road trip photo album // chatbooks review

by Kaylah Stroup

One of my goals for this last road trip, and really any future trips, was to get my photos printed. Apart from film, which I always get prints made from, I never get photos printed. Everything is stored on external hard drives. For a person who collects so much that almost seems funny. I treasure the few photo albums I do have and definitely want to have more tangible photos.

As soon as I got through editing all my photos I got started making this book. I didn’t want it to be something I kept pushing back and would eventually forget to do. Chatbooks was my first choice for a book since they had sent me one a while back featuring my instagram photos. I liked that it was fairly small, and looked super nice for the price. Their books are only $6 and they have free shipping PLUS you can use the
code “theda146” to get your first book when you subscribe to your Instagram Series.

I initially had a bit of an issue uploading my photos so I tried out a few other sites that make photo books. The thing was they get expensive quick, and they can take a lot of work. I loved that with Chatbooks you just upload your photos, and that’s it! They’re printed in order. (You are able to rearrange them if you’d like but in the instance you want them printed in the order you took them that’s the default, which perfectly for vacation!) You can add captions if you’d like but it’s not necessary. I reached out via twitter with my uploading issue, they responded quickly that I should try another browser. I downloaded Safari and wouldn’t you know it, that solved the issue. I added a few captions, chose my cover, ordered, and a few days later it showed up!

I LOVE it so much. It’s seriously so nice to be able to flip through my photos instead of just having them on the computer. I’ve actually been considering going back through 2014’s road trip photos and having those printed as well. A little Jeff + Kaylah road trip photo album series! How cute!

Other than the little bit of trouble uploading that was easily remedied by using a different browser this was seriously so painless to make. I basically have no excuse whatsoever to not get photos printed. Chatbooks, you rule!
xoxo 

PS. Don’t forget if you use
code “theda146” you can get your first book free when you subscribe to your Instagram Series.

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18 comments

Cheap Glam Sugar Punk July 22, 2015 - 12:45 pm

That's such an amazing deal! It's cheaper than buying film, processing it, and buying a photo album, not to mention the time it takes

Kaylah July 22, 2015 - 2:29 pm

Noooo, I certainly didn't mean this as "buy a book instead of shooting film." I'm still a die hard fan of shooting film but I also love shooting digital and this is a great way to get my photos printed.

Cheap Glam Sugar Punk July 22, 2015 - 7:26 pm

I didn't think that's what you meant at all, just that I only have a digital camera and I don't take the time to print them and put them in books ever 🙂 The fanciest I ever got with film were those disposable cameras you buy at the drug store

hello haha narf July 22, 2015 - 1:32 pm

LOVE that you did this. great physical reminder of your adventure.

and thank you for posting about chatbooks. when you first wrote about them i was impressed with what they sent you. while on vacation this spring, my friend was talking about getting a book of some instagram photos printed and selling it to raise funds for an animal charity. it would have cost her close to $30 per book so she planned to sell them for $35…not a great fund raiser. i suggested "the print company that some smart your lady on the internet wrote about" and searched your site, finding chatbooks. showed my friend and she immediately started uploading photos to chatbooks. she sold the books for $25 and raised MUCH more cash for the kitty rescue league than she would have otherwise. so thank you again for sharing your fun finds!

p.s. printed in order? i was able to rearrange mine.

Kaylah July 22, 2015 - 2:30 pm

That's so awesome to hear! YAY for kitties!! 😀

Ah! I meant it as I didn't have to arrange anything, they were already in order of the trip which was exactly what I wanted so it was super easy! But I guess I should word that a bit differently.

Indy July 22, 2015 - 2:19 pm

Thank you so much for sharing this! What an awesome idea for road trips, and how great is that price?! I am most definitely getting on this asap! 🙂

Kaylah July 22, 2015 - 2:31 pm

Right? And it's seriously so easy!

candidcerebrations July 22, 2015 - 4:23 pm

Wow, this is an amazing idea! If only I took enough photos on my trips to fill one. -_- I'll have to keep this in mind for next time.

Kaylah July 24, 2015 - 11:21 pm

You could always make one of a bunch of trips combined!

Tara Hammond July 22, 2015 - 4:55 pm

The book looks awesome! I really love that it has the title on the spine, too. Super handy! I never, ever print digital pictures and that makes me so sad. There is nothing better than flipping through photo albums. I'll definitely keep these guys in mind when I have the extra cash!

Kaylah July 24, 2015 - 11:25 pm

Right? The title on the spine really seals the deal for me.

vernmacattack July 22, 2015 - 4:55 pm

Have you ever looked into project life? I use it to document my trips and it's such an addicting hobby!

Kaylah July 24, 2015 - 11:27 pm

Yeah, I actually have a bunch of supplies too, its just not my thing. I like taking photos, not so much organizing them.

Damaris // The cat, you and us July 23, 2015 - 11:09 am

So interesting to learn about Chatbooks! I love love to print my pictures so I can flip through pages whenever I feel like it, way better than browsing in my computer or tablet 🙂 I usually print my travel books with Blurb, but this price of Chatbooks is unbeatable. I will def try with my IG pics first, is there an expiring date for the code?

Kaylah July 24, 2015 - 11:27 pm

Nope! Pretty sure the code is good foreverrrr (you know, forever within reason! 😛 )

Mari July 26, 2015 - 6:06 pm

out of curiosity, which product did you use? the instagram series or the custom book? since yoru photos arent instagram.

Kaylah July 27, 2015 - 11:13 pm

The custom book.

Rachel Laberge July 27, 2015 - 11:25 pm

Hello-
I feel like i've seen you use other sites/products to print instagram photos on here. is there a post on all of them or a way to look it up? just curious casue i'm looking into printing some as well
Thanks
Rachel

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