,” they picture the templated kind — like what you’d make on Artifact Uprising or Mixbook or Forever.

Here’s how those work:

1. You choose a book theme or template — maybe it’s “Family Vacation” or “Baby’s First Year” or just a simple, clean design.
2. You pick page layouts based on how many photos you want per page — the software shows you options like “2 photos,” “3 photos,” “4 photos,” etc. Each layout has frames where your photos go.
3. You drag your photos into the frames — literally just drag and drop. The software resizes them to fit.
4. You add text — captions, dates, names, stories — in the text boxes provided.
5. You hit “order” — and a few days later, your printed book arrives.

They’re fast. They’re easy. And they’re great for people who want done, quickly and simply.

But that’s not your only option.

There’s also digital scrapbooking — and it gives you all the creative control of traditional scrapbooking, plus some serious advantages.

With digital scrapbooking software, you design your pages from scratch. You choose your backgrounds. Your embellishments. Your text placement. How big or small your photos are. Where they go on the page. Everything.

It’s like traditional scrapbooking, but on the computer. Yes, there's a learning curve, but that's what I'm here for, right? 😁

And at the end? You still get a real, printed, physical book you can hold in your hands.

So when you say you want to “do it yourself”? You can. You absolutely can.

You don’t have to choose between creative control and a printed book. You can have both.

Why Consider Photo Books at All?

Whether you go with templated books or full digital scrapbooking, here are some things you might not have considered:

They’re faster to make. Even with full digital scrapbooking, it’s faster than traditional paper scrapbooking. And templated books? You can finish one in a weekend or even an afternoon if you’ve planned it out in advance (I have training that walks you through this).

They cost less in the long run. I know it doesn’t feel that way because you pay for the whole book upfront. But when you add up all the paper, stickers, embellishments, and tools you buy piecemeal over time for traditional scrapbooking? Photo books are almost always cheaper.

They’re lighter and take up less space. A shelf of photo books takes up a fraction of the space that traditional 12x12 scrapbooks do. This matters when you’re downsizing — or when your kids won’t take those heavy albums.

You can order multiple copies. Made a book for Grandma’s 80th birthday? Order copies for all the siblings. Made a vacation book? Give copies to everyone who went on the trip.

You can reorder if something happens. If a photo book gets damaged in a flood, chewed by a dog, or “decorated” by a toddler with markers, you can reorder it. Try doing that with a traditional scrapbook. 🙃

You don’t need duplicate photos. Remember when we used to order duplicates and triplicates of every roll of film so we’d have copies for different albums? With photo books, you can use the same digital file in as many books as you want.

So What’s the Difference Between Templated Books and Digital Scrapbooking?

Here’s the short version:

Templated photo books (Forever, Mixbook, Artifact Uprising, etc.):

• Fast and easy Pre-designed layouts — you just fill in the blanks
• Great for people who want done, fast and simple
• Limited creative control (though many offer some customization)

Digital scrapbooking (Forever Artisan for PC, and other options for Mac):

• Full creative control
• Design from scratch or use templates as a starting point and adjust colors, placement and more to your liking
• Like traditional scrapbooking, but digital
• Takes more time than a templated photo book, but gives you complete freedom

Both give you a real, printed book at the end. Both preserve your photos and stories. The difference is how much creative control you want in the process and how much time you want to spend.

What About the Tactile Experience?

I know. It’s not the same as holding the paper in your hands while you’re creating it.

But here’s the thing: The final product is still a real book you can hold, flip through, and pass down.

Your kids won’t know (or care) whether you assembled it with scissors and adhesives or designed it on a computer. What they’ll care about is the stories, the photos, the memories, and the time you took to preserve their family history.

If you’ve been putting off creating photo books because you thought they were impersonal or cookie-cutter, I want you to know: That’s not true. You have options.

And if the tactile experience of creating is what matters most to you? Keep scrapbooking. Just digitize first. I’m not here to talk you out of what brings you joy. But don’t write off photo books based on a misunderstanding of what they are.

If you have questions, hit reply. I’m here to help.

Warmly,

Fancy

PS - In my next email, I’ll walk you through what digital scrapbooking actually looks like in action — side by side with traditional scrapbooking and templated photo books. And yes, Mac users, I'll cover options for you too. Stay tuned!

How I Can Help You

• Take the Free Quiz and get a personalized score and and organized list of resources.
• ​Free Subscriber Resource Library - all my freebies in one place.
• ​Free 5-day Email Challenge to create your personalized photo management plan.
• ​Everything Page - Every freebie, every product, every service. Everything.
• If you'd like to receive reminders of the Memory Maker Meetups and Co-Working Workrooms about 1 week before each one, click here. This does not obligate you to attend - it just sends you dates and times and the link to register.

I help overwhelmed family photo keepers become memory preservation masters so they can enjoy their memories now and leave meaningful collections for future generations.

Did Someone Forward You This Email?

Sign up for your own copy - plus all the freebies - here: