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Get inspired: Creating ABCs

Allison M.

Snapfish member since 2006

I made this homemade alphabet book using my children’s own toys. My best design assistant was my son — he collected toys to photograph, chose the colors, and approved page layouts. Together we scoured our house for toys that started with all different letters of the alphabet, which resulted in my son getting a great week-long early literacy lesson while I got a wake-up call that we have too many toys! What I love most is that we made this beautiful project together and then gave it to his sister for a joyful Christmas surprise.

Allison’s book:

Format: 8x11" Custom Cover Photo Book
Theme: Brights

Starting at  $29.99

Make a book like this

View Allison's photo book

Brainstorm with your kids

Say yes to all their ideas to keep them coming — you can always pare them down later. I gave my son free reign with his ideas on this project, and incorporated almost all of them into the book. Collecting the ABC toys took a whole week (especially because he had an opinion about every toy!), so thank goodness making the book itself was a cinch. We chose the layout, the colors, and my favorite part was being able to completely customize everything. I'd shuffle the pictures on the page and my son would say "keep" or "keep going."

Use daylight for great photos

Natural light always produces the best photos. The items will be clearer and the edges more defined. Plus, the photos just look better. Keep this in mind when staging your shots. We had fun squeezing in photo sessions in both the playroom and the bathroom, two locations where the light is beautiful in our house.

Rely on simple backgrounds

For a project like this you definitely want to have the photos be the showcase, so using simple backgrounds is a must. Complimentary colors, like brights with whites, work best. I chose the “Brights” background theme for our ABC book because the bold pages highlighted the vibrant colors of the toys we photographed. The simplicity of the background ensured that the colorful ABC toys really stood out.

Final Thoughts

Make something your family will use. Our motivation was to create something fun and useful for my daughter, and our ABC book ended up being perfect because we used items she sees daily to help her learn her letters. I truly had a ball making this photo book with my son. He’ll be my design assistant for our family photo book this year for sure!