This Giveaway is now CLOSED

When Halle & Zanna were in nursery school this year, I decided that at the end of the school year, I would put together a photo book of all the pictures their teachers had taken of them at school.

Normally I dread making photobooks.  It gets rather frustrating not being able to do what I like with positioning pictures, and the layouts are kinda same-old same-old.  But I recently found a new photobook company called Mixbook* that looked kinda cool.

Mixbook takes the concept of photobooks and goes a bit further – into the realm of scrapbooks!  Scrapbooking was another thing I’ve been really wanting to do, but was always somewhat daunted by – I am NOT an organized person, and I knew that I’d soon lose control of all the bits and bobs that come with scrapbooking – the cute little stickers, the different papers, and the physical pictures themselves.  It all seemed overwhelming.

But with Mixbook, I don’t have to have any of that mess in my home to deal with!  (Thank goodness!)

When I went to the Mixbook site, I picked my book size, in this case, a hardcover 11 x 8.5 one, then there were different themes I could easily click around to pick my favorite (or I could have started from scratch, but really, who’s got time?) and then when I chose the one I liked best – Rad Plaid – it already had a basic layout, complete with scrapbook elements in it, then all I had to do was drag and drop my uploaded pics (which is way fast!  No time to do a Starbucks run while waiting for everything to load!) into place, and then the real fun began…

(I did get a little carried away with the cute stickers!)

All of the pre-loaded scrapbook elements in the template I chose are customizable – EASILY customizable!  The user interface is so intuitive.  Size, direction of tilt, placement are all so simple to adjust.  Placing things in front of or in back of other things are a breeze, and then there is a wide selection of other “stickers” to choose from to put all over if you like.  Even the spine, front cover and back cover were decorate-able!

At last I had gotten my scrapbook-like photobook done, and it looked great!  It was shipped very fast and before I knew it, I was holding the finished product in my hands.  It looked so great, I could even see using Mixbook as a self-publishing option for picture books!

(They also do calendars, cards, and invitations – but with a scrapbook twist and a super-easy user interface to get the things designed without all the usual hassle.)

And another great thing is that Mixbook has offered me the chance to do a giveaway for another 11 x 8.5 Hardcover Photobook with FREE shipping, for one of my readers! (ARV $29.99 ) (Open to USA/UK/Canada!)

If you’d like to order a Mixbook of your own, they have various sizes and types, and Mixbook has even offered a discount code:  TBLMX20 for 20% off, if you’d like to just purchase your own outright.

But if you’d like to win a FREE Mixbook, here’s how to enter:

After you complete every entry, leave a comment per entry below WITH your email to let me know.  Include any links to twitter tweets, etc… as necessary.  (I do go thru all entries to make sure they’re completed, so please follow these easy instructions so you don’t miss out on this prize! )

  MANDATORY ENTRY (if this one’s not completed, bonus entries will not count):

• Visit Mixbook,
• at the top of the page, click the “Photo Book” tab,
• go to “11×8.5 Classic Landscape” and click “Start Book” (don’t worry, you’re not really starting anything at this point),
• then take a look at the different themes on the left side.
• When you’ve found the one you like best, come back here and put a comment below with your favorite theme and your email.

Bonus Entries: (don’t forget the Mandatory Entry above, first! and if it says 2 entries, leave 2 comments and don’t forget to put your email)

  Subscribe to Twice Blessed Life’s RSS Feed (1 entry)

  Follow Twice Blessed Life on Facebook w/ your personal page (1 entry)

  Sign up for Twice Blessed Life’s newsletter (In your comment, include your email AND the email you used to sign up.  (1 entry)

  Follow Twice Blessed Life on GFC (Google Friend Connect – located on the right sidebar) (1 entry)

  Tweet about this giveaway-can be done once a day: (2 entries)  and put link in your entry comment.

You can use this text:

“#Win a Mixbook 11×8.5 Photobook w/Free Shipping! Ends 8/6 #Giveaway @ http://twiceblessedlife.com/?p=802 “

  Post giveaway on Facebook – can be done once a day (2 entries) and put link in your entry comment.

You can use this text:

“Win a Mixbook 11×8.5 Photobook w/Free Shipping! Ends 8/6  – Open t residents of USA/UK/Canada.  Giveaway at: http://twiceblessedlife.com/?p=802 “

  Post giveaway on your blog and put link in your entry comment (3 entries)

  Write a review of Twice Blessed Life on Alexa and put link in your entry comment (5 entries)

Giveaway open until 8/06/11 11:59 pm EST (USA) and is open to residents of USA/UK/Canada.  Winner will be chosen from among verified entries with Random.org and notified by email.  Winner has 48 hours to respond or alternate winner will be chosen.

*No compensation was received in exchange for this review.  To aid in the review, I received an 11 x 8.5 hardcover Mixbook photobook with free shipping.  All opinions in the review, however, are my own personal opinion and have not been influenced by Mixbook or other parties. Mixbook has also offered an additional photobook plus free shipping to one of my readers as a giveaway.