OK, so I just joined shutterfly. What cool tricks can I do now?

[khakismom]

What cool things can I do with shutterfly? I received a digital camera for Mother's Day and really want to take advantage of it.

For example, some people have a shutterfly link in their sig to a little album or slideshow. How do I do that? Do I just open the album and then copy the link? Or do I have to mail it to myself for it to be shared?

What other things have you done with shutterfly? Are their prints decent? What about stuff like ordering a mug or mouse pad--anyone done that?

Also, I remember around Christmas time some people posting about flip books, or something like that. What are these? HELP, I am clueless. Please feel free to share any tips or tricks!

THANK YOU so very much for putting up with all my questions, and for any help you can offer! :)

[Rachels]

****terfly's prints are great and I like their cards and products, too. I use them all the time. To share photos, look for the button that says "share online." It will prompt you to select photos. After you do that, you click "add to share" and then enter the email addresses of anyone you want to send it to. If you want to share it here, just email it to yourself and then copy and paste the link.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[jk3]

I got DH a mousepad-very cute- and both grandmas got a mug with DS's picture on it. I think they are both constantly showing pictures at work + now they can even if people don't ask to see them...made their day!

[vpalmer]

Maureen,

Congratulations on your new digital camera! I love mine and didn't even know I wanted one until I received it as a gift as well! Be forewarned I am absolutely addicted to Shutterfly!

>What cool things can I do with shutterfly?
>What other things have you done with shutterfly?

More than you can imagine! Here is a list of things I have done:

1) Uploaded all my addresses from my Outlook address book.
2) Sent Eva's birth announcements. This was so easy. I had all of the information entered and all I had to do after she was born was upolad her picture and enter her weight and date of birth. They even mailed the announcements directly to the recipients only for the cost of the stamp!
3) Sent our Christmas cards. Once again, this was so easy! No addressing envelopes. You can even write a personal note to each person in the cards.

4) Framed Pictures - I really was unsure about doing this but the result was fabulous. I made a collage and uploaded to Shutterfly as an 8x10. I chose a black frame online and had 3 of them mailed to us. Each came wrapped in foam and tissue paper and in a nice white gift box ready to wrap. Once again, it was so easy!


>Also, I remember around Christmas time some people posting
>about flip books, or something like that. What are these?

5) One word: SNAPBOOKS! These are so cool. They are albums printed on photo paper and spiral bound with a heavy plastic-like cover and back page. I usually order the 5x7 size, but you can also get 4x6's. They can be any where from 1-50 pages long. I have made them for birthdays, Christmas, you name it! Everyone I have ever given one of these books loves them. They are especially great if you have family that lives far away. You have many options when creating them, you can caption each page, choose different borders, etc.


>For example, some people have a shutterfly link in their sig
>to a little album or slideshow. How do I do that? Do I just
>open the album and then copy the link? Or do I have to mail it
>to myself for it to be shared?

Yes, you would share the album and then share the link that is created once the album is shared. As soon as an album is shared, you are taken to a page that has a link you can copy and paste.


> Are their prints decent?
This was a big deal to me. I love pictures and I use them in scrapbooks so it was important to me to have professional looking prints. This is why I held out on getting a digital camera. When I first got the camera I took pictures of the same event with both cameras. I laid the prints on the table and I asked my husband to pick out the digital camera prints. He could not tell the difference! That was when the addiction began!

What about stuff like ordering a mug or mouse
>pad--anyone done that?

I have not done either of those two thins specifically, but I may look at something like that for Father's Day. :-)

One thing I am thinking about doing soon is using a picture from Eva's birthday party for her thank you cards. You can order a box of note cards that are relatively inexpensive. You just put a picture on the front and the inside is blank. I thought those would make great thank you cards. I also thought about choosing a cute picture of her and using it as a generic note card to keep on hand.

One more thing - Prices. Shutterfly ALWAYS has sales so you never have to pay full price if you are patient. Every Wednesday they have a new deal for the week. It is kind of addicting like Gymboree! I am always looking for the next deal! :o

Okay, sorry to go on so long, but as you can tell I would be lost without Shutterfly.

Have fun with that camera,

Veronica
Mom to Eva
Born on 6-12-03

[amp]

Maureen - The easiest way for *me* to share Shutterfly albums is follow the steps to Share Pictures (it can be an album or just a few pics in an album) and simply email it to myself. Then, I copy and paste that link to emails, our webpage or to my signature to share with others. If you just copy the page of the album (without "sharing" it, it will not link right).

We have been very happy with the pics we order from Shutterfly.

I store all of our favorite pics at Shutterfly to share w/ family and friends and send the link to that album out each month.

I have ordered a calendar from them and it was great!

[khakismom]

Thanks girls!! You are, as always, a wealth of information! :)

[Kimberly H]

Like Veronica said, Snapbooks are GREAT! One of Mia's brother's lives in NY with his dad so he gets a monthly Snapbook of his sister with funny captions. Even being a cool 13 year old, he shows it off to everyone, according to his dad.

I buy a box of notecards each 4-6 weeks with a recent photo. They're my thank you notes, invitations, and regular notecards. People love them, they're reasonably inexpensive and I save one of each for Mia's scrapbook.

I'm a photo snob too and I'm most happy with Shutterfly's prints and customer service. :)

[lizamann]

Oooh, I've been nutso with Shutterfly lately. I just ordered Nora's whole first year in pictures with the latest 30% off sale(455 shots!)

But my FAVORITE project is this collage I made for my mom:

http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeANGjVq3bMWr5Q

where I took some regular shots, cropped and changed the tone to sepia with Shutterfly's own tools, and made a collage. The first picture in the album is the finished product, and the originals are the following pictures. I now need to have it custom framed because I can't find the right frame with square openings. This one is for my mom, and I am doing a black and white version for us.

I also used one of the originals to make our Valentine card.

I am fast becoming a Shutterfly junkie. I know that photoshop could do a lot more fancy stuff, but I don't have photoshop!

[jubilee]

Nice collage! I love "body part" collages.