The Family: A Project

In my ward, we were planning a Super Saturday for October. While we were discussing ideas, I remembered a small scrapbook my mom has on the The Family: A Proclamation to the World, where each page has a phrase illustrated with photos of her own family. (Turns out she did it at a Super Saturday too!). I was in charge of figuring out the cost so we could do it for our Super Saturday.

One thought was to make a template available digitally, so that sisters could put their own photos in it, and get a nice photobook printed.

Well, turns out we had to cancel our Super Saturday, but I still wanted to get my own photobook. I told PE that I was thinking about ordering one. PE isn't a big fan of scrapbooks because he thinks no one ever looks at them. He told me that if I wanted people to actually see it, that I should get something to go on the wall.

Amazon Local had a deal to get a 20x30 canvas print for $56, so I thought I would design something and get a canvas print to hang on the wall. This is what I came up with:

After getting some feedback, I decided to look into getting a custom made photo mat that would allow me to update the photos. Well, that ended up not being as easy (or as cheap) as I thought. I talked to Michaels, and they said they couldn't print the words on a photo mat, but they could custom cut the photo openings for only $166, and then I could add the text myself using vinyl lettering. I decided that would be too much money, and there is too much text to try to do it by hand.

So, I decided to try a print shop, and I went to AlphaGraphics. They said they could print it and cut out the holes, but it would be by hand. This option would be $42, and I would still need to get a frame, and the photos printed. I gave them the go ahead, and they said they would have it ready by 5 pm the next day.

We ended up going to the State Fair the next day, and while we were there, I missed 2 calls from AlphaGraphics and had 2 voice-mails. The first message said that they weren't sure if I really wanted the holes cut out, because they would have to do them by hand and it wouldn't look very professional. The 2nd message told me to ignore the first message, and that it was ready for pick-up and looked professional.

I went and picked it up the next day, and they actually had 2 printed out, one with the holes cut out and one not. They said I could take whichever one I wanted (but really, what were they going to do with the 2nd one?) I thought the cut out one looked great, and so I took that one home. I bought a 20 x 30 frame for $35.

 I had to add a 1/4" border to all my photos, so that they could sit behind the photo mat. I also bought a bunch of photo corners for $3. I used the photo corners to attach the photos to the mat, and it'll be easy to take the photo out and put a new one in later. The photos cost $5 to print at AlphaGraphics.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The frame does cut a little bit off at the bottom, so if I did it again, I would leave more room at the bottom. But it's still readable, so I'll keep it! Now I just need to hang it on the wall!