Tips & Tricks
Hey there!!
Have you started your memory book yet? Starting your Blueberry Co Memory Books can be nerve wracking- all those perfect white pages staring at you, daring you to start!
We’ve complied the best group of tips and tricks (most of which have come straight out of our private Facebook community; the Blueberry Co Baby Book Club) to help you create the perfect book for you and your family.
What do you want to know?
Show me how to:
Have you joined our Blueberry Co Baby Book Club yet? Come and join over 4,000 other members creating amazing memory books! Join here >>>>>
If you have created a page or want to recommend any stationary to use with our books we'd love to hear from you! Email us at info@blueberryco.com.au
IMPORTANT!! If in doubt we recommend you test your pens, markers and pencils on the back page of your book to see if they bleed through. These reviews are recommendations only. If you see pens or markers damaging your book please stop using them immediately and try something else.
Starting a Layout
Have you received your Blueberry Co Memory Book in the mail in all its white page glory, and now you’re wondering where to start? Here are a few of my tips and tricks to get you going.
- Choose your photos based on colour
So you’ve got about 10,000 photos of your new born baby!! Which ones do you choose? I love to keep the colours consistent, so edit your favourite photos to be black and white, choose photos with a particular colour in them (say pink, white or blue depending on you and your child) or you could even add a sepia tone!
[ I like to use blues as the colour to bring my whole Adventures with Dad book together ]
- Write your notes out first
Have you got heaps to say about the first 3 days of your baby’s life, or you packed in a million activities in the biggest 3-day holiday ever? I love to write a few dot points of the most important things to happen. If some pair well with photos, why not add little notes next to your photos too!
- Colour theme
Do you have a string sense of colour? Maybe your child’s nursery is all pastels or monochrome… or maybe you’re like me, and may of your adventures include the blue of the sky or the ocean. Why not colour your book in with contrasting or complimentary colours, or use the same set of washi tape throughout the book to give your book a colour theme!
Want to see more inspiration? Why not check out our blog or follow us on Instagram or Facebook!
Monochrome Lovers
This one if for the lovers of all things monochrome! One of our biggest tips is to keep all your photos black and white. It creates a gorgeous modern memory book with simple lines and the most beautiful playful motifs to frame the photos of your growing child.
Read more 3 Tips for creating a stylish Monochrome Baby Book in our blog here >>>
Want to add a bit of playfulness to your monochrome memory book? We love using washi tape, stickers and handwritten calligraphy to really make the book sing! Don’t worry if you’re not a fabulous calligrapher… there are plenty of free fonts you can download to write the words that mean the most to you!
Want to see more inspiration? Why not check out our blog or follow us on Instagram or Facebook!
How should I print my photos?
There are sooooo many ways you can print photos for your Blueberry Co Memory Books, but there are generally two main ways; order prints OR print at home.
Ordering Photo Prints
You can order in store at places like BigW or Officeworks, or order online and get your photos delivered to your door. I love using the Australian business Picture Postie, especially for their square 10cm x 10cm photo prints. Another option is the American print on demand Social Photo Studio aka Social PS. They have the smaller 2.5cm x 2.5cm square prints which allow you to fit more photos per page.
Printing at home
There are a number of ways you can print at home. You can use your home printer with photo paper and cut up the images (image quality depends on your home printer and its capibilities), or I have two smaller photo printers.
Canon SELPHY
The Canon SELPHY is an at home photo printer designed to print photos. You can print the standard 6’x4’ photos and use the Canon app to create collages to get smaller photos if you need them, or you can also print on business card sized photo paper with the Canon SELPHY CP1300. The quality is great with this printer! You have to replace the ink and paper (packs are about 108 sheets), but I find the printer so easy to use I don’t mind having to grab refills.
Canon Mini
The Canon Mini is a mini photo printer, about the size of your phone, that prints onto small business card sized sheets of paper. The printer is inkless (all the magic is in the paper) and the paper has a sticky back which means you can stick the photos straight in your book! With this printer you only have replace the photo paper sheets which is a plus!
My recommendation:
I’ve used both online photo prints (Picture Postie is my favourite) and I also have two at home photo printers, and I have to admit, having the photo printers at home has made filling in my books so much easier. I can sit down and start printing and filling out my books whenever I get a spare second. I can also plan ahead by sorting photos into folders on my phone or computer, all ready to put into specific pages when I get a moment to sit down, print out my photos, and fill in my books.
Sticking my photos in
I highly recommend using double-sided tape to stick your photos in! It’s strong, and allows the photos to move and flex with the paper. Double-sided tape is also dry so doesn’t saturate the paper like glue!
