The idea of a photo memory book is sort of an outgrowth of the scrapbooking craze.

Traditional scrapbookers create a book that is bascially part album, part journal, and part memory book. Photos and memorabilia were combined with personal stories, phrases, poems, and articles to create a wonderful keepsake.

But traditional scrapbooking requires a lot of time, effort, and creativity!

Photo Book Scrapbooks: A Simpler Version

For the rest of us, the advent of the digital photo book makes it easy to create a photo memory book. The coffee-table quality printed photo books you get through most photo book printing services are perfect for those people without the time, talent, or inclination to create a scrapbook.

What You Get with a Digital Photo Memory Album

With all the gains digital technology has made, people still want truly special photos and memories in print.

Digital photo memory books combine charming design, high-quality papers, and your own photographs and voice into a valuable showpiece that goes far beyond the simple framed print...

They actually tell a story!

There are many advantages to creating a digital memory book:

Less bulky than traditional scrapbooks. Since the memorabilia is usually scanned or kept in a separate envelope, these books take up less space.

Preserves the original photo. If you are using a special photo it will not be damaged by the scanning and will be preserved within your book.

Easier to personalize as a memory book gift. Text and captions can be changed at will with the digital photo book. If you are making a book for two different people, but utilizing most of the same pictures, you can make slight changes for each person's book without much effort.

The easiest way to do it? Unlike traditional scrapbooks, there's no shopping for supplies. Get your photos together and just... start playing around with formatting, backgrounds, and layout. It's actually pretty fun.

Creative Photo Memory Book Ideas

Any help beyond the the basics will need to be geared towards the type of project you're planning. The following pages are meant to give you more specific information for the project you choose.

Special Occasions

	Wedding Memory Book. From an engagement book to the final photo album, photo memory books can be used for any stage in the wedding. This is the most photographed event in someone's life -- don't limit your enjoyment of the event with a few very expensive albums. You can use all the photos to make special remembrances of the joyful day.
	Baby Photo Memory Books. Baby Memory Books are a great way to bring all the baby photos into one coffee quality book. Since most parents of newborns and toddlers don't have the time to start these books from scratch, many photo book printers have created great themed books for you to use, like Picaboo's Baby Memory Book themes.
	Mother's Day is celebrated the second Sunday in May. These Mother's Day ideas will help you surprise your mother with a memory book to celebrate her day. We all know the presents that are made with love are the best presents. Surprise your mom with a special gift you made yourself.
	Vacation Scrapbooks are a great way to keep the memories from your special trip alive and well. These six tricks will help you put together a gorgeous digital photo vacation scrap book that your family will treasure forever.
	Father's Day is celebrated the third Sunday in June. Dear old Dad can only use so many pairs of socks and new ties. Surprise him this year with a gift from the heart. Bring out the softy in your Dad by giving him a personalized photo book. These Father's Day ideas will get you started.
	Graduation Memory Books will help you commemorate the special grad and their day. Whether it is from high school or college there are plenty of memories that can be gathered to provide that special gift. If you are really clever you can also use the day to pass on words of wisdom.
	School Memory Books are quite similar to a Yearbook. The difference is that an individual school memory book will be focused on the individual. This is a great project to do as a group when no yearbook is provided.

Holidays can be considered a special occasion for your photo memory book project. Here are some great Holiday photo book ideas for you to use:

Holiday Memory Book Ideas

Thanksgiving Photo Memory Book Ideas are great to help save the memories from this Thanksgiving, or you can use a photo book to share past Thanksgivings with everyone. Thanksgiving presents a number of photo opportunities: dinner preparations, friends and family gathered to give thanks and many more. You'll always be thankful you took these pictures!

Valentines Day is always February 14. It is a time to share your love with the important people in your life. Ready to give a customized gift that shows how special that person is to you? Create a personalized photo book of past memories with the one you love or share the many reasons you love them. It isn't hard to do. We'll show you the best publishers for creating a valentine photo book and help you get started!

More coming soon! In the meantime, check here for some great family photo and photobook ideas!

53 Photo Memory Book Ideas

What types of memory books do other people make? With a bit of research and a lot of creativity, you'll love these 53 Photo Memory Scrapbook Ideas to help you on your way to creating your own digital photo scrapbook.

Tools to Help you make your own Photo Memory Book

The hardest step may be gathering the pictures, memorabilia, and quotes or sayings together to make the photo memory book. Here are some tools we have that may help you in this step:

The Make Your Own Photo Books Primer has many ways to help you get started. Visit here to get your digital pictures off your camera, organize your pictures so you can find them later, and some tips about scanning the pictures that you will need for your book.

Story Starters has some ideas to help you with providing captions and writing more on your topic. There are also some good poems and sayings that we have categorized by different topic.

Photo Book Covers explains the different types of book covers that are available. We also provide a chart showing which type of covers each photo book printer offers. This is an easy tool to use in deciding which printers to consider.

Photo Book Covers, Sizes and Prices displays all the covers, sizes, and prices for each publisher. This tool helps you compare the offerings of each publisher.

Working with Others to Create a Photo Memory Scrapbook?

If you're planning a group project to work with others --say, other teacher in your school or other family members-- to create a digital photo scrapbook, there are a lot of ways you can collaborate and communicate with other people. There are also some photo book printing services that work better for this than others.

So review Online Collaboration to help you determine which publisher would be most helpful to you for your project.

You'll also get some ideas for ways to share pictures and information with all people contributing to the book. A high degree of collaboration will limit the photo book printers you can use, so do review the Online Collaboration before making your choice.

Getting Started on Your Photo Book

Whether you're flying solo or planning your photo book project with a group, have fun with it! You'll be surprised at how much fun it can be when you don't have to worry about accidentally glueing your fingers together!

Visit one of my favorite photo book printing servies, Picaboo, to get started on your photo memory scrapbook.