As a child, one of my favorite things to do at my grandmama’s house was to lay on my belly on her floor and look through her dozens of photo albums. She had maintained albums dating from the 1940s to the 2000s, and I took them all in, asking questions and learning about my family’s history in the process. I knew that curating albums for my own family would be important to me one day.
From the time my husband and I tied the knot in 2012, I’ve created yearbooks documenting our photos from one year to the next. These books are precious to me. I can’t count how many times I’ve flipped through them, reliving memories from the beginning of our marriage, holidays, new jobs, moves, travel, pregnancy, and the birth of our firstborn. An uncontrollable smile plants on my face each time I take in these important photos documenting our milestones together…
Until I get to 2018. I’m the mom who faithfully made photo books documenting my first child — and totally dropped the ball after child number two.
I have NO yearbooks from 2018 to the present day. It’s one of those tasks that I’m aware is there, but after long days of caring for my two kids, navigating an ongoing pandemic, and managing my other responsibilities, I lack the time and energy to sit down and organize photos into memory books. Finding the backlog of photos, making sure they are cropped and laid out perfectly is just not something I have found myself having the capacity to do. At this point, I would love to catch up on my family albums, but I am so behind it feels overwhelming to even start.
Enter Mira!
Mira’s goal is to help burned-out, overwhelmed moms (like me) by making our albums for us! Mira wants to create not just a photo album for you, but a family heirloom to be passed down for generations.
And the three-step process could NOT be any easier!
It starts with making your photo selections. I knew I wanted to pick up where I had left off in 2018. Not only was this the year my son was born, it was the year we moved across the country to Boston. There was a lot to document! It was simple to select photos from my chosen year in Google Photos and make a special folder to share with Mira. Mira provides an online form that is quick to fill out, and I was able to include a link to the Google Photos folder I made.
Mira carefully sorted through the many photos I shared with her, and she selected photos for the book that best highlighted our family milestones. She thoughtfully created page layouts that helped tell our story. The next thing I knew, Mira had sent me a link to the digital proof of my album! She also suggested I add optional captions to be printed in the back of the book. This allows future generations to treasure our keepsake album as well. Mira added the captions, as well as a title on the front cover, before sending the album off to print.
When the album was delivered to me, I could not believe the high quality of the book.
The pages are super thick, so I am not concerned about my children accidentally ripping or bending them. The print quality is superb! None of the photos printed grainy, even though the majority of them were taken with an older iPhone. The textured cover is a wonderful detail that allows this beautiful book to stand out among my other photo books.
As my daughter held our new photo album, I watched her hands turn the pages over and over. She wanted to know details about each picture. It was a full-circle moment for me that took me back to those days on my grandmother’s floor surrounded by her albums.
I could not be happier with the yearbook album Mira created for me.
It is gorgeous in every way! I am so thankful to finally have pictures of my youngest printed for our family to enjoy. Mira made the process unbelievably easy and totally stress free. It was such a relief to hand the weight of this project off to her. The final product blew me away.
I highly recommend contacting Mira for all your photo album needs! You can learn more on her website:
