i actually printed stuff! lol!

Last week I tried out Shutterfly for printing some of my digital scrapbooking stuff. I have printed through them before... regular 4x6's and note cards... but this was my first time to venture into their digital scrapbooking area.

First I tried out some 5x7 photo cards. These are for the kids to mail out.


I was really impressed with how they turned out! The colors were great, and they had a nice matte finish.

Next, I tried an 8x8. I've never printed 8x8 before, but I think I really like that size after having it in my hands.
The colors again were perfect! The photos and digital elements looked great.

Finally, I printed a 12x12....
LOVED how vibrant the colors turned out! I was totally in love until I noticed this...
Yep... my journaling along the right side was cut off at both the top and the side.... sigh. I thought I did everything right so this would not happen. At this point, I'm not sure if it was my issue or Shutterfly's since I did get interrupted while I was working with it on their site. This is one of my biggest issues with printing digi layouts.... you spent the money on these large prints and you hope that you don't lose anything important around the edges. I have several 12x12's lying around my house with missing journaling.... it depresses me.

So... I have no "cons" in regards to printing with Shutterfly, except for the cut off text (which may be my fault).

The "pros" - great colors and good matte finish. Good fast shipping at an extremely busy time of year. I print most of my stuff through a pro lab, but at the holidays they get swamped and waaaaaay behind. For example, I placed my Shutterfly order on the same day I placed an order with the pro lab (Tuesday). My Shutterfly orders started arriving on Thursday, with the last package arriving Friday (regular mail). My pro lab order didn't even print until last Thursday, shipping on Friday and arriving on Monday (2day UPS). So, the holidays don't see to slow Shutterfly down at all. Finally, I was extremely impressed with the packaging of the 12x12. It came in a tri-fold cardboard box with a foam cushion and the print itself was in a nice clear plastic envelope.

Okay.... I'm off to "do school"... be back later with the pictures from yesterday!!