I’m proud to partner with CVS/pharmacy for the “Summer Snapshots” Photo campaign. Please join in the fun by posting to your own website, Facebook page or Twitter feed and use the hashtag #CVSPhotoFun. While I am being sponsored to help lead this campaign, all opinions expressed about CVS/pharmacy are my own.
Yesterday afternoon, I grabbed an iced coffee from Marylou’s (white chocolate chip flavor) and then headed to CVS/pharmacy for a little ”˜me time.’ You see, I recently had the opportunity to work with CVS/pharmacy on their “Summer Snapshots” Photo Campaign. They hooked me up with a gift card to purchase a few items from their Photo Center and Kodak Picture Kiosk, so my plan was to drink some iced coffee and design some photo books.
For as long as I can remember, I have always loved creating things with photos: photo albums (they’re actually one of two””well, now three””things/babies/pets I would save from a fire), scrapbooks, and, of course, Carrots ”˜N’ Cake, which I have produced for nearly 7 years now. Basically, I was all about this campaign and really excited to make some cool new photo products!
I haven’t used the CVS/pharmacy Photo Center in years (not since before I owned a digital camera) and it was only for making prints. I actually used to print my photos and then get the images on a CD/DVD so then I could share them by email with my friends. Oh, how things have changed since the early 2000’s! Haha!
Anyway, a lot of things have changed with the Photo Center and Kodak Picture Kiosks. You can still print photos and put them on CD/DVDs, but now you can make all sorts of cool stuff, including hardcover, bound photos books, collages, greeting cards, birth announcements, invitations, and lots more. And (this is the coolest part in my opinion) many of the items (photo books, cards, reprints, calendars) are ready the same day you order them. THE SAME DAY. No need to wait a couple of days or even 24 hours to pick up your order. Boom. Perfect for a last-minute gift!
I brought a USB drive with all of the photos I wanted to use,but there are a number of ways you can access your pictures at the Photo Center and Kodak Picture Kiosks:
- USB
- KODAK Kiosk Connect App
- CVSphoto.com (you can upload your photos to the website)
- Cell phone (through the USB – you just need to bring the cord)
- Memory card
- CD-ROM
- DropBox
- GoogleDrive
- Picasa
- Flickr
Since this past summer was all about Baby Q, I decided to make a Photo Book with photos of him as a way to save some of our summertime memories. (I actually made two Photo Books””one for each grandmother! Photo albums make the best gifts!) Side note: You can make a Photo Book online at home and then pick it up in store the same day! How cool is THAT?!
Making my Photo Books was so easy and a lot of fun. I loved getting all creative and playing around with all of the different design options. The Photo Books come in 5 different sizes and have customizable backgrounds and layouts. You can also add text and clip art to the pictures and pages. There were a number of baby book options for the backgrounds (as well as ones specific to graduations, weddings, recipes, and more), so I picked a boy one with different blue/gray/white designs and patterns.
Playing around with the layouts was really neat. This is where I had a lot of fun! The program makes layout suggestions for you, but you can easily move around the photos and pick various layouts/put them on different pages based on what you think looks best. It’s just drag-and-drop with your finger, so it was really simple.
Midway through making my Photo Book, I remembered a picture on my iPhone that I wanted to use, so I quickly downloaded the KODAK Kiosk Connect app and transferred it to the Kodak Picture Kiosk to use in my album. Easy-peasy.
Once I placed my order at the Kodak Photo Kiosk (I also ordered a calendar collage), I waited about 20 minutes for the items to be finished. Everything was produced in-store, so I did a little shopping and, before I knew it, my Photo Books and calendar were ready to go!
I’ll show you guys the finished products in my next post!
Question of the Day
Were you a photo album collector? How do you save photos now?
