I posted a few weeks ago about turning your child’s drawings into coasters and I’m back today with another great way to turn their drawings into keepsakes. For this one you can use artwork or crafts that they’ve already done, so it can be your favourite selection. All you need is an app your phone.

I chose to combine some photos and artwork from the same time period. There’s something special about being able to see who they were and what they did in one book. It would be such a good gift for grandparents, but I’m definitely holding onto this one for myself 🙂 Another great plus, is that you could set it all up once and then order a few as gifts. How about personalising each book with a hand written note as the first picture? I’m getting all inspired with ideas while writing this that maybe I’ll have to make a few more..

How to turn your child’s artwork into a photo book // DIY

What you need

The free Adobe Scan app installed on your phone (Google Play / Apple App Store)
The artwork and pictures that you’d like to include. If you want the digital version of the artwork images to have a pure white background then it’ll work best for artwork on white paper.

What to do

Open the Adobe Scan app and select the camera icon at the bottom right.
Position your artwork in a way that includes the least shadows on the page. If needed, stick it to the wall with a little prestik.
Hold your phone looking straight the artwork and wait for it to detect it as a document.
If needed, adjust the border boundary that it gives for the document.
Use “cleanup” to clear out any shadows, marks or edges from the image.
Save the image
Send all the images to a computer and then load them into a photo book printing service such as QPhoto.

I used QPhoto’s printed hard cover book, in 20 x 20cm matt finish and I love it! There’s great freedom to play around with the sizes of the images and even allows them to spread over onto the opposite page. It’s great! The Everyday Photo Book is also a good option as all you need to do is upload your 21 pictures, order them and then checkout. Even better: PSJOCT2022 will you get you 20% any Everyday Photo Books ordered off the QPhoto website before 15 October 2022!