Mixbook.com Review & Giveaway

As some of you may know, I recently had a baby. Well, 5 months ago. And as any parent, I constantly have my camera handy to snap those precious moments. I literally have several hundreds pictures of my baby already. Half of them are still on my camera. I'm at the point....I just don't know what to do with them. There's only so many 5x7's and 8x10's you can put in the house! So when I was given the opportunity to review Mixbook, I was excited! (Do you know how many Mixbook giveaways I've entered and not won?!)

Mixbook allows you to create amazing customized photo books, cards, and calendars. Other items to create include yearbooks, stationary and invitations, and digital scrapbooks. There is no software to download, as all creations are made on the site using a powerful editor with tons of features.

You can use the Automix feature which will automatically place your photos for you, so you can literally create a book in seconds. Don't like the order? Just mix it up again until you find one you like. You have the option of using templates to help with your imagination, or you can start totally blank and make your item 100% customized. Even with the templates, you can still add, remove, change everything, so you can add as many personal touches as you want. There are thousands of FREE creative elements to use such as stickers, backgrounds, and fonts.

Mixbook also offers a collaborative option to create your photo book. This is done by creating a book and then inviting your friends and family to it. They can they upload their own pictures and customizes pages too. You are the creator of the book, so you control every aspect and can edit it however you like, but your friends can still give the book their own personalized touch.

Do you have old pictures stored on Photobucket or Facebook that you have since deleted off your computer? No problem! Mixbook can pull photos from several different photo storage sites and search engines. You can also share your creations by embedding the Mixbook player on your website or blog so everybody can see it! If you don't have a site, you can send them a link to it.

It is completely free to use Mixbook to create and share photo books. You only have to pay if you purchase your project. There are several different options of books to create, from mini soft-cover books, to big coffee table sized books. Prices are reasonable and start at $6.99. You can purchase additional pages for just $1.00

My Opinion

If I could sum up my Mixbook experience in one word, it would be "WOW!" I seriously could have spent DAYS creating my book if I wanted to. The customization options really are in the thousands.

At first, I attempted to make my book from scratch. And let me tell you...it was from scratch! You have TONS of backgrounds, layouts, stickers...endless possibilities. I have to be honest and say that I was overwhelmed, so I decided to get a little help using a prebuilt theme. I knew from the start I wanted a book of my baby, so I browsed the themes in the baby category. I went with the "Scrapbook Baby" theme. Then I had to upload my photos. I uploaded an entire folder with about 80 pictures in it and it only took a few minutes.

You build the book page by page. You just have to drag and drop your photos into the designated spots. EVERYTHING could be customized. You can make your pictures bigger, crop them, zoom, add effects such as black and white, etc. You can also add text wherever you want and there are tons of fonts and colors to choose from. You can use stickers from any theme you want and put them wherever you want. These can also be re-sized.

I did try out the Automix feature, which completed my book in seconds. But I liked having the option of grouping certain pics together and in chronological order. So I started over. (Once you use Automix, you can't rearrange photos, you can just re-mix them). In total, I think I spent about 3 hours on my book! I have to say though that I didn't customize it much. I loved the premade layout so much I didn't have to change anything. I did add some stickers and text. Most of my time was spent just looking through all the little details, like buttons.

I love the 3-D look

I received my book FAST! I got an email the day after I ordered it saying that it had shipped, and the very next day I got it in the mail. I was amazed at the quality of the book. And it looks exactly how I made it online. All my little extras were there were I put them. I would highly recommend Mixbook if you ever want to create a photo book. And I'm sure it's safe to say that their other products are just as great.

Take a look below at my photo book! Isn't it adorable?! I used the embedded sharing feature, which is totally free to use.

| View Sample Photo Books | Create your own Photo Book

***Win It!*** 

A 20-page, 11x8.5 landscape, hardcover photo book! (ARV: $29.99)

Mandatory First Entry: Tell me what kind of photos you would fill your photo book with!

Extra Entries: (Available after mandatory entry is completed. Please leave separate comments for each entry).

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" Enter to #win a 20-page, hardcover photo book from Mixbook! #giveaway Ends 6/29 http://tinyurl.com/3n497uz "

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Giveaway will end on June 29th at 11:59pm EST. The winner will be chosen be Random.org and emailed. Winner has 48 hours to respond to email before a new winner will be chosen. Make sure you leave your email in comment or make sure it is visible in your profile so I have a way to contact you if you win! This giveaway is open to US residents only.

I received a 20-page, hardcover photo book in exchange for this review/giveaway. No other compensation was received. All opinions are mine and were not influenced by any compensation I may have received.