Okay, so raise your hand if you are horrible about printing photographs [raising hand wildly]. I’ll go out on a limb and say I’m not the only one. For me, it started with my first digital camera a decade or so ago, when I would only get photos printed when my memory card was full.
But then came the iPhone and the ability to take high quality photos on the go, which in some ways is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it’s so darn convenient to whip out your phone, snap a few pics, post them to Facebook or Instagram and voila! Instant gratification. But part of me misses the days when you would fill a sticky-paged photo album with pictures you got printed at CVS, and then you could flip through the pages and reminisce whenever you wanted to.
Every year I say, I’m going to print more photos this year! I am going to create an actual hard copy photo album of Mimi, whose image only exists electronically and in the few print enlargements we have framed in the house.
But, sure enough, I forget or get too lazy busy to go online to one of the photo printing sites, upload my photos and order prints.
This is why I am loving Mosaic photo albums.
Mosaic is a free iPhone app that lets you get those photos out of your phone and into a cute, 7 x 7 hard cover photo book. It couldn’t be easier. You download the app, select “Create a Mosaic,” and it brings up all of your iPhone photo albums.
Then you go through and select 20 different images, which will print one per page (unless you create a collage). The pictures usually appear in random order, so the next step is to shuffle and arrange them however you want.
You can even choose how the photos appear in a cool collage-like cover.
My only complaint? I wish there was an ability to grab photos from Facebook. Since I am a bit of a photo hoarder, I hit my iPhone storage limit quite regularly, meaning I have to save my older pics to my Google Drive, etc. I also have my photos organized in Facebook.
But this is a small thing. Oh, and did I mention these photo books are only $20?
A few weeks ago, I sat down with my phone and (literally) in 15 minutes I created and ordered a Mosaic photo book of our trip to Disney World and Legoland this past spring. And you know what? That book showed up on my doorstep only three days later!
It’s been a huge hit so far. The kiddos love flipping through the pages and reminiscing about our trip, and it made me remember why I loved photo albums to begin with. It would also be a really nice gift or keepsake too (hello, holidays!).
So as my last blogiversary gift to you, I am giving away a free Mosaic photo book to a lucky Keeping Mommy Sane reader! The winner will need to have an iPhone and download the app in order to create an album (I will provide the code for a free album). Please enter using the entry form below; this one ends on Monday, Sept. 16 at 12am! Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclaimer: I received a code to try and create a free Mosaic photo book, but all opinions and text are, as always, my own.
Ida Mae says
I have been good up until the last year (house on the market, moving etc.) and figures Bam! My hard-drive was damaged recently and I lost the past year of photos π
Sara hammer says
I too am a photo hoarder. π I know my kids would adore the photo albums! Maybe this would help me form a new habit of actually printing the pictures!!! π
Desiree says
I think this is a great idea, I have tons on pics on my phone and i have the intentions of printing them but never get around to it.
Although I don’t blog i started following you a few months ago. I live in California and we are planning on moving to Massachusetts in the next year or two. I stumbled across your blog and have enjoyed it π