Today I received my first KISS sample album!  I’ve used KISS before for mini 4×4 books, but this was my first full-fledged big girl book!  I used my brother-in-law & his lovely bride’s wedding to adorn the pages.  I think it turned out beautifully!  Thanks KISS.  You all really do live up to all the hype.  A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

Baby Kiss Leather Album from Mandy Sroka on Vimeo.

Welcome to my video debut.  I have to give a big thanks to my friend, neighbor, and fellow blogger, Mary.  She came over last night, loaned me her sweet camera, and video taped me making this little speech.  Thanks Mary!

On to the baby Kiss book….

So, as I said, the specs are:  4×4 inches, leather cover, hard pages, 10 spreads or 20 pages, sweet carrying pouch.  *BAM*  That’s it.  It’s so simple, and so awesome.  I’ll be offering to anyone who’s had a past session with me for an introductory price of $80.00.  That includes shipping from me to you (but not sales tax).  So, instead of ordering 15 to 20 photos that are showcased in this sweet little guy, you can hold them forever & always in this little album.

Keep scrolling down to see detailed photos of the baby Kiss & cover choices.  Enjoy!

You all might remember Ian from “Pirate Day” at Fells Point in Baltimore.  Well, his dad, Dustin, asked me to secretly design an album for his wife for her Mother’s Day gift.  If you know me, asking me to keep a secret is probably the worst thing you could ever do!  I hate keeping secrets, people know I can’t do it very well, and it’s just not a good idea.  However, I was able to just tell the secret to everyone but Dustin’s wife and she didn’t have a clue!  Dustin ordered an 8×8 album with a “chocolate” fabric cover – very similar to Justin & Samantha’s book.  The only difference is he chose a “lay-flat” style book.  Here is Ian’s virtual album!

Ian from joshsroka on Vimeo.

You may remember Justin & Sam from my “Bare Bellies” party a few months ago.  After they’d looked at all their photos, they decided they’d like to have an album to represent Sam’s pregnancy with baby Jackson.  Well, I finally got around to designing it, ordering it, and just mailed it off to Justin & Sam.  I thought you might like to see what it looks like as well.  Albums are a great way of getting the majority of your images at a more cost-effective price.  Although each image isn’t as large as a print may be, they are displayed beautifully in this keepsake book.  And for people like me who wish they could scrapbook, but never get around to it, it’s a single place to hold all the images from a certain event or time-period (aka: the lazy man’s scrapbook).

For Justin & Sam’s album I decided to go with my old favorite, White House Custom Colour (WHCC).  They are fabulous and have always been good to me in the past and I would recommend them to any professional photographer.  Sam chose the 8×8-inch album with a fabric cover in tan.  It has 20 spreads, or 10 pages front & back, and the pages are the “magazine style,” meaning they don’t lay flat.    And as I do with each album, I let Sam & Justin have as much input as they wanted.  Sam told me some photos that she did not want, and ones she couldn’t live with out.  After I designed the book,  I sent Sam & Justin a preview via Facebook, and they approved it.  It’s that easy.  Here are some pictures to better explain myself.

The front of the album.  It’s hardcover, with tan fabric wrapped around it.

Here’s a view from the top.  You can see the pages inside.  The first and last pages are a black.

Here is the binding.

The front and back inside cover come with black paper like this.

This is how the book looks laying open.

And finally, a view of the book from the top, opened.

Enjoy your album, Justin, Sam & baby Jackson!

I decided to take some of Rob & Sharon’s recent maternity photos and create a mini 5×5 album design.  Hopefully I’ll have something concrete to show you sometime today.  In the meantime, here is their album, set to the lovely music of “Beautiful Day” on the ablum Rockabye Baby!  Lullaby Renditions of U2.

Maternity Album from joshsroka on Vimeo.