DIY Shutterfly photo learning book winners – Behold the creativity

We’re so happy to announce the twelve winners of the Shutterfly learning photobook contest. Each was drawn at random and yet, all so clever.

Suddenly we want to go make like a hundred Shutterfly DIY photobooks ourselves. Thanks so much to our sponsor Shutterfly and to Federated Media for so generously offering free photobooks for all the winners. We can’t wait to see the results!

GRAND PRIZE: (Because wow, we love this)

Suzanne Bastien‘s Grandma’s Molasses Cookies Recipe Book
(read all about it after the jump)


I would love to do a DIY book that gives the kids my grandmother’s
Molasses and Meringue Cookie recipe with photos of THEM baking them.
Over the next few weeks we are going to make these cookies and I’d love
to have a play by play of each step in there for them. So
it would be an interactive cookbook they can keep it their whole life,
and then they have the memory of making them with me too.

PHOTOBOOK WINNERS (Which we also love!)

Sherry Pardy‘s Feelings Book for Kids with Autism

Earlier this year, my twins were diagnosed with SPD (sensory processing
disorder) and a high-functioning form of autism. My idea is to make
them a book on feelings, using pictures of them to illustrate what
different feelings are, what’s acceptable to do in certain emotional
situations and what’s not. I think it will be much
more effective than just buying a book in the store with photos of
random kids.

Ellen Carlson‘s Do Your Ears Hang Low book

A few years back I took a series of pictures of my basset hound to go with the tune Do Your Ears Hang Low.  It was my dream to turn them into a children’s book!

Kyla’s Toddler Painting and Colors Book
I want to make a photobook for my 23 month-old using photos of his
drawings/paintings, and using one color for each page. Like I would
have him make a painting using red finger paint, then the next page
write red-then do the same for other colors.  That way it would help
him learn his colors and also save his artwork in the book.

Kathy Dyer’s ABC Book

I am in the process of making an ABC book for my grandchildren. It
takes time but it has been fun. I let them hold the object if possible
and take the picture. They love finding the objects that go with the
letter.

Jenny Gray’s Color and Camouflage Book
The book would be about colors and camouflage. Basically, we would take
pictures of all of my son’s favorite toys, with, on or next to
something of that color. Elmo would sit on our red couch. A rainbow
hedgehog would be with a rainbow clown wig. So it would be a
combination of Where’s Waldo, I Spy and a favorite toy book.

Kim Ewalt‘s Family Around the World Book
I would make a book entitled Around the World and Back Again….looking for my family around the world. Since all of my extended family live far away from where we currently are, I would
include pictures of them in their current location as well as pictures
of places that we would like to visit, posing questions such as Does Aunt Anne live here? Grandpa Jones is in England, where is he going next (Australia)?  Where did Daddy grow up?  The book would keep the faces of our family fresh in our son’s mind and get him excited about traveling with his dad and me.

Jill Washburn’s Multi-Photo Alphabet Book

I did an ABC book a couple of
months ago.  I looked at over 1000 of our pictures and gave all of
those pictures a letter. Then, I copied and pasted as many pictures as
I could all over the pages of that book and my 2 year old absolutely
loves loves loves it.  The only bad thing was, I was up against a
deadline so I didn’t get to put any letters or words or captions in
it.  I would LOVE to do the same book, but embellish it with letters
and words and captions.

Allison Redd‘s Seasonal Poetry Book
My idea for a photo learning book is to make a customized book about
the seasons that will include pictures of my children taken at each
time of the year. I’d include information about each season along with
original, seasonal poems I wrote as a child. The one I remember
best begins:

“Snow, snow, where do you go

Or let the sun melt you with its bright golden beams?”

Michaela Shafar’s Family History Book
All of my family is 500 miles away, and we have aunts, uncles, and
cousins scattered across the country. I’d love to make a book that
gives a little bit of family history as well as geography for my 2
daughters, with pictures of our loved ones.

Kellie Eckhardt’s Magnetic Emotions Book
As a School Psychologist, I often witness the need for children to
learn about the emotions of themselves and others. My idea for a photo
book involves taking photos of my children, family, and friends and
placing them in a photo book with magnets attached below the photos. I
would then ask the children to take magnets with various emotions
written on them and place the magnets under the appropriate photos.

Kate Logan Fulford’s Far Away Family Book
My idea for a cool, photographic, learning book is simple: People who
are important in our lives – but far away geographically.  This would
allow the baby to learn the faces of far-off family members and friends
who are holding a sign with their names and the city where they live.

HONORABLE MENTIONS FOR SHEER IMPRESSIVENESS

Maria Salas-Bixler’s What Mommy Does At Work Book
I have to give my coworker credit for this one–she made a homemade version of “What Mommy Does At Work”,
like Richard Scarry’s “What Do People Do All Day?” and took pictures
of the things we do at work with short descriptions.

Christine Hoque’s Bangladesh Counting Book

Years before children were on the radar, we visited my husband’s
family in Dhaka. We have been able to send him “home” once since our
boys arrived but the possibilities of the entire family going are very
slim.  I still want my sons to have a familiarity with their heritage.
My wish is to use photos we took while in Bangladesh and use them to
teach Bengali numbers.

Priya Bradfield’s Way Home Book

I have older kids, ages 6 and 9, so my idea is
to make them a book from around the neighborhood, so in case they get
lost they might know where they are and how to
get home.  Pictures would include landmarks around our neighborhood, our house with the address, their
grandparents’ house nearby, and the local police
station and fire station.

Maisey’s My Little Friends Book
I will take pictures of all her little friends and
dedicate each page in the book to one of them. For example: Why is Ella
your friend? Ella is your friend because you both love to play at the
park and eat popsicles!  Why is Grace your friend? Grace is your friend because you
both love to wear pink!  Why is Teddy your friend? You both have dogs
and love to throw balls to them!

Laura Jenkins’s Get Ready For Bed Book
 My 3 year-old has a hard time with transitioning from one task to the
next. Leaving the house and bedtime being the most difficult. My plan
is to take pictures of him doing the things that need to be done–for example, the Max Gets Ready for Bed book would
include pictures of him taking a bath, eating a snack, brushing teeth
and getting a goodnight hug/ smooch from mommy and daddy. My hope is
that reading his book eases the stress related to these tasks and makes
transitioning easier on him……and me!

*Note: Some responses have been edited for space and clarity.

Congrats to all the winners! And if you want to make your own Shutterfly DIY photobooks. inspired by some of these creative women, just hit Shutterfly.