The boys ABC book & Paper Coterie product review

A few weeks ago I learned about a new company called Paper Coterie that offers photo books, posters, journals and things like that. From May 4th - May 6th they were doing a grand opening special where they had given out a code for a $40 credit to their online store (you just pay shipping and anything over $40). After looking around for a few minutes I decided to give them a try since their products were so cute and with a $40 credit what was the harm in trying. I decided to make an 8x8 hardcover photo book  for the boys and a 80 page journal for Darin to take when he deploys next year. I went $4 over my credit (because I wanted a hardcover book instead of softcover) so with shipping & the extra $4 they cost me $22.83. The design process was pretty simple and it really allowed me to design each page from scratch so I didn't have to fit my photos into a premade mold like most companies.It took about only about 9 days from the day I placed my order until the books arrived. Walker was so excited when they got here.The quality of the books are really nice, thick pages and very vibrant photos. My only negative comment is that they put a bar code on the last page of the book that covered up a few letters in the sentence written on it. I wish they had the bar code placed in the template so you would know not to put anything in that area. But other than that I am extremely happy with my books and will visit them again.

Here are photos of the books after we got them

inside of Darin's journal, got him one last time but it wasn't lined so he never used it.

 

Artscow.com - Review

For those of you that haven't tried it yet check out Arts Cow they are a great online photo place. You can order prints & lots of photo gifts. Personally I have ordered hundreds of 4x6, 5x7 & 8x10 prints from them. I've also ordered some photos gifts that turned out way cute - photo mouse pad, custom playing cards, key chains & photo dog tags. The best part is when you sign up for FREE you get 1200 free prints & lots of free gifts (you just pay shipping). My last order of FREE prints totaled $25.67 for 100 4x6 prints, 50 5x7 prints, 10 8x10 prints & 40 wallet prints! They are a company based in Hong Kong so it does take about 8-10 days for the prints to get here and about 14-24 days for the photo gifts but most times I get them sooner then expected (unless you order to close to Christmas then it seems to take twice as long). If any of you have gotten holiday cards/invitations from us they were printed from Artscow (except for my Shutterfly cards Christmas 2010).

Anyways go check them out!