It has been a productive summer. After completing Kitty-Kitty with my friend Vicki, my anniversary month loomed ahead of me and I began to think about my late husband Gene (what else is new, right?).  I decided to create a photo book on Shutterfly.com as a “gift” to him.  I wanted the book to include the best sunset photos from Florida beaches that I took the past few years and some of the photos of the “kisses” I see in the sky.

Gene and I were married on October 13, 1984.

The book contains photographs, poems and messages. I took the photographs at Nokomis and Venice beaches in Florida in the years since his passing, 2016-2018.

Here’s the back story:
Shortly after Gene died in February, 2016, I began seeing X’s in the sky, which I suppose were the entrails of jet engine exhaust left by aircraft having crossed routes. I saw them in New Jersey and again when I moved to Florida. The day of the first sighting, I was driving uphill toward our Great Meadows home, about to pass a farm market on my left. Suddenly, I experienced an uncanny and irresistible urge to pull over. I didn’t need anything from the farm market and I had no intention to stop, but I obeyed my instinct and drove into the parking lot. Then, I heard a whisper in my mind. It was a gentle tug at my attention and it was saying “look up.” And there, stretched completely across the sky, was a very large and distinctive “X.” I could not help but be reminded of the kisses Gene used to write on greeting cards for me each and every holiday, birthday and anniversary and on the notes he left on the kitchen table when our daily activities separated us.

So I started photographing these X’s whenever I saw them in the sky.

The poetry just flowed from my mind and heart and a few are taken from my Poetry book, In a Nutshell, and from the book I wrote with my friend Vicki – Kitty-Kitty. I also felt compelled to share a bit of Caily-Kitty with Gene for our anniversary. They’ve never met.

Shutterfly review:

I enjoyed using Shutterfly.com for this book.  I abandoned createspace.com for this project because I wanted to create a hardcover book and createspace.com didn’t give me that option.  Like Mixbook.com, Shutterfly.com offers many options for hardcover and flatbook binding.  However, they are all very expensive from my pocketbook’s point of view. I printed Kitty-Kitty in a hardcover version (45 pages) using Mixbook.com, and I paid $37 (this probably included their latest promo which is usually about 40%-50% off).

I printed Sunsets (25 pages) through Shutterfly.com for $33.79 (again there was a promo at the time).

So you really have to look for promo codes and get on their email lists so you receive their latest discounts and offers if you want to order multiple copies of full color, hardcover photo books like these.  Or you could go broke buying them for friends and family.  Of course you can always send family and friends a link to your “project” page so they can buy it themselves. Shutterfly.com and Mixbook.com both allow you to “share” your book with those who wish to VIEW them online rather than order a physical copy via a link.

[button text=”View This Book” link=”http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=kAaN2rhozaN2LJ1g” style=”default” size=”normal” target=”_self” display=”inline” icon=”no”]

The editing functions are similar. I think I will review the editing functions in a separate post.

Happy writing!

Julianne