I like using washi tape to create borders and interest on my pages, but I have found it’s not strong enough to hold photos down.
How do I colour in my cover?
Yay! So, you’ve decided to jump in and colour the cover of your Blueberry Co memory books. That’s great! Here are my top tips.
Our Blueberry Co books have a flexible card cover with a protective plastic coating to protect the books, so you’ll need to use permanent markers (like Sharpies) to colour in your cover. Remember, permanent markers are alcohol based so they will bleed through the internal pages of your books. They are for your cover only.
Inside our Blueberry Co Baby Book Club, the ladies are using a range of permanent markers (BIC, Sharpies and even cheap no-brand Kmart sets). They all seem pretty good and do the job well with some small differences. If you’ve made a mistake with permanent markers, alcohol wipes do the trick to remove the ink!
You can watch my IGTV review of Kmart Permanent Markers Vs Sharpies here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/BkRz6xyAzah/?hl=en
You can also use pencils on the cover of your Blueberry Co books, however the colour isn’t as vibrant. We always recommend testing on the back cover first! If you’re not sure where to start, come and join our Blueberry Co Baby Book Club and ask the 4.5K+ members.
Using pencils in my books
If you’re feeling nervous about colouring your books, or just want a softer look, pencils are a fabulous way to colour your books. The paper is smooth with a slight grain texture so all pencils will work, but the higher quality pencils will work best (they’re generally softer).
I’ve used Fabre Castel, Derwent, Jasart, Staedtler and Crayola pencils and all have worked really well! One of the best tips I can share about colouring in with pencils is to colour in the same direction for the whole page. This may mean you have to rotate your book to find a comfortable position, but it makes a huge difference in finished page (especially for large areas of colouring).
A few other things I’ve discovered over the years:
- Keep your pencil sharp (keep a pencil sharpener by you so you can touch up the pencil whenever you want).
- Have a spare bit of paper next to you. You can use this to test blending, colour options and work off any sharp edges of your newly sharped pencil.
- Always have an eraser with you. You can use this to soften colouring or remove any mistakes.
Another great way to use e=pencils is to combine them with makers. Do the outline of your shape in a marker (use the same colour as your pencil) and then fill in the shape with your pencil! It looks lovely and adds detail to any page!
You can watch part 1 of my Pencils + Markers Tips video on IGTV here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/Brv4eEah4jF/?hl=en
And Part 2 is here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/Brv43muhTas/?hl=en
Have fun and don’t forget to share your progress in our Blueberry Co Baby Book Club!
Using markers and textas
Using markers and textas is a great way to add vibrant colour to your Blueberry Co Books! There are so many different brands and styles of markers: fine tips, brush tips, gel pens, highlighters… the list goes on!
My tips:
When colouring with markers, the best way to get a neat finish is to outline the shape and then fill in the shape with neat strokes that go in the same direction.
What pen’s do I use?
There are so many different pens and textas around, so I’ve done my best to test out a selection for you!
Crayola Supertips
Connector Pens
Artline fineliners (0.4mm + 0.6mm)
Staedtler Triplus Finetips (0.3mm)
Tombow Dual Tip Markers
Stabilio Highlighters
Midliners
Sharpies (for the cover only)
Kmart Permanent Markers (for the cover only)
You can see inside my extensive pen collection (Part 1) here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/Bp8aCiEhcM4/?hl=en
And Part 2 here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/Bp8hHoSh4nN/?hl=en
You can watch my IGTV review of the Staedler Triplus Fineliners here
IMPORTANT!! If in doubt we recommend you test your pens, markers and pencils on the back page of your book to see if they bleed through. These reviews are recommendations only. If you see pens or markers damaging your book please stop using them immediately and try something else.
My Tips
Colour in one direction
One of the tips I learnt is to always colour in one direction. Feel free to rotate your hand and book so you can keep it consistent. It makes a huge difference, particularly when using pencils.
Choose your colours
I like to choose colours that complement the photos I’m using. So if my photos are mainly blue, I like to use blues, if they’re pink I go with pink and really try to theme each page around the event or adventure I’m celebrating!! Feel free to play around and go crazy with ideas. Your book should represent you and your child.
Other ladies in our Blueberry Co Baby Book Club have consistent themes running throughout their books
[ I love using pencils to layer colour in my Monochrome Baby Book ]
Washi Tape
Want to know how to use Washi Tape in our books? Check out our recent blog post here >>>
Want to see more inspiration? Why not check out our blog or follow us on Instagram or Facebook!
