For those who don’t know, Creatspace is Amazon’s online platform for self publishing. I did a blog awhile back about using Createspace for non-traditional purposes, and I’m back to remind everyone that it’s a great place to create personalized presents for the holiday season.

I love Christmas!

The website is pretty user friendly, and there are tons of articles out there to help everyday folks learn how to format their book. I myself learned it pretty easily, it’s not hard. I have only self published one children’s book, but several personal projects, including a memorial book when my father passed away. That was an emotional project, but ended up being a lovely thing to give to my Dad’s family and friends.

Now it’s the holidays, and it isn’t too late to get a project done if you don’t mind proofing it online. I myself have recently completed two projects to give away as gifts. Both are books of personal pictures and recipes.

The first one was to send to my sweetie’s family. Years ago, we met them in Gatlinburg, Tennessee for a gigantic family reunion. The recent fires in the area had me thinking about that wonderful trip, and a memory book with recipes from the area was born.

I used Word to write, format, and set up the pictures. Then I used CrateSpaces cover creator for the covers. Many of the templates can be personalized with pictures and color choices. I can make a cover from scratch, but it takes me some trial and error in judging the spine width. The cover creator makes it easy.

List price, just under 10 bucks. Price for me to order copies of this full color, 26 page book of recipes and awesome memories? $3.65. That’s right. I have a gorgeous, full color, personalized book to give my sweetie’s family for Christmas, and each present cost me only some time and less than four bucks. With my limited budget, this is an awesome thing. We sent Brian’s family a picture memory book last year, and they all loved it.

My second book was for my family. Pictures from our life paired with favorite family recipes. Piece of cake. Price for me to order copies of this one? $3.65. I love this!

Searching for a nice gift, but don’t have a lot of money to spend? Consider making a memory book!